2003 · Fighting

Matrimelee

SNK console exclusive

A year after the events of Power Instinct 2, the king of Certain Country wants to find a worthy successor for the throne. He wants the ideal husband for his little daughter (or a beautiful and strong woman for his older son) so he holds a fighting tournament where the prize is the hand of the princess and the throne succession.

Released: 2003
Platforms: Arcade Neo Geo
Genres: Fighting
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Comedy

About

Matrimelee is an arcade fighting game published by Playmore. It is the fifth installment in the Power Instinct series, and the second fighting game developed by Noise Factory after Rage of the Dragons. The game was first released on Neo Geo arcade system on March 20, 2003, and was one of the last games to be released on the system. The title is a portmanteau of "matrimony" and "melee".

Matrimelee ignores gameplay elements introduced in its predecessor, Groove on Fight, and goes back to 1-on-1 match structure. A few of the elements from Rage of the Dragons were integrated to this game, such as the special meter that slowly fills up when an attack connects with an opponent and the four guest stars.

Keywords

guest character
surreal comedy
absurd

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Matrimelee discards all the characters introduced in Groove on Fight and brings back the roster from Power Instinct 2 (except Angela, Oshima, Sahad and Kinta, the latter of whom was replaced by his alter-ego of kinta, Poochi), plus four new characters and one new boss (Princess Sissy). It features four unlockable guest characters from Rage of the Dragons: Jimmy, Elias, Lynn, and Mr. Jones. In the game's story, the King of Certain Country wants to find a worthy successor for the throne and the ideal husband for his little daughter (or a beautiful and strong woman for his older son). He decides to hold a fighting tournament where the prize is the hand of the princess and the throne succession.

The game inherits the Stress meter system from Power Instinct 2, but with further changes. The Stress meter can now be filled up to three levels. Super moves included are a Stress Shot (one bar), an Ippatsu Ougi (two bars) and a powerful, hidden super attack called a Kinjite (three bars). However, only a few of the characters have Kinjite moves. Transformations are also no longer possible.