Oh, this is a treat. By now, some of you may have heard of, or tasted the fame that is Marvel Vs. Capcom. Originally a CPS2-type game, it stands as a famous entry in the Capcom Versus series, shadowing both Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom and Capcom Vs. SNK. This series has a total of 6 games under its belt, and it's still popular today with the more recent entry debuting this year. Let's go through time to see how it became one of the big ones in the fighting game world.
1996: X-Men vs. Street Fighter
The year 1996 was a good year for Capcom. Around this time, they tried their hand with making Marvel-licensed games, and succeeded already with 2 games that released before this time, those being X-Men: Children of the Atom, and Marvel Super Heroes. The first instance that something big would come from it was the fact that Akuma, a Street Fighter character, was a secret character in X-Men: Children of the Atom, accessible by code. The combo system, which was kind of complexed in that game, was more simplified came the release of Marvel Super Heroes. Once more, there was a hidden one there, but this one due to leftover code, most likely. The character in question was Anita, who usually accompanied Donovan, and hails from the Darkstalkers series. However, unlike Akuma, she was incomplete, with a few attacks sometimes using his sprite, and that she features no name on the lifebar, no ending, and uses Thanos' portrait if somehow selected.
While Children of the Atom was published overseas to the US under Acclaim, that, and any title succeeding this would retain the Capcom label. After those two were released and played out, it was time to mix things up a little. This would mark the official premier of Marvel's universe matching up against Capcom's own Street Fighter universe. In this year, they released a coin-op arcade title X-men Vs. Street Fighter, which took elements from the two Marvel games, and blended it with tag team gameplay and Street Fighter flair. The sprites on X-Men's side used their Children of the Atom style, while Street Fighter's sprites were taken from Street Fighter Alpha, a game released around the same time. In addition Cammy White would appear in Shadaloo-style clothing as a playable character on the Street Fighter roster, before her appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, and it's successor Street Fighter Alpha 3. Super moves were retained from both, while Infinity Counter of Marvel Super Heroes was replaced by Variable Counter, which uses a super bar and wears down a player's guard, but has their partner attack. Variable Combination
is basically 2 Hyper Combos in one and uses 2 meters. Another pro is that if the player doesn't obtain damage during this, the character they use switch with their backup character. Lastly, the game would usually end when the boss, in this case Apocalypse, is defeated, however, an extra battle occurs against your partner, and you control the character who finishes Apocalypse off.
They were released the following year for Sega Saturn, and the year after for Sony PlayStation, though the tag feature for the 1998 release was canned, due to memory issues. Only the Arcade and PSX port ever saw daylight in the US.
1997: Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter
Reprising what was done, and seeing how much of a hit it was in the arcades (yet only decent to negative in the PSX port), Capcom tried again with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. This time around, the majority of the X-Men cast was swapped out in favor of more characters from the Marvel universe in general, essentially resulting in using sprites from Marvel Super Heroes. All the same, Capcom also had a few shifts on their side, dropping Charlie and Cammy for Dan and Sakura. The system was also tweaked a little, but was essentially similar to the previous game. Apocalypse returned as the main villain, but he wasn't alone. Alongside him was a mechanical-enhanced version of Akuma, dubbed Cyber-Akuma, made by Apocalypse, and is the final boss of the game. Featuring a variation of the Raging Demon, Shining Goku Shock, this move is one reason why everyone hated fighting him, for it works on ground and in mid air. There are also secret characters which are more so palette swaps of others, such as U.S. Agent and Shadow. For the first time, and perhaps the only time in the series, the game featured a neutral character Norimaro as a Japan exclusive character, representing neither side. Modeled after a Japanese comedian, his attacks are perceived just as ridiculous as his sprite movements. Unless someone emulated, or got the Japan-region copy and system, Norimaro was never introduced officially on US soil.
Like it's predecessor, the game was released for Sega Saturn in 1998 for Japan, while released for Sony PlayStation in 1999 for Japan, US, and the PAL regions. The Arcade was also widely released. While it retained the positive reviews of the previous titles, the PSX port received mixed reviews, gaining better fanfare than the PSX Port of X-Men vs. Street Fighter.
