Game: King of Mobius
Release Date: April 20th, 2001 (1999-2001)
Author: Boomer
Application: M.U.G.E.N - Beta 2001/04/14
Version: Beta 1.00
(Screenshots)
Release Date: April 20th, 2001 (1999-2001)
Author: Boomer
Application: M.U.G.E.N - Beta 2001/04/14
Version: Beta 1.00
(Screenshots)
(System Information)
OS: Windows 98 Compatible
Resolution: Fullscreen - 640x480
(Story)
OS: Windows 98 Compatible
Resolution: Fullscreen - 640x480
(Story)
King of Mobius is fighting game with characters from Sonic games!
(Passwords)
N/A
N/A
(Archived User Reviews)
(Review of King of Mobius by Sorok)
The 2D fighting engine known as MUGEN is cool.You can create your own characters and backgrounds (or download them off the Net), and put them into a really decent, really customizable fighting engine.
The appeal of this to fighting fans is undeniable: why wait for the domestic PS2 release of Capcom vs. SNK 2 when you can create your own dream matches with whoever you want?
...or when you can import a DC version? ;-)
Unfortunately, this engine is not at all suited to making complete games, especially when you have characters from a variety of creators.
Why? Well, while the MUGEN designers threw in a very loose, simplistic Street Fighter Alpha-derived set of rules, there's almost a complete lack of standards. For example, most of the "advanced features" we now take for granted in 2D fighters are implemented not as part of the actual engine, but according to character.
Some characters may be able to supercancel to kingdom come, and others may not even be able to combo.
Some characters will have big flashy screen-filling MvC-type supers, while others may have no supers at all.
In addition, not even the *controls* are standardized- there are six buttons that can be mapped to anything, again according to character.
So one character will have a Capcom 6-button setup, another will have a Mortal Kombat setup, still another will have buttons which aren't attack buttons at all, but do completely different things...
In other words, there's often a total lack of balance.
So I think you can see how most attempts to make "complete" MUGEN games end in disaster.
I downloaded King of Mobius, recognizing the King of Fighters reference, and hoped that it would be the first truly great Capcom/SNK-style Sonic fighter.
When I opened the zip file and saw it was a MUGEN game, my heart sank... but I played it anyway.
This is what I found.
First of all, the presentation is great- for a MUGEN game, that is. Most people barely bother (if they bother at all) to change graphics for the menu screens, lifebars, and other such elements.
When you first start up King of Mobius, you're greeted with a little slideshow of Sonic art- not exactly impressive, but a lot more than what I'm used to seeing in these games.
The character select screen uses the background from the load game screen in S3&K, which is a *very* welcome change from the bland blue scrolling MUGEN logo.
The backgrounds all come from the Genesis Sonic games, and look great.
The MIDIs- while none of them fit the character or stage they're assigned to- are some of the best Sonic MIDIs around.
And all this is blended with SNK fonts, lifebars and other various elements from the KOF series.
It's all very pleasing to the eye (and ear).
Now as for the gameplay... erk. I do not exaggerate when I say that it's even more broken than MvC2 *and* than any Mortal Kombat game ever made.
The characters- made by three different designers each with different design philosophies- simply do not go together in this game, at all. And you've got the problem I mentioned earlier, with some characters not being able to hold their own in the slightest, and others (*cough*Knuckles*cough*) being cheap, juggle-happy, and overly dominating.
As I said, the characters in this game were made by three different fans: "Kyo Kusanagi" (don'tcha hate it when fans take the names of official characters?), Yuski the Dog, and Ssonic.
Each group of characters has a different play style, a different way of "fitting" into the engine, and- this is the kicker- a different button layout.
That's right, you have to learn three (actually, four!) different sets of controls just to learn every character.
The "Kyo" characters (Sonic, Tails and Metal Sonic [who is actually Mecha Sonic misnamed]) should not be in a Capcom/SNK-style fighter at all.
What their creator has tried to do is make them play *exactly* like their Genesis counterparts.
Hence, A, B and C make them jump (you can't press up to jump, like you can normally).
The jump, by the way, counts as a special move, and so do things like screeches... which means you can't even jump while screeching (since you can't cancel specials into specials).
