Fighting Game Flop: Martial Champion Leaves Much to be Desired

Developed and published by Konami, Martial Champion was released on December 17, 1993, with hopes of making its mark in the fighting game genre. Despite being one of the pioneers in the genre with games like Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Karate Champ, Konami failed to live up to the hype with Martial Champion. While it offered a roster of ten playable characters and introduced a few unique features, the game ultimately fell short and proved to be a lackluster imitation of its competitors.

Uninspiring Characters and Derivative Gameplay

Martial Champion’s roster consists of characters from various parts of the world, but many of them feel reminiscent of established fighting game archetypes. Characters like Jin, Rachael, and Bobby follow familiar tropes, while others like Zen and Titi have more unique designs. However, the overall character selection lacks the depth and innovation seen in other fighting games of the time.

The controls and mechanics of Martial Champion are a hybrid of Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Street Fighter, featuring three attack buttons for low, medium, and high attacks. While the Capcom-inspired inputs for special moves add a touch of familiarity, each character only has one or two special moves at most, limiting their capabilities compared to other titles in the genre.

Limited Features and Bland Gameplay

Martial Champion introduced a few unique features to the fighting game genre, such as the ability for characters to disarm and use each other’s weapons, a concept later adopted by SNK’s Samurai Shodown. However, this innovative element adds even more limitations to the already unimpressive characters. Furthermore, the game features a super move system accessible when low on health, a feature that became standard in fighting games shortly after.

Despite these attempts at innovation, Martial Champion falls flat in terms of gameplay. The slow pace and lack of a satisfying combo system make the fights feel uninspired and dull. The tournament mode, with its ladder system, offers little excitement, as players face only six characters before confronting the final unplayable boss, Shadow. While Shadow’s ability to utilize every special move in the game initially seems impressive, it becomes repetitive, as he favors only a select few.

The Visuals: Oversized Sprites and Diminished Graphics

Martial Champion’s most notable aspect is its comically large sprites, which occupy most of the screen. However, the lack of sprite scaling makes the gameplay feel cramped and limits the overall visual experience. In the PC Engine version, the sprite size is significantly reduced, resulting in improved gameplay, albeit at the cost of visual appeal. The animation suffers, and all background spectators remain static. The flat backgrounds lack depth, and even the soundtrack, composed in redbook audio format, fails to add any excitement to the game.

In Closing: A Mediocre Fighting Game Experience

All in all, Martial Champion can only be described as an average fighting game. While the arcade version didn’t stand out in the genre, this inferior PC Engine port fails to meet even that standard. Although the fighting game selection on the PC Engine was limited, there are undoubtedly better options available. It’s clear that Konami didn’t prioritize releasing Martial Champion on multiple platforms, and for good reason.