The Last Blade 2 - Takane Hibiki

Whipped up a quick picture of a favourite fighting game character of mine, the reluctant and shy practitioner of Musō Shinden-Ryū, Takane Hibiki, from SNKs' awesome "The Last Blade 2".

I loved the Last Blade series so much, I even got myself a Neogeo Pocket just to play it on the go.

She was such a fan favourite, that she also made it into Capcom VS SNK 2, my all-time favourite fighting game~





When Capcom VS SNK 2 first hit the Japanese arcades many years ago, I would feverishly dig up as much information about the game as I could, browsing news sites and reading first-time impressions from people who were lucky enough to play the game. I loved the first Capcom VS SNK, and hearing that Hibiki was going to be in the sequel, made me want to import the game all the more.

And one story that I read that always stuck with me, was about one competitor at a Japanese arcade who was using a ratio 4 Sagat (I think) and was just wiping out the competition. People were a little miffed, but there wasn't anything that they could do about it.

Then an unknown guy steps up to the challenge, and I forget the rest of his team, but he chose a ratio 1 Hibiki to be on point. And then, much to everyone's surprise and delight, knocks out the Sagat guy with just Hibiki.

And THAT, is just one of the many reasons why I think Hibiki is just swell~

Plus sticking her Distance Slash at the end of a combo is just so darned therapeutic~