1998: Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes
Succeeding this was the release of Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. Published by Capcom and Virgin Interactive, there were many changes that took place this time. Roster wise, the Capcom side became more mixed, bringing in characters from series such as Darkstalkers, Mega Man, and Cyberbots. The Marvel side saw some changes too, with War Machine debuting in a Capcom vs. title. There were also 4 pallete swap characters. However, mechanics this time were altered. As opposed to the off-screen partner assisting the point character in a fight, a randomly chosen assist character instead fills that role, but for only a certain number of times. Switching is still possible, but only after one gets knocked out, which tags the other member in automatically, or when they use the new feature Duo Team Attack, which has both members attack their opponent, making devastation combos and damage. Afterwards, the summoned partner is now the point character.
The Assist Character was a role that was similar to Rival Schools: United By Fate, a game released a year before, around the same time as Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter in the arcades. X-men villain Onslaught appears as the antagonist, which has two forms the player must defeat. However, he can also be a secret character to use when all others are unlocked. As cheap as he is, the player gets access to both forms once saved to the VMU. While he also summons in-game characters, he uses Sentinel as a special move, which would make him an NPC, but never the less, a character premiering in the series. Moreover, in lieu of Ken and Akuma being absent, Ryu had a different playstyle, where he takes on the attributes and movesets of those two upon certain button combinations.
It hit arcades in early 1998 for both Japan and US. Console-wise, It was released on both the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Dreamcast, the successor to Sega Saturn. Moreover, the release was for all available regions, US seeing the Dreamcast copy in 1999, and PSX in 2000. However, as before, the PSX version, called Marvel vs. Capcom EX Edition in Japan, dealt with sacrifices due to memory limitations. However, it had it's exclusives. While the tag feature was nearly absent in its entiretly, a crossover mode was set, in which a character the first player chooses becomes the partner of the opposing player. To add, an art gallery and ending collection were added, and upon beating Onslaught with him, Mega Man had access to Magnetic Shockwave, which was teased in his ending.
Again, praised highly in the arcades, it was matched with the Dreamcast release's superb reviews as well. PlayStation's, however, still retained their rather lackluster score like the other two, that is to say it was mixed to negative.
2000: Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
Featuring 3-on-3 battles, a bigger character roster, simplified controls, and a jazzy soundtrack, the sequel Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes was the big one. The fourth member of the MvC series, it was released around the same time Capcom vs. SNK began their run in the Capcom vs. series. Using the NAOMI arcade platform, it was the only game to use 3d polygon imagery at the time, though retained the usage of character sprites. While it supposedly has a story of its own, this game does not have character specific endings like the others, and regardless of the members of your team, everyone gets the same ending.
Using 4 attack buttons, the last 2 are for the character assist. there are in total 57 characters to choose from, making one of, if not THE largest cast in the MVC series, in which 56 are playable. The assist feature also saw some changes, as there was 3 types you can choose from, labeled Alpha Type (α), Beta Type (ß), and Gamma Type (Γ), and the moves assigned are predetermined via the developers. Switching out had no limit, and like before, those tagged out can recover their health, but only for the amount left by the red area in their life bar. Aside from the usual Hyper Combos, players can use them all at once, but takes away most if not all of the Super Meter in order to pull it off. While majority of the characters are from well known series, there were a few originals this time around, starting with the main character Ruby Heart, SonSon (who's a relative of another Capcom character with the same name), and Abyss, also exclusive as the main antagonist. Returning characters consists of most of those who appeared in the MVC series up to that point, with the inclusion of those that never made it before (examples are characters as Iron Man and Cable on the Marvel side, while two of Capcom's debuts are Servbot and Dan.)
The game was high in demand, but limited in release in 2002. As they were released for arcades, they also saw a Dreamcast release the same year it debuted. In 2002, there were limited ports for Sony PlayStation 2, with the port to Microsoft Xbox the following year, mainly due to Capcom losing the Marvel license. For the first time, Sony gained a good review for their port of the game, while it was merely decent for Xbox, even with it being backwards compatible with its successor, Microsoft Xbox 360. Due to bugs and software slowdown in that version, their port lost to Sony's, but they still fell under in comparison to Dreamcast's port, said to be the most faithful due to their similarities to the NAOMI system. It saw a re-release as a downloadable for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade, and Sony PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network in 2009, both of which getting generally good praise. With the downloadable release came changes. The attract movie was dropped, all characters were initially available, it supported online play, and the sprites had filters. I say this was done to get people hyped for the next chapter...
