Fighters Destiny

Nintendo exclusive

You can choose from more than 10 characters and enter the ring in the ultimate hand-to-hand competition. Rather than using a two-out-of-three format, you must score seven points in order to win a match. Knocking down your opponent, forcing him out of the ring, or throwing him to the ground score anywhere from one to four points. Try to beat all of the other fighters in the Master Challenge, where a victory results in you learning their fighting skills.

Released: 31 January 1998
Platforms: Nintendo 64
Genres: Fighting
Developers: Genki Imagineer
Publishers: Ocean Software SouthPeak Games
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: Japan
Age ratings: ESRB T
Languages: English, German

About

Fighters Destiny, known in Japan as Fighting Cup, is a 1998 video game developed by Genki alongside Opus Corp and Anchor Inc for the Nintendo 64. It closely models the 3D fighting game standards of the time but integrates a unique point scoring system. The game's generic characters and unoriginal presentation have been panned by critics, but reviewers praised its point system and consider it to be one of the best fighting games on the Nintendo 64. It was followed by a sequel, Fighter Destiny 2, released in 2000.

Keywords

rumble pak
nintendo 64 exclusive

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Fighters Destiny, the player controls a polygon-based character in a three dimensional battle arena. The game features typical hand to hand combat fighting: using a variety of punches, kicks, locks, and throws, players attempt to pummel their opponents into submission. Each character also has a large list of special commands (called "moves") that can be accessed during battle. These different moves range from simply pressing the "B" button to inputting button combinations.

In most fighting games, the objective is to deplete the opponent's health gauge. Fighters Destiny follows the same concept but also relies on a customizable point scoring system to determine the winner. These points, which are displayed as yellow stars under the character's health gauge, can be earned in a variety of ways. O.

Development

Fighters Destiny was initially announced under the title "Struggle Hard". The voice of the announcer, Fighting D.J., was provided by Marc Silk in the English version.

Reception

As with Mace: The Dark Age just a few months earlier, critics widely deemed Fighters Destiny the best fighting game on the Nintendo 64 to date, while noting that this was largely because the others were uniformly weak. However, while most critics described Mace as simply the best of a mediocre set, Fighters Destiny was more commonly referred to as the first genuinely worthwhile fighting game for the Nintendo 64. Jeff Gerstmann wrote in GameSpot, "The unique scoring system and variety of modes make Fighters Destiny a winner. It may not have the best characters or the best graphics, but it's a well-rounded game, which is more than I can say about any other N64 fighting game."

Similarly, IGN's Peer Schneider concluded, "Some minor problems in presentation and overall player balance keep Fighter's Destiny from getting a perfect score, but this is—no doubt—the most original fighting game in years. It doesn't quite live up to the best of the best (like Virtua Fighter III or Tekken 2), but it beats the living daylights out of every other N64 fighter ever released." The review team for Electronic Gaming Monthly were more uncertain, with Crispin Boyer and Chris Johnston in particular saying that the game is decent but flawed and lacks a genuinely revolutionary touch to make it stand out.