Released when the avalanche of Street Fighter 2 clones hit arcades in the early ‘90s, World Heroes was a minor success that gained a cult following thanks to a combination of impressive graphics, crazy characters and half-decent gameplay.
Like so many games of this type, World Heroes lifts ideas from Capcom’s seminal brawler. The two main characters have almost identical move sets (like Ryu and Ken) and have ‘fireball’ and ‘dragon punch’ moves in their arsenal (again, like Ryu and Ken). The rest of the cast is a little more inventive, thankfully.
The developers have assembled a truly weird and wonderful assortment of fighters here; you’ve got everything from female fencers to deranged German robots. To top it off, you can play as Russian monk Rasputin.
This crackpot collection of brawlers helped World Heroes stand out from the crowd back when it was released and it’s somehow pleasing to see that they still look delightfully strange even today.
Another feature that makes World Heroes unique is the ‘death match’ mode, in which players fight it out in arenas packed with deadly weapons and traps. It’s little more than a gimmick and doesn’t really work that effectively, but at least it’s different.
Sadly, World Heroes doesn’t quite cut it these days. Whereas games like Street Fighter II, Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury have aged reasonably well, World Heroes looks tired and old in comparison with only the deranged band of fighters giving it any kind of identity. Unlike SF II, World Heroes went for a un-gritty, rather cartoony look which still holds up reasonably well.
Sonically the sound effects are nothing to write home about, but there are some good background tunes running throughout the game, especially the death matches and muscle power’s stage.
If you were a fan back in the day then there’s no reason why you won’t enjoy this on the Virtual Console, but newcomers should be sure to check out the better fighters that are currently available before downloading this.
1. michinmuri
07 Sep 2007, 04:52 GMT
no way?!?!? neo geo games? well, that's kewl. I wonder if we can get a few of the better atari jaguar games, too?
2. tank2tank
07 Sep 2007, 22:19 GMT
I wouldn't count on it, michinuri. Chances are we'll have to wait for ages for neo geo games... even if they come out here at all.
3. phatlip
10 Sep 2007, 10:36 GMT
looks similar to street fighter 2 in many ways
4. Joe
12 Sep 2007, 23:24 GMT
If you put this and art of fighting together SNK could have made sf2.
5. Jonno
01 Oct 2007, 01:16 GMT
That is funny, there is only one shadow that is shared by the characters. World Heroes doesn't look too thrilling as Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting has already come out.
6. angel m. rivera collazo
08 Oct 2007, 15:58 GMT
immediate download!not great...4 stars.looks cool but not original.fatfury is not original but is a classic.
7. StarSoldier1
08 Oct 2007, 16:56 GMT
I thought Hulk Hogan would sue this game for the character Muscle Power? Otherwise the death matches were cool.
8. Mirokunite
09 Oct 2007, 21:15 GMT
I plunked many a coin into this game years ago. Glad to see it on the VC.
Anyway, if you are into fighting games I'd say go for it. If not, then just give it a look.
9. Ruddiger
15 Oct 2007, 18:05 GMT
I'd like to say hi to Itchy and Mitchy!
10. Bass X0
19 Oct 2007, 17:39 GMT
I think they redesigned Muscle Power for the sequels to look less like Hulk Hogan. I think.
11. SKILLBOY
19 Oct 2007, 23:01 GMT
60HZ or no frills 50HZ?
12. Elk810
30 Dec 2007, 07:13 GMT
This game has some nice perks. The music is cool and so are the characters. Some of which are based on real people from history, but that should be obvious. I'm surprised no other fighting games tried to copy the death match mode from this game, because it's awesome and it only gets better in World Heroes 2. As of now, it's actually the closest Neo Geo game to SFII available in the states, but even when Fatal Fury 2 and it's successors and KoF launch, don't miss out on World Heroes. You can buy it after the others, but make sure you buy it at some point.
13. TRON
27 Apr 2008, 06:37 GMT
This game is far from horrible, but as an obvious SF2 clone, it's lacking much of what made SF2 so great. The gameplay is quite simplistic, and animations are lacking a few frames and seem a bit quick. The character designs are fun though, and I like the special moves graphics being a bit more over the top than SF2.
The best thing I could say about this average game is that there's enough button mashing to it than even a noob can win a few rounds playing this one, making it fun to play against others while putting down some pints.
If this were a bag of chips (crisps), then SF2 would be an order of fries (chips). They are both good, but one is just better.
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