• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

AAAAAAAAAAAAH-R-UOKEY? This year marks Garou MotW's 15th anniversary

Skilletor

Member
Amazing thread.

So sad we never got a port with good netcode. :(

Probably my 2nd favorite 2D fighter ever after alpha 2. Game is just fun.
 

ScOULaris

Member
I would pay a large sum of money for an online-enabled PSN or PC release with GGPO netcode. One of the very best 2D fighters ever made. Happy 15th birthday, Garou.
 

Skilletor

Member
...yeah, why is Garou not yet put up digitally?

Because SNK seems to release things in chronological order and by the time they get to the games people want, the sells of the games people don't want make putting up later impossible.

At least, that's my take.

Still waiting for Last Blade 2 on modern hardware. :(
 

entremet

Member
PHIiPp9.jpg


Extraordinarily rare that this isn't in my neo geo.



Definitely a top contender. This is SNK's Street Fighter 3.

You got quite the collection I've noticed.
 
garou.jpg


signing in!

POTATO WAVE! Tizoc is just the best :D


And i always thought Grant was a resurrected Geese. Garou 2 would have had him without the mask and be revealed, kinda like Mr.Karate.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Whoa, Aero Fighters was SNK?!

Because SNK seems to release things in chronological order and by the time they get to the games people want, the sells of the games people don't want make putting up later impossible.

At least, that's my take.

Still waiting for Last Blade 2 on modern hardware. :(

Oh yeah and SamSho hasn't appeared for a while
 

Loona

Member
That was one hell of a write-up.
With KOF98UM and KOF2002UM coming to Steam soon there might be some hope to eventually see Garou....... right??

Wasn't Garou on Xbox Live? If so, it probably has a chance.

Because SNK seems to release things in chronological order and by the time they get to the games people want, the sells of the games people don't want make putting up later impossible.

At least, that's my take.

On Steam they released Metal Slug X after Metal Slug 3, so that seems more likely to change there if there's enough fondness for a particular title - and since mobile stuff like Metal Slug Defense appears to be helping them turn a profit, maybe they'll feel more comfortable working about making respected classics available.

And i always thought Grant was a resurrected Geese. Garou 2 would have had him without the mask and be revealed, kinda like Mr.Karate.

Naah, it would cheapen his death.

And anyway, the FF setting has a way to bring Geese back anyway - the Jin twins from the previous FFs were once possessed by their ancestors, and that may be part of the powers enabled by the Jin scrolls FF3 and Real Bout revolved around.
Geese got those scrolls at the end of FF3, he has a descendent in Rock, and the KoF Another Day short animation has Rock dreaming himself in Geese's place at the RB end, so...

I have this pet fear that Garou 2's story would reveal that Rock's mother would be ambiguously alive by possessing her brother Kain... the setting sort of allows it, but I'm not sure I like it...

One thing I'd really like to see in Garou 2 is Kim-and-Tung-trained Chonrei, based on the RB2 endings... a guy can dream.


Respected as Garou is, and with the annoucement KoF is meant to go 3D, maybe at some point SNKP will turn its 2D talents to a Garou 2 project, where a small cast would not be problematic?...
 

galvatron

Member
*Bows to the mother of all SNK threads*

An old favorite...one of the first games I tracked down for my MVS and one of the only SNK games that would get regular play at my old job.

If I ever sell that cart, then I must be selling all of my MVS stuff as well.
 

Tizoc

Member
Them Garou boxarts are sexy~

Glad you enjoyed my write up guys =)

Also I'm a crazy person: Game acho has put up like 20+ Hours of Garou match footage in the past 2 months.
It's a sign.
IT'S A SIGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111
 

Krejlooc

Banned
You got quite the collection I've noticed.

I have thousands of games, I'm an enormous video game collector.

Signing as well, but I dont do shockboxes :O

If at all possible, I'll go after the AES copy for their awesome clamshells. But typically AES prices just aren't worth it, especially since my MVS has a unibios. Buying the AES version is often times, for me, actually inferior because I lack the jukebox or cheat code abilities. Some games have really useful cheats, like the ability to instantly unlock all characters.

Nice boxes, though.
 

petran79

Banned
I remember in a previous discussion someone mentioning that Grant could actually be an incarnation of Geese, since some of their moves and stances are similar. Though there isnt any indication.

