World Heroes Perfect
 
            
   
STORY:  A year has passed since the dark tournament association's movements... The world was peaceful and invitations for the third World Heroes' tournament were mailed by Dr. Brown himself. Heroes who wanted to prove themselves, rivals who wanted their matches settled, and other fighters began to gather once more for the decisive tournament. The news of Zeus' participation was also part of the agenda for those who wanted revenge. The tournament's organization was already desperate but that was not its only horror!
   

   
REVIEW:  The fourth and final installment to the World Heroes series features every playable character to date, and marks the return of Neo Dio and Neo Geegus. While not exactly "Perfect" like the title seems to claim... the gameplay, character variety, and visuals of World Heroes Perfect is probably the best the series has to offer.
   

  
In this final version of World Heroes, every character has an "ABC Special Move" that can be activated by pressing the A, B, and C buttons at the same time. The gameplay and overall speed seems to have been streamlined, and the graphics see some improvements here or there and are notably brighter. The new hand-drawn backgrounds in particular are easily the best-looking of the series.
 
The gameplay of World Heroes remains mostly the same, and in my opinion, is still too simple for it's own good, especially when other recent fighting games are innovating in so many other areas. The combo system is pretty straight-forward (and kinda boring), and the gameplay pace still feels noticeably sluggish when compared to many other 2D and 3D fighters of the era.
   

  
The good news is, if you were previously a fan of any World Heroes characters... they're in this game, and they still do their thing. World Heroes Perfect is a straight-forward 2D fighting game in many ways - the basics are there. However, the thing I enjoyed most about the series in the past (if anything) was its weirder gameplay aspects that aren't found in the usual 2D fighting games (such as the Deathmatch shared lifebar option in World Heroes 2). World Heroes Perfect is definitely a playable fighting game at the end of the day, and for it's time, it was a decent effort.
   

Page Updated: June 18th, 2022 Developer(s): ADK  (assisted by SNK) Publisher(s): SNK Designer(s): Kazou Arai Platform(s): Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD, Sega Saturn, Wii VC, Switch Release Date(s): May 25th, 1995           Arcade / Neo Geo MVS Aug. 9th, 1996               Saturn Jan. 11th, 2011              Wii VC July 26th, 2012              Wii VC Oct. 18th, 2012              Wii VC Mar. 3rd, 2017             Nintendo Switch Characters:  Hanzou, Fuuma, Dragon, Janne, J. Carn, Muscle Power, Brocken, Rasputin, Mudman, Ryoko, J. Max, Erik, Shura, Captain Kidd, Ryofu, Jack, Neo Dio, Son Gokuu, Zeus Featured Video: Related Games: World Heroes, World Heroes 2, World Heroes 2 Jet, Aggressors of Dark Kombat, Ninja Master's, Street Fighter 2, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum, Savage Reign, Kizuna Encounter, Double Dragon, Fatal Fury 3, King of Fighters '95, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown 3, Mortal Kombat 3, Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate, Street Fighter Alpha    Gameplay Engine  5.5 / 10 Story / Theme  4.5 / 10 Overall Graphics  6.0 / 10 Animation  5.5 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  5.0 / 10 Innovation  4.0 / 10 Art Direction  7.5 / 10 Customization  4.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  5.0 / 10 Replayability / Fun  4.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  4.5 / 10 Characters  5.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  5.5 / 10  Review based on Arcade version        Final Words: Perfect?!? ...Ha. They're just joking of course.  I'm dubbing this one "World Heroes: Average at its absolute best." I'm sorry World Heroes, but any fighting game player in 1996 worth their salt knew that this wasn't top shelf game at the time. There were finer products available, in many ways.  Anyway, World Heroes Perfect is probably what the prequel should've been, and I guess that's what ADK was going for. Improvements here or there and "pretty" new backgrounds to look at... but not much else in terms of content. To its credit, World Heroes series had a nice "run" as a series... and indeed, it was a sprint (but not a long distance run). To state the obvious, WH titles never achieved the long-term success of other fighting games of the era... in part due to the highly competitive nature of the fighting genre in the mid 90s. Some of the characters from World Heroes are definitely memorable... and there are some things about the series that I can respect. In 2005, I was actually hyped to see the return of Hanzou, Fuuma, Mudman, and Neo Dio in the cool SNK crossover, Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. Not to mention appearances of World Heroes character cards in Card Fighters Clash. Worth mentioning, the art style of the World Heroes series hit its peak in WH Perfect. I'll give them that! ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen   Click Here for more posters / box artwork! Click Here for more animated stages! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES