Fighters Destiny

Fighter's Destiny is a 3-D fighting game with 10 regular characters and a bunch of hidden ones--ranging from a clown to a Middle Eastern wrestler. In some of the game's other modes, you'll face bizarre opponents like a cow (yes, that's right--COW) and a training dummy.

The setup is similar to that of Virtua Fighter--you fight in a ring (of variable size) and the goal is to knock the other guy out as many times as possible. The graphics are smooth and move very fast, giving the game that arcade feel.

Gameplay is different from most fighting games though. The action is points-based, meaning that each attack or knockdown gets you a certain amount of points. For instance, a "ring out" is only worth one point, so it's not advantageous to just knock your opponent out of the ring and be done with it. Using special attacks and combos will get you more points. The game also lets you adjust the amount of points that each attack gives you, so you can customize the game to get rid of cheap wins.

You can use either the analog or digital pad to control your fighter, and configure almost every aspect of the game. There are plenty of modes to play, too. It's got a One-player, Training and Vs. Mode, but Fighter's Destiny has other modes that are not so common for fighting games. Record Attack is an endurance mode (with three categories--Survival, Fastest and Rodeo). In Survival, you're pitted against 100 opponents in a fight to the finish. As the name implies, Fastest Mode is based on how quickly you can defeat your opponent, and Rodeo is a battle to see who can stay in the ring.

The game's Master Challenge is also vastly different from your average fighting game. You fight to win use of a certain skill or special move. Your moves can then be saved onto BS the N64's memory cartridge and used against a friend and their customized fighter.

Developed by Genki/Imagineer, Fighter's Destiny looks like the best fighting game for the N64 so far, and it will be very interesting to see how the finished product turns out.

Finally, the chance to silence all the critics who have waffled on and on for time eternal about the lack of a decent beat-them-up on the N64. First we had WCW Vs NWO World Tour, which, although a wrestling game rather than an actual fighter, had top beat-'em- up qualities, and now we've got Fighter1 s Destiny, which means the best has just got a hell of a lot better!

Fighter's Destiny is visually very reminiscent of Tekken, in that the combatants are represented in ç-D, along with the ring, giving them the freedom to move around. The backgrounds to the arenas are fairly flat, but this serves to increase the speed of the game, without the need to scrimp on animation. You'll be so busy fighting you won't even notice the backgrounds - take my word for it!

Talented Individuals

Initially you can choose from nine different fighters, all with their own individual strengths and weaknesses.

If they're really strong, for example, then they'll probably be slow. It's the old classic scenario familiar from many a fighting game, but it works, so why mess with it? The strength also affects how much damage they can take too, so not only can strong characters hit harder, but they can also take more damage in return.

In addition to the usual selection of punches, kicks, throws and sweeps, every character has their own collection of moves unique to him or her.

There are five fighting modes in Fighter's Destiny, beginning with Vs Com, the standard beat-everyone-up mode that you will be familiar with from most previous beat-'em-ups. In this mode, it's fairly straightforward. Simply pick the character you want, and get in the ring - or rather, get on the sort of square-shaped platform -and sort the other player out.

The combat system in Fighter's Destiny is a little different to your average beat-'em-up. Energy is represented by two energy levels, one a standard bar, and the other comprised of seven stars, each representing points.

Heroes

Deck'Em All!

The objective of each round is to gain seven points and this is achieved in a number of ways through performing techniques which each have different values.

It's possible, for instance, to simply knock your opponent out of the ring, which drops their energy bar to zero. However, this only gains you one point, so you'd need to do it seven times to beat them. More points can be gained by successfully throwing your opponent, since this is worth two points, but throws can be blocked or even countered. Achieve a successful counter, or a knockdown, and you'll gain three points. A counter is done by striking with a power move just as your opponent attempts the same on you. A knockdown is a little more complicated. Simply punching, kicking, or even using a power-move on your opponent won't knock them down. What you need to do is to reduce their energy bar until they become stunned.

