they converted the game to GBA pretty good, the game modes and the ability to change the sprite colors is a nice touch

I enjoy the novelty of this as an early 3D KOF entry but that's about it

Rating it a bit higher than I should purely as an enjoyer of both Arc Sys and FOTNS

On one hand the game really doesn't visually stand out among some other titles released on ps2, on the other hand this entry is just way easier to pick up and play with how much better it handles then the first game. definitely not a bad game whatsoever it just feels evident this game could have been polished a bit better in its presentation

The time and hardware between Soul Blade and Soulcalibur II feels very significant for the game they wanted to make, naturally just like SB the empty arena means they can really make their character models stand out in quality but with the PlayStation 2 they're also allowed to mess with the backgrounds which end up producing really satisfying scenery and stages. I went blind on arcade mode and was pretty satisfied with the controls and if I put an effort into learning the controls and techniques I'm sure its very possible to go through the final boss and the destiny match before it with no problem. On native hardware the game runs smooth and I really like how there's no load times (except for the final boss) in-between rounds, replays, and continues. Overall a game I will enjoy playing more of when I get the opportunity to do so

I want to like this more but honestly the game doesn't really offer much.

It tries to do a lot and it has plenty of technicality to it but ultimately its just not fun nor satisfying to deal with

Standard PS1 jank is here but its not stopping me from enjoying this

feels like there's no inputting happening sometimes with certain characters

The gimmicks this game has is interesting as a fighter but overall I'd say the game feels pretty good to play

Just a real fun time playing with someone who also has no real prior knowledge on how to play.

I think despite it's many, mostly minor, issues lying in this game it is an overall great game to play. Making a 3D game out of an IP that's been pretty much 2D for the entirety of its existence is no easy task but the developers did an outstanding job trying to replicate and live up to a lot of the details the original games had. I think they did a good job and converting the artstyle into textures and designing set pieces that would be found in the Arcade cabinets even if it took me awhile to get accustomed to the chibi models that are inherently a reflection of the era this game came out in. I was very surprised to see just how much of this game was already in English, I was worried I wouldn't understand the plot or the objectives this game has but for the most part I could get away with not knowing Japanese for like 95% of this game (the item descriptions is where its an absolute if you somehow believe in not using a Wiki or Gamefaqs). in its presentation I found that the only issues this game really has in that aspect is that the English voice acting was poorly done (very reminiscent of standard anime voicework of the same year) and that the animations were a bit basic during the cutscenes. My initial impressions of the gameplay made me feel like the game was very poorly done with the controller layout not helping its case, things like the slug being jank to control and the rocket launcher not having auto aim just felt offensive on my first couple of missions but the more I played and really dove deep into the game the more I understood a lot of the design choices they made. for the most part a lot of the sections in this game are intentionally designed to get you to play a specific manner or to force you to think about quick and effective methods to beating the enemies in your way. Your auto aiming will prioritize small time soldiers and incoming projectiles first before the tanks and trucks so if it seems that you are losing a fight by being outnumbered its more likely you've rushed in too quickly and let yourself get surrounded by a multitude of enemies than it is a condensed area. Most enemies don't engage with you first until you reach a certain distance to them and will stop chasing when you're far enough with few exceptions like helicopters with a set follow path and the enemies that for some odd reason are designed to follow you ruthlessly wherever you are. The game has its share of enemies in the sky seen early on in the game but its obvious even the devs did not find their use satisfying because you get only a decent bit of encounters where an enemy is above your line of sight afterwards and most of those are helicopters. I thought it was a stupid choice to not include auto tracking for the rocket launcher until I played the later levels and understood that the developers would prefer the player to be allowed to cheese enemies in the distance rather than be upclose and wait for its loading times AND THEN lose a run because the auto aiming locked on to the soldiers and not the rest of the fleet of heavy machinery targeting you. As for the Slug being jank it turns out you actually are given the option to upgrade your character(s) into improving the quality of the Slug controls, and you're even allowed to upgrade the slug both aesthetically and mechanically to tailor to your playstyle (although if I had to guess certain upgrade like the flamethrower shine better in specific missions more so than others). For the most part the gameplay as a whole is very reminiscent in the style of progression Earth Defense Force has to offer in its character upgrade system (not 1:1 of course but moreso on how playing specific characters is precisely how you can get points to upgrade the characters you just played) and the ammo and health management as a whole is very akin to the third and first person shooters of the era. I think the first and last boss encounter are very telling on how much budget and resources they had left because the first boss as a whole is just way more well designed, from its animations, attack patterns, even the introduction is just cool as hell to see. Meanwhile the final boss fight is a bit more straight forward and not leaving you constantly feeling like you're gonna slip and lose with a simple mistake. the 2nd Allen encounter is another great example of them losing assets to enhance scenarios because its obvious how artificial his difficulty is in order to prolong the game's runtime. Overall though I very much enjoyed this game and I wish SNK either ported this (with QOL patches) or just made another game like this on modern hardware because this style of game for Metal Slug made for a great conversion and a lot of what makes this game limiting can boil down to the hardware it came to, It's a shame SNK and Metal Slug fans alike will dog on any new 3D SNK title nowadays because they're probably not interested in touching something similar to this ever again.

Played on hard mode co-op and the enemies were absolute bullet sponges. Thought the change in background design was weird but it didn't take long for me to get used to. I enjoy the Metal Slug trope of both sides working together for the greater good. I like the new additional mechanics here even though they felt like they put me at much greater risk to get up close to deal the special attack damage.

very much enjoyed seeing the change in enemy designs here especially at the end.

American interpretations/reimaginings of Japanese media usually don't go well but this is the only game where I can face off Cammy & Andore while listening to Slipknot & MF DOOM so I'll let it slide just this once. It makes absolute sense here that a city that has been crime ridden for decades to just be this gritty & run down with the citizens acting Slimy & Edgy to each other. The dialogue and presentation is so committed to the edge that it can come off as unintentionally funny & cheesy at times. This game had a pretty short development time which is both impressive and very much explains why some segments just feel unsatisfying to go through. The approach is very weird on what it wants to let the player get away with and its so inconsistent that I can't tell if I cheesed a boss fight or just outskilled him with a solid combo. If I was a Final Fight purist I'd probably hate this game with a passion but its actually possible to have a good time here when you don't try to force yourself to be upset over a game that hasn't been canon in almost 2 decades. They gave Guy some seriously clean outfits here the Street Fighter dev team needs to take that white suit as an outfit if they ever return him.