Expect No Mercy - THE WORST FIGHTING GAME 

He did it... He ACTUALLY did it... He finally found the worst fighting game. But don't forget Matt, there are still many games like that all over the world.

"I have seen the amateur and it is you" is now my all-time favourite taunt.

You can really see how little care the developers put into the game as Evil Clown is shown as having a green wig, yet the film clearly originally depicted him with a gray wig. Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

“Never made a fighting game before, but how hard could it be?” The infamous last words of basically 90% of the worst fighting games listed.

You forgot to show the video where the player character is talking to his master, and the master tries to warn him, "This is BEYOND Mortal Kombat!"

I was amazed that Kasumi Ninja didn't beat Criticom. I was amazed Human Killing Machine didn't beat Criticom. I was especially amazed that Rise of the Robots didn't beat Criticom. I'm equally UNsurprised that this one DID beat Criticom. This is a whole new level.

7:00 Bruh, you know a game is bad, when you're not sure whether the cutscenes are a RU-vidr's edit or an actual in-game moment. 🤣

Criticom: "Finally a worthy opponent, our battle will be Legendary!"

There was a Billy Blanks movie? THEY MADE A GAME BASED OFF THAT MOVIE?! Tae Bo is not a fighting style in that game? I feel like Nostradamus predicted this.

I can't believe that there's finally a game that has dethroned Criticom, that's crazy!

A couple of different things I want to mention: One, a friend of mine owned this game back in the 90's. Truly awful, indeed, but one thing that I remember clearly is that, there are only fatalities between the default player character and everyone else, never between the other fighters, because every single fatality is a separate video file. So, there's a video file of the player character doing his fatality for each and every possible opponent and a video file of each opponent performing his/her fatality on the default player character. Two, I own Ironblood. Bought it back in the day, because the back of the box showed a nice looking side scrolling mecha brawler and, what appeared to be anime cutscenes. Turns out it's a korean game they adapted to the western market, by removing said anime cutscenes. The game itself is fine. I liked it, though not as much as I thought I would, and even LGR made a video about it once, many years ago.

That SFA3 music over the ending of this video really gave me the feels for how IMPACTFUL this dethroning is!

When you mentioned Microforum and their focus in computer generated imagery, I was thinking to myself "Wait aren't these the same people that did-" and the I was greeted by the Admiral from Maabus at 2:54 confirming my line of thought. I never expected a Matt video unintentionally crossing over with Ross's Game Dungeon.

Congratulations, Expect No Mercy! You have made it to the top! All I can say now is...damn, that was awful.

The "Red Pants Guy" moveset and stance was hilarious.

In the end, the worst fighting game was right under his nose the entire time in the form of a bad childhood memory. I really enjoyed this saga.

if expect no mercy didn't knock criticom off its throne, i honestly would've assumed criticom would stay at the top for good

Wtf. Red pants guy with the mullet is actually “martial artist” Harold Howard from UFC 3. In the only winning match of his career, he actually attempted that weird flip kick thing that’s in the game. And no, it didn’t connect. 😂 Matt is also weirdly on point about them looking like criminals… because Harold Howard went on to become a convicted criminal.

I felt a surprising warmth when Matt declared this the new champion. Like a chapter in an awful book has come to a close.

Well, it finally happened. Critacom was finally dethroned. Never thought we'd see the day

That devious Rick Martel, gotta be my favourite fighting game character of all time, so glad he plays such an important role in this classic of a game

By far the best part of this movie tie in game, is that they couldn't convince Billy Blanks to come back to do the motion capture. Must have been too busy developing Tae Bo.

"Congratulations, you have defeated the worst fighting game, you are officially the new champion"" "See you in the Worst fighting game 2: the worse warrior"

I'm glad to see you finally get to this one. It's the worse fighting game I've ever played by far.

If you told me this was the "Season Finale" for Worst Fighting game, I'd believe you solely because it's the perfect way to top off a season.

Beast Wars: Transformers: Transmetals on N64 and PS1 was a pretty iffy fighter. The N64 version was a Blockbuster exclusive, and the PS1 version had a slightly different roster. You could transform into three different forms, but most often it made sense to just stay in Beast mode because your Robot form would take damage from the energon-heavy environment (like in the show) and your Vehicle mode was often at best situational.

