...In the beginning, there was Street Fighter II. Call it the grandpappy of fighting games. Sure, we had Street Fighter and Karate Champ before SF2 but neither game ignited such a spark that would lead to hundreds of derivatives and outright clones. Atlus joined the legions of publishers who got into the fighting game market with something called Power Instinct. That was back in 1994. In the arcades and at home on the Super Famicom, it became known as the odd little fighting game with the left of center cast of characters and their insane arsenal of moves. If anything, it left an impression on those who played it thanks to its wackiness.
		If the characters in Power Instinct stood out, then Atlus bumped it up a notch with the release of Power Instinct 2. A larger cast of characters and even more outrageous moves underscored the solid gameplay and mechanics of the game. Power Instinct 2 was first released in Japanese arcades in the fall of 1995 and it made it to the Playstation in the spring of 1996. The third Power Instinct game gets a Saturn release this week and the Playstation version is due sometime in June. Atlus re-christens the game as Groove On Fight and brings a couple of characters from their action games into the fighting arena.

Fans of Prikura Daisakusen should recognize the girl Popura in the picture posted above and in the scene to the right. In her fighting style, the magic wand that she carries plays a prominent role. She can swing it high and she can swing it low. She can even crouch down and smack you from below. With certain moves, Popura can fire off electrical projectiles and blasts that cause a good amount of damage when they connect. Prikura Daisakusen is a fantastic 3-D isometric view arcade game that was ported over to the Saturn earlier this year. Sadly, it is currently sold out but we are expecting restock soon.

One of the noticeable things about Groove On is the sharp hand-drawn graphics. The pictures on this page should convey this. The background graphics through the levels in the game are atmospheric and have beautifully rendered objects in them - from greek statues to metallic amalgams. The game looks great and is a near pixel for pixel clone of the arcade version. It is good to see companies other than SNK using the Saturn ram card for their conversions.Capcom's Cyberbots does not require a ram card but it can use it for smoother animation. Other companies will follow suit later this year.

		The gameplay is standard fighting game fare but with a variation where you can play 2 on 2 bouts. In this manner, the mechanics are similar to SNK's King of Fighters where you can call upon your compadre to enter the fight in your stead. Groove On's design gives fighters an extra strategic element to the battles. If your onscreen fighter is getting whupped, you can easily have your co-fighter jump in from the background and take on the opponent. Player animation is smooth and like the graphics, resemble the arcade version.

So, the graphics are great and the gameplay is of good quality. What else? The added bonus for players of Power Instinct has always been the wacky special attacks that the characters can pull off. For example, the grandmotherly type to the right is one of the more animated characters in the game. She carries some wild attacks and a rabid personality. One of her more memorable moves is a projectile attack where she removes her false teeth and flings them at you. As they chatter and flap their gums through the air, it would be wise to gauge its flight and avoid her long distance bite.

In another one of her special attacks, the old and wizened one calls upon the disembodied warriors of yore to wallop intense damage on her opponent. The other characters in the game also have a full arsenal of projectile attacks and their own special moves but players will have fun finding them and watching them being executed on-screen. Groove On is an overall cool package. Its a fun game and appeals on many levels. It has a sense of humor and the gameplay is strong enough to stand alongside more 'serious' fighting games such as SF2 and Real Bout.

As mentioned earlier in this page, Groove On Fight is a Sega ram-card game. Gamers who have already purchased Real Bout Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown 3, King of Fighters '96 and/or Metal Slug may use their exisitng ram cartridge to play this game or any of the other games that utilize the ram card. NCS carries a 3rd party ram cartridge but from experience, we find the Sega brand ram cards a lot more reliable and less prone to failure. A small picture gallery is posted below for your reference.