X, Y and Z will- at the cost of one level of super meter- give the "Kyo" characters a particular type of shield.
The shields work just like in S3&K (jump button activated for Sonic and Metal), and are needed since the characters can't actually block (wha?).
They don't even use their lifebars for health; instead, they have a ring counter.
They must replenish their rings by picking up the ones which appear periodically throughout the fight.
While kind of a neat idea, shoehorning a platforming gameplay style into a Capcom/SNK-style fighting engine just doesn't work.
Since these characters are limited solely to their S3&K attacks, start with only about 5 rings and need a whole level of meter just to defend themselves, they *can* be the weakest characters in the game; however, you can easily abuse the fact that rings appear infinitely throughout the fight, and hence stay alive the whole time.
By now, Yuski the Dog is well-known for his spriting skills, and his characters (Espio, Mighty and Vector) look pretty darn good.
However, sprites do not a character make.
Yuski's characters play like you would expect normal Capcom/SNK characters to play, and use the Capcom 6-button system.
These characters can two-in-one, do EX moves and supers, and overall just feel right in this type of engine.
After playing the lackluster "Kyo" characters, these guys are a breath of fresh air.
However, it's really difficult to do any kind of effective combos with them, and their moves are sorely lacking in all areas- range, priority, damage...
Then there's Ssonic.
Ssonic's not all that great a spriter, but he sure does know his 2D fighters.
And it shows.
His characters (Knuckles, Super Sonic, "Tails Clone" [please...] and Neo Sonic) are, in terms of playability, the best by far.
The problem with this is that they just totally dominate all the other characters- this is definitely your "top tier".
The first three Ssonic characters use a Mortal Kombat-type button setup (with normal Capcom/SNK blocking, thank goodness); Neo Sonic uses a four-button SNK setup.
A lot of their moves and supers are lifted from Capcom/SNK games, but many of them are Sonic-related too.
All his characters can do a spin attack in midair (by pressing an attack button), and all of them have a ground spin attack too (QCB+P or QCB+K, depending on the character).
They can also do the Air Recovery from SFA3.
The Ssonic characters are so much more interesting than the others, so I'll go ahead and describe them: Knuckles is sort of a weird amalgamation of himself and Geese Howard, except he's even more cheap (see below for more on that).
Super Sonic has a weird voice, and is basically just an older and more broken version of Neo Sonic, but can be fun to play nonetheless.
Tails Clone would be just as accurately named "Ryu/Ken Clone"- along with his trademark flight and spinning abilities, he's got a fireball and a dragon punch (and I must say, the little tiny voice saying "Hadoken!" is *hilarious!*).
Neo Sonic, by far my favorite character in the game, is the least cheap of the Ssonic characters (despite the flashiness of his supers), and the neatest to play.
I especially like his QCBx2+P super, since it's a nod to Kairi from Street Fighter EX.
(And you *gotta* see what happens when you KO somebody with Neo Sonic's version of the Shun Goku Satsu...)
::looks above:: WHOA. O_o This is turning into a novel.
Okay, before I get too carried away here (too late, huh?), I'm just going to list all of the other problems I have with this game.
- Why all Sonic MIDIs? I at least expected some KOF music to keep the KOF motif going...
- The "Kyo" characters, true to the Genesis games, experience a brief period of invincibility after they get hit- a HUGE no-no in fighting games.
This means that combos against them are impossible, and they only take the first hit of a super (not that it matters since all hits take away only one ring anyway).
The only way a super can be effective against these characters is if they stay in its area of effect during their invincibility (and the only way I can see that happening is if the other player is excessively stupid).
- Knuckles... oh, man, this guy is *nuts*.
First of all, he can poke like nobody's business (remind you of anyone from CvS2?).
He has a ridiculously damaging spin dash super, he has Geese's Rising Storm, and he has a Lv3 super which transforms him into his super form, which- get this- keeps restoring his life for the *whole rest of the fight*.
He can also summon Mecha Sonic as a striker, for no apparent reason.
And his juggling is ridiculous!
Using only his crouching HP (a sort of sweep done in the glide pose), I can juggle for 8 hits without even trying.
