Breakers Collection Review

Breakers is a 2D pixelated fighting game that was first released way back in 1996 for the Neo Geo Arcade while the home version was released a year later for both the cartridge and CD versions. A sequel, Breakers Revenge, was released two years later in 1998 exclusively in the arcades. The game was received to a mediocre reception. This brings us to the Breakers Collection which was announced in 2019 and after a few delays, it finally landed in our virtual hands in 2023. How does both Breakers game hold up today?

The Breakers Collection contains two titles: Breakers and Breakers Revenge. Breakers feature a roster of eight different characters with their own unique style and representing different countries. The game itself includes a few game modes: Arcade Mode, Versus Mode, and Team Battle Modes all of which are pretty self-explanatory. Each character also has an unselectable clone that you will fight when going through Arcade mode.

With Breakers Revenge, the changes are minimal. They added a new character (Saizo from Japan) and makes the final boss, Bai Hu, playable as well. They also added a few additional game modes. Along with Arcade Mode, Versus Mode, and Team Battle Modes, you’ll find Online mode and Practice mode. The latter is highly recommended to try out each character and get a feel of how they control.

In both games, the fighters punch, throw, dash (forward and backward), and kick their way through the competition. Special moves are done the same way as any 2D fighters either by, for example, holding a directional arrow for 2 seconds and pressing the opposite direction along with an attack button or down, down-forward, forward with an attack move. So if you’ve played Street Fighter or any SNK 2D fighters, you’ll be in familiar territory.

Also, both games require more of a defensive approach than an offensive one. If you go too hard on the opponent, they’ll block and counter 99% of your attacks. Each character also has a unique set of special attacks and as you attack and defend, your special attack meter slowly fills up to level 3. You can either use each bar as they fill up, but you can also bring up to level 3 and perform a stronger attack.

The game has two major nuisances. The first one being is the game’s balancing. If you fight decently well during the first round, in the second round, the opponent’s A.I. goes into full-on panic mode and just pummels you and blocks most of your attacks. Even on the EASIEST difficulty setting; newcomers to the genre will definitely be frustrated with this. It’s the same issue with both games. And the other issue is the final boss. He easily ranks in the top 5 of the cheapest final boss of all fighting games. He’s up there with Mortal Kombat 9’s Shao Kahn, Street Fighter 3rd Strike’s Gill, and Street Fighter IV’s Seth.

Both games in the Breakers Collection have beautiful classic 2D pixelated visuals. Each character looks distinctly different with different color schemes that can be selected depending on the button pressed when selecting a character. Each level stands out decently well from one another; even the clones, while obviously using the same character model, the color palette makes it stand out. The soundtrack is fine; it’s enjoyable and suits the gameplay pretty well, but you’ll be so focused on not getting your butt kicked that you’ll tune it out.

As a huge fan of 2D fighters, I was looking forward to having the chance of playing the Breakers Collection. Having never heard of it, let alone own a Neo Geo console, I was curious to see if it played like other SNK-published fighters. And the short answer? It’s not as enjoyable as the others. While the combat in itself is fine, the main issue is that the game is unforgiving… even on the Easiest setting. A.I. constantly going in panic mode and completely wrecking you when you win a round or Bai-Hu, the new contender for the cheapest boss of all time makes for a frustrating experience. Unless you can beat SFIV’s Seth or SF 3rd Strike’s Gill flawlessly, don’t even bother trying this…unless you want to punish yourself.