KOF97 vs Amakusa Samurai Spirits 4

[alf]

I have an option to pick KOF97 [bundled with 1M RAM] or Amakusa Samurai Spirits 4 [without 1M RAM].

Could you please give me an advice on which one should i get ?

Some info about me which may be helpful:
I am Street Fighter franchise fan, so my collection consists mainly of CAPCOM 2D fighters, but i want to give the SNK a chance also...
Regarding the SNK games, I only had a chance to play KOF96 on saturn, and to be honest it just did not seemed very attractive to me. Battles are short and loading times are long. As far as i remember, this game is 4 button layout comparing to capcom's 6 button layout, so i thought that the roster of moves is limited comparing to street fighter. That's why i am not quite sure if i shall go into giving KOF97 a try.
While searching for another SNK games, i found Samurai Shodown / Samurai Spirits franchise. I saw some gameplays on youtube and my eyes were so happy to see the magical atmosphere of these games. There are cool looking combos, interesting characters with their unique weapons and special moves and fatalities, there is also a blood and dark styled backgrounds. Feels like a magical world filled with spirits, demons, good and evil charaters. These things reminds me of Mortal Kombat a little, since i spent many hours playing MK3 with my cousin.

Bonus questions:
Does the Samurai Spirits suffer from long loading times just like KOF series ?
Will the Amakusa Samurai Spirits 4 work with Action Replay 4in1 ? I've read that some people encountered glitchy graphics when using this.

[sych]

I have both KOF 97 and Amakusa Samurai Spirits 4 and both are completely fine and compatiable with the AR4in1. As far as I remember, the load times are similar length in both games, nothing out of the ordinary. The load times in KOF 97 are more frequent though but you must take into account that KOF 97 is 3 way tag so the game needs to load an additional two different fighters each time one character dies as opposed to ASS4 which is straight 1 on 1 fighting. If you have an AR4in1 you don't need to buy the games with ram packs. Save your money and get the stand alone versions. Which do I prefer? That's a tricky one as they are two completely different games. KOF97' might just edge it in the enjoyment factor but there is so much more to appreciate with ASS44. If anything it's more technical with more depth. KoF is a bit more straight forward. It's worth getting both games as they are both super cheap, so I wouldn't limit myself to one or the other, I'd get both.

[NeoGeoNinja]

Sept 19, 2016 19:51:58 GMT alf said:

As far as i remember, this game is 4 button layout comparing to capcom's 6 button layout, so i thought that the roster of moves is limited comparing to street fighter.

Incorrect.

KOF 97 is more complicated than ANY SF on the Saturn. The fighting system itself is more complicated without diving into combo's and stuff. SFZ3 & VSaviour being the most complicated Capcom fighters on the system imo. Marvel vs Street Fighter less so. people who don't 'understand' KOF will also claim it's not as complicated as SF due to only having 4 buttons

The whole 4-button vs 6-button discussion just isn't relevant. You really don't need the LP & LK in Capcom games that much anyway. It's all about the Mediums!

SNK use lot's of 'command normals' which can be used to chain combo's together, unlike Capcom where you can't (i.e. like F+LK or B+LP). For example, you can't chain Ryu's F+MP or F+MK overheads into anything in SF and their startup times are horrendous!

Sept 19, 2016 22:06:33 GMT sych said:

It's worth getting both games as they are both super cheap, so I wouldn't limit myself to one or the other, I'd get both.

This.

Although, based on what you've mentioned so far, I reckon IF you HAVE to choose, go with SS4. It's immense!