Kizuna Encounter’s Steam Comeback Is The Right Kind of Retro Revival

The Neo Geo cult classic finally gets the online it deserved

Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle landing on Steam caught my attention for one simple reason: this isn’t another barebones ROM dump. SNK brought it back with rollback netcode, up-to-9-player online lobbies, spectator mode, built-in tournament tools, four-player tag battles, a real Practice Mode with a hitbox viewer, and even a jukebox. For a 1996 tag fighter that’s lived in the shadows of King of Fighters and Garou, that’s a surprisingly modern package-and the launch sale runs through October 18, which is a nice nudge to actually try it.

Key takeaways

• Real rollback netcode plus spectator and tournament features bring Kizuna into 2025 properly.
• Four-player tag battles turn this from a museum piece into a party-ready brawler.
• Practice Mode includes a hitbox viewer-rare for retro fighters and huge for learning.
• Sale pricing runs through October 18, making the jump-in cost friendlier at launch.

Breaking down the package (what you’re actually getting)

The headline is rollback, and that’s not just marketing seasoning. A lot of classic fighting game re-releases slap “online” on the store page and call it a day; you jump in and it feels like you’re playing through syrup. Kizuna’s Steam version promises rollback netcode from the start, which, paired with lobbies that support up to nine players and a spectator mode, means you can run sets, rotate the queue, and watch friends without Discord screen-share gymnastics. The built-in tournament mode is the cherry on top for grassroots TOs who want to spin up bracketing nights without relying on external tools.

The four-player tag support is the feature I didn’t realize I wanted until now. Kizuna has always been about quick tags and momentum swings; adding two extra humans creates that smoky-arcade chaos modern team fighters thrive on. If you’ve ever wished older SNK titles had a legit “pass the stick” party mode, this scratches that itch.

Then there’s Practice Mode-the feature that decides whether a revival becomes a week-one curiosity or a lab rat’s home base. A live hitbox viewer is a massive deal. It’s the difference between guessing your anti-airs and actually understanding why you’re getting clipped. Record and playback, spacing checks, meaty timings—this stuff matters, and it’s here. The integrated jukebox is a small thing but nice; Neo Geo soundtracks deserve to be heard properly, not as compressed background noise.

Why this matters now

SNK’s back catalog has had a weird life on PC. Some ports have been excellent with modern netcode and training tools; others felt like museum exhibits with a “do not touch” sign. Kizuna Encounter falls into the former, and that’s important. For years, this game has been a cult pick—famous in collecting circles for its ultra-rare AES version, and beloved by a small slice of the community for its tag flow that predates the MvC explosion. Giving it a proper online ecosystem lets people finally play it the way it always should’ve been played: against humans, at speed, without praying the other person lives next door.

It also fits a broader trend: retro fighters getting second lives thanks to rollback and better lobbies. We’ve seen how a good online update can revive scenes and spawn weekly events out of nowhere. If even a fraction of today’s tag-curious players try Kizuna because it’s easy to hop in and the matches actually feel good, that’s a win for variety in a genre that sometimes feels dominated by the same three heavyweights.

Skeptic check: what to watch for

No re-release gets a free pass. The questions I have are the ones that separate a great port from a “maybe during a Steam sale” install. How stable is matchmaking during peak hours? Do the lobbies fill up beyond week one? Is input latency tight enough for reactions to matter, especially with fast tags? And while online tools look solid, crossplay isn’t on the table—this is a Steam release—so the community will live or die on PC alone. That’s fine if the netcode holds up and the tournament tooling gets adopted; less fine if the player base scatters.

I’m also curious about options for teaching and onboarding. The hitbox viewer is fantastic, but do we have decent tutorials or mission-style trials to help new players understand Kizuna’s pace and how to build a coherent tag gameplan? The line between chaos and mastery can be thin in older tag fighters; a little structure goes a long way in keeping newcomers around.

Who should jump in—and why

If you live for lab work and love dissecting classic systems, this is an easy recommend. Hitbox tools plus rollback are the lab monster starter kit. If you’re a local multiplayer fiend, the four-player mode alone is worth a weekend. And if you’re a long-time SNK fan who missed Kizuna because it was hard to find or impossible to play online, this is the first time it’s felt accessible without caveats.

For everyone else: it’s a fast, momentum-heavy tag fighter that doesn’t play like modern anime air-dashers or Marvel-style assist fiestas. That difference is the point. It feels like a time capsule in the best way—now with the modern scaffolding to actually hold a scene together.

TL;DR

Kizuna Encounter on Steam is the kind of retro revival that earns its keep: rollback netcode, real lobbies, four-player tag, and a proper lab. If the player base sticks and matchmaking stays smooth, this could be the moment Kizuna finally steps out of cult status and into regular rotation—helped by a launch sale running through October 18.