Here is the translation for the Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG) Brazilian fanzine: Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist). Thank you to Eric and the team for this edition, also an extra thank you to Eric for translation assistance. A discussion of superhuman characteristics. Different ways to handle Dizzy. Limiting the power of blocking. A look at adapting Pit-Fighter, plus Buzz, Ty, Kato character sheets. My article about taking inspiration from the film The Tuxedo, I have large work on powersuits and exoskeletons in production. The Special Maneuver is Momentum. The Circuit Legend is Eddy Gordo from Tekken. Warrior’s Fist 44. I’ve updated the Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist) PDF Article List and the online spreadsheet. —- For the many translations check out this folder, this includes all the Warrior’s Fist (PdG) issues, plus the Arena Maps as separate files. Virtual Combat Cards.The epic duo Circuit Guide and Circuit Guide – Basic, both Solo systems (Meet the Strongest & Dominus), World Tour, Spartacus, Tekken, Darkstalkers, Guilty Gear, Killer Instinct, Double Dragon, Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat files, King of Fighters, Jackie Chan, Kengan Ashura, Hajime no Ippo, Samurai Shodown, Breakers, and WF maps & extras. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file. For my other SFRPG creations can be downloaded from this folder. 🙂
Tag: Tekken
King of Fighters for SFRPG
Here is a translation of the Brazilian King of Fighters (KoF) fan project for Street Fighter RPG. Thank you to the original team of contributors, in particular Odmir Fortes and Eric “Musashi” Souza. This is a massive PDF, 184 pages, covering the many games in the extended setting and big timeline of The King of Fighters, including overviews and character sheets for The Orochi Saga, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Fatal Fury, Ikari Warriors and Psycho Soldier.
KoF can easily fit in to the SFRPG setting. The first game in the KoF setting was Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, which was a rival game to Street Fighter 2, and as many fans know, SNK employed Takashi Nishiyama, who created the original Street Fighter game. The rivalry eventually led to the series of games: SNK vs. Capcom. So like other fighting games such as Tekken, Double Dragon, etc., we can at the very least draw ideas and characters from KoF to place in to SFRPG, to outright fusing the two together. This raises questions of ranking, since many of the KoF characters are of World Warriors standard. The King of Fighter Tournament would likely be a part of the normal Freestyle Division. Alternatively maybe with KoF having its focus on Southtown and South Town (yes that is a bit confusing) it could be considered a closed Fighting Circuit, requiring characters to either be located in the region. Another benefit of KoF is that it has all the same fighting game plot clichés that one would expect. So, it is also not hard to use KoF as a way to expand/explore SFRPG in to the more globally devastated settings, such as: Mortal Kombat, Darkstalkers, Killer Instinct, Guilty Gear, TMNT, etc. This one supplement easily doubles the roster of veteran NPCs, so if only for this reason, check it out. 🙂
King of Fighters. Here is a link to the folder of Street Fighter translations, which includes all the Warrior’s Fist (PdG) issues, Virtual Combat Cards, the epic Circuit Guide, Circuit Guide – Basic, both Solo systems (Meet the Strongest & Dominus), Spartacus, Tekken, Darkstalkers, Guilty Gear, Killer Instinct, Double Dragon, Virtua Fighter, and the Mortal Kombat files. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
Guilty Gear for SFRPG
Here is a translation of the Brazilian Guilty Gear fan project for Street Fighter RPG. Thank you to the original creator Thiago Rosa. Guilty Gear’s setting is set after a world war between humans and Gears (bio-organic weapons). Over 100 years of fighting, obviously resulting in the devastation of the world, took place, before finally the Sacred Order of Holy Knights managed to defeat the Gear leader Justice. 70 more years pass, a Gear named Testament plans to resurrect Justice! A tournament is created to find the best warrior. There is lots to dive in to with such a setting.