You'll know when they're stunned, because they flash red, and get cartoon stars rotating round their head. At this point they cannot attack, although it is possible for them to still evade to some degree, giving you the chance to survive if you're in that situation. All that's needed then is to perform a power move or a combo to finish them off. The most points are awarded for a special. These moves are very tricky to do, and take some time to prepare, so they're best used when your opponent is stunned, thus giving you the time you need to charge them up. Specials will knock down your opponent if you hit them, whatever their energy bar status, and they are worth four points.

Control Freaks

One of the best things about Fighter's Destiny is the control you have over your character's movement. Too many beat-'em-ups suffer from characters with limited movement, but in Fighter's Destiny you can move forwards, backwards, sideways, ducking and jumping, using the evade and block buttons. Another neat aspect is the ability to block and counter, even during throwing moves. This is important, because the throws can catch you by surprise whatever your energy level. They can be evaded by blocking or doing a counter move before the grapple bart which appears at the bottom of the screen, fills up. Depending on how quickly you respond, the result will be different. Counter or block early, and the hold will be broken. Counter or block late, and the throw will take place, but your character will twist and land on their feet, then sometimes even do a throw of their own. Totally mistime it, of course, and you go down for the count!

The characters' ability to block throws also depends on their energy bar. If the bar is low, you may not have the strength to counter the attack, and you'll end up on the floor.

Another neat thing is the in-game move lists. It's possible to pause the game at any time and review the easy-to-understand list of moves, along with the control combinations needed to do them. No more sitting with the controller in one hand and a 300 page booklet in the other while you try to remember which buttons you need to press for your ailing character to pull off that that axe kick.

Multiple Modes

In addition to the standard fighting mode there is also Master Challenge mode, where you fight the Master (not the beardy bloke from Doctor Who) to learn up to eight totally new abilities. In this mode, you also may face the Joker. If you do and he defeats you, you lose all your new-found abilities and end up back at square one.

If you're having problems mastering the moves, then in Training mode the mysterious Master will give you advice and - more often than not - sarcastic criticism on the various moves and abilities. Once you've picked up a new move, you get to practice it on an unfortunate robot called Robert.

In addition to the Vs, Master and Training modes, there are also three bonus games which involve all the characters from the other modes. In the first game, Survival, you have to fight one hundred opponents, and win every time. To make things even more difficult, you only have one life star.

In Fastest mode you must defeat four opponents, each in under a minute, but the weirdest mode by far is Rodeo mode. The object in this game is to keep fighting as long as possible against a cow called Ushi! The really tricky bit is that you can't just knock Ushi off the platform, as then the stage will end, so you have to not only stop her from hammering you, you've got to be careful not to knock her over the edge of the ring.

Steal Those Skills!

One of the really clever elements in Fighter's Destiny deals with the skills which can be gained on the Master level. To prevent two player games becoming a bit one-sided if one player, for instance, has gained several of the extra skills, it's possible for friends to fight each other for possession of the skills. It's a bit like playing marbles really - you stake one of your own skills against gaining one of your opponent's skills. In this way it's possible to build up your character's skills, effectively customising them, and the game allows you to swap memory cards around, so you could build and swap a library of characters with your friends!

Everything in the game can be altered, from the ring size, through the number of points needed to win a stage, to the points awarded for each successful technique. This makes it possible to boost the points for the moves you're best at, and to reduce the points for the moves that you keep getting hammered with.

The Crunch...

Most important of all is how the game plays. The characters handle exceedingly well, flowing convincingly from move to move as they go. In particular the block and counter moves respond excellently, and this makes the game a whole lot more fun than your average beat-'em-up. It's not just the fastest person that wins, for example; instead, careful strategies, fast countering and generally learning the individual character abilities are the way to get good at this. It's not possible to simply hammer all the buttons and laugh as your opponent falls over.

Basically, Fighter's Destiny is the finest beat-'em-up on the N64 so far, and is a good contender for one of the top fighting games on the console market in general. I dare say there will be those neo-Luddites who proclaim it to be not a patch on Street Fighter, or some other such oldie, but then what do they know? That the Street Fighter series is still the best fighter around? - Ed) There are so many aspects to this game that it will keep you going for ages. If you're a beat-'em-up fan, then this is the game you've been waiting for!

Ring Out - What A Drag!

