Pit-Fighter

The gameplay is similar to Taito's Violence Fight and SNK's Street Smart. The player must jump, punch, and kick their opponent until his/her energy runs out. If the player presses all three of the buttons at a time, the character will perform a "super move". The player begins Pit-Fighter by choosing one of the three playable characters, who all have different moves, speed, and power.

Released: 1 August 1990
Platforms: Amstrad CPC Arcade Atari 7800 Atari Lynx Atari ST Game Boy Master System SNES Sega Genesis ZX Spectrum
Genres: Arcade Beat 'em up Fighting
Developers: Atari Games
Publishers: Atari Games
Modes: Co-op Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person Side view
Themes: Survival

About

Pit-Fighter is a 1990 fighting game developed and published by Atari Games for arcades. The Japanese release was published by Konami. Home versions were published by Tengen.

The game uses digitized live actors captured through a bluescreen process, where the various poses and moves were performed by actors in front of a video camera. The game's on-screen character animation is replays of the actual footage, not a rotoscoped (redrawn) animation. Pit-Fighter is the second fighting game to use digitized sprites, after Home Data's Reikai Dōshi: Chinese Exorcist.

Keywords

martial arts
brawler
box art - real photos
non-player character
melee

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to Taito's Violence Fight and SNK's Street Smart. The player must punch and kick their opponents until their energy runs out. If the player presses all three of the buttons at once, the character will perform a "super move". The player begins by choosing one of the three playable characters, who each have different moves, speeds, and powers. Up to three people can play at a time, but there will be extra opponents to fight during any of the game's 15 different matches.

Every third fight is a bonus round known as a "Grudge Match". In a Grudge Match, the player must fight against a CPU controlled clone of the fighter if playing alone, or against the other players in a multiplayer game. Getting knocked down three times eliminates a player from the Grudge Match; the winner is the last one standing. Losing the Grudge Match does not eliminate a player, but the winner gets bonus money.

Reception

Atari sold 5,500 arcade units in the U.S. and 1,000 in Ireland. In North America, it was the top-grossing upright arcade cabinet on the RePlay arcade charts in October 1990, and weekly coin drop earnings averaged $413.75 per arcade unit during November to December 1990. In Japan, Game Machine listed Pit-Fighter as the seventh most successful table arcade unit of December 1990.

Julian Rignall of Computer and Video Games rated the arcade version 90%, calling it a "thoroughly enjoyable beat 'em up which really packs a punch" and "one of the most enjoyable arcade fighting games in a long time". Zzap!64 gave the game a more negative review, dubbing it an "anticlimactic beat'em up" and writing that the attract mode was the best part of the game. They criticized the limited frames of animation and compared it unfavorably to The Combatribes and Final Fight.

Legacy

Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro had previews of a planned sequel named Pit Fighter II by Tengen, which the former magazine claimed was more than 75% finished and would be released for Sega Genesis in the fourth quarter of 1993.

Kato, Buzz, and Ty were returning along with three new selectable fighters: Connor (Karate Champion), Tanya (Roller Queen), and Chief (Ex-bodyguard). Those are also three of the playable characters ultimately featured in Atari's subsequent game, Guardians of the 'Hood. Pictures show two CPU fighters, Helga (level 1) and Jay-Jay (level 2).