Nintendo 64 fighters

[Ack]

There were a few(a very few) titles on the SNES that were only one player, like Ultraman, though if only part of it's a fighter and the other half is timed events, that leads me to lump it with Super Godzilla - hence, not a fighter. And the list up is all the fighters on the 64, Japan and Europe included, that found their way on to Wikipedia, Gamestop, Amazon.com, or the few other sites I looked at. The 64 was not a system for fighters by any account, so I included all the ones from every region I could find.

[Ack]

Ok, I went ahead and bought a few. And they're pretty bad... Honestly, I understand that for many of these companies, it's their early forays into the 3D fighting world, and there's a lot of hesitation and questions about how to do it, but...these things still suck.

I've gotten in three. Deadly Arts, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Mace: The Dark Ages. Of the three, Mace was the only title I was expecting any form of quality from, and I feel pretty disappointed. I suppose I'm really going to have to sit down and figure out the system, because for now it feels like Midway just made Mortal Kombat with characters from the 1300s. And while they tried to hide the fact that it's a three button game by doubling every attack command, it didn't really work. All I can say right now is, based on initial impressions, if this is one of the higher quality titles, no wonder the fighting genre failed to make an impact on the console.

On to Deadly Arts, a game that I'd read was considered bad. I wasn't expecting much from it. I ended up with a game with some nifty little features like allowing me to build a fighter(though options were limited, I can't think of any older games that had this. Even Fighter Maker for the PS1 was later than this title). Character models didn't look too bad for the N64 for me, and I liked the stages and that I could knock objects over and knock my opponent into them. The game even featured Tag play, a Practice mode, and VS. In fact, the only real hindrance to the title would be it's gameplay. It just feels stiff, and some of the moves feel hard to pull off, though it's probably mostly my own fault. I can't find a good way to use the N64 controller, and it's tough playing a 2-button 3D fighter on an awkward controller. Perhaps with time I'll get better.

And then there was Xena. Graphically, it's not up to snuff with other 3D titles at its release, at least in my opinion. But like that was gonna stop me anyway. This game reminds me of a 3D party game. It's got reasonably sized stages which let the player jump around. Every character has range attacks that can be dodged(usually). Combat's not so polished and it's not always easy to tell what's a high attack versus a low attack. The real problem is the controls. I don't mind using the C-buttons for my attacks. In fact, I find it kind of nifty. The real problem occurs with blocking, which is done by holding away from the opponent. Since the game is 3D, it's easy for the fight to change direction quickly, meaning blocking maneuvers change dramatically in seconds. Also special moves apparently require button presses similar to Mortal Kombat, again not easily done with direction changing on the fly. But if nothing else, it will allow a 4-player brawl, and let characters pick back-ups, so if they die, their next character jumps in. But then you have the issue of targeting. Since your commands change based on your direction, you have to target an enemy to press away from to block. Often times targeting gets a little haywire, and you end up gong after someone across the stage, as opposed to someone right next to you. And the computer has the annoying habit of suddenly ganging up on you when playing a single player 3 CPU free-for-all.

But on the upside, it lets me play as Bruce Campbell, so I figure it ain't all bad.

[Ack]

Well, I got a copy of Dark Rift in the mail. It's pretty meh in its on right as a fighter, but there's apparently a glitch with this game, where some televisions don't display its colors properly. Guess who owns one of those TVs?

So yeah, the color flickers in and out constantly, and is usually pretty off when it appears. As for the game itself...well, it's better than some of the other titles I've picked up for the 64, but not necessarily by much. While I realize it's an extremely early title for the 64(released in June of 1997 in the US), it hasn't aged well at all. It looks pretty bad in black and white, but when color does flash in, it's extremely bright to the point it hurts. Still for its time, the critics thought it looked pretty good. And the combat system...there are some interesting chains you can do, but I don't know if there's much beyond that. I've seen the computer pull off some nasty maneuvers, and the AI really loves to turtle. Initial impressions lead me to believe it's better than Deadly Arts, but that's not saying much. I'll spend a little more time with it and let you guys know what I think...if you're at all interested.

[Ack]

Ok, I picked up a few more, namely War Gods, Bio FREAKS, and Fighter's Destiny. Actually I picked the first two up but they were the typical bad 64 fighter fare. I just got Fighter's Destiny though, and I wanted to tell you guys about it.

