April 1, 2003

• The Kid Blogs

  
  

  

  
  

  What you’re looking at is a screen capture from an old Japanese game, Neko Yojimbo, or Kitten Fighter.

  
  

  Those familiar with the Street Fighter series should recognize the layout.  In fact, many aspects were similar.  Shown selected here are the two main rivals of the game, Mittens and Boots.  In the Street Fighter series, these would be analagous to Ryu and Ken.  Just to the right of Boots (2P selection box), you can see Greebo (Or Guribo, depending on your preferences for translation), equivalent of M. Bison.

  
  

  This is obviously a screen from the first iteration, as the character select screen is missing Yu and Muffin, the new characters that appeared in Kitten Fighter 2.  Easily the oddest fighter in the bunch, Yu, along with being a Sphynx, had a move that let him slip nimbly under the other fighter.  Rather like Dhalsim’s Yoga Teleport, except Yu could be hit by a low swat or kick while performing the move.  However, the move was tricky, as it started with what appeared to be the windup for Yu’s Flying Claw.  Thus, many human opponents would either go for a jumping hit, or block high while Yu slid smoothly under them and performed a Yamanekosougi on their unprotected back.  On harder difficulties, though, the AI was rarely fooled.

  
  

  Most people are unaware of the existence of the Kitten Fighter franchise, and for good reason.  The game didn’t receive any coverage outside of Japan, and only sold well enough within the borders to warrant the production of one sequel.  The original was slated for translation and distribution overseas, but the idea was scrapped early in the translation phase.  The sequel sold dismally, possibly due to the release of one of the Street Fighter titles in the same month, although those that played it said the new characters added a nice bit of variety.

  
  

  All in all, the two Kitten Fighter games were a nice try at throwing some variety into the fighting genre, but ultimately failed due to poor replayability (Beating the tournament mode merely showed you a generic ending with the picture of your kitten in the background), and bad timing on the second release.

  
  

  …And if you hadn’t figured it out by now, April Fool’s.

  • 4:54 am
  • 4 Comments