Shades of Pretty Fighter
Imagineer's first fighting foray was last summer's Pretty Fighter X - a 2-D girl fighting game with Street Fighter flair. PFx brought together 12 fighters which included a nurse, a stewardess, a nun and a cocktail waitress. Pretty Fighter still sells well due to positive word of mouth from satisfied fans and from those who are intrigued by the unconventional concept of a fighting game based around a group of femme fatales. Three characters from PFX return to battle it out for the crown of celebrity pop idol. Fist may be considered a 3-D version of Pretty Fighter but since most of the characters from PFX are missing, I'll refrain from making that link. We have Maria Christel, Marin Aoki and Ai Momoyama coming back for more punishment. You'd think that the girls would start taking voice lessons instead of fighting it out but don't ask questions, just sit back and enjoy this uncommon fighting game.
Male Minority in a Female World
There are eight characters in Fist - only two are male. The other six are all of the fairer sex. Marin Aoki is a Sailormoon parody who wears a sailor's shirt and a miniskirt. Dotsuki Masumi is an odd young woman who is dressed in a baggy brown bunny costume complete with a beaver's tail and huge circular ears. The sexy Mei wears a bunny outfit (as in Playboy bunny) and is easily the most feminine of the bunch with a lively skip and curtsy as she joins each bout. The young Lolita-like Ai Momoyama is an athletic girl who wears kneepads as well as elbow pads. The rest of her outfit consists of a pair of short shorts and a white shirt. Tokikaze brings ninja experience to the fray and Maria Christel, the boss nun from Pretty Fighter X returns in a new outfit. She has obviously changed religions because she is now decked out in a tight black outfit that is a far cry from the extremely conservative nun's robes she wore in PFX. The two gentlemen who enter the battlefield are Andy, a huge bruiser who looks uncannily like Bruce from Tekken 2 and Arts who looks like Jack, also from Tekken 2. Its a varied cast if not an odd one.
Cosmetics and Make-up
The game looks very good with large polygon characters that take up about 3/4 of the screen and features close camera work and pans. Thanks to this immediate perimeter, the action is very much in your face as you punch and kick your way to becoming the winner of the contest. The camera stays right on the fighters for a comfortable look at all of the fighting. The polygons while large are rough looking and will remind you of the graphics in the first Virtua Fighter. They are not so blocky as that earllier offering but they are not as refined as the clean polygons found in Virtua Fighter 2. The fighting arena is unlimited so that you can move as far away from your opponent as you like but when playing against the internal logic, it will keep things as close as possible by coming after you immediately when you step back. There are no ring outs in Fist. If you move back, you will be able to move forever because of the lack of a clearly defined ring. For a laugh, you can keep moving back and watch as the SS/PSX opponent scuttles after you with a sound effect that is very similar to a crab moving around in the sand. Imagineer have opted for a Virtua Fighter-like control pattern where only three buttons are used. A is for guard, B is for punch and C is for kick. A quick bout revealed gameplay that was solid and lively. The controls are responsive and will remind you of both Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Not too surprising since a lot of the elements in Fist have been borrowed from those two games. There is a good feel when you execute a punch or a kick and watch as it lands squarely on the opponent's jaw. The details are not spared as each blow is rendered in good detail and each sound effect hits home. The sparse backgrounds however are very plain though they do not take away from the game in a major way. In some stages, there is only a blur of color to serve as the background. Mei's desert stage is indicative of this.
