NeoGeo Battle Coliseum [PS2] - play as Neo-Dio

This is a play-through using Neo-Dio in the PS2 version of NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. Read on below for more information...

Neo-Dio is one of the bosses of this game. He is an unlockable playable character.

===== About Neo-Dio =====
Neo-Dio originates from the game World Heroes Perfect. In NGBC, he has been completely re-designed and re-drawn in the more realistic semi-KOF style. His special and super moves are faithful to his original counterparts in the past games that he has appeared in.

Gameplay-wise, Neo-Dio is a fast and versatile character, and out of the 4 bosses in the game, he is the one with the most "tools" to use against opponents. This makes him a very powerful character to use. Additionally, Neo-Geegus makes an appearance in his Ultimate Illusion super move... he is a head-swap of Neo-Dio, but still cool to see him appear.

As usual, the CPU Neo-Dio is more powerful and is slightly different to the player version, in which I note the differences below.

=== Differences between player and CPU Neo-Dio ===

---- CPU Neo-Dio has two extra special moves. The first one consists of him throwing out 4 miniature projectiles at an upwards angle; and the second one consists of him producing a liquid to trap the opponent, leaving him/her vunerable. The player version of him does not have these moves.

---- CPU Neo-Dio seems to be able to combo off his Invincible Wall counter move - after the move, he always follows it up with the Thunder Blow.

---- CPU Neo-Dio inflicts much higher energy depletion.

---- CPU Neo-Dio recovers the red parts of his life ridiculously quickly.

===== About NGBC =====
NeoGeo Battle Coliseum happens to be one of my favorite fighting games. The 2-on-2 tag team feature is nice, and I loved the dream match factor of how characters from other SNK-based games are included. Even characters from different time periods (i.e. Nakoruru) are in, some with new/re-drawn sprites as well.

The idea that you could face up to 4 bosses (3 of them well-known) offers variety in single-player mode, and the cheesy-but-lighthearted story about Goodman, who I quote: "I will topple NeoGeo's most powerful warriors and put myself on the throne!" adds to it's charm. The interface graphics of the game is very "modern" and is unlike what you usually see in a fighting game.

===== The Story/Plot =====
The reasons for the game's story/plot is an interesting one, as there is a message behind it from the developers SNK. It also represents real-life happenings back then.

For starters, in the game, the name of the organization that hosts the tournament is called "WAREZ", which is an obvious play on the word 'warez' (which means illegitimate software), as SNK Playmore blames software copying as one of the reasons for it's company bankruptcy in 2001. Yuki and Ai, the two protagonists, are sent to the tournament by the Federal Government to investigate and stop WAREZ/Goodman... which is also a play on what the authorities should've done to combat it.

Also, the boss Goodman was created to represent the time when SNK and the NeoGeo were under the control of Eolith, so they made him look a bit like Igniz, who of course is Eolith's character.

===== Region Differences =====

---- The European version suffers from incomplete language translation, which is why you don't get any text/dialogue during the boss cut-scenes and character true endings. Also, some character's win quotes on the winning screen just say "dummy4" or "dummy1". The background of the menu screen is also static instead of being animated like in the Japanese and USA versions.

----- The USA version translates the game properly, you will get text/dialogue in the boss cut-scenes and character true endings. The background of the menu screen is animated. Also, the loading times were much faster as well - this was done by stopping the music during loading. Whilst it dramatically shortened the waits between each match, it also meant that it's less authentic to the Arcade version.