Since the Guilty Gear setting is a titanic leap from that of Street Fighter, how to go about fusing the two settings? A group of options could be to use Guilty Gear as an alternative timeline, maybe for a time travel game (aka X-Men and Days of the Future Past). Another group of options revolve around a modern day Street Fighter receiving dreams, prophecies, statistical projections about what would happen if Shadaloo, Mishima, Ultratech, etc., never mind the many powerful governments and their militaries accelerate their biotech research. Rose, or other magic linked characters could be the lynchpin of such a chronicle. This could lead to streets that are more dangerous, like Double Dragon or Final Fight. The implication of Street Fighters being a part of a military blueprint for super soldiers is an old idea, well the Guilty Gear setting could be the fallout of such a pursuit. Then of course there is the direction of supernatural entities, such as Darkstalkers, Mortal Kombat, or drawing upon the more subtle World of Darkness and/or Chronicles of Darkness. Is there a way to stop such devastation from happening?
Guilty Gear. Here is a link to the folder of Street Fighter translations, which includes all the Warrior’s Fist (PdG) issues, Virtual Combat Cards, the epic Circuit Guide, Circuit Guide – Basic, both Solo systems (Meet the Strongest & Dominus), Spartacus, Tekken, Darkstalkers, Killer Instinct, Double Dragon, Virtua Fighter, and the Mortal Kombat files. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
Killer Instinct for Street Fighter RPG
Here is a translation of the Brazilian Killer Instinct fan project for Street Fighter RPG; thank you to Eric M. Souza and Gustavo Maru for their work. When Killer Instinct was released in the 90s, I barely played it; we were generally still too busy playing Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. It did occasionally pop up in conversation, but for the people I played with, after a few years faded into history. So translating this supplement and reading the Killer Instinct wiki was interesting. Whilst the setting includes supernatural, it is closer to the cyberpunk genre than Mortal Kombat or Darkstalkers. I am sure a Street Fighter group could take ideas from Killer Instinct, besides the characters, the idea of Ultratech machinations undermining Shadaloo or rivalling Tekken’s Mishima Corporation should make for a more intrigue focused game.
Killer Instinct SFRPG Here is a link to the folder of Street Fighter translations, which includes all the Warrior’s Fist (PdG) issues, Virtual Combat Cards, the epic Circuit Guide, Circuit Guide – Basic, both Solo systems (Meet the Strongest & Dominus), Spartacus, Tekken, Darkstalkers, and the Mortal Kombat files. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
Warrior’s Fist 29 Street Fighter Translation
Here is latest the translation for the Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG) Brazilian fanzine: Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist). Thank you to list of contributors and the editor Eric, plus, as always, an extra thank you to Eric for helping with the translation.
This issue gives advice on planning experience points and the number of fights for a character over a chronicle. The return of the School of Combos, this article examines the topic of unstoppable combos, how this can be achieved in SFRPG. By Fight! explores the big Brazilian city of Brasília as well as an arena for the Fight Hard Café.
The Maneuver of the Month: Stuntsman revives the antics of Jackie Chan and gives new meaning to the Stunt Card that Street Fighter inaugurated. Lastly an exploration of the idea giving SFRPG more of a feel of the 3D Fighting Games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Examining the idea of a Dodge Abort Maneuver.
Issue 29. Here is a link to the folder of Street Fighter translations, which includes all the Warrior’s Fist (PdG) issues, Virtual Combat Cards, the epic Circuit Guide, Circuit Guide – Basic, both Solo systems (Meet the Strongest & Dominus), Spartacus, Tekken, Darkstalkers, and the Mortal Kombat files. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
The Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist) PDF Article List has been updated, as has the online spreadsheet. This PDF and my other SFRPG creations can be downloaded from this folder.
Tekken for Street Fighter Translation
Here are two translations of Tekken for Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG) supplements, specifically Tekken 4; the original work was by Fagner Vieira Stutzel and Eric Henrique “Musashi” de Souza, who is also an editor of Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist). The work was originally made in 2001, so a few things have been changed since then, such as the then new maneuvers: Dankuukyaku and Double Jump Kick that had been created, have since been replaced with the classic Hurricane Kick. One of the good things about SFRPG these days is how many games have been played, things tested; how many players try to limit system bloat, stripping things back to the original core rules when appropriate and possible.
The first translation is for core characters for Tekken 4.
