SNK Allstar

SNK Allstar is a turn-based combat RPG starring all your favorite characters from the SNK sagas -- yes -- the very ones that made Neo Geo / AES a household name in video games and brought your run-of-the-mill 2D fighter game into the annals of video game history, no less. These sagas, like, The King of Fighters, Samurai Showdown and The Last Blade are pit against each other in an epic mash-up of sorts, making for a true Dream Match that's impossibly good.

The whole main premise of this game subsists solely on beating each group combat match-up. It's up to you to skillfully wield and deploy each of your heroes' special attacks timed at precisely the right moment to inflict max damage. In terms of everything else, each clash basically unfolds semi-automatically and comes with awesome anime sequences with sprites characterized exactly like the original saga, to a T.

After accidentally opening up a portal (caused by the clash between Orochi and the heroes of KoF) all the heroes are once again invoked to battle against the evil that's plaguing their realm. A not-to-be-ignored gacha component is omnipresent throughout the game, meaning the main appeal behind playing is unlocking each new character -- almost like in a TCG. But, that's not to say you can't add on to their rank and level them up, equipping your heroes with ever-improved items to better their combat stats.

SNK Allstar is a fun game. Any fan of the SNK universe is likely to be very pleased due to the endless number of references to the saga that are scattered throughout. It even comes with a whole subplot that ties together the realms of Iori Yagami, Kyo Kusanagi and friends. But, don't even try to make sense of it all. At this point, it's almost impossibly complicated to detangle the intertwined narratives, and, really, why bother? This game is ace as is.