REVIEW: Fighter
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Found on: 4-in-1 Game Cart (Volume 12)
[Blurb unknown - as we have no manual] |
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One of the joys of collecting for the GameKing is the journey into the unknown. While many of the game's individual releases have been documented elsewhere, it's in the unknown periphery of the systems numerous multi-carts that the real treasures often lurk.
Released near the end of the system's life, these 4-in-1 cartridges often contain previously released titles, but can, just as often, contain entirely unknown and outlandish variables.
When we saw the rather uninspiring name 'Fighter' on the front of Volume 12 of these multi-carts we fully expected another variation on the Street Hero engine. Given how that game features an intro of a Ryu-esque karate man performing a hadoken into the screen and then pulls a complete bait and switch by being a Double Dragon clone, we still weren't fully convinced of Fighter's nature when we turned it on and witnessed what was clearly a GameKing rendition of Street Fighter 2's classic intro.
It was only upon pushing start and being confronted with what appeared to be a character select screen that a slight smile started to form.
'Okay, that looks like Ryu and...wait...is that...Blanka...Chun-Li...oh...wait...is this...?'
The answer is: Yes. Yes it is.
This is, to all intents and purposes, Street Fighter 2...for the GameKing!
Released near the end of the system's life, these 4-in-1 cartridges often contain previously released titles, but can, just as often, contain entirely unknown and outlandish variables.
When we saw the rather uninspiring name 'Fighter' on the front of Volume 12 of these multi-carts we fully expected another variation on the Street Hero engine. Given how that game features an intro of a Ryu-esque karate man performing a hadoken into the screen and then pulls a complete bait and switch by being a Double Dragon clone, we still weren't fully convinced of Fighter's nature when we turned it on and witnessed what was clearly a GameKing rendition of Street Fighter 2's classic intro.
It was only upon pushing start and being confronted with what appeared to be a character select screen that a slight smile started to form.
'Okay, that looks like Ryu and...wait...is that...Blanka...Chun-Li...oh...wait...is this...?'
The answer is: Yes. Yes it is.
This is, to all intents and purposes, Street Fighter 2...for the GameKing!
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Ryu, Blanka, Ken, Guile, Chun Li and...err...we've no idea who the final guy is meant to be but, in-game, it appears to be 'The Boxer' from the original game.
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Let's take a step back for a moment and think about how utterly crazy and hugely ambitious an idea this was. The GameKing is no stranger to cloning games from other systems...but these are usually simple affairs: Three level clones of Super Mario, with Mario portrayed as a bipedal ant hopping on waddling turnips, for example, are commonplace. There are the simple top-down shooters with limited animation or the simplistic Double Dragon clones mentioned above. Yet, here we have some mad programmer thinking he can bring one of the 90's seminal videogame franchises to a machine that often demonstrates little more graphical 'oomph' than a Nokia 3310!
Yet there was that intro sequence and here were six (!) selectable characters that clearly hinted at six diverse fighters from our arcade past (even if we couldn't quite fgure out who the last one was supposed to be!) Surely it would all fall apart in the actual gameplay, wouldn't it?
I pushed start to find out...and, almost immediately, swallowed my misgivings.
"Fight" yelled the GameKing in a sample pulled straight from Streetfighter 2 itself and there was Ryu, albeit looking more like Prince Adam from He-Man, facing off against Blanka. Blanka threw a few arbitrary punches while I fiddled with the controls and then I almost dropped the GameKing when he squatted down and performed his electrocution move!
Instinctively, nostalgia caused my fingers to roll a quarter circle and hit the B button in response.
"Hadoken" yelled the GameKing as Ryu performed the familiar gesture and blasted out a fireball.
My jaw dropped a little. The game actually had special moves...and not just special moves but proper digiitsed speech to accompany them, ripped straight from the original game.
The GameKing has always impressed with its audio output but never before have I witnessed it used as well as in this game.
Guile 'Sonic Booms' and Chun-Li yells as she unleashes the hundred foot kick. Sadly, Ken does not 'Tatsumakuspempukyaku' as he lets fly with his spin kick but still, the constant digitised speech samples really are quite something.
Yet there was that intro sequence and here were six (!) selectable characters that clearly hinted at six diverse fighters from our arcade past (even if we couldn't quite fgure out who the last one was supposed to be!) Surely it would all fall apart in the actual gameplay, wouldn't it?
I pushed start to find out...and, almost immediately, swallowed my misgivings.
"Fight" yelled the GameKing in a sample pulled straight from Streetfighter 2 itself and there was Ryu, albeit looking more like Prince Adam from He-Man, facing off against Blanka. Blanka threw a few arbitrary punches while I fiddled with the controls and then I almost dropped the GameKing when he squatted down and performed his electrocution move!
Instinctively, nostalgia caused my fingers to roll a quarter circle and hit the B button in response.
"Hadoken" yelled the GameKing as Ryu performed the familiar gesture and blasted out a fireball.