The second translation is for secret characters for Tekken 4.
To me, the Tekken universe has always felt like a cross between Street Fighter and the World of Darkness. The plot about evil corporations and devil gene could easily be something from the research of the Special Project Division of the Technocracy and their work with Pentex; maybe the reason the SPD disappeared is because they had a breakthrough? Or maybe because the Fallen, Earthbound, maybe even Lucifer himself took notice.
There are plenty of benefits of adding the King of Iron Fist Tournament, and the famous fighters, plus the plots around the Mishima Corporation in to Street Fighter. In particular it provides another megalomaniacal organisation that would be in competition with the machinations of Shadoloo(Shadaloo), as well as having a specific interest in why special martial artists matter so much. Throw in Mortal Kombat to explore the dilemma of whether the devil gene could be used to ward off Shao Kahn’s forces in Outworld; would Raiden be against using the godly power of Ancient Ogre? Etc.
Here is a link to the folder of Street Fighter translations, which includes all the issues of Warrior’s Fist (PdG), the epic Circuit Guide, Glory Times, Solo Rules, Spartacus, and the Mortal Kombat core and Shinnok. The whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
The Punho do Guerreiro (Warrior’s Fist) PDF Article List has been updated, as has the online spreadsheet. This PDF and my other SFRPG creations can be downloaded from this folder.
Warrior’s Fist 19 Street Fighter Translation
Here is another translation of Punho do Guerreiro, a Brazilian fanzine for Street Fighter RPG (SFRPG). Thank you to the original team for their hard work. 🙂
This issue gives simplified rules to capture the essence of a Football match. A great article about training equipment. For those wanting to bring some Tekken plots to their games, this issue has rules for Cursed Blood & Sacred Blood. Creative Arenas II, more interesting places to fight, this time how about on a plane!? Temple Arena in Kabuki Town. Whilst not a powerful finishing Maneuver, this month we have the super useful Breathe Underwater. Circuit Legend is Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon series. The issue explores another way to handle changing styles.
Issue 19. A link to the folder for Warrior’s Fist; the whole folder can be downloaded as a Zip file 🙂
29 #RPGaDay2020 Ride
I love when the entire group rides the wave of a great gaming session, like surfers finding a legendary wave, harmonising with the energy. One of my favourite campaigns was a Changeling road trip, as mentioned for day 24. One of the PCs was an Eshu who was a driver for the circus and a trained pilot. Because of their Eshu Birthright: Spirit Pathways, the character would often take detours on the trip. Many sessions felt like I was a passenger on party’s ride, whole scenes requiring no GM/ST feedback/comments.
Street Fighter RPG
In real-life the ability to ride out a flurry of strikes, or when riding the aggressive wave of a strong grappler, is a fascinating combination of perseverance and strategy; I miss training. 😦 When SFRPG first came out several players and I discussed how we could enhance riding out situations in the game. Some of the possibilities suggested were energy systems, freshness modifiers, comparison tables, strategy modifiers, but the conclusion became: this is unnecessary complexity for little gain. As we played and learned more about the system, we felt it did in fact capture these real-life experiences, whilst not interfering with early blitzing.
When preparing for this event I had planned to publish my mechanics for Wraith: the Oblivion and skin-riding in SFRPG. Punho do Guerreiro has Vampires, Werewolves, Mages and Changelings, but Wraith is a game I’d like to play more of, so of course I got talking with a player about a fusion game. Those rules still need a ton of playtesting, but if the mini-campaign goes well I hope to submit to the community for feedback. Maybe be published in Punho do Guerreiro 🙂 The player adores Wraith and SF, so the idea is to play some mini-sessions, exploring a Risen seeking revenge; The Crow but in Street Fighter; we have also briefly discussed Bryan Fury from Tekken.
