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MOTW is probably game that's spent to the most time in my mvs recently. IMHO i see that it's a definate case of quality over quantity and one of my favourite games ever.

But if you don't get one with it than fair play. Luckily - it's one of those games that holds it's value well so it should be quite easy to sell it for at least what it cost.

RB2 is also a great game and can usually be picked up quite cheap (I paid £7 - around $13) for mine and it's a very enjoyable title. Of course the jury's probably out as to whether RB Special or RB2 is the superior title. The graphics do have a very cartoony look to them but that adds to the charm imo. The background/foreground gameplay does add to the gameplay but whether that's good or not is a matter of opinion really.

well, I got MOTW last week sometime, but honestly I've only played it twice. I'm not really all that happy with the game. Sure it's got some novelty to being the prettiest game on the system, but it's really not all that fun when compared to any of the fighting games I've been picking up lately. Too many characters look similar, and the backgrounds are a mixed bag ranging from incredible, to (more often) "whoop de doo." There is naturally a lot of animation frames in both the characters and background, which is nice, but animated boring, is still pretty boring.

I suppose I could start looking up combos but that seems like an awful lot of work. My motivation to play this game just isn't there for some reason.

I know it's crazy. I loved the snot out of this game before I got it, and everybody in the world thinks it's better than sliced bread. But last night it almost got swapped out for last blade or blazing star. I kept playing MOTW for the silly reason that I spent good money on it. I've also come to the realization that forcing myself to play something does not help my opinion of it.

RB2 looks like it might interest me a little more. Seems to have some prettier move effects to look at, and the characters are more fun to look at than the high percentage of guys in pajamas.

what's wrong with his 'special' section? turf masters is $30? are there some lines that I'm not reading between?

and the garou is from yaton, I didn't know he had a store though. FF realbout 2 and AOF 3 are at attractive prices...in addition to that (fake?) turf masters

well, I joined the Garou club myself. it should be on its way from everybody's favorite ebayer by now. did I mention that circa got a helluva deal before? yeah, because like predicted garou cost me $58 shipped. it really is such a pretty game though.

MOTW seems like it gives sf3 a run for the money graphically. I really don't know how they snuck all those character animations in and still had power for such complex backgrounds and move effects.

cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=007&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=170054027489&rd=1&rd=1

now if I can find metal slug 3 my 'really must have' list will be complete. that and my CMVS--whereever the heck it's at. nobody ever accused ben of being quick.
I haven't spent $60 on an MVS game in a long time. KOF99 cost me that much, but that was years ago. a lot of the good games have gotten so inexpensive since then.

Why I like the arrows (or direction letters) better… don’t worry, I’m not bashing anyone here.
Using the same sweep symbols as Capcom games typically do for in-game movelists in SNK land has a few problems. Unlike Capcom, SNK has a habit of using very non-standard movement commands, some of them unique to certain characters, some are very hard to understand and some border on pure randomness.
When you get to things like Geese's Raging Storm (db, f, df, d, db, b, df + P) or one of Duck King's super throws (d, df, f, uf, u, d + BC) you’re seeing some commands that are incredibly hard to streamline. Especially since the latter more or less forces you to jump as part of the move (meaning the timing for the d+BC is *very* lax)

Add to the fact that SNK-games typically allow for quite a few ”short” commands that will change the pace of your game dramatically. Here's a few examples from KOF2001
The command HCF (typical command throw command) can be entered as simply b, d, f
The command QCF (typical projectile command) can be entered as simply d, df

This means that inputting HCF doesn't necessarily have to produce the same move as QCF would even though it "should" end the same way. Explaining this using the sweep symbols would be difficult to say the least.

Actual application in games…
Now, while Street Fighter uses something called Negative Edge to shorten commands, this means that holding a button down while performing the command and then letting go will still produce the move, KOF-gamers more frequently rely on a plethora of additional strategies to get what they want. Partially because the commands are typically much more complex and as such are in bigger need of more reliability. I was thinking of explaining K9999’s ”cheat” combo but I decided I should start with something more basic because it shows my point and should be easier to read… (this movement strategy should work in any KOF produced so far)

Say you want to combo Ryo's close C into his Kou Ho (his anti-air dragon punch-like move) you can either write it such as this...

C - Kou Ho

or this

close C - dp + P
- The Capcom styled sweep command

or this

close standing C - f, d, df + A
- The command type I am promoting here, note that the “standing” is added because some SNK games actually use different crouching attacks depending on range, not just standing.

The reason why you would prefer the later, and hopefully my main point, is because of these extra rules that apply to KOF (and many other SNK fighters)
- If you just press P like it says you might as well hit C for the stronger version of the Koh Ho which is NOT a guaranteed knockdown. There's a definitive advantage of always applying the right button, A version (which always knocks down), here rather than just hitting P.
- If you mess up the command you might accidentally press C and f almost at the same time which would produce a throw and mess up your combo. (more on this below)

Now here's where it gets more complex hopefully I don't lose everyone who reads this; in KOF you can't perform regular throws when you are running. This means that you can use the running animation to your advantage; if Ryo is running you can just keep holding f and press C to always produce the close hit no matter what. Also, because you're already holding forward, the command for the Koh Ho is shortened and thus the commands becomes like so...

f, F - close C - d, df + A

(Start running, hit a close C and then finish the command for the Koh Ho which is now shortened to two directions and a button instead of three.)
This kind of scenario is simply impossible to describe with the simplified sweep commands like HCF, DP and QCF. And there’s why I want to encourage learning the more complex “arrow” commands even though it means sometimes having to visualize the commands in order to understand them. It takes practice but when you get better and actually start applying some of this, you will learn new things much quicker.

Of course I also need to add that there are some uses for the old sweep system still, such as when applying the infamous Capcom-styled 360 and 720 commands; spin the joystick one or two circles respectively. No general directions are given here because it simply doesn't matter where you start or where you end, as long as you pull one full circle the move will come out.

Note: This isn't entirely true either but it works best for beginners so more on that some other time when someone asks about the standing (without jumping) 360 or standing 720.

Any questions, let me know.

You should look up all the moves of your favorite characters and practice them until you memorized them. After that you should look into when you want to use those moves and finally start practicing executing them flawlessly; even in the heat of battle.

Get complete movelists here...
sindoni.altervista.org/neoencyclopedia/moves.html

... and an in depth FAQ by the main man himself...
db.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/file/king_of_fighters_99_d.txt

Let me know if there are any characters in particular you're playing as and I could probably give you a few combos to work with.

two more must-haves are now in my collection. blazing star and street slam. street slam has quite a bit of history with me as being the most fun I've ever had with neogeoCD (short load times, great multiplayer). but blazing star hasn't really been all I thought it would be. it seems seems a bit flat, and frankly easy. maybe I've just finally played enough shooters that I'm getting better at them, but I've been considering raising difficulty.

I've switched my ebay searching to looking for a second neo geo controller--why do they cost more than 2-3 decent mvs games? I've also noticed that neo geo controllers don't feel as good as I recall, being spoiled with arcade controls for years now.
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I also have kind of a halfway update on the cMVS that I'm having built. good news is that there aren't nearly as many projects in line ahead of me anymore. (there still may be a gamecube project) but my case is in the design stages, and video converter is on order (the one he had sitting around was dead). Lighting system is well on the way.
I really am curious about how the lighting will be on the final unit, I've requested lights be sound reactive, but pretty much left it open after that. the system is based on the mv1b board, which is a rather compact horizontal-loading mvs, that lends itself easily to normal or 'toaster' orientation, so I have no idea what this thing will look like. it should be at www.benheck.com in the next few weeks.