2011: Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds & Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
It was ten painful years for MvC fans before the next chapter was made. At last, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds emerged as a title straight to consoles. Not much changed from the previous game and retained the 3-on-3 format, but some characters were excluded, with others debuting, such as Albert Wesker and Dante on Capcom's side, while Marvel featured the likes of Super Skrull and Deadpool, among others. Furthermore, every character appeared in 3D form, featuring rendering similar to the young Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. In addition, Level 3 Hyper Combos had special animations to them, stopping an opponent during its animation if connected. Other features included X-Factor, which increases damage, speed, and regenerates health. Due to the last bit, I thought of it as similar to the Blood Heat mode of unrelated novel fighter Melty Blood: Act Cadenza.
The antagonists this time around was revealed to be the joint partnership of Doctor Doom and Wesker, with the final bad guy being the oversized planet destroyer, Galactus. Plenty of character tweaks were made since MvC2 to prevent any broken characters. However, as usual, there were ways around this with some of them, and it takes a real expert to find them out. The 2-button Light and Hard Punch was canned for a 3-button set up, making it akin to that of TvC. Music was also revamped, as it went back to having character specific themes, made more modern and techno-like. Assists carried on like the last game, and before selecting your team, two things happen: for starters, you can choose to have normal, or simplified controls, though choosing the latter limits your moveset. You can also have set reserve units, basically teams you frequently study and fight well with. For fan service, character endings return, even one for Galactus should you end the game after losing to him.
Released for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it was hailed as a great title overall. DLC included different costumes as well as 2 characters: Shuma-Gorath returning from MvC2, as well as Jill Valentine, though she features a new look and moveset to complement her Resident Evil 5 appearance. More DLC were confirmed, but due to the tsunami that took place in Japan, they went with plan B: much like how they did it for the Street Fighter IV series, the said DLC were released as another standalone debuting this month: Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, which wil be a rerelease for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and next year will be a launch title for PlayStation Vita, Sony's new handheld. This features even more character tweaks and the debut of more characters, like Hawkeye and Rocket Raccon for Marvel, and Vergil and Phoenix Wright for Capcom.
Even with its flaws and gains, Marvel vs. Capcom is a name to respect and fear in terms of competition. Whether you're a causal player, or a die-hard pro, any player is welcome to play, but it may not be to everyone's liking. Still, as a series overall, a 9 of 10. Even with its few flops back in the early days, Marvel vs. Capcom will seemingly become a timeless series.
06 November, 2011
05 November, 2011
Game Review XIX: "Street Fighter The Movie"
If you're like me, then you have heard about the live action movie of Street Fighter, the one with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia. It was brought to my attention a year ago that a game was made from this. Now I see this as a paradox, because we're talking about a game that was made based off the movie, which was based off the game series. Let me explain in detail.
As you may know, the film has eye-catching differences, such as Guile being the lead character overall (which stands over the signature characters Ryu and Ken), and because it was live action, much things were changed, such as the absence of Guile's staple mop-top hairstyle, a different take on the origin of Blanka, and the lack of much of the powers the game constantly feature. Even with it distributed by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, made in their studio, the movie is undoubtedly a Capcom product.
The same is somewhat true in regards to the games, but there was something different in regards to those as well. Even though they're both named Street Fighter: The Movie, and feature similar, if not the exact same mechanics, they are 2 different games, much like how it is for Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 and their respective counterparts, and somewhat akin to how Mortal Kombat 4/Gold was treated. The first was a coin-op game, like the ones found in arcades (or places like Dave & Busters, if you couldn't find the aforementioned place.) Now, these days, developers can just simply take the material data used for the arcades and fine tune it to be a home port game title. However, this perhaps the only time I recall that they didn't do such a thing, and even though it was made with the same footage and mechanics, it was released as a standalone title instead of a port. Here's a good rundown on what it has, but I'll try not to keep you. Some have bashed this game, saying it's almost as bad as the film. I can sympathies, but feel free to skim through if you don't want to know. Nobody will blame you.
FEATURES:
Because it's a movie based fighter, players take the roles of digitized sprites of the characters from the films. I honestly have no clue when game companies thought of this ideal, but for making game adaptions, the practice is somewhat common, given you have those in the games based off the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire, and more of them in the game port of Dragonball Evolution.
The character roster was among it's key differences. Some characters were exclusinve to one version, while another was fulfilling different roles between the two. Characters Blade and Sawada were exclusive for the movie, and didn't appear, nor were they mentioned, in any other game, since they aren't part of the general storyline. Other characters, like Akuma, had no part in the film, but were protrayed by an actor much like the rest in both versions. But in his case, he was available in one, and somewhat unplayable in the other (save through means of a cheat.) Much like how it typically was for him in MOST of the Street Fighter games, Akuma was hidden in the home port, and unless you used a code, an NPC you had to fight when conditions were fulfilled, yet in the coin-op game, he is initially available as a full character on the roster. Coin-op characters Blade and the palette-swapped Bison Troopers aren't seen in the console port, and are somewhat replaced by exclusives Dee Jay and Blanka. Sawada is featured on both, but with different specials exclusive to one another.