Hey man, idk if you'll see this but I've been real down and your videos are such a mood lifter. Seriously love your stuff. EDIT: Also not to mention but its incredible that there's actually something worse than criticom but again, there's probably plenty of these hidden af

I must say, Mr McMuscles, this video was a masterpiece. I initially thought it was just an average "The Worst Fighting Game" episode. Not very "What Happened-y" and exciting. But it slowly started gaining momentum. Cracks began to form in your narration. The professional voice opened way to exasperated, barely contained emotions. It grew and grew, getting crazier by the moment. Each segment, a cog started turning, until the realization moment. The climax. The epiphany! When the pieces all fell into place and it dawned on you and us both: this is it. This is the moment we waited for. Expect no Mercy is the chosen one! The flood of deeply repressed memories you shared with us made this moment ever so special. While your journey to find a new challenger and a definitive holder for the title will still hopefully go on for a long time (this show is very entertaining!), I will consider this a fitting episode for a conclusion. A season finale, if you may. Godspeed, Mr McMuscles and may your shows keep on being the bangers they are!

Truly a historical occasion. I was going to suggest Bounty Battle to get a newer title on your radar but dang, I don't know what could possibly beat this game. Great episode.

I'm not much of a fighting game guy...but I love this series. Especially when it's some obscure weirdness I'd never heard of.

I feel like a part of something, finally seeing a new king crowned. Also, Maabus? Obligatory "Now things are beginning to make sense. More later."

"I have SEEN the amateur and it is YOU!"

Had a feeling something might be up, with "The Worst Fighting Game" being written in all-caps this time... and then Matt noted that even Criticom managed something as basic as proper endings for each fighter. Anti-congratulations to Expect No Mercy! (wrt: suggestions: IIRC, I've mentioned Capital Punishment on the Amiga once or twice now. I'm no longer sure if simply being farcically overly-difficult would qualify it for this series, but it might definitely be worth mentioning at some point.)

“I HAVE SEEN THE AMATEUR, AND IT IS YOU!!!”

As the one person who knows about Iron Blood and saw it mentioned in the video: No, it was originally made by a South Korean company called Family Production. All the guys responsible for Expect No Mercy did was localize the game for the west, meaning the one good game under their belt wasn't even developed by them.

How fitting that a game called "Expect No Mercy" ended up not getting any (as Matt's newest "worst fighting game ever").

Top 5 fighting game lines (not debatable): #1: "I have seen the amateur and it is you"

Funny that Blood & Iron was referenced in this video, then ended up dethroning this game, almost like foreshadowing.

"Expect No Quality" is probably a better title for this I'm assuming

As the award ceremony begins, the crowd can be heard whispering: Where is the champion? Where is Expect No Mercy? Where is Expect No Mercy as its admirers chant its name? Already seeking the next challenge. Ceremony means nothing. The fight is all.

So, is the next episode in the series going to begin with the narration being changed to knocking "Expect No Mercy" off of its throne? Are we going to get more of a complete episode on Criticom, since that initial video was a glorified Let's Play than anything? Such a powerful upset, I have so many questions as to what comes next!

the iron and blood foreshadowing

I thought NOTHING was going to take Criticom's title!! Damn, I hate to see a bad game we're used to seeing being replaced by an even worse game!! Lol

I know I played this back in '96, every time you played sound effects, I remember them vividly. They're burned into my brain like some deep seeded childhood trauma. This game truly deserved to be the worst.

Expect No Quality.

A......stamina bar? We've found the Dark Souls of fighting games y'all.

I feel it's quite appropriate that we ended up crowning a new "Worst Fighting Game" in a video where most of the OST used was from Street Fighter Alpha 3, the Best Fighting Game. ' 3' Yeah wow, this was quite unexpected to suddenly stumble onto as our new lowest bar, yet upon seeing the first few bits of gameplay, instantly my brain said "This is the one." This was _rough_ to witness, dude.

