Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as the saying goes, but that wasn’t the case with Fighter’s History. Released amidst the arcade fighting game craze that Street Fighter II started in the early 90’s, Fighter’s History found itself in the middle of controversy that resulted in a nasty lawsuit and left parent company Data East with egg on its face.

During this time, the arcade industry was rife with games looking to cash in on Street Fighter’s success, all varying in terms of quality and innovation. Fighter’s History just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to say, as Capcom set out to make an example of the game and teach a lesson to everyone who was trying to cash in on the formula that they created. Capcom filed a lawsuit in 1993 and the case went to court in 1994 on the grounds that Fighter’s History was imitating the look and feel of Street Fighter II and attempted to block the release of Fighter’s History to avoid any “confusion” between the two franchises. To make a long story short, the court ruled against Capcom citing the differences, though they did make mention that there were some similarities between the two games that were pretty close.

The premise of the game is typical of any other fighting game wherein there’s a tournament and fighters from all around the world have gathered to see who the best of the best really is. All right, so that was all made up, but who really pays attention to the story of a fighting game anyways?

You can choose between nine different fighters to fight in matches based off of the usual best two out of three rounds rules. Some examples of the characters are the female Ryoko from Japan (who is obviously this game’s version of Ryu), the hulking Marstorius, and Ray the wild haired American (for the lack of a better description). Each fighter features a different set of moves and special powers like fireballs, kicks, and throws. Though similarities are present cosmetically, no character directly copies any character from Street Fighter II; Ryoko doesn’t even throw fireballs let alone any moves that use a quarter-circle motion.

Controls have the standard six-button layout of three punches and kicks with varying degrees of speed and damage. You can adjust the controls to your liking and can also adjust the speed of the matches right out of the box, which is totally welcome. The gameplay itself is surprisingly deep, though far from innovative. Punches and kicks all differ depending on how close you are to the competition as well as whether you’re in a crouching or standing position. One unique element to the gameplay is that every character has a weak spot, usually designated by an article of clothing such as a headband or sunglasses. You can find weak spots by hitting either high, low, or in the torso area. Once a weak spot is hit, it’ll flash. The more you hit an opponent’s weak spot, the faster it’ll flash until it falls off, rendering your opponent dizzy and allowing you a few free hits in the process. There are some issues with the controls, however, as they don’t feel tight and responsive which is imperative for a game in this genre.

You’ll fight through the game’s roster, including one twin fight (two of the same characters fighting each other) and ultimately reaching the game’s two bosses – Clown and Karnov, as seen in Data East’s old school NES platformer. None of the fights are difficult, since you can beat any opponent with constant jumping kicks and any seasoned fighting game aficionado can easily beat the game in one sitting. Characters lack any sort of ending and you’ll be awarded a congratulatory screen and are prompted to enter your initials. This gives little incentive to come back to the game after being spoiled by the character specific endings in Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat.

The visuals in Fighter’s History are by no means impressive as it looks like a poor man’s Street Fighter in terms of backgrounds, character design, and animation. Characters lack the style of any of Capcom’s or SNK’s characters and look generic as a whole. Animation is pretty fluid however and is on par with any other game from the time period. Characters do possess some laughable victory poses which does nothing to have anyone take them seriously at all. The same can be said for the victory dialog in between fights which range from “Don’t make fun of my Judo” to “Go home or I’ll make sausage out of you!” If you thought Ryu’s Sheng Long quote was confusing, you’ll be losing sleep trying to decipher Fighter’s History.

Backgrounds keep up with the K-Mart quotient of the game. They attempt to mimic those seen in Street Fighter II, but only succeed in feeling flat and lifeless in the end. Some backgrounds have cheering onlookers, though it’s obvious they all animate at the same time in the same tired loop, even after you’ve won a fight.

Accompanying the generic visuals is a generic soundtrack that features a host of forgettable tunes. Character voices are muffled to the point where you can’t make out what they’re saying. Though this can be blamed on the hardware being used, we all knew what “ha-do-ken” was at the end of the day. The sound of landing punches, blocks, and even sounds on the menu screen mimic those of Street Fighter, just a little more high pitched.

Though Fighter’s History is surprisingly good in terms of depth of gameplay and strategy, it definitely gives reason to be labeled as nothing more than a clone lost in a sea of clones. While games like Samurai Shodown and King of Fighters took the formula Street Fighter set the standard on and improved on it, there is nothing redeeming about Fighter’s History to warrant checking it out aside from curiosity. A sequel was released a couple of years later that improved the gameplay as well as the graphics and is touted as being much better than this game, but that’s another review altogether. There have definitely been better clones made, but Fighter’s History definitely isn’t the worst.

- Brad Hicks (aka Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media