First, from the little I've played of it, it's a very different fighter. While beating someone until they're out of health will help you win, that's not the ultimate goal of the match. Instead, you're trying to earn points, 7 specifically. You can be awarded up to 4 points by doing various things, such as ringing someone out, throwing them, dropping them to the mat, hitting them with a special move, or draining them of their health. Apparently a judge's decision will also earn a point, but I don't know how to do that yet.

Anytime you do one of these, the fight stops and points are added. Then the fight resumes. There's really only one stage too, an elevated box standing about twenty feet in the air. Backgrounds change however, giving the impression you're not always fighting in the same area, though you really are.

And from what I've seen, combat is pretty weird. There are only two buttons that are used, Upper and Lower. I'm not sure of the difference, as upper can hit low, and lower can hit high, depending on the combination of directions and attacks. But yet there are throws, various special moves, some strange kind of counter system, and a nasty anti-ring out technique where you grab your opponents leg and throw them out before you. The CPU is very cheap about that one, so you have to stay on your toes. Other than that, I haven't spent too much time with it. I'm impressed because of how different it is to most fighters, but I don't really think I like it too much. I can see why it would get a reasonable following, especially on a console where the large majority of alternatives were terrible at best.

[Ack]

Well, ok. I've got quite a list of 64 fighters now, though I'm starting to run into some troubles. The American releases I don't have are leaning towards the expensive side(except Dual Heroes...it's cheaper than everything else), and the imports I haven't gotten in are apparently pretty rare(well, not so much Custom Robo, but I couldn't find it for a long time). Here's the list as it currently appears saved on my computer:

NINTENDO 64 FIGHTING GAMES:

AMERICAN RELEASE

ClayFighter 63 1/3
ClayFighter 63 1/3: Sculptor's Cut(Blockbuster Exclusive)
Dual Heroes
Fighter's Destiny 2
Killer Instinct Gold
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat 4
Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction
Super Smash Bros.
Tom and Jerry: Fists of Furry
Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals(Blockbuster Exclusive)

IMPORTS:

Custom Robo
SD Hiryu no Ken Densetsu (With Stadium)(Flying Dragon 2)
Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals(Japanese version compatible with Transfer Pack)

OWNED:

*Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
*Dark Rift
*Deadly Arts (G.A.S.P!! Fighters' NEXTream)
*Fighter's Destiny
*Flying Dragon
*Mace: The Dark Age
*War Gods
*Xena: Warrior Princess - The Talisman of Fate

IMPORTS OWNED:

*Custom Robo V2
*Rakuga Kids
*Super Robot Spirits

So yeah...currently got 11, missing 14, not so bad. The reason Transformers is listed both as the American and the Import version is because both have perks: as noted, the American version was apparently Blockbuster exclusive, while the Japanese version was compatible via the Transfer Pack with the game Ketō Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyō Ketteisen, which was a Japan-only fighting game for the Game Boy Color. If I have to choose only one, I think I'll be going for the import version.

Personally, out of all of these, I believe I'm looking forward to the Tom and Jerry game the most. It looks vaguely like Power Stone in how its combat unfolds, and if it's 4-player...

[Jmenglan]

I thought mortal kombat 4 was a pretty capable fighter for the 64, control was solid and ran a bit faster than the playstation version

[Ack]

I don't know, the transition to 3D didn't feel so good to me. Admittedly it was considerably better than War Gods, which basically feels like a dev test for the 64's hardware, but MK4 failed to impress. It really took Deadly Alliance before I felt comfortable with their 3D transition. Plus, MK Trilogy was so awesome...

[Jmenglan]

Hmm i never tried trilogy on the the N64 but i do own it on playstation and i agree its a great game, but i heard from a few friends that on the N64 it was a shoddy port because it couldnt fit all the options, characters and animation. what did you think of bio freaks?

[Ack]

The N64 port was shoddy, but compared to what else was on the console...

Bio Freaks...any other console I would say it's middle of the road. While I do enjoy the variance in moves, I feel the characters border on the side of too much. I have mixed opinion on character design and the stages in general I found bland. At the same time, I did find some enjoyment with it and of the current 64 titles I own, I'd say it's one of the better domestic fighters I currently own on the console.

[Jmenglan]

The N64 port was shoddy, but compared to what else was on the console...

Heh that is very true, if i recall you could rip off body parts and fly in bio freaks? i made the mistake of picking up one of clay fighter games, it was awful. only semi saving feature was that it had booger man and earthworm jim. ahh thank goodness for dreamcast