And I'm horrible at juggling.
(And you thought Ryu's CvS1 Shin Shoryuken was cheap!)
- This game would drive AJ Freda nuts.
Classic and SA sprites and artwork are mixed and matched all over the place.
Heck, some characters even have an SA icon and a classic sprite!
Sad, especially considering the overall level of the presentation.
- Clones in fighting games can be annoying, but it's going *too far* when you've got sprites that look exactly the same.
Except for a possible difference in eye color, Super Sonic and Neo Sonic look exactly the same.
Tails and Tails Clone look exactly the same (but have different animations).
Knuckles' MS striker looks exactly like Metal in this game.
Even the little Tails that follows Neo Sonic around looks exactly like Tails and Tails Clone!
Are they *trying* to confuse us here?
- I found a way to *grossly* abuse the "Kyo" characters.
The sad thing is, it may actually have been intended.
If you have the time limit turned on, all you have to do is get *one* hit in, then turtle (well, as best you can without being able to block), collecting rings as necessary to keep your ring counter up.
Since your lifebar doesn't deplete at all when you get hit- only your ring counter- the game will think you're at full health when time runs out, and you'll win no matter how badly you were getting wailed on.
Looks like somebody didn't think the implications of their ideas through...
Perhaps the biggest key to any fighting game's success is "balance".
Good graphics, good character designs and a good engine are all necessary; but ultimately, in order to work, a fighting game must be balanced.
Now by balanced, I don't mean making every character practically the same.
That's not balance; that's Mortal Kombat.
What I mean is that every character, within the limitations of the *same* gameplay system, must have a fighting chance against every other character in a fair fight.
And for there to be a fair fight, there has to be equal ground.
Somehow, watching one character being forced to lamely jump around grabbing rings while the other busts loose with crazy juggles and supers doesn't give me the impression of "equal ground".
In short: King of Mobius is one of the most unbalanced, broken, cheesy fighting games I've ever played.
But I feel confident that, if Boomer takes some of what I say to heart, the next will be much better.
And hey, it's not a total waste- the readme file said we could take the characters and use them in our own MUGEN games.
Cool... I want Neo Sonic...
Score: C
(Review of King of Mobius by Mistress Lilith)
I already knew that KoM is a Mugen game when I downloaded it.This should make the game a lot promising, but it doesn't!
I've been dissapointed when I played it!
The characters are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Super Sonic, Neo Sonic (?), Tails Clone and Metal Sonic.
The game could be a lot better with the characters using the same engine.
Sonic, Tails and Metal Sonic use a "Ring" engine, wich means that when they get hurt they lose a ring, but never lose life.
And they doesn't have a special move such as fireballs.
The other characters use a Street Fighter like engine, with life bars and special moves (Tails "Clone" has a hadouken and Knuckles has a Thunder Wave!!!).
This is because the authors of the chars are very different.
The author of Sonic, Tails and Metal Sonic made his characters with a Sonic 3 engine, for test play.
But the authors of the other characters (all of them are Brazilian, and this includes Yuski the Dog) was planning a real fight game, like Capcom and SNK's various games.
Well, have an ideia at this: Tails clone was originally Tails, but since the game can't have two characters with the same name the "author" (Boomer) changed the name of one of them.
The same hapned for Neo Sonic (who's actually an updated version of Super Sonic).
Let's try to save the game...
The splash screens (title, chara select) were all made by SSonic.
The sounds are from many games (eg: Tails clone's voice is from Worms for PC, and yes Worms have hadouken and shoryuken!).
The most important is: King of Mobius is far away from King of Fighters.
It is a circus, with all the characters "cheating" with others.
You don't need to know Mugen to delete this game after your first play.
(Music Credit)
JD Harding (Tolwyn) - Tracks 1
John Weeks - Tracks 4
Koryan - Tracks 1
Mike - Tracks 1
Paul Lapensee - Tracks 4
SynthRye - Tracks 1
John Weeks - Tracks 4
Koryan - Tracks 1
Mike - Tracks 1
Paul Lapensee - Tracks 4
SynthRye - Tracks 1
(Version History)
Beta v1.00 - Archived
Other Games by: Boomer
- W.I.P