I haven't seen the entire thing yet, but this is a contender for the top spot for sure. I had this as a kid on a 386 somehow, and thought it was so choppy because my PC could not run it properly. Couple of years later I wen back with better hardware, and was just blow away by how bad it was. Fun fact, all the kill-moves were straight up avi files on the disc, for some reason they had to be pre-rendered lol

It finally happen, Criticom's reing is not more, now begins the reing of Expect No Mercy, this one of the moments in history

Me at 9:41 - "Holy shit, Criticom is getting dethroned!" Foreshadowing at its finest.

Finding a game worse than Criticom and using the street fighter alpha 3 ending music is strangely fitting and hilarious

I'm dying here. The bootup sequence and especially the sound effects and motion at 11:19 are hilarious. This game may be terrible to play but man is it fun to watch in the way the CDI games are. RIP Criticom, gone and hopefully forgotten.

I'm from the future. Poor Expect No Mercy...

I'm so happy that you're going to keep this series going. Easily one of my favorites on RU-vid!

The moment has arrived! 😂😂😂 Looking forward to seeing THE WORST FIGHTING GAME - ROUND 2!!!! And I put forward late 90s Amiga crapola THE STRANGERS (Vs Mode) - it won't win, but you will get some laughs, especially from the box art and the terrible intro/game complete cut scenes

I think this has become the Matthew McMuscular series that I get the most excited to see a new episode of.

exactly the type of game I watch this series for. who the hell else would find this unless they were doing a deep dive into this topic?

The biggest twist is that this was a game from his childhood, hiding right under his... lack of a nose all along!

This is one of the things I listen to between matches when I play ranked in fighting games! Thanks.

You should play Shura No Mon, a Japan only PS1 fighter based on an obscure manga. The graphics look like basic texture mapped polygons, and the characters control like they just took an entire bottle of sleeping pills. You'll probably get a good episode out of it.

Now that Matt already went through this "game" we have to expect Justin Wong take on his Junkyard video series and see him struggle

“Lazy blood splashes that look like strawberry jam”. Godlike comment😂😂😂😂

8:48 "The game looks like a college homework in a computer class". Hah! I *did* make a fighting "game" in my college years, and it indeed felt like Expect No Mercy.

He did it. Our blue skelly-boi finally did it!

By god theyve finally done it. Also requesting battle of the eras, which is kind of a victory lap over this.

I love those edits you have of the model, Rick martel in this. Omg you even have samples of OSW review talking about Doink! They're such a good time, I love their work.

"I have seen the amateur and it is you" is one helluva 90's quotable.

I am laugh-crying at the "celebration" of this momentous dethroning.

Oh man. For a second there, I thought Matt was going to end this series. “That’s it, boys! We found it! The worst fighting game! SHUT IT DOWN!” I’m glad he’s going to continue. Thanks, Matt!

17:14 - OMG I had that keyboard! It had like a secondary number-pad style quick input thing that plugged into that ethernet port.

I was actually afraid you'd stop the series after finding a game to top Criticom but am relieved to hear that you'll keep up the good fight for bad games! Excellent review and Congrats (?) to the champ! Also, very long side note and game recommendation: When you started talking about unlocking memories in the video, about playing this game and such, it unlocked a memory with me too. Not about this game, but one that would be able to compete in this championship methinks. I'm writing about IMP, a CD-Rom based fighting game made in Sweden, where you hade to buy characters separately and I mean All characters! You bought one CD with one character, that's what you got. You want more characters, you need to buy more CD's Horrid graphics, horrendous gameplay and very pay-to-play marketing ploy, dunno where to get it nowadays as it's at least 20 years old but I think you'd get a kick out it and would be fun to see a review of it!

Day-um, never thought King Criticom would be deposed. Must not have been able to tell what the sweet, tasty hell was happening while being pummeled by repeated 2-frame-long attacks.

What were you expecting? Mercy?

I’d love to see a series where you do the fighters people have suggested for this series you’ve disqualified for actually being good. Just most games people suggest I’ve usually never or only vaguely heard about so I would still love to see them here. Just a suggestion/request. Love the channel appreciate all your hard work.