As with most fighting games, it's possible to gain points by knocking your opponent out of the ring, although it's not as straight-forward as it might be. For characters have the ability to grab the edge of the ring, and pull themselves back up. Now, although you can attempt to knock them off while they're hanging, this is rather risky, because fighters's destiny incorporates a move incorporates a move called a drag drop with which the hanging fighter can grab the standing opponent if they're close enough and pull them off the edge - in much the same way the wrestlers drag one another from the ring in wcw vS nwo. this move is very difficult to block or counter, and the resulting throw earns twice as many points a ring out.

Enemy Mine

As with any fighting game worth its scars, fighter's destiny has some hidden characters for you to confront. here are the threatening thumpers you've got to hammer into the dirt.

Battle The Master!

Have you ever wonoered what happeneo to that age-old nemesis of doctor who, the master? well wonder no longer, because he plays a starring role in fighter's destiny. He's willing to supply you with a whole host of new, super-duper moves, and all you've got to 00 is deck him several times to get them!

Fighting Mad Cows!

Beat-'eì-ups wouldn't be complete these days without some totally unsuitable opponent inthe bonus round. In mace: The Dark Age, we met Pojo the Chicken, and in Fighter's Destiny we're introduced to ushi the cow. Who is a little mad. Considering that cows are usually rather docile creatures, ushi is an udderly dangerous fighter!

Robbie The Robot

Robert the robot is your opponent in training mode, where the master takes time out from contemplating the mysteries of his navel to instruct you in the various forms of the fighting arts. A bit uke Spanky in Mace, Robert is there to be kicked around at your leisure, although, unuke spanky, he does occasionally fight back.

Boro The Bird

Sorry, that's pretty sexist, isn't it? Alliterates nicely though. Boro is the fighter you meet at the end of the one-player contest, and if you manage to defeat her successfully. Then she becomes a playable character. She's got some particularly devastating moves, including two different somersault kicks.

2nd opinion

While the combat system is a Blatant Rip-off of the Virtua Fighter games and the characters are completely devoid of originality. Fighter's Destiny is still the best beat-'em-up on the n64 by several miles. For a start, it's the first one to offer a decent range of moves, even though it only uses a two-button control method. The scoring system is clever and a welcome step away from the standard 'best of three' approach, and additions to the genre like the grappling gauge to determine throws are almost certain to be recycled back into the fighting gene pool. The only real flaws are cosmetic - the announcer is the most annoying since ridge racer (though thankfully he can be turned off) and the graphics are a bit on the bland side. None of this matters in the long run, as the n64 finally has a fighting game of which it can be proud. About time too?

Not-bad attempt at a fighting game, with some original ideas and a welcome emphasis on skill instead of special attacks.

Finally, the chance to silence all the critics who have waffled on and on for time eternal about the lack of a decent beat-'em-up on the N64. First we had WCW Vs NWO World Tour, which, although a wrestling game rather than an actual fighter, had top beat-'em-up qualities, and now we've got Fighter's Destiny, which means the best has just got a hell of a lot better!

Fighter's Destiny is visually very reminiscent of Tekken, in that the combatants are represented in 3-D, along with the ring, giving them the freedom to move around. The backgrounds to the arenas are fairly flat, but this serves to increase the speed of the game, without the need to scrimp on animation. You'll be so busy fighting you won't even notice the backgrounds - take my word for it!

Talented Individuals

Initially you can choose from nine different fighters, all with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. If they're really strong, for example, then they'll probably be slow. It's the old classic scenario familiar from many a fighting game, but it works, so why mess with it? The strength also affects how much damage they can take too, so not only can strong characters hit harder, but they can also take more damage in return.

In addition to the usual selection of punches, kicks, throws and sweeps, every character has their own collection of moves unique to him or her.

There are five fighting modes in Fighter's Destiny, beginning with Vs Com, the standard beat-everyone-up mode that you will be familiar with from most previous beat-'em-ups. In this mode, it's fairly straightforward. Simply pick the character you want, and get in the ring - or rather, get on the sort of square-shaped platform -and sort the other player out.

The combat system in Fighter's Destiny is a little different to your average beat-'em-up. Energy is represented by two energy levels, one a standard bar, and the other comprised of seven stars, each representing points.

