365//365: Day 021 – Pocket Fighters (PSX)

In the mid to late 90′s there was this brief run of super deformed fighter characters. Big heads, little bodies, but oh so cute! Virtua Figter Kids combined its fat headed cutesy characters with a slightly tweaked gameplay. There was a Japan only Battle Arena Nitoshinden, featuring super deformed characters with a tweaked gameplay as well. Of course Capcom had to get into the battle of the big heads. Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo introduced super deformed Street Fighter and Darkstalkers characters in a non combative role. The looked great ad oozed personality. A year later, those characters and more starred in their own fighting game, known as Pocket Fighters in the US. While the amount of character and personality was ever apparent, the super simplistic gameplay was somewhat disappointing.

Pocket Fighters - The only fighting game where Dan isn't the only joke character!

Pocket Fighters isn’t your fathers fighting game. The button scheme has been reduced from three punches and three kicks, to one punch, one kick, one “special” button and one taunt button. To say Pocket Fighters is a streamlined fighter, is a bit of an understatement. You more or less still have access to whatever special move you desire, but you lack the ability to throw slower fireballs with Ryu, or faster hurricane kicks with Akuma, unless you level them via gems of corresponding colors. From a simplicity standpoint, it’s a bit too simple. There’s a layer of depth that goes missing with the inability to throw fireballs at varying speeds at will. At the same time, those that are new to the genre, or those that are just terrible at fighting games, will find an easily accessible title that should suit their needs and their skill set accordingly.

One thing that even hardcore fighting game enthusiasts will find quite impressive is the visual presentation from top to bottom. Pocket Fighters’ character models are quite detailed, color and very well animated. The backgrounds hold even more eye candy, with bright, vibrant colors, extremely well designed scenery, lots of random Capcom fighting game cameos, as well as a decent amount of animation involved. It’s such a treat to see these cutesy characters with fitting backgrounds, but at the same time, you don’t feel like you’re watching something developed for pre-school audiences in mind. One of the best looking 2D games in the 32 bit era, and still impressive to look at today.

The amount of stuff going on and the attention to detail is quite amazing, especially for a 2D fighting game on the PlayStation.

Along with the cutesy visual presentation, what you hear has gone over a bit of a cutesy refinement. Male characters have a higher pitched, younger tone in their grunts and voices, while the females sound a bit like little girls. They still maintain a close enough vocal status to their “older” brethren to not sound off. While the music is good, it’s not particularly Street Fighter Alpha 2 quality, in the way that it’s powerful, fitting and memorable. It’s worth putting the volume up for, but you’re not going to be humming it, or tapping your foot hours after.

I feel like I should mention the “Edit Fighter” portion of this game, but it’s completely forgettable and you’re not really making your own fighter. You basically pick a fighter and answer a bunch of stupid questions to determine absolutely nothing, other than the fact that no one proofread the mode thoroughly enough.

What Pocket Fighters boils down to is that it was built to be easily accessible, with simple button schemes and simplified combos. For hardcore fighting game fans, it’s nothing more than a time passer, with very little to keep their attention. For the everyday fighting game fan, it’s a decent game that can be fun, but lacks depth and strategy when you compare it to such titles as Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike or any King of Fighters title. For those just getting into the genre, or those that really lack any kind of beginners skills, Pocket Fighters comes as a welcome addition to the genre, providing them with a way to get used to pulling off special moves without worrying about the number of attack buttons, practice simple button mash-like combos and basically play others without feeling like they are under a severe disadvantage.

As you level up your attacks, you gain extra power, as well as the possibility of multiple hits.

With that said, I’d have to say that the biggest shortcoming (sorry) to Pocket Fighters is accessibility. If you’re hardcore, or someone with a firm handle of fighting games as a whole, this game offers you nothing special. Sure, it’s a beautiful game to look at, but unless you really want a simplicity like no other, you’ll grow tired soon enough. This means the target audience for Pocket Fighters isn’t as large as it could have been. Also, a few more characters would have helped round out the roster a bit more. A cutesy Blanka, Sasquatch and Rikku as playable characters would have provided a few different gameplay styles, all the while having three characters that would have looked perfect super deformed.

Pocket Fighters is far from being a bad game. Quite far off from that notion. It’s a visually pleasant game with a gameplay best suited for those that are not big time fans of the genre. If you are one of those big time fans, you’ll have a bit of fun, but quickly grow tired of the lack of complexity. Newbies to the genre will find a great way of getting used to how things run.

Like any Capcom, I AM perfect!

Rating: 7.2