Other Peoples’ Answers
Charles Etheridge-Nunn @charlie_en
Ryan Heck | Aqualith Media @aqualithmedia big catch-up
Kehaar @DissectingWrlds
Craig Oxbrow @CraigOxbrow
Anthony Boyd @Runeslinger
Bob Freeman @OccultDetective
John M. Kahane @jkahane1
Eric Jacobson @viscounteric
Melestrua @Melestrua
Geek-Life Balance @cybogoblin
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
Way of the Exploding Fist Lookback
I originally published this opinion piece in 2015 on Noobgrind, a computer game website, but since that has gone I’m posting it here. Whilst the original article’s focus was about computer games, this article is more about my influences, how old games led me to martial arts and my RPG designs.
For me Way of the Exploding Fist (WotEF / Fist) is the Mario of 8-bit fighting games! Okay, considering the cultural weight of Mario, maybe that is too strong a statement, but I do consider this game to be of that design calibre. Later beat ‘em up games like Street Fighter weren’t quite the gem, especially the 8-bit version on the Commodore 64; IMHO, not until Street Fighter 2 did things improve. Today there are many iconic fighting series, but in the mid-80s there were only a few basic unarmed combat games, nothing I would call iconic, then Fist came out! The game received a 93% from Zzap! 64 magazine in August 1985 and game of the year, plus according to the wiki page it apparently went on to become the bestselling game for both ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.
Why write about a game from thirty years ago? The classic answer of it being helpful to know our roots, to understand how they influence us; even if we are not aware, which is often the case 😉 I would urge any budding game designer to check this game out, to see what the creator Gregg Barnett did with a good design, an emphasis on game-play, and a clean interface. Additionally this was achieved with a very limited amount of processing power. Also maybe check out some other quirky game ideas like Attack of the Phantom Karate Devils, if only for its novel approach to reducing the need to draw lots of graphics on the screen.
For many reasons this game carries great importance for me. It wasn’t Bruce Lee or other martial artist movies, which made me obsessed with martial arts. In 1985 my dad purchased this amazing game for our Commodore 64, the title sounded just so exciting: ‘Way of the Exploding Fist’ or the simple punchy ‘Fist’. Thankfully due to my dad, even at 9 years of age I had a tiny frame of reference in understanding how difficult combat training is; my dad is ex-military and he had studied several different styles of fighting, and he’d started teaching me. Although I was already interested in martial arts, there was unfortunately limited access to media on any style in the early 80s in the UK, and we did not have enough money to pay for lessons. Crucially for me Fist wasn’t a platformer, or a game with just a few basic attacks, no, this was my first proper fighting game, and it is more like a fighting simulator.
Anecdotes aside, the graphics and imagery were incredible, yes dated now, but in its time quite impressive. I loved how crisp the game-play felt, the fantastic movement of the character led to a great sense of tactile feedback, and the attacks felt brilliant; for me game-play is the most important factor in any game. The game had 16 moves, enough that a fight felt strategic, not formulaic. Like so many people I believe that even a point-and-click or text-based adventure needs a good feeling of interactivity, and the graphic user interface (GUI) is a key part of this. Some people criticised the game in regards to how a character turned around, but I consider this criticism to be unfair since turning was just another thing to practice; besides you could attack someone behind you. In comparison to other games of the time Fist was spectacular. The music and sound effects were great, carrying that great combination of quality, feeling right and being distinctive. The music evokes strong memories of the game, and still carries importance for me; I’ve been humming it for decades!
Although a game called Karate Champ (KC) actually came out before Fist, I didn’t come across it until afterwards, so it didn’t have any impact on me. KC had so many firsts to it, and can be considered the basis for all the fighting games to come. Whilst the arcade game, Warrior, came out in 1979, it looks and plays barely like anything in the fighting game genre. Even though it was made just a year earlier, KC was not as fluid or well-paced, nor as graphical or musically as impressive as Fist.
On a side note Yie Ar Kung-Fu came out the same year as Fist, which I also liked, it was fast, quite fluid. I was not as interested in this game, as most opponents had weapons, and I preferred unarmed combat. Crucially I thought it didn’t have that feeling of tactile weight, the jumping distance was gigantic and floaty, a Wire-Fu aesthetic. Despite there being a brief pause to indicate that a hit had landed and seeing that the opponent’s health bar went down a bit, but otherwise there was no physical effect to the opponent. Interestingly this game became the foundation of later fighting games. In contrast Fist follows the rules of full contact point sparring, with the fight pausing after a successful hit on a point scoring area, thus there are no health bars, and this approach has barely been used since. Whilst I did enjoy playing Yie Ar Kung-Fu, with it providing a different gameplay, I still preferred Fist.