My jaw dropped a little. The game actually had special moves...and not just special moves but proper digiitsed speech to accompany them, ripped straight from the original game.
The GameKing has always impressed with its audio output but never before have I witnessed it used as well as in this game.
Guile 'Sonic Booms' and Chun-Li yells as she unleashes the hundred foot kick. Sadly, Ken does not 'Tatsumakuspempukyaku' as he lets fly with his spin kick but still, the constant digitised speech samples really are quite something.
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Capturing screenshots for the GameKing is difficult at the best of times. Trying to pull off special moves on the GameKing II's terrible d-pad while trying to photograph it's backlit screen and keep the camera in focus is nigh on impossible. Thus you'll have to make do with these rather pedestrian looking screenshots of the fighters in question exchanging angry words with each other.
Top left: Ryu vs Blanka complete with digitised "fight" ripped straight from SF2.
Top Middle: Blanka performs his electrocution special (obviously you can't see the frames of animation in this screenshot, but they are there).
Top Right: Guile gets ready to unleash a Sonic Boom on Ryu , complete with voice sample.
Top left: Ryu vs Blanka complete with digitised "fight" ripped straight from SF2.
Top Middle: Blanka performs his electrocution special (obviously you can't see the frames of animation in this screenshot, but they are there).
Top Right: Guile gets ready to unleash a Sonic Boom on Ryu , complete with voice sample.
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Top left: The wholly unecessary pause screen. Top Middle: Chun-Li vs Ryu, Top Right: Ryu vs the game's final boss who may or may not be SF2's 'boxer' character. It's unclear as his special move involves him flailing his glove around like a morning star!
Further play testing revealed the following.
Each character has a unique series of punches and kicks, largely replicated from the original game. Each character also has one special move, seemingly pulled off via the traditional quarter circle and punch/kick motion that is now so familiar to fighting game fans.
Ryu has the Hadoken fireball, Ken has the spin kick, Chun-Li has the hundred foot kick, Guile has the Sonic Boom, Blanka has the electric shock and the last character, who seems to be modelled after Balrog/M.Bison in game, has a weird thing where he spins his glove around like a ball and chain.
There are six different stages to fight on, each with a different background, although sadly only one piece of sampled music (not from SF2) playing throughout.
So the big question is: Technical achievements aside, how does it play.
The answer is: not to badly (presuming you use the GameKing 1's d-pad and not any of the horrible d-pads found on the successor systems).
For an unlicensed knock-off, it's certainly a lot more fun than the risiable efforts found on certain 8-bit home computers, such as US Gold's awful C64 port and it probably still contains more animation frames than the Game Boy version!
The real joy, though, is that, thanks to the attention to detail (and gratuitous copyright theft) it feels like you're playing a Street Fighter game on your GameKing and not just a game designed by someone who once had Street Fighter described to him by a man in a pub.
It won't take you long to pummel through it's six stages and, yes, it is possible to button mash your way to victory (as it was on the game Boy version)...but I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I can now Hadoken Blanka in the face...on a GameKing! That this treasure is only available on an obscure multi-cart makes it feel all the more like some programmers delightful private joke.
An audacious and outrageous piece of programming on a console that really is a law unto itself and whose very existence continues to be the very definition of videogaming enigma.
Whatever Next? A "port" of Magician Lord?
Funny you should mention that....
Score 7/10
Each character has a unique series of punches and kicks, largely replicated from the original game. Each character also has one special move, seemingly pulled off via the traditional quarter circle and punch/kick motion that is now so familiar to fighting game fans.
Ryu has the Hadoken fireball, Ken has the spin kick, Chun-Li has the hundred foot kick, Guile has the Sonic Boom, Blanka has the electric shock and the last character, who seems to be modelled after Balrog/M.Bison in game, has a weird thing where he spins his glove around like a ball and chain.
There are six different stages to fight on, each with a different background, although sadly only one piece of sampled music (not from SF2) playing throughout.
So the big question is: Technical achievements aside, how does it play.
The answer is: not to badly (presuming you use the GameKing 1's d-pad and not any of the horrible d-pads found on the successor systems).
For an unlicensed knock-off, it's certainly a lot more fun than the risiable efforts found on certain 8-bit home computers, such as US Gold's awful C64 port and it probably still contains more animation frames than the Game Boy version!
The real joy, though, is that, thanks to the attention to detail (and gratuitous copyright theft) it feels like you're playing a Street Fighter game on your GameKing and not just a game designed by someone who once had Street Fighter described to him by a man in a pub.
It won't take you long to pummel through it's six stages and, yes, it is possible to button mash your way to victory (as it was on the game Boy version)...but I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I can now Hadoken Blanka in the face...on a GameKing! That this treasure is only available on an obscure multi-cart makes it feel all the more like some programmers delightful private joke.
An audacious and outrageous piece of programming on a console that really is a law unto itself and whose very existence continues to be the very definition of videogaming enigma.
Whatever Next? A "port" of Magician Lord?
Funny you should mention that....
Score 7/10
