All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'fighting, classic' on The Great Games Experiment All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'fighting, classic' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'fighting, classic' on The Great Games Experiment en-us Blades of Steel Blades of Steel is an ice hockey video game released by Konami for the arcade in 1987, and ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1988. All teams are fictional but based out of real Canadian and American cities. The game is known for its fast paced hockey action and especially for the fighting. It is a one or two player game. When playing against the computer, there are three difficulty levels to choose from: Junior, College, and Pro (with pro being the most difficult and Junior being the easiest). Each team consists of three forwards, two defencemen, and a goaltender.

The Teams

There are a total of eight teams, four from Canada and four from the United States. The four Canadian cities are Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton. The four American teams are from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minnesota. Each team sports a different coloured sweater, but some team colours are very similar making it difficult to distinguish between them. Presumably this is because of the limited capability of computer graphics in 1988.

The game

At the beginning of the game, the gamers can select either "Exhibition" or "Tournament" matches. An exhibition match is just one game played against either the computer or another player. Tournament matches are similar to the NHL playoffs. It starts out as one team of the player's choice going against other teams in a playoff style tournament. The team that is successful in beating all of the opposing teams is awarded the Konami Cup.

Fighting in the game occurs whenever two players bump into each other three times in a row without hitting another player. The fight screen appears and the gamers take control of their players. The loser is given the penalty and sent to the penalty box. If a fight occurs close to one of the nets, the referee may break up the fight and call a "penalty shot".

During the second intermission, either a video game will appear for Player One to play or a Konami ad will appear featuring a bear shooting the puck into a net mouthing the words "Nice Shot!" The video game is modelled off an old arcade game, Gradius, in which a little spaceship is trying to destroy a much larger spaceship.

If the score is tied at the end of the game, a shoot out (similar to a penalty shot) is used to determine the winner. Each team gets five shots. The team with the most goals after five shots is the winner. If, after that, the game is still tied, each team keeps getting one more shot until a winner is determined.
]]> 22 Feb 2007 01:47:22 Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat was the first entry in the famous Mortal Kombat fighting game series by Midway, released in arcades in 1992. It was later picked up by Acclaim Games for the home version, then later returned to Midway. It centers on the first Mortal Kombat tournament and the ultimate defeat of the evil Shang Tsung by the monk Liu Kang.

Versions of the original Mortal Kombat game appeared on several different formats, most notably the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Nintendo's SNES. When the first game in the series was released for the SNES in North America, Nintendo of America had a strict "Family Friendly" policy towards the content of the games released on their systems which required the removal of graphic violence, religious imagery and themes, mentions of death, sexual themes, and other sensitive subjects. Hence, the first Mortal Kombat game on the SNES had the blood recolored gray in an attempt to pass it off as sweat, and the various Fatality moves were graphically changed to be less gruesome. The SNES version was graphically superior to the Mega Drive/Genesis port, but all violence was censored.

The game was a response by Midway to Capcom's successful Street Fighter II, which spawned a number of fighting games. However, it used a distinctly different fighting system from the Street Fighter formula, which was used in all subsequent sequels until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The controls consisted of five buttons arranged in an "X" pattern: a high punch, a high kick, a low punch, a low kick, and a block button, as well as an eight-way joystick. If the two fighters were standing next to each other, hitting any of the attack buttons would result in a modified strike: a low punch turned into a throw, a high punch turned into a heavy elbow, headbutt, or backhand, and either kick turned into a knee strike. Crouching and hitting either punch resulted in an uppercut, which was the most damaging attack of the game. Jump kicking and crouch-kicking were executed in a similar fashion to Street Fighter, although leg sweeps and roundhouse kicks were performed by holding away while pressing the appropriate kick button.

