ClayFighter: The Sculptor's Cut

"Wow, a pretty good game"

Back in the early 80s, fighting games were all the rage (thanks to Street Fighter II). So Interplay released a parody fighting game for the SNES called Clayfighter. This game used clay puppets and stop motion animation to make a game. Clayfighter became pretty popular and spawned a sequel for the N64: Clayfighter 63 1/3. However, they soon released this rental only cart, which added more characters and fun to the game.

If you've played Clayfighter 63 1/3, then you've pretty much played this game too. This is more of an update than anything else. If you remember when 63 1/3 was in production, they showed the characters High Five, Lock Jaw, Lady Liberty, Zappa Yow Yow Boyz (or something), and Hobo Cop. All of these characters were cut due to space constraints. Well, these characters all made it to the Sculptor's Cut...except for Hobo Cop, who's seemingly is gone forever. Of course, with these new characters, a few moves had to be taken away, but it's nothing drastic. There are also no more auto combos, meaning that you'll have to do everything manually. As for the game itself, it's a pretty basic 2-D fighting game. There are special moves, combos, and even Clayalities. Clayalities are just like the Fatalities in Mortal Kombat, but they're all pretty funny. There are even some hidden characters that you have to activate with codes to play as them (High Five, Boogerman, Earthworm Jim, and Sumo Santa).

The graphics of this game are pretty good. You can tell that all of the characters are clay models, and it looks really good. The sounds also seem to fit the theme in a way. But the taunts are hilarious! They really add a lot to this already good game.

Clayfighter: The Sculptor's Cut is more of an update to Clayfighter 63 1/3 than anything else. It's much the same way as Championship Edition updated Street Fighter 2. The big surprise about this game is that it's only available for rental at Blockbuster stores. This means that you have a very low chance of ever owning this game. However, it is a pretty good rental, and if you have nothing to do for a weekend, you should give this one a rent. It'll keep you occupied.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 08/07/01