Sango Fighter 2 is a hidden gem in the middle of a fuss of popular 2D Fighting games.
Maybe the biggest problem with Panda's title is that the only language available for it is Chinese, so Americans and Europeans alike will obviously have a hard time trying to figure out how to configure the game and make it run. I found this strange because the first Sango Fighter (1993) had an English version as well, and the sequel is without a doubt by far superior. Once you manage to start a battle, it doesn't matter the language, though.
You may spend around ten minutes to figure out what each option does in the main menu. From the left to the right side of the screen, your first option is to quit the game. The second choice is the configuration menu, to set game speed, sound card and the controller type. There're two options following the configuration settings, probably to see your high scores and load a saved game. The last two choices allow you to enter in the Arcade and Career modes.
From my point of view, the Arcade mode is where the game really shines. Since Sango Fighter is based in the popular "Romance of Three Kingdoms", by Luo GuanZhong, the choices you have for your character is based on personalities from that novel. After entering in the Arcade mode, you can choose between sixteen avatars. My choice was Chao Yun (Romanized name for Zhao Yun), a guy dressed in blue that wields a vorpal sword. The Artificial Intelligence will also pick up a character randomly, and the match starts in the stage level of your enemy. Each opponent has a different stage, and they all look amazing.
The Chinese warriors vary from skilled melee fighters to powerful magicians, or even a combination of these two. There is certainly a character that will suit perfectly for you; just remember to try them all before sticking with the best looking one. I didn't like the fact that there aren't female choices, but it actually makes sense because the Chinese heroes where mainly soldiers and generals from the different kingdoms. For instance, you'll have the choice to play with remarkable personalities from the Ancient China, such as the feudal lord Liu Bu, the hero Chang Fei and even Guan Yu (AKA Kwan Kung), one of the greatest warriors, known for being the crafter of the powerful Guan dao (the general's blade).
The computer plays quite well with all the available characters, although after some hours you'll begin to predict his moves. This doesn't mean that Sango Fighter 2 will become easy, because you need skill to perform the special attacks quick enough and to avoid the movement glitches; yes, unfortunately Panda Entertainment failed to deliver smooth movement for their characters. Sometimes it's cumbersome to issue simple commands such as a jumping attack or a retaliation after a successful block. Since the AI is merciless, every bug during the fight counts negatively to the player. But it's just a matter of time to get used with these problems, and suddenly you'll even take advantage of the movement's glitches limitation to perform some cool combinations.
Each character has three special moves, along with the common attacks that may vary depending on how far you're from your enemy. Since the movement is a bit unresponsive, don't except lengthy combos as the ones seen in the Street Fighter series. Aside from your life bar, Sango Fighter 2 also features a power bar that fills up during the battle. When the bar is maxed out, you can deliver one special move with increased damage. For example, Chao Yun may use his sword to cast a tiny projectile against his opponent, but when you fill up the power bar, the same projectile becomes faster and more powerful. After releasing the special attack, the power bar resets to zero and will gradually fills up again during the fight.
The graphics in Sango Fighter 2 are actually pretty good for a 1995 game. I found them even better than in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, especially when talking about the scenarios. You'll be fighting in battlefields, small villages, beautiful natural environments and more, much more. If that wasn't enough, the characters and their special moves all look great. I found the graphics quite impressive. The same can be said about the sound effects and music, which fits perfectly well for the Chinese theme of Sango Fighter 2.
The Arcade mode ends when you beat all the sixteen characters that the AI randomly picks up. Then a simple ending scene appears, which is different for each hero, of course. You can also play this game against a friend, although the keyboard lags a bit when both players are issuing complex commands. It's a good idea to use a joystick in the two player mode. The last game mode is the Conquer China, or the Career mode, if you prefer. This one allows you to attack the most important regions in China; holding them all grants you victory. When the Career begins, you can choose between five different characters (from the Arcade mode), and each one has its peculiarities. When attacking a region, you may choose how many soldiers will siege along with your king. The battle begins with your troops against the enemy's defending forces, and your last opponent will be the main general himself. The common soldiers vary from archers, pikemans and swordsmen; understand that the siege plays like exactly a random Arcade fight, except that you have to beat more than one character to achieve victory.
It's a fun mode, but the music doesn't ever change during the Career mode and it gets a bit repetitive after an hour or so. There're also some cool strategy concepts thrown in, such as the troop management between your controlled regions and how you'll plan your next decisions, because you can't simply siege all the possible enemy regions in sight without the necessary amount of soldiers. The problem is that all the text in Chinese, so the only way to understand how the Conquer Chine mode really works is to experiment all the buttons available and to compare the results.
Considering that you can get used with the unresponsive controls, Sango Fighter 2 is without a doubt an amazing 2D Fighting game. Don't get frustrated if you can't run it in Windows, because you can always use DOSBox to run MS-DOS based games. The emulator works perfectly fine and you'll enjoy playing it as you would back in 1995. You just need good fortune to find a copy of Sango Fighter 2; however if you manage to get one around, I suggest you to keep it as a hidden gem.