Fighter's History (Arcade) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Data East's 1993 arcade versus-fighting game, Fighter's History.

Played through as Mizoguchi on the game's default difficulty level.

I've already spoken a fair amount about Fighter's History with my video from the excellent SNES port. You can find it here if you're interested:    • Fighter's History (SNES) Playthrough  

You can also find my playthrough of the Sega Saturn port of the direct sequel, Fighter's History Dynamite (Karnov's Revenge), here:    • Fighter's History Dynamite (Saturn) P...  

All of the obvious influences from Capcom's Street Fighter II aside (because really, how many successful fighting 2D games in the 90s didn't work with the genre-defining "rules" set by Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat?), Fighter's History is an extremely well made game. Data East always played second-fiddle to names like Capcom or Konami in both the home and the arcade markets, but more often than not, the quality of their output was on par with the bigger names.

Personally, I do feel that Fighter's History is just as good a game as Street Fighter II, particularly in its SNES incarnation. It's different enough to stand on its own merits: the gameplay is reasonably tight and well balanced, it features good production values, it has a somewhat charming and goofy sense of self, and most importantly, it's a great deal of fun to play. It was also really neat to see an old Data East "mascot" like Karnov repurposed for such an unexpected role.

Fighter's History just had the misfortune of being viewed as valid, threatening competition by Capcom when Data East appropriated the basics of Street Fighter II. Everything you would expect of a good fighting game is here, and Capcom really looked really awkward and defensive when they sued Data East for copyright infringement. I mean, seriously. Nintendo defined the template for the modern platformer with Super Mario Bros., yet they didn't sue Capcom for incorporating some of those innovations with games like Mega Man. And it really sucks that though the news of the lawsuit gave Fighter's History a lot of publicity, it also framed the game as a mere ripoff, and as a result, many people dismissed it without a second thought.

Thankfully all of this didn't stop Data East from forging ahead and creating a (short-lived) franchise. The sequels, Fighter's History Dynamite and the Super Famicom exclusive Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!, were also excellent games that offered sound improvements over the original.

Overall, I'll say this: haters are always going to hate, but I really don't care. Fighter's History is one of my favorite fighters to come out in the wake of Street Fighter II. No matter what anyone says about its originality (or lack thereof), it is difficult to argue against how, at the very least, Fighter's History is thoroughly competent in its execution and thoroughly professional in its presentation. It's the product of a team that fully well knew how to build a game, and it shows. For anyone that likes 2D fighters, I'd think that'd be more than reason enough to give it a try. If the game's absurd personality wasn't enough already, that is!
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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