SNK Playmore announced today a compilation of the popular fighting game series, World Heroes. World Heroes Anthology will debut next spring on Playstation 2.

“World Heroes Anthology is a complete compilation of the World Heroes series, one of SNK Playmore Corporation’s most popular 2D-fighting series,” the company said in a statement today. The title will include World Heroes, World Heroes 2, World Heroes 2 Jet and World Heroes Perfect.

In Anthology, players fight through time in a time machine-tournament including many of the franchise’s characters, who are based on historical figures. “World Heroes Anthology includes hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons-based fighting, and super-human abilities allow characters to perform powerful special attacks,” SNK said.

“World Heroes Anthology puts a twist on the tried-and-true 2D-fighter formula,” said Ben Herman, president of SNK. “The time-travel element allows for the inclusion of characters inspired by figures ranging from ancient philosophers to modern-day athletes.”

The game shows the continued viability of the Playstation 2 console and is one of many games already announced for PS2 in 2008.

John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine. He can be reached at guilfoil.j@blastmagazine.com.