Virtua Fighter-esque
Sailor Moon clone Marin Aoki seems to be a mix between the best fighters in Virtua Fighter. She has Akira's forward dash where she shoulders the opponent to the floor. She also has Sarah's (or was that Kage's) heels over head spin kick where she rotates backwards and kicks you with her heel as her legs pass in a flurry in front of the opponent. Marin also has a kneel down spin kick that is similar to Pai's move where she crouches down and then spins on the ball of one foot as her other leg extends out for a hit. Many of the other fighters in the game have that heels over head spin kick that will inflict major damage. Mei, the sexy one can also do the somersault which kicks you in the face. Masami Dotsuki, the bunny suited girl borrows a kick from Tekken - her leg goes up so high when she kicks that it is parallel to her body at its apex. Her costume is so unbecoming that she could be mistaken for the bear in Tekken 2 as well. Check out her padded paws when she wallops her opponents with a southpaw. One of her special moves is where she winds up her punch and then lets loose. This is sort of like what Moe of the Three Stooges would do before letting either of his two comrades get it in the face or another part of the anatomy. Its comical to look at and is one of the better moves in Masami's arsenal because she is protected on the upper body when she executes the move. Low attacks will still hurt her though. Ai Momoyama has a cool move where she jumps on her back and then kicks her feet out which can knock you flat on your back. She will then kick herself back up like the kung-fu guys do. Ai's other cool move is a spinning hammer fist where she twists her body around for momentum and hammers on you with a clenched fist. Fist borrows another detail from Tekken, the characters will look up and down at their opponents as they rise and fall with the blows of your punches. If you are at eye level, the characters will face forward. The animation is excellent as the players execute their moves and frankly is much better than I expected from Imagineer, a newcomer to the 3-D fighting world. The special moves that every character is capable of can be pulled off easily when you learn them thanks to the responsive control. The instruction booklet includes 5 special moves for each character that should start you off in your bouts. Combos may be done but you won't be commended when you pull one off. Triple hit chains can also be executed to a silent announcer. The character portraits of the girls are pretty but in the game, they look very plain. One consolation is that Pai and Sarah didn't look so hot in the first Virtua Fighter but they became babes with the release of VF2. A sequel should be all that the girls in Fist will need to look better since they'll probably get a major makeover. If Imagineer sells enough of this game, a sequel is guaranteed. The familiar Virtua Fighter end screen when you are defeated is also present. When you get knocked into unconsciousness, you will see the character prone on the floor as the camera pans away from her. The only thing missing from this game is the big announcer's voice who proclaims "K.O." when you knock someone's out. Fist undoubtedly borrows a lot from Virtua Fighter as well as Tekken but this is its saving grace as well as its major flaw: a lack of originality.
Options Galore
A character options screen is available where you get to view each character and rotate her on a 360 degree axis. You can also zoom-in and zoom-out as well as read her stats. Its a novelty but something extra for the kids to fiddle around with on a rainy day. Note that this feature may also be accessed when you are playing the game. If you are in battle, you can pause the game and manipulate the camera angles and focus in and out. A sound select menu is also included on the disc which displays 181 sounds that you can listen to. Every sound that is present on the Fist disc may be accessed by going to this menu. This was a neat little feature; you can listen to all of the sayings and sound effects of all of the girls from each grunt to every shriek of victory. You can also listen to the ten songs that are in the game from a menu so its a well rounded package. This makes Fist a disc that can be played as well as listened to. A single CD is included with the package which contains three songs of the typical pop bubblegum variety. The first track on the single CD lasts for 10 minutes and contains a song as well as a lot of character dialogue to listen to. Track 2 and 3 are songs that last for about 3 minutes each making them the average length of a standard pop song.
Voice Actress Utopia
Imagine a sound studio with some of Japan's most beloved seiyuu (voice actor). Marin Aoki is played by Kyohko Hikami who provided the voice for Masako in Blue Seed and Hanasaki Momoyoko in Wedding Peach. Ai Momoyama is played by Ikue Ohtani who provided the voice for Pochi in Hello Kitty and Tin Nyanto in Sailor Moon Stars. Kikuko Inoue provides the voice for Maria Christel. We'll expand on Kikuko later. Then imagine a director who guides them to utter the sounds and words of battle. A section in the Options menu allows you to go to a character/actress screen where you can access the voice actress data. Each character in the game is endowed with a slew of grunts, shrieks, moans and sayings that add a lot to the game as you pummel a princess. The voices are well acted as each feminine fighter shouts her words of victory or as she lunges forth with a punch accompanied with a word or syllable. Yips and yaps can be heard as you fight your way through the ranks. This screen shows a picture of the Fist character and a picture of the voice actress who supplies her voice. You can pick from a series of questions and subjects and then listen to the actress expound on the matter. Kikuko Inoue provided the voice for Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess, Lune Venus in El-Hazard, Lily MacGuyver in Garou Densetsu, Corvette in Idol Project, Tendou in Ranma 1/2, and for many characters in countless other roles. I consider Kikuko's voice to be very beautiful. It has both a sensual and a strong quality that is a joy to listen to. Kikuko imparts great emotion and life into every character that she has provided the voice for and fans of hers might want to pick up some of her audio CDs in which she sings or talks. Another nice thing about the Voice Actress menu is its great to associate the voices with the actresses who supply them. I never knew what some of the voice actresses looked like and this was an added bonus to see them. After all, they have provided a lot of enjoyment and personality to the different anime that have circulated in the video market. This option also lets you listen to the actresses say some sentences instead of just listening to them grunt and shriek in the throes of a sound studio battleground. The Fist package is well done. The game is very much a clone of Virtua Fighter and Tekken but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. The execution is good and the game is fun to play. The added features for the sounds, songs and voice actresses make this one of the better produced releases on the Saturn this year.Fist was reviewed by Peter Mui and HTMLed by Nicolas Kim and is © NCS 1996.