Neo Geo Battle Coliseum



Neo Geo Battle Coliseum (ネオジオバトルコロシアム, abbreviated NGBC or NBC) is a 2 on 2 tag team fighting game for the Atomiswave arcade board. The game features characters from the following titles:


 * The King of Fighters
 * Fatal Fury
 * Art of Fighting
 * Samurai Shodown
 * The Last Blade
 * Metal Slug
 * Athena
 * King of the Monsters
 * Buriki One
 * Savage Reign
 * World Heroes
 * Aggressors of Dark Kombat

The PlayStation 2 version of the game has been released in Japan, North America and Europe.

Story
The official story, as given by SNK, is as follows:

"In February, 2017 of the new Japanese era there is a man trying to rule the NEOGEO World. "I will topple NeoGeo's most powerful warriors and put myself on the throne!" We knew that if he managed to obtain NeoGeo world's awesome power, world domination would not be far from his reach. This man, who sat at the heart of "The Warez Conglomerate" with overwhelming financial power behind him, had already set out on his ambitious path to gain NeoGeo World's power. Those who knew the truth of his intentions were already trembling with fear...As NeoGeo World drew closer to the verge of disaster, a Warez sponsored fighting competition was announced. This event is called "NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM".The Federal Government is worried about the situation, and has secretly dispatched its two best secret agents, Yuki and Ai. A world on the verge of eternal darkness…The future of NEOGEO World is now in the hands of the warriors."

Gameplay
The game system of the arcade NGBC, as previously mentioned, is a 2 vs 2 tag battle, regardless to how many players are playing. While the 2-player game system is similar to most tag-team systems of other games, the single player system is unusual.

The game's single play is more like a survival battle, where the player must beat enemies after enemies as long as possible. However, the game gives the player 300 seconds, and when time-out occurs, instead of win or lose, the player will face the boss (depending on how well they perform). Only at this point of time is when time out will determine the victor.

During a single-play, the rule is to defeat ANY member of the team, not both team members. That is, unlike most tag-team systems, but similar to Kizuna Encounter or Tekken Tag Tournament, where all opposition must be beaten in order to win, in NGBC, the player only needs to beat up one member of the team to win, without the need to fight the other member if the former is defeated.

The survival battles are divided into rounds of 3 battles, and after a player manages to clear 3 opponent teams, they are given a chance to use one of the three game services provided:


 * The first is to gain more time. Extra time helps the player to beat more teams, which is so because the game records the number of teams defeated in the hi-score table.
 * The second is to gain full power gauge. This is simply to blow the opposition away as soon as the next battle starts.
 * The third is adding more life. Self-explanatory, especially due to the winning condition mentioned earlier.

Playable Characters
From The King of Fighters:


 * Kyo Kusanagi (in his NESTs saga outfit)
 * Iori Yagami
 * K'
 * Shermie

From Fatal Fury:


 * Geese Howard
 * Mai Shiranui
 * Kim Kaphwan
 * Jin Chonshu
 * Jin Chonrei
 * Tung Fu Rue

From Garou: Mark of the Wolves


 * Terry Bogard
 * Rock Howard
 * Hotaru Futaba

From Art of Fighting:


 * Robert Garcia
 * Lee Pai Long
 * Mr. Big

From Samurai Shodown:


 * Haohmaru
 * Genjuro Kibagami
 * Nakoruru
 * Shiki
 * Asura

From World Heroes:


 * Hanzo
 * Fuuma Kotaro
 * Mudman

From Metal Slug:


 * Marco Rossi
 * Mars People

From The Last Blade:


 * Kaede (in his Awakened form)
 * Moriya Minakata
 * Akari Ichijou
 * Keiichiro Washizuka

From Athena:


 * Athena

From King of the Monsters:


 * Cyber Woo

From Aggressors of Dark Kombat:


 * Kisarah Westfield

From Buriki One:


 * Ryo Sakazaki as Mr. Karate

From Kizuna Encounter:


 * King Lion/Shishioh

Original Characters:


 * Yuki
 * Ai

Boss Characters

 * Mizuchi: A clone of Orochi created by WAREZ.
 * Neo Dio: An alien form, boss from World Heroes.
 * King Leo/Shin Shishioh: The boss version of King Lion/Shishioh from Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter.
 * Goodman: The real final boss of NGBC. He uses a flaming whip both as a weapon, and to command a fire-like gorilla spirit (called Saru Ou, or Gorilla King) in a manner similar to an animal tamer. Interestingly enough, he looks very similar to Igniz, end boss of The King of Fighters 2001.

Reception
Battle Coliseum was criticized for not making the storyline more obvious in the game and for sub-par graphics. Considering how far advanced the original NeoGeo games were in their day, Battle Coliseum seemed starkly behind the times.

"The NeoGeo fighters have always been looked on by the gaming world with a certain nostalgic level of respect. The games weren’t as good as their competitors. The graphics were excellent on the NeoGeo, but that was years ago, and not much has changed in the games ... This is a classic late release for a previous generation platform." wrote Blast Magazine. Blast gave the game 3/5.

IGN gives the game a 7.3/10