I had this. I played this. The opening theme is still seared in my memories. Thank you for covering this and unveiling unresolved trauma. P.S. I'm surprised you didn't make any mention of the opening FMV...where they take a dig at Mortal Kombat which even in my younger 90's years found to be hilariously cringeworthy.

This feels more like one of those shovelware Tiger handhelds than an actual game.

What a time to be alive. We finally made it to the promised land. I love you all. Thank you Matt McMuscles, I loved this series. Can't wait to see more of it. ❤

This game is violently canadian. Wild. Also never expected to see a Tarzan reference in the year of our lord 2023.

As the video progressed I started to wonder if this will finally be it: The one to surpass the mighty (?) Criticom in terms of sheer awfulness. Well, the journey was long and arduous but it finally happened: Congratulations (?) on finally defeating the grand master of trash, Expect No Mercy. But there are still many challengers out there, so see you next time Matt.

Congrats! That’s one terrible game! It’s not in the same realm but I’ve been meaning to bring up Deathsword. I had it for the Amiga and we discovered the only way we could beat it was by constantly rolling around like logs, knocking our enemies over with zero damage. It did have a cool decapitation move. That was great when you pulled it off but also meant the boss could instantly kill you at any moment. Thus, the constant rolling into his feet so he couldn’t chop our heads off.

I remember there was this store downtown that had a demo of Expect No Mercy playing on no less than 3 screens, back in 1996. I never saw the game being sold anywhere, and to this day I've never found out why that store decided to showcase it so damn hard.

"The amateur is you!" I'll be saying that for now on.

ty for the new entry to this series Matt, i missed it :)

He has seen the amateur. And indeed. It is you.

In terms of PC fighting game schlock, I hope Cyber Gladiators makes it to the show, as it was pretty much Sierra's equivalent of Xenophage (terrible fighter from a popular publisher) and is far worse than the likes of FX Fighter.

Love your channel bro. Thank you so much for your contribution to the community and my life. All the best.

2:55 "It seems you've come across a fighting game developed by the people who made Maabus. Now things are beginning to make sense. More later."

I remember seeing this advertised in an imported American games mag during the 90s, and thinking "that looks rubbish". Glad to see I was right.

Expect no mercy: "You might be a villain but you're not super" Criticom: "What's the difference" Expect no mercy: 5:57

I finally realised what that menu reminds me of the 90e album by Alan Parsons Project released called The Time Machine. Look at the coverart for that album then compare it to the menu of this

The set up - “Fashions designers”. Excellent stuff.

I am as glad that I watch this series as I am that I've never heard of most of these games. Great work, Matt!

Wow. I remember "Budokan" also having an endurance ("ki") mechanic, but that game was also trying to be a more realistic martial arts game with an emphasis on weapons and techniques rather than special moves and over-the-top craziness. Vague memories of seeing this on the shelf at Software Etc. or one of those, but never picked it up (lucky me?). Long live the king, I guess?

I remember to bought this game back in... 1999 or 2000 I think. It was a CD-ROM in a tiny cardboard box that showed 2 screenshots of the game. And seriously thought it was going to be a blast. I was a kid back then and I liked the gameplay, of course I knew they ripped off the Mortal Kombat Style. Until now that I grew up, I realised the game was seriously one of the WORST games I've ever played. Some stuff to point out from the game too: -The Player was the only one character that could perform a finishing move on the opponent. -Versus Mode allows you to choose the character you want, but it's only for 2 human players (if I remember correctly) -You can't play on all the stages in the Versus Mode. -The characters cannot perform a finishing move on each other. Great video man, I just already subscribed, keep it up!

2:54 - Microforum made _Maabus_ ? Now things are beginning to make sense.

Truly the end of an era!

Tbh, I am suprised that the goal was achieved, and I am glad that the series will go on, because I love it

ngl I was worried that this would be the final episode of TWFG, I'm so glad you're gonna keep making episodes! This series has been such a treat to watch.

The “Expect No Mourning” epitaph was fucking savage

My God... It finally happened. Now I hope we get to see even worse trash get thrown into the ring to try to dethrone THIS monstrosity! XD Way to go, Matt!