The blocking in Mortal Kombat I by itself greatly changed the flow of fighting in comparison to contemporary games which used Street Fighter conventions. Characters do not block while retreating or crouching, but only block when the block button is pushed. Even then, characters take (reduced) damage from any hit while blocking. However, successfully blocking moves is simple – a crouching block can successfully defend against all moves, even aerial attacks such as jumpkicks – and blocking characters give very little ground when struck rather than sliding backwards. This style of blocking rewarded dodging to avoid damage but also made counterattacks much easier after a successful block, and the ultimate result was an environment which rewards a more furtive playing style than contemporary games.

Another of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a special finishing move executed against a beaten opponent to kill them in a gruesome fashion. For example, one character (Sub-Zero) would grasp a defeated opponent by the head, then rip out the head and spine while the body crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood.

Finally, Mortal Kombat also changed the way special moves were performed. Street Fighter (and many other fighting games) performed most special moves in fractions of circles (usually full, half or one-quarter) on the joystick followed by a button press (such as a quarter-circle forward, plus punch). Mortal Kombat was the first to introduce moves that did not require a button press (such as tap back, tap back, then forward), and only a few of the special moves required circular joystick movement.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 07:14:32 Double Dragon II: The Revenge Double Dragon II: The Revenge is the second game in Technos Japan's Double Dragon series of side-scrolling beat-em-ups. The original arcade version of the game was distributed in North America and Europe in 1988 and in Japan during the following year. The game was made specifically for the Western market, where the original [url="http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/doubledragon"]Double Dragon[/url] enjoyed tremendous success.

Technos Japan developed a home version of the game for the Famicom/NES in 1989, which was drastically different from the arcade version. Other home versions were released for the Mega Drive and PC Engine.

Plot

Double Dragon II drops the rescue premise of the original game in favor of a revenge theme (hence the subtitle). Whereas in the original game, Marian was merely kidnapped, in the sequel she is shot to death by Black Warriors' leader Willy right in the very beginning of the game, giving the game a much darker tone than the original.

[edit] Gameplay

The arcade version of Double Dragon II was essentially a reworked version of the original Double Dragon, using the same engine and recycling most of the game's graphics. The main change in the game was the replacement of the original game's punch and kick buttons in favor of a two-way attacking system (Left Attack and Right Attack) similar to Renegade. Pressing the attack button of the direction the player is facing will perform the standard left/right punch combo, whereas pressing the opposite attack button will make the character perform a rear kick. Most of the techniques from the previous game are carried over, with the exception of the headbutt. Double Dragon II also marked the debut of the Whirlwind Kick, which would become the series' trademark special technique.

Virtually all of the characters from the first game were brought back for the sequel. Most of them were given facelifts in order to represent the passing of time between the original game and the sequel, while a few kept their original appearance. The changes are more than superficial though, with some of the enemies being given new techniques to go along with their new looks. Each stage also features a new enemy who serves as the stage boss.

The overall stage layout of the arcade version is almost exactly identical to the first game, comprised of four missions including the enemy's base at the end of the game. Mainly the scenery was changed, although new traps were added as well.
]]> 15 Feb 2007 02:49:58 karateka One of the first martial arts fighting games, Karateka set the standard for graphics and sound in the mid-80s. The developer, Jordan Mechner, went on to develop Prince of Persia and its sequels.

In Karateka, Princess Mariko has been kidnapped by Akuma. You play the hero, a karate master, who must fight your way into Akuma's fortess and save the princess. Along the way, you'll have to defeat Akuma's henchmen and his eagle...

High atop a craggy cliff, guarded by an army of fierce warriors, stands the fortress of the evil warlord Akuma. Deep in the darkest dungeon of the castle, Akuma gloats over his lovely captive, the princess Mariko.

You are one trained in the way of karate: a karateka. Alone and unarmed, you must defeat Akuma and rescue the beautiful Mariko.

Put fear and self-concern behind you. Focus your will on your objective, accepting death as a possibility. This is the way of the karateka.

Developer: Jordan Mechner
Released: 1984
]]> 03 Mar 2007 11:38:07 Double Dragon Billy Lee's girlfriend, Marian, has been kidnapped! Billy and his brother Jimmy must fight through legions of street toughs to win her freedom, and her heart.
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