Is Fighter's History [SNES] Worth Playing Today? - SNESdrunk 

We briefly discussed this case in law school. It was my favorite day of the program.

This game brought up the "scène à faire" concept in videogames. Basically, it means that, for example, while Capcom owns "Street Fighter", it does not own the "fighting game" genre as a whole, so story & character elements are not copyrighted. Same with spy novels, there will almost always be a hero, a sidekick, a villain, a damsel, a femme fatale or a suspicious suspect in the story with occasional twists and turns.

"Wait, he's wearing his pants backwards?!" Do you not remember Kriss Kross? lol

Karnov's Revenge is actually a pretty popular side game in the FGC, lol.

Gotta love weird lawsuits on technology. Like when Apple sued Samsung claiming they had a copyright on rectangular smartphones and the square icons for apps....

I love this game! Mizoguchi is actually more of a direct rip-off of Tsurugi Momotaro from Sakigake!! Otokojuku, rather than Ryu

"It wasn't Matlock at all. Didn't even look like him!" RIP Norm Macdonald

Hey Snesdrunk! I wanted to tell you that no matter how many times you upload, whether its twice a week or just once, you are still my favorite channel to watch and I appreciate you making videos for us! It really helps me through my week. Thank you!!!

Fighter's History honestly plays much less like an SF2 clone than many other fighters. It uses a different input system, the characters that may look like SF2 clones often have quite different movesets, and other characters are nothing like SF2 characters. The game used no DP or 360 inputs. Command grabs were half-circles. It also used quarter-circle down inputs, double tap direction inputs, and even a punch+kick input. Everyone assumes Feilin is a Chun-Li clone (female Chinese martial artist), but Feilin has an air fireball and a charge motion uppercut instead of Chun-Li's horizontal spinning bird kick. You might expect Mizoguchi to be a Ryu clone, but he doesn't have a dragon punch (instead he has a purely ground-based sliding uppercut) and his flying kicks are in the style of AOF/SNK rather than a hurricane kick. People assume Marstorius is a Zangief clone, but he's a charge character. Heck, the more dedicated and dangerous grappler is the little girl Ryoko (who is based on a real person). Samchay isn't a Dhalsim clone. He is a Muay Thai fighter, which would make him an Adon (SF1) or Sagat (SF2) clone, except he doesn't play like them either. While he does have a fireball and "tiger knee", he lacks the dragon-punch equivalent move to be a Sagat clone. (Samchay instead gets a grounded sliding knee+punch special.)

I’m one of the few ppl that liked FH. The arcade version’s OST is excellent, done by Gamadelic. It has great guitar sample sound. check it out on RU-vid. It’s sequel on the Neo Geo is way better. The faster pace helps the fighting engine a lot. It’s on switch and ps4 if you’re interested. It’s kinda like the Super Turbo of Fighters History, albeit not as good as ST. Rip Data East, an underrated developer.

1. Having normal people living their lives in the background was something i noticed during the video, thank you for addressing that lol 2. Hearing the data east story while watching footage of the game is a really cool idea, wouldnt complain if you do it more often 3. The last song sounds really cool and catchy

If that court case went the other way, half of the indie games on Nintendo Switch wouldn't be legal.

I actually like this game quite a bit, to be honest. It feels a lot better to play than people give it credit for. Also, on a related note, the character Mizoguchi would later go on to make playable cameos in SNK games- King of Fighters, specifically.

It was one of the better SF clone that I played as a kid, I just realized the muay thai character has almost the same name as a famous thai fightger called Saenchai , nice touch

OMG… Karnov! That’s cool. I played that game, and it’s cool that they brought the character back. Kinda like when Hagar was brought into fighting games from Final Fight.