Deck 'Em All!

The objective of each round is to gain seven points and this is achieved in a number of ways through performing techniques which each have different values.

It's possible, for instance, to simply knock your opponent out of the ring, which drops their energy bar to zero. However, this only gains you one point, so you'd need to do it seven times to beat them. More points can be gained by successfully throwing your opponent, since this is worth two points, but throws can be blocked or even countered. Achieve a successful counter, or a knockdown, and you'll gain three points. A counter is done by striking with a power move just as your opponent attempts the same on you. A knockdown is a little more complicated. Simply punching, kicking, or even using a power-move on your opponent won't knock them down. What you need to do is to reduce their energy bar until they become stunned.

You'll know when they're stunned, because they flash red, and get cartoon stars rotating round their head. At this point they cannot attack, although it is possible for them to still evade to some degree, giving you the chance to survive if you're in that situation. All that's needed then is to perform a power move or a combo to finish them off. The most points are awarded for a special. These moves are very tricky to do, and take some time to prepare, so they're best used when your opponent is stunned, thus giving you the time you need to charge them up. Specials will knock down your opponent if you hit them, whatever their energy bar status, and they are worth four points.

Control Freaks

One of the best things about Fighter's Destiny is the control you have over your character's movement. Too many beat-'em-ups suffer from characters with limited movement, but in Fighter's Destiny you can move forwards, backwards, sideways, ducking and jumping, using the evade and block buttons. Another neat aspect is the ability to block and counter, even during throwing moves. This is important, because the throws can catch you by surprise whatever your energy level. They can be evaded by blocking or doing a counter move before the grapple bar, which appears at the bottom of the screen, fills up. Depending on how quickly you respond, the result will be different. Counter or block early, and the hold will be broken. Counter or block late, and the throw will take place, but your character will twist and land on their feet, then sometimes even do a throw of their own. Totally mistime it, of course, and you go down for the count!

The characters' ability to block throws also depends on their energy bar. If the bar is low, you may not have the strength to counter the attack, and you'll end up on the floor.

Another neat thing is the in-game move lists. It's possible to pause the game at any time and review the easy-to-understand list of moves, along with the control combinations needed to do them. No more sitting with the controller in one hand and a 300 page booklet in the other while you try to remember which buttons you need to press for your ailing character to pull off that that axe kick.

Multiple Modes

In addition to the standard fighting mode there is also Master Challenge mode, where you fight the Master (not the beardy bloke from Doctor Who) to learn up to eight totally new abilities. In this mode, you also may face the Joker. If you do and he defeats you, you lose all your new-found abilities and end up back at square one.

If you're having problems mastering the moves, then in Training mode the mysterious Master will give you advice and - more often than not – sarcastic criticism on the various moves and abilities. Once you've picked up a new move, you get to practice it on an unfortunate robot called Robert.

In addition to the Vs, Master and Training modes, there are also three bonus games which involve all the characters from the other modes. In the first game, Survival, you have to fight one hundred opponents, and win every time. To make things even more difficult, you only have one life star.

In Fastest mode you must defeat four opponents, each in under a minute, but the weirdest mode by far is Rodeo mode. The object in this game is to keep fighting as long as possible against a cow called Ushi! The really tricky bit is that you can't just knock Ushi off the platform, as then the stage will end, so you have to not only stop her from hammering you, you've got to be careful not to knock her over the edge of the ring.

Steal Those Skills!

One of the really clever elements in Fighter's Destiny deals with the skills which can be gained on the Master level. To prevent two player games becoming a bit one-sided if one player, for instance, has gained several of the extra skills, it's possible for friends to fight each other for possession of the skills. It's a bit like playing marbles really - you stake one of your own skills against gaining one of your opponent's skills. In this way it's possible to build up your character's skills, effectively customising them, and the game allows you to swap memory cards around, so you could build and swap a library of characters with your friends!

Everything in the game can be altered, from the ring size, through the number of points needed to win a stage, to the points awarded for each successful technique. This makes it possible to boost the points for the moves you're best at, and to reduce the points for the moves that you keep getting hammered with.

The Crunch...

