It’s hard to gauge Samurai Shodown’s tone. One moment, there’s a snappy, sarcastic ronin roaming Asian lands on the hunt for a fight. Maybe that ronin squares up to a beefy, tattooed fat man who farts on his enemies. Or Genjuro who fights shirtless to expose a scar representing his hatred. Then there’s Ukyo, somber… Continue reading Samurai Shodown (PS4)
SNK’s history is flush with wild fantasies. The SNK 40th Anniversary Collection features multiple. There’s Athena in which the goddess conquers all manner of monsters and Crystalis, a uniquely textured tale with more to do with Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda than anyone at SNK would admit. Or, Prehistoric Isle where an Arthur Conan Doyle dinosaur… Continue reading SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (Switch)
SNK Heroines hyper-sexualizes characters that in many cases, were already sexualized. It finds the skimpiest costumes, most revealing dresses, and barely-there bikinis to ensure skin exposure. It’s parody though. SNK Heroines is about a literal male gaze. A creepy, shadowy fetishist male figure, Kukri, brings these women together. He watches them from a high-tech camera… Continue reading SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy (Switch)
While brief, King of Fighters XIV’s story weaves through the possibilities of Japan’s salaryman comedies. The film genre, headed by the country’s post-WWII economic boom, features white collar underlings besting their rather moronic bosses. Here too, with the insanely muscular Antonov proclaiming he wants 20 billion eyes on the King of Fighters tournament. His assistant… Continue reading King of Fighters XIV (PS4)
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