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by Vinh Trieu (Administrator)

Wow!! it's really amazing that a year has past since the last ASI. It's surprising how a year has gone by, with so many changes that has occurred in the arcade industry since our last attendance. In a weird way, we feel the past year flew by, but as we sit and think of what has happened since then, in many ways it has also felt like an eternity.

Around March of 2003, SNK NEOGEO USA seemed to be at the top of their game, expecting big hit titles to carry them to the promising arcade market they once shared. "SNK" having returned to ASI, with the President of ASI even stopping by their booth to welcome and congratulate their re-entry to the Arcade Show. Little did we know back then that this would be their last Arcade show in the U.S.

Sadly enough, even with the success of SVC Chaos, the bootleg market locked it's grip on the finances of SNK Playmore and today, as many of us all know, the Neo Geo MVS will come to an end (after SSV Special) shortly.

From the fan's perspective, the closure to the Neo Geo MVS is a sad thing, as it remains the longest running arcade hardware (without any upgrades/changes to it's specs) of all time (about 14 years), and with so many titles, it has brought us so many memories, good (great titles) and bad (made us broke).

From the business standpoint, SNKP finally calling it quits and moving onto newer, more powerful hardware is the best thing that can happen to them. We consider it a blessing in disguise. We can kiss those boot loving bootleggers goodbye (while possibly resurging the arcade market) and most importantly for SNK Playmore, ports over to the PS2/XBox will be remain at a high quality level (actually pushing the systems a little), rather than the cheesy conversion from 16-bit graphics to a 128-bit system. Titles from Atomiswave to PS2 and XBox will be pixel perfect with identical gameplay.

Competing with so many other third parties out there with mediocre graphics on next gen systems is simply not the answer to their longevity. With the Atomiswave and updated graphics, SNK Playmore has the tools to show what it's fighters are capable of, especially in gameplay, which we feel they were already good at, but never reaching the greatness of Capcom's fighters. Now SNKP has no excuse but to make their games better overall. If you really think about it, both SNK and Capcom will be developing games for the Atomiswave, which we now have a fair comparison as it's on the same exact hardware. This will most definitely be interesting.

So back to ASI 2004. There was no SNK NEOGEO USA present at ASI this year and it shouldn't surprise anyone. ASI aren't considered to display a huge show by any means and ASI 2004 was definitely one of the smallest shows we've seen in a while. With the big announcements from SNK Playmore and Sammy's plans already made official at AOU 2004, we didn't particularly expect anything to come out of ASI 2004. E3 2004, however, is a different story, but we won't jump ahead of ourselves.

Furthermore, ASI 2004 was particularly "empty" in the fact that if SNK wasn't there in some form or another, as there was always another distributor that would show some support for the Neo MVS. If SNK wasn't there, there was always Apple Industries Inc. (formerly known as Apple Photo Systems Inc.), who was the official SNK NEO GEO MVS distributor in between SNK USA's bankruptcy and the establishment of SNK NEOGEO USA. This definitely lacked any substance with not only repeat titles from other manufacturers, but also, no Apple, no SNK, no Neo Geo MVS support. It would've been nice to see SSV Special (as we were treated to SSV by Apple at the last show, AMOA 2003).

So here we are, with ASI 2004, in the US, marking the start of the new SNK. Enter in the new blood, as Sammy's Atomiswave fuels the power that SNK's fighters have been thirsting for.

Taking a look back at Sammy's games for the Atomiswave in the past few years, we can see how desperate Sammy needs, both Capcom and SNK Playmore's valuable IP's. With Sammy vs. Capcom coming out in the fall (programmed by Capcom), this will be a true test to see if there is any life and support left in the U.S. Arcade Industry. Following shortly afterwords, we will see Metal Slug 6 and Samurai Shodown (developed by SNK Playmore).

So before we see the BIG games from Capcom and SNK Playmore, we have the fighter many fans are showing interest in, The Rumble Fish by DIMPS.

For those of you, who haven't wondered already, Rumble Fish was actually a feature film shot in 1983 starring Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke. Now if any of you have ever seen this movie, the message in the movie, could somewhat relate (and it's very possible that some DIMPS programmers are fans of this flick) to the game itself, The Rumble Fish.

Not to go into so much detail, the theme of Rumble Fish (the movie), is about a bunch of youths searching for their place and direction in society. Another message one can see in Rumble fish is, when two "fighting" fishes are put into one tank, they will kill each other, so therefore, it's best to keep them in separate tanks. Such an idea can be translated to the video game, The Rumble Fish, where all the fighters (fishes), put into the same arena will battle to the end.

The Rumble Fish Gameplay Instructions:

The Rumble Fish Techniques

Button layout:

Going across: A (Light Punch), B (Hard Punch)

Next/Middle of (Hard Punch/Hard Kick): Dodge Button

Bottom: C (Light Kick), D (Hard Kick)

To be frank, our initial impression of The Rumble Fish wasn't all that great. Considering the tons and fighters out there, a "new" fighter on a powerful system must distinguish itself from the rest to have any chance of success.

Take for example, IGS, makers of the PGM system. If you've ever played some of the fighters on their system, such as Martial Masters, we would say that it rivals some of Capcom's best fighters in terms of gameplay and graphics. As we know, one strong point in a fighter won't make it a success in the long run. We're not blind to see that many of SNK's fighters doesn't play particularly well compared to many great fighters out there, but why are they so successful? Simply because SNK marketed their games, but more importantly, their characters well. They created/promoted their characters with a more personal touch, giving them personalities in magazine ads, commercials, making them "lifelike." I won't even say it but we've heard our share of weird fans who still would like to wed Mai from Fatal Fury. She's not available (as disappointed fans may know, not because Andy has a reserve on her, but she's not real). Anyhow, jokes aside, every company has an icon and with IGS, they never established that, so if DIMPS falls into the same boat, without making a name for their characters, resorting to just rehashing characters, then we know where they're headed.

