WeaponLord

"The best looking of the two versions..."

With Weaponlord for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, you’ll find that nothing has really changed from the Genesis version other than the visuals are slightly muted to the point of where everything comes together for a rather nice looking game. The control functions are still as in-depth as they were with the Genesis version, and if you’re luck enough to have a Super Advantage control stick, you may find that the game is actually easier to play through! The story remains as it did before in which you take control of one of six characters to battle the evil Raith and stop the prophecy of evil from coming true. Most of the game seems to be based off of every barbarian movie that was ever created and you’ll find that Weaponlord is a good combination of several different fighting games that we already have. With references to Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tekken, this truly comes together as one of the best fighting games that you can get for your SNES and shouldn’t be left out in the cold by anyone who is seriously into the fighting game genre!

The game play is about as fast and furious as you’re going to get with a fighting game, and the truly extensive part of the game comes up with the combinations that you can perform and the different moves that you can do in battle. While this may seem easy at first, the real true challenge of the game is to get through the various stages against an extremely difficult opponent while trying to keep your own head on your shoulders! You’ll find that the difficulty of the game is really offset by the character that you decide that you’re going to choose, as each path and the characters you face range from medium to hard without any sort of footsteps into the land of easy. The combinations are a completely different story in which you have to nail special move into regular moves into more special moves without missing a beat. The combination factor of the game is so high that you can literally combine several different moves into a string and in most cases, you have to pull an execution style move into the combination in order to finish off your opponent. Now, the cool thing about this is that you can not only do just one fatality, but you can move into successive strikes that will completely decimate your opponent by causing up to seven consecutive death strikes that hit all the portions of the body and create a rather violent finish! The game is a two-player game, and in all honesty, you would be better off to start here on a solo mission just so you can get the timing, spacing and moves down pat before you even attempt to tackle the game.

The control of Weaponlord is something that takes practice and timing to get down correctly. In all honesty, you’re better off with a six-button controller, so that you don’t have to switch between the three-button controller to do the different moves! Where instances of other fighting games comes in, is with the strength set up that Weaponlord features with three different punches and three different kicks. All of the moves are done with a directional pad movement and then a button press, while the fatalities {Mortal Kombat anyone?} are done with a simple special move thrown into a combination. Most of the game is played through this six-button format, and you’ll find that if you have a Super Advantage joystick, you’ll have a much easier time getting through the game and learning just how to control and react with your characters. One of the key points to the game is to learn how to use each character effectively with the different blocks and parries that you’ll find. This control function simply increases the replay value in which you really have to study the control and learn it in order to play through the game the way that it was meant!

Visually, the game fits the overly dark and violent mood that the game is supposed to portray. Each character looks like something out of a Conan movie, and all of them move with a style and grace all of their own! The SNES version of the game seems to have a sharpness problem that you really can’t get past unless you’re looking for some extreme accuracy. Now that isn’t to say that the SNES does a bad job, because with the slightly muted feeling that you find here, you still have some pretty smoother visuals to look at and to give the SNES its credit, the death strikes all look a little more toned up for this version. Still with the SNES version, one of the stages that stands out the most in my mind is the Treetops, in which you seem to be fighting on a huge spider web that is spun between the trees! While there isn’t anything here that really interacts in the backgrounds, you’ll still find that there is plenty of eye candy to look at and plenty of special effects to make your mouth water.

The music in the game is something of a different matter though. While the game does have that barbarian feel to it, the music of each stage seems to repeat a little more often than you would hope for, and in some situations you’ll hear the same music two or three times depending on where you are! The sound effects are of a different quality though in which you have some of the generic thuds and groans, but the different explosions and taunts that come out when fighting as well as the weapons clanging together really makes an impact. When you combine all of these things together, you’ll find that the audio combination of primal music with the sword fighting matches the action and theme that the game has to offer! Now with the SNES version of the game, you really don’t have too much that differs from the Genesis version, other than the fact that the game takes on a slightly more bass filled tone than it did before. All in all, this makes it an exact port over translation of the Genesis version with no real differences to be found.

Weaponlord is a game that belongs in a genre all its own. With weapons and barbarians, scantily clad amazons and some heavy death moves, there is plenty of depth beneath the rather basic seeming premise that the game has to offer! The control is great if you’ve got an arcade stick, the visuals {while slightly muted} are some of the best out of a Super Nintendo fighting game and even the music fits the mood and makes more than enough impact to keep you playing through the game. The only beef that I have with the game is that there is such a lack of characters and different special moves that the true depth of the game be realized once you’ve mastered all of the characters available to you. The better looking of the two system versions, this is a wonderful, if not necessary addition to anyone’s SNES library.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/01, Updated 12/27/01