Most important of all is how the game plays. The characters handle exceedingly well, flowing convincingly from move to move as they go. In particular the block and counter moves respond excellently, and this makes the game a whole lot more fun than your average beat-'em-up. It's not just the fastest person that wins, for example; instead, careful strategies, fast countering and generally learning the individual character abilities are the way to get good at this. It's not possible to simply hammer all the buttons and laugh as your opponent falls over. This game demands practice.

Basically, Fighter's Destiny is the finest beat-'em-up on the N64 so far, and is a good contender for one of the top fighting games on the console market in general. I dare say there will be those neo-Luddites who proclaim it to be not a patch on Street Fighter, or some other such oldie, but then what do they know? That the Street Fighter series is still the best fighter around? - Ed There are so many aspects to this game that it will keep you going for ages. If you're a beat-'em-up fan, then this is the game you've been waiting for!

Gorgeous animation, likeable characters and an ingenious Master Challenge. In a very real sense, our Tekken.

3D fighting games. We all love 'em. Only problem is that since we all love them so much, we get more and more fighting games with less and less quality. Nowadays, if you want your fighting game to succeed, you need to do something that will make your title stick out from the rest. This is not an easy task since there are so many fighters on the market. Fighters Destiny is a great example of how to do something a little different to make a game stick out.

Fighters Destiny is called a 3D fighting game, and in a way it is. You have your 3D characters fighting it out across multiple arenas looking to survive. This game takes a totally different approach to fighting and actually requires you to develop your characters. Throw in a couple of different game modes and what you have here is a fighting game that, once you get past the surface, has some serious depth.

Gameplay

I like fighting games as much as the next guy, but I will have to admit that I am getting a little tired of the same old same old. I have to say right up front that Fighters Destiny was a nice change. The fighting action is fast and furious, but the way you win the game is different. Not only that, but you have to win to gain new skills and develop your different fighters. These two aspects alone make Fighters Destiny worth looking at.

First off, I mentioned that the way you win in this game is different from most fighting games. In most games, you will have a health meter on the screen and when that meter runs dry, you lose. This game has seven stars at the top of the screen. The object is to fill the seven stars before your opponent. How do you fill the stars, you ask? There are a number of different ways. First, if you knock your opponent out of the arena, you will be awarded one point. If the time runs out, the judges will make a decision on who won the fight and that fighter will be awarded a star. If you throw your opponent to the ground, you are awarded two stars. If you knock your opponent down, you will be awarded three stars and if you pull off the special move, you are awarded four stars. What I liked about it was that once you are awarded a star, the match starts over. So, for example, let's say you are getting your tail kicked and you fall off the edge. Your opponent will receive one star and you start again. You keep doing this until one person reaches seven stars and then you will move on to the next fighter. I thought this was a great idea and it worked perfectly for the game.

The other thing that I really liked about the game was the way that you had to win to gain new skills. First, if you just play through the game in the Versus Computer mode, you will gain a new skill and open up a locked character. Where it is really cool is in the Master Challenge. This has you fighting against eight different masters. If you beat one of the masters, he will reveal a new skill to you. The thing is, you can't just pick which master you will fight. You have a rotating wheel that spins around the masters and you have to hit the button and it will stop on the character. Why is this important? Because there are also four jokers that you can land on. If you land on a Joker, you have to fight him and win. If you lose, all of your skills you have obtained for that fighter will be gone and you will have to start again. This was probably the funnest mode in the game because you just never knew when you would hit the Joker. It was great because hitting the Joker did not mean anything unless you were not good enough to beat it. This was a very fresh option for a fighting game.

Now let's talk about the actual gameplay itself. I already mentioned your missions, but we all know that fighting games live and die by tight controls and quick responses. Well, Fighters Destiny has pretty tight controls and the combos are easy enough to pull off. There are some more difficult combos that will keep the combo-lovers happy, but you won't see anything too tough. As for the response time of your fighter, it was a little on the sluggish side. I would hit a few buttons and it would take my fighter a noticeable amount of time to actually perform the moves. This was a little bit disappointing, but it was not awful. Believe me, I have seen worse.