To dissect TRF a little further, let's look into the details a little bit. The gameplay seemed sluggish, with some moves coming out a little slow. To a sense, some moves felt sort like playing Capcom vs. SNK 2 on X-Box Live, as there seems to be some lag. After playing it for a while though, we found this fighter growing on us, showing some signs of promise and definitely great levels of depth and elements that can make this another great fighter. Over a period of time though, the delay in some moves definitely takes some time getting used to, but you'll find yourself forgetting about it after a number of plays.

If you're a SNK fan, playing TRF (The Rumble Fish) you will soon notice the character similarities in some of the other SNK fighters, particularly Rage of the Dragons, Matrimelee, SF III: 3S and Eminem even makes a appearance (you'll know what we mean when you see the fighter). Let's be realistic here, with hundreds of fighters made throughout the past fifteen years, it's hard NOT to "copy" moves from other fighters.

Playing TRF a little more, we find some techniques that is also used in Capcom fighters, first being the "stun" attack, where you press two buttons to instantly stun or dizzy your opponent for a cheap combo. This feature is found in Capcom's SF EX series. Other gameplay features include, air recovery, ROTD's (Rage of the Dragon's: SNK/Evoga Fighter) C+D button attack to chain combo, a special offensive and defensive special attack. So at the surface, TRF may seem very basic, but with some given time, we can see that there's alot of strategy that is involved in it.

Character Breakdown:

Zen - In many fighting games these days, there seems to be a Ryu clone and even though Zen physically resembles Ryu, surprisingly, his fighting style is a mix of Joe Higashi (from SNK's Fatal Fury series) and Makoto (from Capcom's SF: 3rd Strike). Being the first selectable character in the game, we assume he is going to be a popular favorite, with easy and efficient moves.

Hikari - Similar to Hokuto of SF EX Plus. We didn't put alot of time into her, so there's little information that we have at the moment.

Typhon - If you've ever played Streets of Rage 3 on Sega's Genesis, you'd swear this is Skate's brother, with similar mechanics in addition to some grab/throw moves that are almost identical. A fast character w/easy combos to perform, lacking in reach and strength, so the strategy of victory with Skate would be pure timing and constantly rushing down the opponent.

Garnet - Kim Kaphwan comes to mind when viewing Garnet's attacks. Garnet takes alot more work/skill to compete with, but then again, given out limited play time, this will change once the character is maximized.

Orville - This is Alex's (from SF III: 3S) brother (not blood related), seriously. Alex fans out there have a head start with Orville in TRF as his moves are so noticeably similar to Alex's, but not quite as effective due to his the lack of speed in his special/normal moves. He's a tad too slow.

Boyd - Definitely a unique character as we couldn't put a grip on his style. Maybe DIMPS can enlighten us a little on him. He's the older guy fighting with the cane. Super short reach, but tricky specials and damaging combos/critical moves.

Viren - Never knew Eminem could kick some booty off the mic., lol. The resemblance will give you a laugh. In terms of gameplay wise, Viren is a very effective character as he is a very well balanced fighter with speed, effective attacks and one of the coolest "super" (DIMPS calls it "Critical Move") move out there, which you'll see in the Video we'll be unveiling soon.

Kaya - Similar fighting style to Hikari from what we noticed. We didn't put time into her character.

Aran - We can't help but think there's some life left in Rage of the Dragons and Matrimelee as Aran is a combination of Keith (from Matrimelee) and Jimmy/Billy (from Rage of the Dragons). Initial play with Aran shows that he'll be one of the most used characters, as his moves are efficient and his speed is better than average to overpower some of the slower fighters.

Two things that bothered us is the game speed is a little slow and some characters are just too fast for others, while the other problem is the jab punches/kicks don't connect unless you're absolutely next to the opponent, so there's no range at all.

Besides those two drawbacks, TRF shows alot of promise. Silky smooth gameplay, tons of gameplay options/techniques, a good cast of characters, makes TRF not just another fighter, but one that shows what hard work that's been put into the gameplay, not just the graphics.

We must say that we like TRF and it isn't your typical COMPLETE rehash of one fighter, but a blend of other great fighters. DIMPS did a marvelous job with this game and the results show that there's more substance behind that pretty face. The Atomiswave seems to be headed in the right direction with TRF and DIMPS will mark it's name as an up and coming powerhouse developer. It's just a matter of time, we'd say.

If you're local to So. California, stop by Winnetka's Fun Zone to check out the test of The Rumble Fish. Sammy has NOT approved The Rumble Fish at the present time and may not release this game here stateside unless they receive a demand for it. If you're a fighting game fan and want to see fighters grow in U.S. arcades, then you know what you have to do.

We will have videos of Critical Moves for each character in the next few days. Sorry we couldn't get them all as we were handcuffed and escorted out. Okay, we're exaggerating, but we did get the boot and asked not to record any more footage than we got. When you see the hand in the vid, then you know what happened to us. You can send your contribution and bail money and paypal to sales@snk-capcom.com. Just kidding!! Enjoy the sites and sorry about the black bar in the vid. It's a refresh prob. we have with Sammy monitors when video taping off a Sony camera.

On a side note, we didn't forget about other manufacturers/developers, but if you were there, you know there wasn't much else to see. Only other notables would be Namco's Maxi Boost, which is GT in arcade form, which allows you to upgrade your vehicle by storing it on a card that you insert/save while playing. Very, very cool game.

- by trieu