Fighter's History

"It attracted criticism for the wrong reasons - it isn't a rip-off of Street Fighter II - it's just not a very new or innovative 1-on-1 ! =./"

FOREWORD

Fighter's History is a game which caused much controversy when it was released. It actually wound up accruing a very high profile law suit, as Capcom sued Data East claiming that Fighter's History was more than just a clone of Street Fighter II - it was, in fact a rip-off of their beloved title.

Capcom lost.

But did Data East win ? Is Fighter's History worthy of a place alongside the much lauded Street Fighter II in Sinister's eyes ?? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

Fighter's History is a 1-on-1 Beat-em'up, where you must choose your character from the nine on offer, and enter a tournament to win fame, glory and a place in the history books.

In short, it's just like aaaaaall the other fighting games out there.

GRAPHICS - 8/10

Graphically the game is nice enough - the fighters are all reasonably large and well-presented, and the backgrounds are all decently detailed, with animations to keep you satisfied, but not overly amazed.

The special effects are generally bright and pleasing to the eye - fireballs are often stylised (such as Feilin's), and many of the fighter's regular attacks - punches, kicks, flips, jump kicks and so on, are both stylish and satisfying to see pulled-off on-screen.

SOUND - 7/10

The sound is a bit disappointing in comparison with the graphics to be honest - the voice samples sound like the people that did them were being auditioned in a big hall, as there is an echo when they speak, and the match commentator's voice is not overly satisfying. Ordinarily the match commentator comes out with blurb which makes you feel they are enjoying the match ... this guy makes it sound like he's just won the national lottery when you win - just listen to how he says "... wins !" - he's ECSTATIC poor lad !!

Nevermind.

The sound-effects are decent-enough, with some hefty thwacking noises thrown in to make sure the illusion of contact with your adversary is preserved, acoustically-speaking, as best as possible, and that pays off - as I have said time and time again, there is NOTHING worse in a fighting game than not feeling as though you are making contact with your enemy, as it makes you wonder why you're even bothering !!

Likewise, the sound of your enemy hitting the ground when they lose the bout is VERY satisfying - they sound like they weigh about 2 tonnes every time they go down !! Good stuff :)

CONTROLS - 9/10

The Fighter's History controls are very responsive and satisfying to get to grips with. There are occasionally times when you might feel as though the way in which a given character moves is responsible for your having mis-calculated a hit or part of a combination of moves, but generally-speaking, the controls are very accurate and responsive.

Consequently the learning-curve when you are playing should be very quick, and you should have little-to-no problem getting into the swing of using your favourite character/s whatsoever :)

PLOT - 4/10

Just like so many other fighting games, Fighter's History suffers tremendously with its plot. There is this fighting tournament you see ... and, for whatever reason (which differs from fighter to fighter naturally), you have decided to enter into it. Substantial rewards are on offer for the victor, as well as the fame and glory of victory itself.

The tournament takes place with nine regular combatants, and two bosses - Clown and Karnov, and functions just like every other martial arts tournament ever devised really.

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

Whilst there are definitely some enjoyable bits involved in playing Fighter's History, there is also a definite sense of ennui that creeps in during periods of protracted play.

It has long been a criticism of the 1-on-1 beat-em'up style of video games that there is a basic and fundamental lack of variety between the characters involved in these games and, whilst I have always vehemently denied that this is the case, Fighter's History is one of the rare titles where I can see such allegations not being entirely baseless.

I do believe that it is RATHER unfair to call the game a rip-off of Street Fighter II - I just believe that it lacks sufficient differences from a number of similar titles to give it the space it would really like to carve out as its own.

There is one thing which Fighter's History does during play which no other fighting game I have come across does, and that is to introduce the concept of localised stunning, by which I mean every fighter has a weak spot on their person - usually an item of clothing such as a bandana, chest plate, belt, mask or similar which, when hit a sufficient number of times, will begin to flash.

If the item is struck whilst flashing sufficient times, it will fall away from the fighter, and cause them to be stunned for a period of time, giving their opponent a free-hit.

Street Fighter II did do something similar with regard to Vega's Claw - however, in Fighter's History the concept has been expanded upon, and now forms a significant area of play (even though most matches won't last long enough for the item in question to come off !!).

The sensation of playing the game is a generally positive one - the feeling of contact between the fighters when they hit is very well handled, thanks to the combination of good sprite collision-detection methods, and good, deep sound-effects to back it up, and the special moves are generally easy to pull off, and satisfying to watch.

Therefore, I would sum up the gameplay of this title by saying that it is satisfying to play up to a point, but it lacks sufficient individuality as a title to stand up against the very stiff competition, when viewed under scrutiny.

REPLAY VALUE - 5/10

Unfortunately there isn't really that much in Fighter's History to make it worthwhile spending a large period of time playing it to begin with, let alone leaving you with that sensation of absolutely NEEDING to play it again.

This is, regrettably, one of the titles that, whilst it may well remain in your collection for a long, long time, will probably do so because you have forgotten it exists, and will almost definitely be covered in a substantial amount of dust by the time you find it again.

VALUE FOR MONEY - 5/10

Given the difficulties in obtaining a copy of Fighter's History (based on its age, the fact that it is a Super Nintendo title and the difficulty in getting your hands on a working Super NES to play it on), I believe the amount of work you would have to do to get yourself a copy of Fighter's History for the Super NES arguably outweighs the enjoyment you would gain from playing it, and so the title does NOT represent very good value for money.

OVERALL - 7/10 (This is NOT an average)

Fighter's History is a good, solid title which is only really marred by the lack of anything new within its framework which, in turn, is why the game has attracted so much criticism.

As I have before, I think it is unfair to call the game a rip-off of Street Fighter II, and I think Capcom were foolish to pursue court action against Data East because it made them look silly - the game never did that well in the marketplace anyway, so they should just have sat on their laurels and welcomed the challenge !!

In any event, Fighter's History is definitely NOT the best example of its genre, nor is it the worst - it probably ranks about 66% up the scale to its credit.

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* Good, solid sense of contact between characters
* Nine playable characters as standard, plus two boss characters which can be made playable by entering a cheat code

MAIN BAD POINTS

* Almost total lack of anything new - almost every aspect of Fighter's History is catered to by a number of other similar titles in the marketplace.

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

If you are a 1-on-1 beat-em'up NUTCASE with a NEED to sample every title you can get your greedy little mits on (like myself), then yeah - I would say it is worthwhile getting a copy of Fighter's History just to see what all the controversy was about. If, however, you are able to look beyond that, and are just looking to get your hands on a copy of a really good 1-on-1 beat-em'up for the Super NES, then I would suggest either buying Super Street Fighter II, or Mortal Kombat 2, both of which are much better than this offering.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Fighter's History (US, 1994)