Besides the excellent 1 on 1 game play, Fist also included an odd bonus level that involved a charging bull? I guess this bonus level was inspired by Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin Karate, who claimed to have fought many bulls! Like many outrageous stories in martial arts and the relationship with sports entertainment, one should be cautious about believing everything. Still, it was a cool edition to a computer game. Whilst I believe Karate Champ was probably the first game to include such bonus levels, it was years later when Mortal Kombat (MK) and Street Fighter 2 (SF2) in particular became known for popularising this level concept.
Fist included the cool and important ability to fake an attack. This does not refer to the simple idea of moving as a feint, although this can be a valid tactic in many games. What I mean is that attacks could be started but not completed; this was possible due to the great control system, which was all the better with a great micro-switch joystick. I find this particularly useful when playing against another person, plus it did seem to affect the computer controlled competitor. Nowadays whilst some games include the ability to feint, this important part of real fighting is not seen as a core feature in all fighting games, I wonder why this is?
The game was accessible due to a combination of being: well presented, there were no hidden moves, nor complicated sequences, but crucially I believe the game flow and speed elevated it. Like any good fighting game the timing was absolutely critical, and the well animated sprites allowed for good control of the timing, and therefore distance management became the first thing to consider. Because this is an important part of real fighting, it should be no surprise that this is often discussed as a crucial factor in all fighting games. Sadly there are games that lack the combination of fluid animation and character control; the amount of bad SF2 or MK clones are a testament to this issue. In some games, attacks with long animations are annoying, especially if you cannot do anything. Ideally a game should always a player to try something.
I love fighting games, I have no issue with games like Street Fighter with hidden moves, special attacks, nor the detailed list of techniques like in Tekken. It is not uncommon for new players to complain about such games being too complicated, requiring a lot of effort to learn even the basics. A modern game like Fist would go some way to providing a stepping stone in to the fighting game genre. I’ve heard it said that the UFC games maybe fulfils this a little bit, and the general fight fan is much better educated these days, but the UFC games are still somewhat complicated, since after all they are simulating Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Another classic fighting debate is addressed by this Fist’s design, should button mashing be allowed? Although it was possible to button mash in Fist, learning the game could overcome the wild approach. This approach gave new players a chance to compete; their button mashing elevated my gameplay, and in turn helped them. I call this a successful design approach.
After a few weeks of extensive playing of Way of the Exploding Fist I got in trouble for misbehaving. I was banned from playing the computer for a few days, which at that age seemed like a lifetime! Since I dabbled in programming I was not banned from using the computer, just playing on it, so this gave me what I considered at the time, a creative workaround. I loaded the game and patiently waited, after a mini eternity I was rewarded with a successful load and the awesome music started. After about twenty seconds the computer would play against itself, so I could watch two competitors fight each other, with each attack being given added emphasis due to their kiai (spirit shouts). I had watched for an hour by the time my dad found out what I was doing, impressively he was not angry since I had not technically broken the rules. In fact he was amused by the fact that I was making my punishment more intense on myself, by having the object of my desire in such close proximity, but not being allowed to interact with it! When I explained I was watching the timing and distant management of the game he smiled, because he understood that this simple point fighting karate game actually did a great job in making this the focal part of the game.
There is no real ending to Fist, just like with real martial arts. Although I am not sure if the approach was due to design as metaphor, or more to do with just allowing a player to keep going to aim for a super high score.
The review from Zzap 64 Issue 4 August 1985 can be found here. For more information check of the game details on the wiki page. Whilst writing this article I found out that the music for this game was taken from Dance of the Yao Tribe, I had never looked it up until now; maybe that shows that a bit of hard work looking in to things you like can pay off? 😉
From Way of the Exploding Fist to Street Fighter RPG 3 part series
Batjutsu 