GAME MECHANICS (COIN-OP VERSION):
The mechanics for this game differed greatly from the others in the series as well. While almost absent in the film, each character retained their special movies, granted when saying them, some tend to sound kind of silly. In addition, those with close quarter specials, like Zangief, Balrog, and Sawada, could reflect projectiles. I don't know if this was true for both versions, but I have seen that was possible, but still unbelievable (though 'Gief using his 360 spin to bypass projectiles is believable and useful.) Each game bore different gameplay traits as well. The coin-op arcade version emphasized more on the juggling system. Baffled that the idea even existed, players can mix up basic fighting with specials, even cancelling a special to follow up with another, keeping the opponent in air. Now back then, this was a pretty huge deal, but nowadays, it's a no-brainer for most fighters out there (that has yet to be considered for Virtua Fighter.)
The game also had a Super Meter, and as with Super Street Fighter II Turbo, allows the player to use a Super Combo on the opponent. Should the match end with it, the lifebar of the opponent breaks apart. One of the other traits included Interrupt Moves, a quick action performed after blocking an attack, and would later return in the Street Fighter Alpha series as Alpha Counter. The second action would be Comeback Moves, which features moves that could only be used when one's health is in the danger level. While these moves did not have a meter of its own, this would later return in the Street Fighter IV series as Ultra Combos, which featured its own meter that builds upon receiving damage or absorbing them during Focus, and was changeable starting with Super Street Fighter IV. The last one is the Regeneration Move, which refills a portion of a players life, but sacrifices a whole Super Meter. I heard it was possible in the third game of Arika's Street Fighter EX series, but a better example of this would be seen in Street Fighter III, with the game's boss Gill, who revives himself after being knocked out when his super meter is full (though it's proven you can stop how much he gains.) Aside from the 14-character Arcade Mode, a hidden Tag Mode was also in the game.
GAME MECHANICS (CONSOLE VERSION):
The Console version also has uniqueness from its coin-op counterpart, aside from the roster. While both retain a few instances from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the home console port is based from that. Featuring the Super Combos and Special Moves it already had, Super Specials was put in there as another means of attack. Using part of the Super Gauge and the input of a direction and TWO attack buttons would make the player use a powered up version of a Special Move. When the gauge is full, it's use is unlimited until they use the Super Combo. This was seen as the ES Specials of Night Warriors (Darkstalkers series), and would later surface in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact as EX Moves, a mechanic people thought the game gave birth to, but was actually a more toned down version of the system.
Adding to this, the game also featured different modes. Movie Battle is a Story Mode-like game mode where the player assumes the role of Guile, and branches off into different routes. Your choices in this mode is reflected to how many opponents you'll face before reaching Bison. An arcade-style mode, Street Battle, is essentially the arcade version of the game, but unlike the Coin-Op version, has you facing 12 characters, with the spots of Zangief, Dee Jay, Sagat, and Bison set in that order as your last 4 opponents (which differs from Street Fighter II's Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and Bison format.) There's also a Versus Mode, and a Trial Mode, which you compete for a high score. These were released for Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, both CD-platform consoles.
VISUALS/SOUND
People would look at it, and right away, some would think about the first 2 Mortal Kombat games. In fact, some of the poses look clearly adapted from that series. Another way they would see that deals with the background in some of the stages. However, the team that did do that game, which was formerly Midway, had no part in its development, yet resembled their work somewhat. It was also weird the first time seeing this. That said, I couldn't seen digitized versions of actors doing standstill shocker moves, launching fireballs or doing spin kicks and what not. While it's a fighting game, and was least prominent in the earlier games, they have no defining personalities for each character as they do in the later games, and much like the older titles, has the player get into the fight almost immediately. With any game, it has a win counter, shown as a Shadoloo/Shadowlaw insignia beside the name, stating the rounds won. In the background, there lie some stages with cameos of characters in-game, and another stage that features a crowd. The stages were but so few, the music even fewer, so there was much to be desired, yet some stages also featured inaudible clips from the actual film.
The mantle was stepped up a bit when the console port came into play. They tried to make more similar to the namesake game series, with newer voice acting, more music, different stages and different visuals of the moves performed. The Psycho Crusher, which was a staple Bison move, was still absent from the game. In all, the game was improved, but not by much.
DEVELOPMENT
The development team differed between the two. For starters, the Coin-Op version was developed under Incredible Technologies, who was a coin-op game company much like Sega, Midway, and Williams, but wasn't a threat to those 3. In fact, they had almost nothing under their belt in terms of fighting games, the only exceptions being this and Bloodstorm. I guess sometime after the coin-op release of the game, development was turned over, or said to be primarily Capcom's doing, but under different publishing for the console ports. In Japan, publishing rights were still under Capcom, while in US, Europe, and Australia, publishing was done by Acclaim, the successor to the ridiculed LJN, and the company that first brought us Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and early WWF titles. However, because some understand the origins, few have credited this as another LJN title, which has been mainly bashed by consumers in terms of gaming.
VERDICT
I know I have yakked on and on about this game already, but I'll end it with these. The game in general is kinda bad, but it was a stepping stone mechanic wise to what we have today, so in general, both games get a 5.5 of 10. I wasn't expecting the games to be successful, but much like the movie, it had hope, but that's it. Until next time.
As you may know, the film has eye-catching differences, such as Guile being the lead character overall (which stands over the signature characters Ryu and Ken), and because it was live action, much things were changed, such as the absence of Guile's staple mop-top hairstyle, a different take on the origin of Blanka, and the lack of much of the powers the game constantly feature. Even with it distributed by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures, made in their studio, the movie is undoubtedly a Capcom product.
The same is somewhat true in regards to the games, but there was something different in regards to those as well. Even though they're both named Street Fighter: The Movie, and feature similar, if not the exact same mechanics, they are 2 different games, much like how it is for Tekken 5 and Tekken 6 and their respective counterparts, and somewhat akin to how Mortal Kombat 4/Gold was treated. The first was a coin-op game, like the ones found in arcades (or places like Dave & Busters, if you couldn't find the aforementioned place.) Now, these days, developers can just simply take the material data used for the arcades and fine tune it to be a home port game title. However, this perhaps the only time I recall that they didn't do such a thing, and even though it was made with the same footage and mechanics, it was released as a standalone title instead of a port. Here's a good rundown on what it has, but I'll try not to keep you. Some have bashed this game, saying it's almost as bad as the film. I can sympathies, but feel free to skim through if you don't want to know. Nobody will blame you.
FEATURES:
Because it's a movie based fighter, players take the roles of digitized sprites of the characters from the films. I honestly have no clue when game companies thought of this ideal, but for making game adaptions, the practice is somewhat common, given you have those in the games based off the Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire, and more of them in the game port of Dragonball Evolution.
The character roster was among it's key differences. Some characters were exclusinve to one version, while another was fulfilling different roles between the two. Characters Blade and Sawada were exclusive for the movie, and didn't appear, nor were they mentioned, in any other game, since they aren't part of the general storyline. Other characters, like Akuma, had no part in the film, but were protrayed by an actor much like the rest in both versions. But in his case, he was available in one, and somewhat unplayable in the other (save through means of a cheat.) Much like how it typically was for him in MOST of the Street Fighter games, Akuma was hidden in the home port, and unless you used a code, an NPC you had to fight when conditions were fulfilled, yet in the coin-op game, he is initially available as a full character on the roster. Coin-op characters Blade and the palette-swapped Bison Troopers aren't seen in the console port, and are somewhat replaced by exclusives Dee Jay and Blanka. Sawada is featured on both, but with different specials exclusive to one another.
GAME MECHANICS (COIN-OP VERSION):
The mechanics for this game differed greatly from the others in the series as well. While almost absent in the film, each character retained their special movies, granted when saying them, some tend to sound kind of silly. In addition, those with close quarter specials, like Zangief, Balrog, and Sawada, could reflect projectiles. I don't know if this was true for both versions, but I have seen that was possible, but still unbelievable (though 'Gief using his 360 spin to bypass projectiles is believable and useful.) Each game bore different gameplay traits as well. The coin-op arcade version emphasized more on the juggling system. Baffled that the idea even existed, players can mix up basic fighting with specials, even cancelling a special to follow up with another, keeping the opponent in air. Now back then, this was a pretty huge deal, but nowadays, it's a no-brainer for most fighters out there (that has yet to be considered for Virtua Fighter.)
The game also had a Super Meter, and as with Super Street Fighter II Turbo, allows the player to use a Super Combo on the opponent. Should the match end with it, the lifebar of the opponent breaks apart. One of the other traits included Interrupt Moves, a quick action performed after blocking an attack, and would later return in the Street Fighter Alpha series as Alpha Counter. The second action would be Comeback Moves, which features moves that could only be used when one's health is in the danger level. While these moves did not have a meter of its own, this would later return in the Street Fighter IV series as Ultra Combos, which featured its own meter that builds upon receiving damage or absorbing them during Focus, and was changeable starting with Super Street Fighter IV. The last one is the Regeneration Move, which refills a portion of a players life, but sacrifices a whole Super Meter. I heard it was possible in the third game of Arika's Street Fighter EX series, but a better example of this would be seen in Street Fighter III, with the game's boss Gill, who revives himself after being knocked out when his super meter is full (though it's proven you can stop how much he gains.) Aside from the 14-character Arcade Mode, a hidden Tag Mode was also in the game.
GAME MECHANICS (CONSOLE VERSION):
The Console version also has uniqueness from its coin-op counterpart, aside from the roster. While both retain a few instances from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the home console port is based from that. Featuring the Super Combos and Special Moves it already had, Super Specials was put in there as another means of attack. Using part of the Super Gauge and the input of a direction and TWO attack buttons would make the player use a powered up version of a Special Move. When the gauge is full, it's use is unlimited until they use the Super Combo. This was seen as the ES Specials of Night Warriors (Darkstalkers series), and would later surface in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact as EX Moves, a mechanic people thought the game gave birth to, but was actually a more toned down version of the system.
Adding to this, the game also featured different modes. Movie Battle is a Story Mode-like game mode where the player assumes the role of Guile, and branches off into different routes. Your choices in this mode is reflected to how many opponents you'll face before reaching Bison. An arcade-style mode, Street Battle, is essentially the arcade version of the game, but unlike the Coin-Op version, has you facing 12 characters, with the spots of Zangief, Dee Jay, Sagat, and Bison set in that order as your last 4 opponents (which differs from Street Fighter II's Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and Bison format.) There's also a Versus Mode, and a Trial Mode, which you compete for a high score. These were released for Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, both CD-platform consoles.
VISUALS/SOUND
People would look at it, and right away, some would think about the first 2 Mortal Kombat games. In fact, some of the poses look clearly adapted from that series. Another way they would see that deals with the background in some of the stages. However, the team that did do that game, which was formerly Midway, had no part in its development, yet resembled their work somewhat. It was also weird the first time seeing this. That said, I couldn't seen digitized versions of actors doing standstill shocker moves, launching fireballs or doing spin kicks and what not. While it's a fighting game, and was least prominent in the earlier games, they have no defining personalities for each character as they do in the later games, and much like the older titles, has the player get into the fight almost immediately. With any game, it has a win counter, shown as a Shadoloo/Shadowlaw insignia beside the name, stating the rounds won. In the background, there lie some stages with cameos of characters in-game, and another stage that features a crowd. The stages were but so few, the music even fewer, so there was much to be desired, yet some stages also featured inaudible clips from the actual film.
The mantle was stepped up a bit when the console port came into play. They tried to make more similar to the namesake game series, with newer voice acting, more music, different stages and different visuals of the moves performed. The Psycho Crusher, which was a staple Bison move, was still absent from the game. In all, the game was improved, but not by much.
DEVELOPMENT
The development team differed between the two. For starters, the Coin-Op version was developed under Incredible Technologies, who was a coin-op game company much like Sega, Midway, and Williams, but wasn't a threat to those 3. In fact, they had almost nothing under their belt in terms of fighting games, the only exceptions being this and Bloodstorm. I guess sometime after the coin-op release of the game, development was turned over, or said to be primarily Capcom's doing, but under different publishing for the console ports. In Japan, publishing rights were still under Capcom, while in US, Europe, and Australia, publishing was done by Acclaim, the successor to the ridiculed LJN, and the company that first brought us Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and early WWF titles. However, because some understand the origins, few have credited this as another LJN title, which has been mainly bashed by consumers in terms of gaming.
VERDICT
I know I have yakked on and on about this game already, but I'll end it with these. The game in general is kinda bad, but it was a stepping stone mechanic wise to what we have today, so in general, both games get a 5.5 of 10. I wasn't expecting the games to be successful, but much like the movie, it had hope, but that's it. Until next time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)