Influenced by the SNK Gals' Fighters discussion thread, I've decided to create a thread that discusses some fighting games not only on the Neo Geo Pocket, but on some other portable platforms. From the popular Game Boy, Nintendo DS and Sony PSP lines, to the not-so popular Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, Bandai Wonderswan and some handhelds that are too obscure for me to light up in my mind, like some kinds of Game & Watch-like LCD handhelds.
The first portable game with fist fighting was probably the 1984 Game & Watch game Boxing by Nintendo, which plays nearly exactly like the NES title Urban Champion (also released in 1984 by Nintendo), but it's "boxing" instead of street fighting with bare fists. Unlike most portable LCD games at the time of its release, Boxing allows up to two players to play.
However, sometime earlier in 1980, Nintendo also released an older Game & Watch titled Judge, which featured head-to-head weapon-based fighting...well, probably. The four things that it has in common with modern fighting games in the present time are using a weapon (called a gavel), dodging (however, incorrectly using it can give your opponent points), counter-attacking (by hitting your opponent that holds a higher number than yours), and multiplayer.
When the Game Boy was created, the first portable fighting game was released to this platform in 1989 titled Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls for The King of The Universe, followed by another manga/anime licensed Game Boy fighting game Sakigake!! Otokojuku: Meikoushima Kessen, which unlike Fist of the North Star, Otokojuku was released only in Japan and is probably 100% weapon-based.
Perhaps the earliest real fighting game developed exclusively for a handheld that is neither a licensed game nor a port, is Konami's Raging Fighter. Due to the Game Boy having only two buttons instead of three to six buttons, Konami had to make the most out of the two buttons. For instance, up to three kicks can be done when crouching. Konami worked extremely hard on developing different fighting games at the time and throughout a few years later, but didn't become very successful with any of them, while its business is still standing strong.
The most successful handheld fighting game was probably SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium ( abbreviated as "MoTM" ), which most of you members know why it was successful.
Now that you know some history, let's discuss some portable fighting games, shall we?
Edited by 1983parrothead on 27. January 2012 12:13
I've only played a few handheld fighters. Tried a few NGPC fighters on the Neo Pop emulator such as The Last Blade and the Samurai games. They seemed great but of course it's not as good an experience emulating these games.
I'm a big fan of the Guilty Gear Petit games on WonderSwan. Very well adapted to the handheld and really fun. There's an exclusive character too 'Fanny' who wields a giant syringe! Some moves can be tricky to pull off on the WonderSwan's controls but if you have a WonderCoin it should be easier I imagine.
One Piece Grand Battle Swan Colosseum by Dimps is also excellent with gorgeous graphics. Quite an unusual type of fighter featuring a platforming element. Sort of like a 2D version of Smash Brothers.
Oh my, some fighting games ports for certain handhelds were just terrible. I remember playing Street Fighter II on the Gameboy and it rather felt like watching some slow-motion puppet show in black and white. Absolutely not enjoyable in comparison with the Arcade version, and I've heard the Mortal Kombat ports were not better at all.
The 'King of Fighter '95' and 'Real Bout Special' GB ports on the other hand were pretty decent. Graphics were quite simple but the gameplay remained fluid (which is the most important imo).
YouTube Video
Still no match to the NGPC games, not to mention Match of the Millenium. Still remains the best original handheld fighter imo, along with Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max for the PSP.
Love all of my NGPC fighters. I play MotM the most, but KoF R2, Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown still see the light of day. Back when the NGPC was released I had a few friends at school who had bought them out of curiosity and we would have intense MotM and Cardfighters battles. Sadly, those days are long gone. I pine for the days of playing skilled opponents in person. I still keep two and a link cable just in case...
The Game Boy has some overlooked fighting games, like:
* Gekitou! Power Modeler (localized in North America by Sunsoft as Power Quest)
* World Heroes 2 Jet (known in Japan as Nettou World Heroes 2 Jet)
* Samurai Shodown
* Gamera
* Battle Crusher
* Kettou Beast Wars
* Yuu Yuu Hakusho series
* Battle Arena Toshiden
* Hiryu no Ken Gaiden (doubles as a beat 'em up; known outside Japan as Fighting Simulator: 2-in-1 Flying Warriors)
* SD Hiryu no Ken Gaiden
* SD Hiryu no Ken Gaiden 2
* SD Hiryu no Ken Gaiden EX
* Hiryu no Ken Retsudan GB
The GBA also has some fighting games. One of the least known is Dual Blades. For the Game Gear, it has Buster Fight (port of SMS title Masters of Combat), Virtua Fighter Mini (based on the decent Virtua Fighter anime) and probably the best, Fatal Fury Special.
The only Atari Lynx fighting games I can think of are Pit-Fighter and probably Ultra Vortek.
My first experience with portable fighters was, unfortunately, Mortal Kombat for the Game Boy. Shortly after this I had the pleasure of 'playing' Pit Fighter on the system. I wasn't really into fighting games back then so I gave up on handheld versions, 'cos they were crap.
I remember having another attempt a fair few years later with Super SFII Revival for the GBA. Trying to play it on the original model was near impossible and I'm sure the game was buggy as hell.
I really can't play fighting games with a D-pad; unless I've got a proper arcade stick it's just not happening. The only exception to that rule is the Pocket thumbstick 'cos it really is that fantastic.
The fighting games on the Pocket all range from excellent to fecking awesome. The quality of games on the system is way beyond that of any other console/handheld. It's a shame it was such a short lived system as there were quite a few unreleased games I'd have liked to have seen. World Heroes, KoF R3 and 3rd Mission would have been great, but I think Windjammers Pocket would have made a fantastic addition to the library. Chu Chu Rocket would have been pretty cool too.
Let's just hope that this new Neo Geo Portable has a thumbstick on par with the Pocket's.
Nettou Garou Densetsu 2: Aratanaru Tatakai (Dead Heat Fighters Legend of the Hungry Wolf 2: The New Battle, known as Fatal Fury 2 in the U.S.A. and PAL territories) is a great portable fighting game in my opinion. It was only released in Japan by Takara on July 29, 1994 for the original Nintendo Game Boy, and it is also compatible with the Nintendo Super Game Boy. It doesn't have the plane switching system or attacks to knock opponents into the other plane, however. Surprisingly enough, some of the speech bubbles (which appear when you perform a special move, a Desperation Attack, or win a match) display English text instead of Japanese text.
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