The fighting action plays almost like a Karate game because of the way the stars work. You can punch and kick and pick up your opponent and try to floor them. You really don't ever get super combos or anything like that, which was good because it kept the game feeling more realistic. There were times where you could knock your opponent down with one hit and it was quite satisfying, not to mention a great "in your face" to the buddy you were playing against. There were also times that you would pick up your opponent and try and slam them to the ground, only to have them either break out of the hold or land on their feet after you let them go. Once again, I really found this to make the game seem more realistic as well as keep it challenging.

The last thing worth mentioning about the gameplay was the way that the fighting arenas worked. You have a square fighting arena, similar to a boxing ring, that is elevated in the air. That means that you have edges that you can fall off, or you can grab the edges and pull yourself back up. This was perfect because it added a whole new element to the fighting. One of the best things in the game happened when I was just kicking the crap out of my opponent and he fell off the side but held on to the ledge. Of course I walked over to wait for him so I could finish the job, and the next thing I knew, I was flying over the edge. The dude grabbed my leg and heaved me off the edge. The first time it happened, I almost died laughing. What a great touch.

Graphics

In the introduction, I said that this game claimed to be a 3D fighting game, and in a way it was. What I mean by this is that the fighters are 3D polygonish-looking and maybe the arena looks pseudo-3D, but that is where it stops. The backgrounds are as flat as flat can get. I was almost embarrassed when I saw the lame little attempt at clouds that floated by. Also, everything was very dark. I don't know if the darkness was used to try to cover the lack of details on the fighters and in the backgrounds, but it was pretty bad. To give you an idea, I was playing this game and somebody walked by and stopped to watch for a minute. After watching for about 30 seconds, the only comment they made was "this is an N64 game?" They did not mean it in a complimentary way, either.

Bottom Line

Aside from the dark and undetailed graphics, this is a good game. It was very refreshing to see a fighting game that strayed from the traditional formula. I really liked the way that the more you won, the more you learned. There are a decent number of fighters to choose from and if you want to win all of their moves, you will be playing for a long time. I wish the controls were a little more responsive, but other than that, this is a solid game.

Fighters Destiny is hard to categorize because it's like two games: You can do multi hit combos, throws, counters, and juggles as in most fighting games, but you can also execute lock moves and holds like in a wrestling game. This spectrum of action puts Fighters Destiny in a league of its own.

Destiny showcases a new scoring system, where instead of winning the standard two-of-three bouts, you're judged according to your moves. For instance, a throw may be worth two points; a counter, three points; and a special move, four points. You can also set the compensation meter, valuing any single fall like a special move to the maximum seven points. Destiny's variety of modes will also keep fight fans interested, with one- and two-player contests, and survival and training modes. You can even fight a death duel with a boxing cow, but the duration of the fight (100 times to unlock a game secret) seems udderly impossible.

Graphically, Destiny doesn't exceed any boundaries on the N64, nor does it fall below the line set by games like Killer Instinct Gold. Destiny's speed fails to impress, but the sheer variety of moves gives the game staying power. The sound is likewise mediocre, but it does the job. Fighters Destiny is quirky, enjoyable fun with lots of heart. It's destined for a place on the shelf of any fight fan.

Graphics

Although the fighter's' moves and specials are bright and explosive, there's some slowdown in the sprites. The backgrounds also could have used a little more imagination.

Control

Problems include almost impossible timing on certain button presses (one mistake and you're doing a whole new combo) and incredibly tough Joker drones in the Training mode. A little practice should help out in both areas.

Sound

It's more of the same song, really, with nothing better than the standard grunts and groans. Although the fighters have some unique expressions, the annoying ring announcer evens the score.

Fun Factor

The variety in gameplay makes Fighters Destiny a lot more appealing than most standard fighting games. Wrestling, kickboxing, choke holds, and straight list-fighting all come together nicely.

Ocean of America (which will one day give us Mission: Impossible for the Nintendo 64) is almost ready to launch an as-of-yet unheard of fighting game called Fighter's Destiny. Originally named Fighter's Cup in Japan, this Rumble Pak-com-patible game looks like it will feature some cool nuances not found in other games. One difference is the match-win system: To win, you must score a certain number of points, which are given based on the complexity of your moves. Who knows, your destiny may lead you to turn on this fight.