Game wasnt on arcades, so my only experience was through emulation on Winkawaks.
In early-2000 Garou:MOTW was certainly in much higher esteem than SFIII:3S and perhaps more popular too! I played both games. 3S in arcades. But 3S, despite the animation, it looked soulless and bland. Probably because there wasnt any humor like with the Alpha series or Darkstalkers.

Since I played on keyboard, I learned about feints and cancels much later when I got an arcade stick.

Too bad than another SNK gem, Rage of the Dragons, was almost forgotten with no console release.
 
So good, and so underrated.

Probably my favorite SNK fighter (likely because of how it feels like a mix of traditional SNK fighters and Street Fighter).

This game, along with Metal Slug 3, is the only reason I ever wanted a NeoGeo AES.
 
I don't play much fighting games but those are a couple of incredible posts which makes me more educated about the game. Thank you, Tizoc.
 

Krejlooc

Banned
Probably my favorite SNK fighter (likely because of how it feels like a mix of traditional SNK fighters and Street Fighter).

Garou motw, street fighter 3 3rd strike, and virtua fighter 2 form my trifecta of fighting games. Those 3 games are the best fighting games ever imo.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Was Garou ported to a console (barring the XBL release)?

AeroFighters 2 and 3 were on the Neo. Samurai Shodown V Special was the last Neo game and they had a VI on the Atomiswave.

Ahh interesting, didn't know they used Neo. I miss those games. :(
 

Loona

Member
For those who care about story, especially all that lead up to the events of Garou, I bring you some lore porn, at least for those not aware of it:

Timeline of the events from Last Blade up to Garou, covering Art of Fighting and the prior Fatal Fury games too: http://meh.brpxqzme.net/timeline.html

Terry and Rock reminisce about the events of the FF series up to just before Garou starts - the Memories of Stray Wolves videos, subtitled:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU-3naxZheA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIkbxLQoCRk
 
I'm sad that Freeman was never in another game, though at least we got B.Jenet in some later SNK games.

That's probably why I ended up getting Maximum Impact 2.
 

delSai

Member
I love this Game, amazing Thread Tizoc. Every night before goin' to sleep i prey that SNK ports this to PSN ~_~
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
This fucking thread. Amazing. Bravo. Subscribed. Will read over and over.

Wonderful game. One of the best ever.
 
Thank you for this thread. It's like I can always tell time (or anniversaries of fighting games) with a Tizoc thread.

Still one of the best fighters ever. Makes my avatar proud.
 

Raitaro

Member
Great thread OP! Thanks for sharing. This game is up there with 3rd Strike for me as being the pinnacle of 2D fighting games, with Garou perhaps even beating 3rd Strike in terms of stage design and overall presentation (partly due to the stage intro's you mentioned).

Not to depress everyone but I can't help but be reminded of the rumor that SNK at some point had indeed begun work on a direct sprite-based sequel but then shelved it twice in the following years (the second time after first making a shift to hires sprites in 2006 I believe).

Sources on this are limited, but to quote SNK Wiki: "The game's sequel, tentatively titled Garou: Mark of the Wolves 2, was reported to be in the works on the Neo Geo system several times by Korean news sources. Since 2002, the project has been put on hold and its current status remains unknown. According to Falcoon at the 2005 KOF Party, the game's sequel was around 70% percent complete by the old SNK team. Ureshino reported that a new grappler character and Joe Higashi's apprentice were added to the roster."

Similar info can be found here (somewhat NSFW due to ads) as well. I also remember reading somewhere that Mr. Karate would be a playable character and that there would be a beach stage included.

There are even some prototype [edit: but apparently fake?] screenshots floating around, such as this one (that indeed seems to show Mr. Karate) found here:
aj7MAzx.png


According to some of these sources, the last we've heard of the title as still being in development was 2008, so chances might indeed be extremely slim that anything will ever happen with this, which I would consider being one of those legendary crying shames in gaming (easily on par with having no Shenmue 3, Rogue Squadron sequel on Wii, etc.).

Just imagine how incredibly great this series would have become if SNK had indeed taken Garou and added content and refinements to it. Sigh, if only we could do something to get them to complete this prototype build and release it digitally.

If there is anyone here working in gaming journalism, please consider doing some digging to find out what happened to this much needed sequel! Maybe that would help set things in motion somehow (BELIEVE).
 

