Retro Game Review: Pit-Fighter

What fighting games looked like before steroid testing.

Platform: Arcade

Released: 1990

Developer: Atari Games

Background: "Pit-Fighter" was, well, I don't know what exactly to call it - strange, risque, a cross between professional wrestling and a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie - I really don't know. Strangely, though, this pre-"Street Fighter II" 2D fighting game was actually revolutionary - it featured digitized characters modeled after real-life actors. In fact, "Pit-Fighter" (gasp!) looks better than some of the latest fighters do. I remember first playing this game in a convenience store near the house I grew up in, and even then that guy in the leather mask seemed a bit odd to me.

Graphics: 5/5

I know, I know. But you have to understand I'm comparing this game to others that came out around the same time, so then it looks great. But the digitized character modeling, along with a crowd that actually looks like people, was the closest thing you got to realistic in 1990.

Sound: 2.5/5

There are a lot of generic sounds in this game. Otherwise, nothing much to write home about. While the graphics were top-notch, the sound was anything but.

Controls: 3.5/5

The arcade configuration was a joystick and three buttons (punch, kick, jump). Pressing all three face buttons at the same time resulted in your character performing a "super move."

Gameplay: 3/5

You can pick from three fighters - Buzz, Ty and Kato (or Larry, Curly and Moe if you want them to be) - and each has its own fighting style. Then you have to fight eight opponents, capping off with a final match against the "Masked Warrior." Meanwhile, people with knives or sticks would sometimes interfere with your match. And in a multiplayer game, all playable characters had to beat the tar out of each other to decide who fights the "Masked Warrior," since only one person has the unfortunate opportunity - er, ultimate chance - to face the final match. By the way, don't stay in the crowd too long - they'll throw you back in!

Overall: 3.5/5

Using the composite of all the scores above to get this score can be misleading. Why? Because this game really isn't that good. While looking back at how great it was for 1990, I still can't defend this one today. I mean come on, have you actually played this?

Retro Game Review: Pong

Say what you want about how this game looks, but you probably wouldn't have many video games to play at all had this not been created.

Platform: Arcade
Released: 1972
Developer: Atari Inc.

Background: Anyone who spends hours on end playing Wii Sports, Madden or NBA 2K can thank Allan Alcorn. Why, you ask? Because Alcorn developed "Pong" (even though Magnavox had earler developed a similar game and won a lawsuit in regard to it. Atari's "Pong" is more well-known, anyway). Without this barebones (by today's standards) video game, who knows whether or not the gaming industry takes off into the 1980s and becomes the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today? The instructions were simple: "Avoid missing ball for high score." It was so popular, home console versions were also developed.

Graphics: 1/5
Let's not kid ourselves here. All "Pong" consisted of was a group of white lines and dots on a black background.

Sound: 1/5
Nothing more than a couple beeps and blips.

Controls: 5/5
You moved your paddle with those famous round "paddle" controllers that were also popular with the Atari 2600 console. So easy the drunkest guy in the bar could figure it out (and I think that was actually the idea).

Gameplay: 3.5/5
"Pong" was hard: not "Mega Man" hard, but difficult enough. Your timing had to perfect to hit the ball right, and the ball bounced around at some funny angles.

Overall: 2.625/5
You're not going to find yourself spending entire weekends in front of the TV playing "Pong," but I hope you get an appreciation for it if you haven't yet. Sure, it's nothing at all to look at, but it does give a great example of how far video games have come. What were once nothing more than a bunch of lines and dots on the screen has evolved into realistic-looking games that narrow the line between what's real and what's just a game.

Retro Game Review: Yie Ar Kung-Fu

My money is on the little guy.

Platform: Arcade
Released: 1985
Developer: Konami

Background: Yes folks, there actually were fighting games before "Street Fighter II" came along (There had to be an original "Street Fighter," right?). Now truth be told, compared to SFII and "Mortal Kombat," they weren't that great. One of those early arcade fighters was "Yie Ar Kung-Fu," a Konami contribution to the genre. You played as the fighter Oolong and had to defeat 11 other fighters over the course of two gauntlets. The fighters were faced in a set order and supposedly got harder as you went, but some of the middle fighters seemed easier to me.

Oh, and did I mention you only had three lives to do this? My bad.

Graphics: 3/5
It's like watching Looney Tunes fight. OK, the fighters don't look that much like cartoons, but they don't look overly real either. The black outlines on the fighters' sprites is so thick their movements look more like goo than anything. The backgrounds aren't that bad, which saves this game visually.

Sound: 3.5/5
There is in-fight music, sound effects and a little bit of speech throughout.

Controls: 2/5
Don't expect fluid movements while playing this. You can punch and kick, high and low, as well as jump. The problem is that when you jump, you don't have much control over how high or how far. And kicking while in the air is difficult - scratch that - nearly impossible. The direction of your jump is shown by the little yellow arrow that follows your guy around.

Gameplay: 2.25/5
I'll admit this game is fun to play - at first. But once all of its little quirks begin to come out, you'll quickly become tired of it. And since it's an early fighting game, the hit points on each character aren't perfect, which means you might clock a guy in the head two or three times but only actually hit him once. I was torn between giving this game a 2 or a 2.5 for gameplay, so I settled for the middle.

Overall: 2.69/5
It's no "SFII: Hyper Fighting," but if you want to see how fighting games were in the early stages, check out Yie Ar Kung-Fu. You probably won't be finding it in many arcades these days, but there are ported versions available on newer home consoles (Warning: the NES version is completely different from the arcade). It probably won't dazzle you with top-notch graphics, sound and gameplay, but it'll give you a good idea on how far fighting games have come.