Savage Reign

Savage Reign (風雲黙示録 格闘創世) is a fighting game created by SNK for the Neo Geo, and was released both in arcades and on the console. It was ported to the Neo Geo CD, as well as for the PlayStation 2 along with its sequel Kizuna Encounter as part of the Fu'un Super Combo. This compilation was re-released in the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 4 in December 2016. It's also the first game of the Savage Reign series.

A novelization was written by Osamu Kudou.

Story
Savage Reign is set in the first half of the 21st century in the fictional American city of South Town (the same city used in the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters series), which has now been upgraded and renamed as Jipang City. A mysterious legendary fighter known only as King Lion has risen up from the shadows of secrecy and issued a challenge on television for the strongest of fighters to battle against him in a fighting tournament known as the Battle of the Beast God. He promises immense wealth beyond anyone's dreams and legendary fame beyond imagination. Nine fighters have come to the tournament, each with their own sole purpose and reason for battling against King Lion. However, after King Lion's defeat, an identical yet more powerful fighter named King Leo reveals his existence saying King Lion was just a pawn and that he holds the true power of the King.

Gameplay
The game, much like Samurai Shodown series, his series is a white weapons based franchise. However, Savage Reign has a few particular elements that makes it different from its predecessor. The weapons can not only be used for close combat, but can also be thrown at an opponent from a distance for more ranged attacks and standard weapon throws don't require motion inputs.

There are also two levels of playing field within the battles, the default lower one and the upper field, which both fighters can jump to with the push of a button, much like Fatal Fury series.

The button layout was also slightly different at the time, resembling World Heroes series somewhat; a button for punching, a button for kicking, a button for the weapon, and a button for jumping between planes. Holding down the punch or kick buttons results in a stronger attack while tapping them wields a light attack.

Both games also have an alternate K.O. sequence from Art of Fighting series, where players can shred their opponents' clothing with the finishing blow.

Critical Recpetion
In Japan, Game Machine listed Savage Reign on their 1 June 1995 issue as being the seventh most-successful arcade game of the month, outperforming titles such as Baku Baku Animal and Cyberbots.

Reviewing the Neo Geo home version, GamePro summarized, "Savage Reign is one of those impressive fighting games that's likely to disappear soon after it surfaces. It looks great and the sound is dynamite, but in the end it falls short because it lacks an identity to separate it from the multitude of fighting games already out there." The same GamePro critic reviewed the Neo Geo CD version with similar remarks, and noted that compared to the Neo Geo version "the three-button simultaneous attacks are more difficult to execute because the buttons are stacked on top of each other."

Next Generation reviewed the Neo-Geo version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "The only innovative facet in Savage Reign is the upper level perch that shows up in each location in the form of a loft, rooftop, or just a cable to hang by. If you just can't get enough of these games, here's another."

Maximum gave the Neo Geo CD version four out of five stars, commenting that "Let there be no doubt, everything from the coin-op has been packed into the CD version making it a very attractive break from the more conventional Fatal Fury/King of Fighters activities, but with all the fighting action you'd expect from an SNK title.