Fighter's History is a 1993 arcade fighting game developed by Data East and ported for the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom in 1994. The game features a varied cast of characters, each with their own distinct fighting styles. It gained attention for its gameplay, which has copycat similarities to Capcom's Street Fighter series.
Fighter's History sparked significant controversy upon its release, leading to a high-profile lawsuit. Capcom sued Data East, alleging that the game was not just a clone of Street Fighter II but a very obvious rip-off of their iconic title. In the end, Capcom lost the case.
Why??? Because, Fighter's History is just like all the other fighting games out there during that time.
The Story
You are invited to be one among the ranks of master champions in Fighter's History!
The world needs a legend. This is your chance for the ultimate honor in a contest that will push your limits. By a damn mysterious invitation, you are summoned to battle the fiercest martial arts masters. To claim that title of the one ultimate martial arts champion, you must challenge all 9 amazing competitors and 2 powerful, great bosses.
Good luck! You just need it!
The Graphics and Sound
The graphics are fairly decent for the SNES console, though they can appear a bit pixelated sometimes. However, this minor issue won't bother players who are not overly picky about graphics. The overall presentation is like Street Fighter II. For example, when you win a match, the victory screen really imitates SF2. Similarly, the character selection screen is like SF II, though it lacks the famous world map. Overall, the graphics are just okay for the SNES, delivering a near-arcade visual experience for its time.
The sound and music in the game are nearly mediocre. While the music is okay and fits the environments well, the sound effects are poor. In some cases, the way certain characters shout their special moves might even make players cringe. This inconsistency keeps the audio from standing out.
The Gameplay
The control scheme here is solid, offering smooth and responsive gameplay. It avoids the sluggy and clunky controls found in many less famous fighting games. However, it lacks originality, as the controls are almost identical to Street Fighter II.
The game features three modes: Arcade Mode, Survival Mode, and Versus Mode. The first 2 modes are the standard staples for fighting games. Survival Mode, despite its name, plays more like a team battle mode. Unfortunately, the AI is poorly developed. Even on the hardest difficulty, the AI can be easily fooled by spamming jump-ins and sweeps, making it so simple to beat the game without much challenge.
The character designs lack originality. Many of the characters are clear copies of Street Fighter II fighters. Their moves also look similar, though re-branded with different names. But, a few characters feel more unique due to their distinctive special moves.
One of the game’s more cool mechanics involves the dizziness system. If you hit on specific parts of a character’s equipment, those items flash before the character becomes dizzy. This adds a small, creative touch that sets Fighter's History apart, even if it does not quite compensate for the lack of overall originality.
Replay value is mediocre. There is not much variety in it due to its limited modes. However, playing the game with a friend in Versus Mode can make it more exciting and enjoyable, as it adds competitiveness that the single-player modes fail to deliver.
My Verdict
Fighter’s History had potential but got destroyed by its competition due to its lack of creativity and originality. While the gameplay was solid, the heavy resemblance to Street Fighter II prevented it from standing out. This serves as a reminder that simply copying games without introducing fresh ideas is not enough to make it a hit. If it had more features, it could have been a better game.
Play it on the wondrous Super Nintendo/Super Famicom or play it on a nice emulator.
Let's keep on gaming in the free world!
It's a shame when a game copies so much from another game to the point of plagiarizing it. I didn't know the story behind this game. Thanks for sharing it 💚
The developers crossed the line with this game, it is a mere copy of Street Fighter in every sense lol.