Genre Spotlight: Fighter Frenzy

[Melf]

Quite often, people hark on the Genesis's supposed shortcomings in certain genres. Such was the case with its RPGs, even though there are almost as many as there are shmups. The same situation occurs with its fighting games. Well guess what? Sega-16 decided to sit down and look at every single fighting game there is on the Genesis - all 46 of them - and we're pretty confident when we say that the genre is quite healthy. Don't believe us? Read our latest installment of our Genre Spotlight series, the Fighter Frenzy, and see for yourself!

[David J.]

Good article, but there was no cart version of Black Hole Assault.

I wanted to like it and Heavy Nova, but ugh.

[j_factor]

Wow, I didn't think this article was ever going to actually be posted!

[Demonic Weasel]

Nice article.

[Melf]

Good article, but there was no cart version of Black Hole Assault.

I know. I was referring to it having nothing notable for being released on CD.

j_factor: I know! These Genre Spotlight articles can really take a lot out of you, after making all the logos and doing all the entries. But it's finally done!

[Drixxel]

A great, beefy, honest article. Right on.

..but I'd personally argue that Batman & Robin is far worse a movie than Batman Forever. Admittedly a terrible game, though.

[Mendicant]

*Sigh* Eternal Champion had so m-u-c-h potential. I remember bugging my parents until they actually bought me the CD from the local Toys'R'Us for $20. $20!!

I'll admit I'm a Street Fighter fanatic. And, given my exposure to Capcom's fighter for almost a decade and a half, anything that is not Street Fighter requires a bit "getting used to".

But DAMN!! A total of 25 characters (as opposed to SSF's 16, & SFA's 10); not to mention all the overkills, sudden deaths, cinekills and... er... "Fatalities". I remember actually recording them on the VCR, and bringing the tape over to my best friend's home, and trying to convince him that he has GOT to see this. I also remember his reaction watching the aforementioned overkills, sudden deaths, and the occasional cinekill.

Though, the thing I remember the most about ECCD has to be, how on occasion, a sudden death would accidentally be executed. (Cheap pun, I know. ) I don't think I've ever intentionally managed to activate the sudden death on Riptide's Level. Still, the concept, that you need to be careful where you are fightig, was and still is, pure genius. (And games like Virtua Fighter continued the tradition by implementing their Ring-Out system.)

That and something semi-off-topic.

An issue of EGM (I forget the date & what-not) published a letter from an executive at Takara. The long & elaborate letter basically criticized EGM's comparison of World Heroes to Street Fighter II Turbo & the poor rating World Heroes got. The letter elaborated on the points that World Heroes is not SFIIT, World Heroes is not trying to be SFIIT, World Heroes should be graded based on it's own merits, etc.

The short reply from EGM was basically this. World Heroes wasn't rated poorly because it was NOT SFIIT, it was graded poorly because it just wasn't a good game.

One more thing. (Two more things, actually.)

First, was there a 32X version of Virtua Fighter 2? I remember seeing some ads in the paper about a couple of local stores supposedly selling VF2 for the 32X.

Second, is the Genesis VF2 an official SEGA release or is it a bootleg?

That's all.

[Melf]

VF2 only came out on the Genesis and Saturn. The Genny release was official, and looked great. However, the change to 2D took away a lot of what made it play so well. It seems more like a testament to what can be done on the hardware graphically than anything else.

[Chris Marsh]

There is one game that I can think of that you forgot about. This is the first person fighting relic Supreme Warrior for the Sega CD and Sega CD/32X. Many say that the game is an innovative concept, but fell flat.
There are actually more super hero films that are worse than Batman Forever. Batman & Robin, Supergirl, and Superman IV are worse than that. With stupid puns on ice ((Sorry Arnie for having to put up with bad scriptwriting) sending somebody to the coolah (or something like that)) and cringeworthy storylines, it makes you actually want to watch the decent (In my opinion) Batman Forever. The verdict is that the movie wins over the lousy game.

[David J.]

I thought Batman Forever was a brawler like Batman Returns or whatnot?

How's it a fighting game really?

[Anathema]

Excellent article. I agreed with all your reviews...Except one; Pit Fighter.

I realize I'm in the minority here, but I love Pit Fighter. Since I first got that game way back when it's been one of my favorite Genny tiles. I still enjoy it today!

[Melf]

No problem. Different strokes for different folks...

Welcome to the forum, BTW. We're happy to have you.

[GeckoYamori]

edit: nevermind.

[Genesis Knight]

I hate Batman Forever, so you're not going to get flak from me. And thanks for finally putting this up! I'd been waiting for it for soooooo long...

[winona]

Great article. Seems I allready have most of the games that are any good. Just missing Dragonball Z and Yuyu.

No Rise of the Robots?