Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999)

really good looking, smooth neo geo fighting. very responsive game. no slow down on frames or anything (some neo geos look good but unfortuantely cant hold pace,) really everything you would want from a neo geo game and probably a fighting game. (i lack experience with this genre) i read a gamefaq which helped understand basic mechanics and was eyeing a move list as i practiced a bit.. i played it on fightcade. thats basic review.

i'm still learning this but here are a few elements. you can actually defend against most (maybe all?) attacks. when you defend you can absorb all damage. you can hold it down to just 'defend' but this isnt as effective. the trick is to defend at the right moment, if you do it right you will gain health. very unique idea. its also almost IMPOSSIBLE to do. if you were good in this game and really learned it, you'd probably be impossible to hit. In this picture i'm too far away. and you can see the bird boy blocking (its ai) timing is real tricky and exists in all the different things you can do. some things are trickier to time than others. some things arent so hard. (healing for me is the hardest and i cant do it by will yeT, sometimes it just happens) combos arent too complicated, but landing hits is (see above) stronger attacks are longer movements and you can interrupt people or they can just block or avoid you. i played this with a friend and as i was trying to teach him about the game he was figuring stuff out faster than i could talk. some things however are best read about in a gamefaq, such as TOP meter, (I dont fully understand top meter myself) TOP meter is a place in your helath bar that after taking dmaage you have a more powerful range of attacks. you can choose where you want that range to be. the attacks themselves are special moves that can become unlocked but they are a bit underwhelming... it seems the real secret sauce to top meter might be combos, which seem easier in top meter (i think it requires a sepcial move as a combo starter)

the real special moves are at the bottom of the screen when the bar charges up twice and blinks yellow. when you pull off one of your two special moves it goes TETSUOOOOOOO and screen looks real crazy like an anime michael bay. these are similiar to the combo starters top meter enables but last longer and are great to use as finishing moves. You also get special 'win' scene when you do this. and you will feel awesome about yourself. (or make a friend mad if you play against someone)

throws exist suppposedly but i cant do it yet.

i play with jeh bennette and i think got a good feel for her.

I read this is similiar game to king of fighters and i would assume its similiar to MOST of SNKS fighting games and i have never really played them. its a fun satisfying game to play and practice and you do NOT have to be a pro to enjoy it blind and button mash. i played it on my own then played it with a friend and we both liked it and hadnt play a lot of fighters really. (we didnt play against each other cause he couldnt figure out to get his xbone controllers working in fightcade) the nice thing about this game is the kind of control you feel you have as you play it due to timing and spacing. i also liked the fact that my special moves are key combos built off other moves. in fact most of the moves are simple and similiar, and its not much memory. and if you just button mash you'll figure them out too. it is better made than other games due to the way it works like mortal kombat, or killer instict, and imo also more fun.. the style is really nice, the backgrounds are cool, its fairly flashy and sexy and there are the most awesome cutscenes with woefully corny and poor written dialogue. It was a great recommendation by Begbie