Forgotten Legends

  Jason 'Mr Midnyte' Pinon Hey y'all, welcome back to another Forgotten Fighting Legends! When you hear the name 'Les Miserables', what do you think of?  The novel by Victor Hugo?  The musical that stars Hugh Jackman but not as Wolverine?  How about a fighting game?? Yeah, that does seem pretty unlikely.  HOWEVER, that's where we are.  If you are unfamiliar with the work (as I was/am) its focused around the character Jean Valjean who was imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread, set across the backdrop of 19th century France.  It is a tale of redemption and hope.  The novel by Hugo (who also wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame) is considered one of the greatest works of it's time, and inspired the musical that was also a huge hit.  Thus, in the mid 1990's it inspired a Street Fighter- style fighter.  Yep, that all makes sense. Developed by Takase (mostly by themselves), it was created using the 2D Fighter Maker engine over the ...

  Jason "Mr Midnyte" Pinon Hey everyone, welcome back to another Forgotten Fighting Legends! So, if you hand't noticed, this one is not an old game.  As much as I enjoy talking about some of the games from times long past, I also want to highlight some standouts in the modern scene.  2020's Them's Fightin' Herds brings the cuteness, but doesn't lack the hallmarks of a good fighting game with a diverse (although small) cast and exciting game play. First, a little history.  Created by indy studio Mane6, this game features a group of quadrupeds hell bent on becoming monarch of the field.  If you think that the fighters look like side characters from My Little Pony, you're actually not far off.  The original version of this game was called "My Little Pony: Fighting is Magic", featuring the main cast members in a brawl for all.   This however was not a licensed game, and Hasbro being a multi-million dollar toy juggernaut didn't want anyone tak...

Jason "Mr Midnyte" Pinon Hey and welcome back!  This week I'm highlighting a series that is near and dear to many.  Since their debut, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been a pop-culture phenomenon.  Starting with comic books, then TV and movies, it makes sense that they even dominated video games as well.  The arcade beat-em-up is still a major standout in that genre, and Turtles in Time is considered one of the best.  It makes a lot of sense that they would eventually bleed over into the world of Fighting Games. Developed by Konami (who had made all of their other games up to this point), it follows in the footsteps of Street Fighter with big colorful characters and none of the crazy bloody violence of MK and the other games I've covered so far.  As usual the four brothers are out to put a stop of whatever dumb bullshit the Shredder is up to this time.  What's unique about this game is that across the three platforms that it was released on, eac...

  Jason "Mr Midnyte" Pinon Welcome back. This installment is is a bit better than the last one, though it's cut from a similar cloth. Similar to Kasumi Ninji, Way of the Warrior was released in August of 1994 for the 3DO (which for those who don't know is another system from the early 90's trying to cash in but was too expensive for it's own good).  Another attempt at a Mortal Kombat clone, WotW has similar digitized graphics of real people and ultra-violent game play, complete with multiple finishing moves per character.  The members of the cast are attempting to have their names added to "The Book of Warriors", a compendium of the greatest fighters in history.  This particular game has a couple of really interesting things that make it stand out.  For starters, this game was an early game developed by studio Naughty Dog.  Yeah, that Naughty Dog.  Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, the Last of Us...and the Way of the Warrior.  Partnering...

  Jason "Mr Midnyte" Pinon Hi!  Welcome to the inaugural post of Forgotten Legends, where we explore some deep cuts from the world of Fighting Games.​ We've got a good one. ​ After Street Fighter II was released in 1991 and became a smash hit, the fighting game genre blew up and many different clones and successors followed.  The same was true for Mortal Kombat in 1992.  While SF clones were often sprite based and relatively blood free, MK opened the door with digitized graphics and ultra violence.  Kasumi Ninja certain falls in that second category.  It was an exclusive to the Jaguar, and the first fighting game on that platform. ​ I'm going to have to assume that some of our readers don't remember, nay have never even heard of the Jaguar.  The less you know about it, the better. ​ This game takes several pages out of the MK playbook.  The characters are digitized still of *maybe* real people, and animated.  There are ninjas that look t...