ULTIMATE GUIDE
POWER STONE
BREAKING OUT OF THE RING OF THE TRADITIONAL FIGHTING GAME, CAPCOM’S FULLY 3D BRAWLER WAS COLOURFUL CHAOS, TRANSFORMING A HARDCORE ARCADE GENRE INTO AN ACCESSIBLE PARTY SMASH. JOIN US BACK IN AN AGE OF ADVENTURE TO TRACK DOWN THIS FORGOTTEN GEM
WORDS BY ALAN WEN
In 1999, 3D fighting games were hardly
new. Despite its commitment to its signature brand of sprite-based fighters, even Capcom had taken the leap to polygons, from its debut 3D fighter Star Gladiator to even Street Fighter getting the EX treatment. But even with these new graphical changes, most 3D fighting games rarely utilised the 3D space. Apart from the odd side step, most would keep the action to a 2D plane, still confined in a ring. But the arrival of new hardware in the form of NAOMI – Sega’s arcade board counterpart to the Dreamcast – was the perfect opportunity for new innovative ideas.
[Dreamcast] British pilot/boxer Falcon actually went by the more amusingsounding German name of Fokker in the Japanese release.
Enter Power Stone, a new breed of 3D fighting game from Capcom, with co-director Hideaki Itsuno having already cut his teeth on 3D fighters for the studio including Star Gladiator and Rival Schools. On the surface, the one-on-one fighter might have echoes of Street Fighter, notably the anime art illustrations for each character or the way you were fighting competitors from around the world depicted with larger-thanlife stereotypes, albeit set in a romanticised steampunk 19th century. It was however a huge departure from the hardcore technical nature of fighting games where memorising complex input commands or timing your attacks were paramount. Instead, combat was a much simpler affair of stringing basic punches or kicks, with some movesets differing based on each character, while the greater importance was on being aware of your environment, and using it to your advantage.
[Dreamcast] In line with the comical art style, characters can be squished or flattened by the right attacks.
WHO’S WHO
THE WORLD WARRIORS FOR A NEW WORLD
WANG-TANG
A Chinese martial artist following his master’s instructions to find the Power Stones, Wang- Tang is as optimistic as he is acrobatic, giving his off-the-wall attacks more flair. He basically turns Super-Saiyan when powered up – even one of his Power Fusions is much like a Spirit Bomb.