Dual Heroes

Go, go power heroes! I was expecting a pretty poor fighting game in Dual Heroes and for the most part, I was right. Dual Heroes has a small amount of attacks and the fighting engine is very generic with collision problems and unbalanced combos. The funny thing is, some attacks seem to just have a couple of frames of animation, but special moves, throws and winning animations have about 20. It tends to make the flow of the game uneven, with most of the match being choppy with some odd moments of fluidity. If you watch the ending credits, you'll see the amount of motion-captured actors they used to achieve the many fighting (and dancing) moves that make up the fighters' arsenal. What saves Dual Heroes from the abyss of dismal fighters like Deadly Arts is the funky Power Rangers-like characters complete with their own theme music. Dual Heroes is also good fun with two players (as all fighting games should be) because the characters have exaggerated moves just like superheroes. I wish there were more characters and that more happened in the Story Mode. If you're not into the weird Japanese-style superhero action motif, you should pass on this altogether. Without the campy music and characters, you're left with a very average fighter with limited play value.

Man, I can't believe how many poor games are coming out for the N64 lately. Dual Heroes is just about the blandest fighting game I've ever played. The characters look like Power Rangers. The graphics are well below par for an N64 game and the game-play is unresponsive and clunky. That about covers it. Oh yeah, the fighting modes are weird-Robots, Virtual Gamers? I can't think of any reason to recommend this one.

Like most of the recent, distinctly Japanese N64 fighters (i.e., Flying Dragon and Deadly Arts), Dual Heroes tries to bring something quirky to the fighting game genre but manages to disappoint on nearly every level. In this case, you get a weird robot-training mode that has you teaching an android the basics of brawling, but the fighting engine is so dull and uninspired that I quickly lost interest in the whole thing.

How many N64 fighting games are so incredibly crappy that the CPU-controlled players can actually fall out of the ring after they've beaten you? One. Dual Heroes. It's up there with Deadly Arts competing for the title of "worst game ever." The graphics are terrible, the sound is appalling and the controls are unbearable-why use the analog stick if it's not taken advantage of? Pathetic. Rubbish. Dreadful. Avoid...like cooties.