There's tons of fighters that copy or take ideas from SF on Arcades. I have a massive list of Fighters and Beat 'em ups that I've collected over the years to play on MAME. List now included below... **Beat 'em ups & vs. Fighters for MAME (Arcade)/Neo-Geo** *There are many more I've left out of this list, I've just included what I have on my PC. Feel free to list more. There are many more home console fighters and ports that are not included in the list apart from "Kishin Douji Zenki FX - Vajra Fight" worth looking at.* - 64th. Street - A Detective Story - Aggressors of Dark Kombat - Asura Blade - Sword of Dynasty - Alien vs. Predator - Altered Beast - Arabian Fight - Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja - B.Rap Boys - Batman - Batman Forever - Battle Arena Toshinden - Battle Circuit - Battle K-Road - Battle Tryst - Beastorizer - Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. (prototype) - Blazing Tornado - Blood Warrior / Oedo Fight - Bloody Roar 2 - Buriki One - Battletoads - Blade Master - Capcom Vs. SNK Millenuim Fight 2000 Pro - Cyberstorm (prototype) - Chaos Breaker - Cadash - Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Captain America and The Avengers - Captain Commando - Crude Buster - Dan-Ku-Ga (Prototype) - Double Dragon (Neo-Geo) - Dragon Master - Dragoon Might - D. D. Crew - Double Dragon 3 - The Rosetta Stone - Ehrgeiz - Fatal Fury Special - Fatal Fury - Wild Ambition - Fighters History - Fighting Bujitsu - Fighting Impact A - Fighting Layer - Fighting Vipers 2 - Final Fight Revenge - Fist of the North Star - Final Fight - Golden Axe - Golden Axe - The Revenge of Death Adder - Golden Axe - The Duel - Groove on Fight - Guardians / Denjin Makai II - Heaven's Gate - Hyper Street Fighter II - The Anniversary Edition - Jackie Chan - Fists of Fire - Karnov's Revenge - Killer Instinct 1+2 - King of the Monsters 1+2 - Kishin Douji Zenki FX - Vajra Fight (NEC PC-FX) - Knights of the Round - Knights of Valour - The Seven Spirits - Last Bronx - Light Bringer - Mace - The Dark Age - Martial Champion - Martial Masters - Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter - Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 New Age of Heroes - Marvel Vs. Capcom - Clash of Super Heroes - Master's Fury - Martimlee - Mighty Warriors - Mobile Suite Gundam - Monster Maulers - Mutation Nation - Mortal Kombat 1,2,3 + UMK3, MK4 - Muscle Bomber Duo - Ultimate Team Battle - My Hero - Magician Lord - Mazin Wars - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker - Mystic Warriors - Night Slashers - Oriental Legend Super - Plasma Sword - Nightmare of Bilstein - Primal Rage 1+2 - Rabbit - Rage of the Dragons - Ragnagard - Red Earth - Ring of Destructions - Slammasters II - Rival Schools - United by Fate - Riot City - Robocop - Robocop 2 - Shinobi - Spider-Man: The Videogame - Spikeout Final Edition (sega model 3) - Streets of Rage (Mega-Tech) - Streets of Rage II (Mega Play) - Strider 2 - Superman - S.V.G - Spectral vs Generation - Samurai Shodown V Special - Samurai Shodown - Warrior's Rage - Savage Reign - Sengoku 3 - Shogun Warriors - SNK vs. Capcom - SVC Chaos - Soul Edge - Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Street Fighter EX2 Plus - Street Fighter III 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future - Survival Arts - Street Fighter - The Movie - Tao Taido - Tattoo Assasains - Tekken 1,2,3, Tag Tournament - Tenth Degree (prototype) - The King of Fighters 99 + 2003 - TMNT - TMNT - Turtles in Time - The Combatribes - The Crystal of Kings - The Gladiator - The Punisher - Vampire Hunter 2 - Darkstalkers Revenge - Vicious Circle (prototype) - Virtua Fighter 2 + VF Remix - Vandetta - Violent Storm - Waku Waku 7 - Warriors of Fate - War Gods - World Heroes Perfect - WWF Wrestlefest - WWF - Wrestlemania - X-Men - X-Men Vs. Street Fighter

Stuffy law-type here. Just want to thank you for that case summary, I really enjoyed it.

This arcade game was in our local teen pool hall. We used to play the heck out of it because it was the only fighting game up there. I was over the moon when I saw it for rent at the video store, and I thought it looked and played exactly like the arcade back then. I still love this game and play it about once a year

Random trivia: Ryoko Kano in this game and Ryoko Izumo from World Heroes 2 are both based on real life judoka Ryoko Tamura. Though already an accomplished fighter in her teens at the time both games released, Tamura went on to win numerous medals and titles years later, including Olympic gold in 2000 and 2004 at 25 and 29.

I’m going to start a channel named SuperNintipsy, and at the end of every video, I’m going to say, “I hope the remainder of your day is great.” Let’s see what the courts say about that. 🤪

As someone who was lucky enough to grow up in Japan during my 90's,the PX & Exchange ALWAYS had the latest Neo-Geo MVS games. I remember running across this bootleg gem of a game in the bowling alley on Karen's air base... The 90's were so magical!

I remember reading about this lawsuit back in the day in EGM. My mind was blown at the time by the entire thing.

This game is so freaking hard. Like art of fighting.

Some of the backgrounds are incredible

I feel like the Fighters screen and moved looks like Street Fighter 2, but the character designs and stages remind me more of Fatal Fury

SNES was made for fighting games and RPGs. The limited sprite space is nullified by a tournament fighter since it is easy to control how many sprites are on the screen.

I love this along with its sequels. It definitely got better. Just wished it had a Super meter or Desperation. Also glad Capcom lost to Data East otherwise Sailor Neptune's Splash Edge and Dragon Rise will never be the same again.

I did a deep-dive on the lawsuit over on my channel a couple years ago. It's pretty wild, especially since the judge keeps calling them "fight games" instead of "fighting games."

I've never heard of this game, but I do find the court case behind it amusing. It definitely looks like a generic Street Fighter 2 rip-off. It at least looks playable compared to some of the other Street Fighter knockoffs coming out during the 90's. I have played the original Karnov game, so it is kind of jarring to see him as a full-fledged character in a fighting game.

You're right, this one looks so much like Street Fighter 2 that I had to check if this wasn't Street Fighter 2 Ultimate Turbo Championship Alternate Dimension Edition. But hell, the music is killer and the art is beautiful as well.

Thanks for the history on Fighter's History.

Total length of video: 280 secs. Total length of "SNES Drunk": 5.5 secs. 1.96% of the video was spent listening to "SNES Drunk".

If he said there were over 600 moves in SF leading to punches and kicks... wasn't the judge actually calling SF too generic to be worthy of copyright protection?

There was a weak point system planned for Street Fighter 2, except the idea was that you'd take extra damage if you were hit in certain spots while performing specials. The devs decided not to use it, except they forgot to disable it for Blanka and possibly Dictator.

I really appreciate these videos, SNES drunk. Thanks for the great, personable commentary and hard work you put into them!

Karnov's Revenge still sees tournament play today, I just saw a Justin Wong video about it within the last few months. It's actually quite good! I didn't know it's history was rooted in a lawsuit from Capcom from an earlier title in the series. Very cool.

The sequel seems to have better graphics and higher frame rate on the animations, does it?

It’s cool though that if I wanted to get a parody game of SF2 , it exists ❤️ Love the video !

Karnov got ripped for this game!

This video brought back great memories with this game, I rented it and played with my brothers and friends, and despite being a SFII rip-off, gameplay was ok. We spent a great time, making jokes about its likeness to SF characters. Thank you for a great video, Alex.

I didn't get a notification! That pissed me off. I always watch immediately after they're posted. Anyhow, I'm so happy to see you've uploaded!

Whoa just yesterday I was listening to Retronauts’ episode on piracy and they mentioned this exact game and that court case. I meant to look the game up but I forgot. Crazy coincidence. Great video, Drunk!

Frick I love SNES drunk, always so excited when he posts a new video!!

Man... this channel is always great to come back to.

I have this on Switch and like it quite a bit. I also have a mini Karate Champ cabinet and 3/4 scale Street Fighter II cabinet. I love those games.

0:32 So these would be... Ken | Chun Li | ??? Guile | Dhalsim | ??? Ryu | ??? | Zangief Pretty rough, but at least faux-Chun Li isn't the Smurfette of the group.

Did not expect legal analysis in my SNES Drunk video, but I'm not complaining!

Dude, I've never played it, but from the footage, it seems that it plays, sounds and looks better than SF2 on SNES.

I liked the clothing mechanic in this game lol.

3:19 How many knockoff fighting games include the Trevi Fountain as a background. It is actually pretty decent pixel art.

Lovely video as usual señore Snesdrunk. cant wait for the next one. =) when im bored i binge watch your vids. lol

Yeah I remember reading this in electric gaming monthly magazine back in the days early 90s stuff of Legends!!

first time i saw this, Galactican (local arcade) had this on the big screen, i thought it was a new street fighter prequel

When I was a kid, the arcade in town had this game. I used to play this, Street Fighter 2, and World Heroes all the time!

The arcade/Neo Geo/Saturn version of Dynamite is really good. Very nice physics and amazing hit impacts.

As much of a bad rap as it gets, I actually really like Fighter's History and the sequel a lot. It's not exactly on the level of Street Fighter, but the fact that Street Fighter II is one of my favorite games means I'm probably going to enjoy the gameplay of a very competent "clone" of it. Real talk, it might actually be one of my top 10 SNES fighters.

Mizoguchi has been in KOF series, it will be amazing if SNK revive them, or at least a team in KOF that consist of fighter history cast. My favorite would be Mizoguchi (as shoto type), Lee (rush down type) and Ryoko (grapple type)

Fighters History 1&2 are on the Data East collection Retro-Bit put out and while I mainly got that collection for Magic Drop 1&2, I still play Fighters History every now and then. I played through the first game a couple of times but playing through that second one in story mode is a bit tougher. They're not amazing fighting games but they're decent. Definitely feels like budget Street Fighter. Another game that comes to mind is Power Instinct, although the one for the SNES isn't as good as Matrimelee. I like the Clown dude and I think the weak points with the flashing clothing is an interesting mechanic.

Great video about a great story about a run-of-the-mill game. And hey, Karnov is in this one! I didn't know they had done that.

I beat Fighter's History on SNES emulator with a homemade arcade stick 20 years ago. With every character on Normal Difficulty. I'd say it was definitely worth playing back then. I would say the FH SNES cart is equally as good as the SNES port of SF2:World Warrior was back in the day. Worth playing today, sure. Some games, like Pac Man, Asteroids or Street Fighter 2, will be good forever, like Backgammon or Canasta.

Ah I’ve been waiting for this one to pop-up on your channel. I got this as a birthday gift without knowing anything about it. Overall wasn’t a bad little game, and actually beat it on the hardest difficulty a couple of time IIRC. Advantages of being a kid with too much free time I guess. Thanks for the nostalgia trip

This must be the Matlock episode where he visits an old army buddy!

Matlock meets Kris Kross with the backwards pants made me laugh so friggin hard. That the most early to mid 90s thing I have ever seen. All that's missing is a special move where you say "Time out!" Zack Morris style and freeze time.

Haha. Thanks for your videos, man. I enjoy them. They're very good for lifting my spirits or just helping me take my mind off things. I still say your Little Nemo review did not do the game justice. But I'm biased because that game is super important to me. :)

But why take them to court over copyright infringement of Japanese IP? If this had had happened between Capcom and Data East of Japan it would be more interesting

Woah, at 3:01 it has the other Data East character Karnov!! From the NES and Arcade game of the same name!!

Good morning from Canada everyone.

One minor correction: Karate Champ predates Street Fighter 1 by 2 years (almost 3) not Street Fighter 2.

Didn't know you were back. Luckily I listen to drunkfriend!

I'm surprised you didn't mention Karnov is based off the NES game Karnov.

Matlock is easily the best character, although that DDT of Ray’s is pretty savage…

HOLD UP! Did I see Karnov? Is that THE Karnov? Does he breathe fire?!

I remember Gamepro magazine mentioned about that article way back in 1990s when the SNES was hot with the fighting games clones and knock offs I would rent out at Blockbuster videos every weekend. 1990s memories!

The French character Jean said something silly like "Lebanon Rose" during one of his specials. I played this in 3rd grade. This game was probably new at the time. Forgot about it until this video lol

In my opinion Mizoguci kiki Ipatsu is a better game than the first Fighters History, and deliver more variety than Street Fighter II, it has story mode and a practice mode. I'm not saying Fighter History is better, but have some strong points.

One of my fav videos from one of my fav channels.

I got this game one back in the day. Always had a lot of fun with this and World Heroes.

I think the backgrounds look really nice, I love that Japanese lady cleaning the floor haha

It's no SF2, but I still really like Fighters History. The Neo Geo follow up Fighters History Dynamite (Karnov's Revenge) is even better. The game play did somewhat change. The biggest change is a 4 instead of 6 button layout.

Karate Champ was wildly popular when I was a kid, and all the kids in my region loved it. Just sayin' lol

The legendary game that sparked the lawsuit. But it still wasn't generic enough I could be wrong but I want to say actually this game has a sort of a unique mechanic about it something about the moves or the screen I can't remember exactly how it is. It almost looks like if you really wanted to get technical that SNK could have got into the lawsuit too that one guy kind of looks like Joe hagashi

Every SD video I remember a few years back he did a stream of chrono trigger and I was going through some hard things in life feeling depressed and stuff and man it just cheered me up helped me get through stuff and fast forward my life is a million times better literally feel bad if I complain lol anyways sorry for the rant but I’ve always liked any SD video I see after that thanks dude

I have it on a Data East Retro-Bit compilation cart, along with Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!! and the neo geo AES sequel (Karnov's Revenge)...cool SF2 ripoff series :D

Could you do a review on Hurricane's for the SNES? It's a game I know almost nothing about and I'll probably keep it that way since it's a $100 cartridge. Plus I find it interesting how they incorporate soccer into a platformer.

This is my favourite “Street Fighter 2” clones, I still play it from time to time. I play the SNES version and Dynamite on my Switch PS4 or Sega Saturn.

"Mom, can we get Street Fighter?" Mom: "We already have Street Fighter at home"

SNES drunk, don't you worry. I watched Matlock in a bar last night. The sound wasn't on, but I think I got the gist of it.

Capcom ripped off the red and white uniforms for ken amd ryu from data east

Just for the record, if someone did want to play this, the arcade version is available emulated on various platforms. Switch, PC, probably others.

3:47 I had this game when it first came out and never knew that was the same Karnov as the classic NES game of the same name. Looks like he shrunk in the first game then gained weight in the second one.

I actually really liked playing Karnov's Revenge, even though I could never get past the French guy. Ray MacDougal is one of my favorite non-Ryu, non-Terry fighting game protagonists.

Great content as always!

Dude, "Karate Champ" in the arcade had lines when it was new, original vanilla Street Fighter, not so much...keep in mind, SF's original sequel was Final Fight, which got a name change late in development, which shows that they weren't orignally thinking of making another tourney fighter...small details, but, well, you know...

You can say what you will about Karate Champ, but it is an important and influential game in the history of versus fighters. Its place in history can't be denied.

This game never got much love. I remember playing it as a kid at the 7-Eleven down the street from my house and I thought it was pretty good. It was a solid game. Fun. I picked the Mizoguchi character who reminded me of Ryu. The Ray character in this game reminded of Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury series.

awesome intro story, do more like this

have a great rest of your day Snes D!

A guy ended up at a party full of World Heath Organization medics. Obviously he was at the wrong Doctor Who convention.🤣

The SNES sequel is pretty interesting, iirc it let's you play in a real time tag mode, something very interesting for a 16 bit fighter.

I was hoping for a Matlok comment, and the video didn't disappoint.