Loona

Member
There are even some prototype screenshots floating around, such as this one (that indeed seems to show Mr. Karate) found here:
aj7MAzx.png

The screenshot is a known fake - that's Dong Hwan's sprite with the Tengu mask Takuma wears as a striker in KoF99/2000
 
According to Falcoon at the 2005 KOF Party, the game's sequel was around 70% percent complete by the old SNK team. Ureshino reported that a new grappler character and Joe Higashi's apprentice were added to the roster."

damn, hopefully someone leaks it in the near future and fans can complete it :D unless we get some signs of life of an official version still in the works.
 

Sapiens

Member
Yeah, it got ported to Dreamcast back in the day. That version even got released in the US as Fatal Fury: Mark of The Wolves. It also got a Japanese PS2 release.

The DC version, unfortunately, has this weird issue with delay voice samples, which were being streamed from the disc on demand, if I recall correctly.

Best way to play is emulation, unfortunately.
 

Raitaro

Member
The screenshot is a known fake - that's Dong Hwan's sprite with the Tengu mask Takuma wears as a striker in KoF99/2000

Ok, noted. This was not known to me (as loyal Gaffer and avid gaming news reader) and the source of the screenshot seemed somewhat reliable. Can you elaborate on this? Who put up this fake and who unmasked it?

Edit: even if the screenshot was indeed fake, this doesn't diminish the "what if?" appeal of the rumor that Garou 2 was being developed at some point in time - which was the intend behind my previous post.
 

Loona

Member
Ok, noted. This was not known to me (as loyal Gaffer and avid gaming news reader) and the source of the screenshot seemed somewhat reliable. Can you elaborate on this? Who put up this fake and who unmasked it?

The screenshot must be almost a decade old by now, so at this point it's really hard to point out a specific refutation - but having frequented quite a few Mugen community hangouts over the years, the frankenspriting work required to put together something like that isn't entirely unfamiliar.
Removing sprite layers from a stage to make it appear to be a less familiar location or trying to make bits (especially small ones like a mask, which may be separate layers in a game) from games with somewhat, but not completely, different (shading) styles to assemble something that sort of resembles a known style are popular techniques, which can be greatly aided by some blurring to make some fakeshots.
 

Skilletor

Member
The DC version, unfortunately, has this weird issue with delay voice samples, which were being streamed from the disc on demand, if I recall correctly.

Best way to play is emulation, unfortunately.

What's wrong with the 360 port?

I hate playing on emulators, especially GGPO's FBA, they feel terrible and have tons of lag inherent to the program. :/
 

Ninja Dom

Member
I was playing this at the time it came out in 1999. But it didn't get as much respect or play time from me and my gaming pals as it could. Definitely not as much as I see here on GAF.

And you know why? It wasn't even Garou's fault.

King of Fighters 98

That game was just so good that in 1998, 199 and 2000, not much else was being played. Don't get me wrong, we DID play Garou, and it was GOOD. But B Jenet wasn't Blue Mary and Kyokougen Karate guy wasn't Takuma. We just always went back to KOF 98.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 also got pushed to the back burner and that was also great.
 

BadWolf

Member
That game was just so good that in 1998, 199 and 2000, not much else was being played. Don't get me wrong, we DID play Garou, and it was GOOD. But B Jenet wasn't Blue Mary and Kyokougen Karate guy wasn't Takuma. We just always went back to KOF 98.

Jenet > Mary

Marco > Takuma
 

Exr

Member
When I was in Japan I grabbed the PS2 version but have yet to try it. How was the conversion? Better or the same as the XBL release?
 

Tizoc

Member
When I was in Japan I grabbed the PS2 version but have yet to try it. How was the conversion? Better or the same as the XBL release?

It's a good port but I think alters one of the visual effects for Just Defend? Forgot what it is exactly.
Overall PS2 and XBL versions are the best.

I wish more people loved The Last Blade as much as this guy loves Mark of the Wolves. Great OP.

I did write about LB series a little though ;)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=502650
 

Ozzie666

Member
The peak of 2D pixel art gaming, with this and Metal Slug series. I really miss the Neo Geo and it's over priced monster cartridges. I wish Analogue would do a proper updated FPGA AES with CD support.
Something special about this sytem for sure. I also miss 68000 gaming hardware, CPS1 and CPS2 and PGM.

The introduction of Rock and the older versionTerry were simply perfection and remained iconic, even with the change in looks.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom