I've been playing some Fighters.[longpost]

Besides the daily routine of doing no wrong and having to smack some people around when they act up and start talking that shit on MvC 2(Senisan, Smurfee, KD, RAB, Snaileb, Aborto...the list goes on ;D) I've been playing many overlooked(read: never knew of their existence) fighting games. I think the number's around 12 or 13 but I'm just gonna share 5 that really stuck out for me either for good or bad reasons. Don't worry about how I got to play them either. *Bloo does the shifty eyes*

Oh yeah pictures and videos too.


DISAPPOINT(Also fix the god damned image hosting function Dtoid, KTHXBAI)

Some of my favorite Characters are in this game...and Final Fight Revenge's game play makes the game too hilarious to be taken seriously, which is ironic because the original Final Fight actually had a pretty serious tone. The character roster is also very small, with no new faces to the series, and they fucking look like lego people. Also, no characters from Final Fight 2 or Final Fight 3.

So much more could have been done.



Let the good TITLES roll!(I'm so fucking crispy with this shit mang ;})



Urban Reign
Publisher/Developer: Namco
Platform: Playstation 2(2005 NA)(2005 JP)(2006 PAL)

Urban Reign is a 3D street brawling/beat-em-up by Namco, featuring a 1-player story mode with 100 missions (which can be done co-op ^_^), and about 60 characters to choose from. The game also packs an entertaining 2-to-4 player VS mode. With a tone similar tone to Capcom's classic Final Fight, Urban Reign features a wide variety of fighters ranging from random street thugs to flashy martial artists. Some fighters seem thrown in just as "fillers", but others do have some well thought out and entertaining fighting styles (some based on real martial arts, like Tekken).



Speaking of Tekken, Urban Reign borrowed quite a few animations from the Tekken series, which gives the game an edge over all others in the 'beat-em-up' genre. From the way characters react when they're hit to the extra 'omph' that moves have when they connect, the animation definitely resembles Namco's hard-hitting Tekken franchise (which Tekken fans can appreciate).

This is honestly one of the best beat-em-ups I've ever played. Urban Reign has a fairly solid fighting system for a 1 on 1 fight, that also works quite well with a free-for-all 4 player battle. Characters don't have the very deep movelists, but the ability of characters to freely move in the environment, pick up weapons, throw objects, give instructions to AI partners, and pull off moves on multiple opponents at once makes up for the lack of moves.

The fighting system features insane combo possibilities, dodges/counters, double team attacks, tons of throws and grappling moves, and free roaming. As well as the ability to "run fast" while freely roaming which opens up special abilities like sweeping, running up walls, or even running up other characters. There are also unblockable moves that make you invulnerable while you attack. Which is likely the biggest quirk of the gameplay, but it actually makes for some pretty interesting battles. And thankfully, you can also "lock on" to your opponents; which is a key element in learning how to play. Me and my friends had blast with this game, I'm certain we'll be playing this a lot more.



Urban Reign is an underrated, fun little game. Required for this fun are (1.) a multi-tap and (2) some friends who enjoy violence. There's so much action going on sometimes that the fights appear to be choreographed, and wont fail to awe anyone who's watching in the crowd. So anyway, where's my next gen Urban Reign 2 Namco?! MAKE IT HAPPEN RIGHT THE FUCK MEOW.

Anyway, shit's hot yo.



Now lets go a bit back in time to the late 90's.



Soul Blade/Edge
Developer/Publisher: Namco
Platforms: Arcade(1996), Playstation(1997)

Soul Edge was the first "3D weapon based fighting game" I've been told. Soul Blade is the Playstation exclusive home version which I played. It has a pretty epic intro, improved visuals from the arcade version, and a fun Weapon Master story mode where players could collect a variety of weapons per character, each with their own special abilities.



The gameplay is solid for its time, but seems to be at a slower pace when compared to other fighters. The frame rate of 30 frames per second also kept the pace sluggish at times. Still, Soul Edge/Blade offers very unique gameplay elements, it introduced "ring outs" to the fighting game world, as well as "weapon disarms," where fighters actually lost weapons and had to continue fighting empty-handed. Weapon disarms didn't happen often though, so they weren't a big part of the gameplay. Ring outs, on the other hand, were a very significant part of the gameplay, an idea that has been "borrowed" from the likes of Virtua Fighter.



Soul Edge/Blade was the beginning of what became a huge 3D fighting game series. Soul Calibur re-invented the series.

Also, I like this game.



Now for this last game I'm gonna be pretty out there...



Tatsunoko Fight
Developer/Publisher: Takara
Platform(s): Playstation (2000 / Japan only)

If there can be a collective of Super Friends, why not a cabal of supervillains? The forces of evil from the various animè series created by Tatsunoko Studios have merged their powers, so the heroes of those same universes must join forces to save us all. This saving takes the form of a lot of unarmed combat - you can probably figure out what to do from here.



You must do battle with the great villains of those various shows - or even other heroes, in Vs. mode. Series whoses characters are included are Gatchaman (better known as Battle Of The Planets in the U.S.), Tekkaman, Casshan, and Polymer The Ha-Ri-Ken Fighter.

...I found it pretty generic :/ It plays a lot like Alpha 2(My favorite fighter of all time/SF:IV a close second ;>) so getting in and playing isn't all that difficult. Both the animation and gameplay are sub-par at their best.



It's more of a fan service to those who have followed Tatsunoko's francheses over the years, and I'm sure anyone who'd call themselves a Tatsunoko fan would pretty much love this game for "nostalgia value" alone.

But its not very good. Oh well, TvC's coming stateside officially now.



Hope ya enjoyed these "Reviews"!