90/100
Players6 ratings

Where to get it

Steam

1998 · Capcom · Fighting · Puzzle

Pocket Fighter

PlayStation console exclusive

It's the most outrageous fighting game ever! Innocent but deadly, these pint-sized champions from Street Fighter and DarkStalkers pack one heck of a punch. Battle to collect power-up gems and duke it out with the most insane attacks and hilarious fighting combos of all time.

Released: 9 July 1998
Platforms: Arcade PlayStation
Genres: Fighting Puzzle
Developers: Capcom
Publishers: Capcom
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action
Country: Japan

About

Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, also released as Pocket Fighter (Japanese: ポケットファイター) in Japan, is a 1997 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. The game uses the same super deformed character designs previously used in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, a puzzle game by Capcom. It was ported in 1998 to the PlayStation, which retained the Pocket Fighter title for its North American and PAL releases, and then the Sega Saturn and WonderSwan, both in Japan only.

The return of most of the "puzzle fighters" on the roster includes characters from Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, Ibuki from Street Fighter III, and Tessa from Red Earth. It also features many character cameos from various Capcom games scattered in the background of the stages.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In addition to the standard fighting, there are various gems (similar to the ones seen in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo) that the player can collect during matches to power up their character (based on Red Earth), as well as elemental orbs which can be thrown to the opponent in a variety of angles (visually based on elemental hits in Darkstalkers), which may affect the opponent (turn into stone, freeze, etc.). Each character starts each match with one of these (Tessa always starts with the ice orb, while Ryu starts with the lightning orb). There are also treasure chests, and item carriers, which both contain items, and food that restores the player's health.

There are two bars and three sub-bars in the interface. The two main bars are the life bar and the super meter. The life bar indicates the character's remaining health and the super meter their ability to perform "Mighty Combos". The super meter can be filled up to 9 stocks.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix as the ninth most successful arcade game of November 1997.

Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "The game itself is distracting fun for two players (although utterly mindless as a single-player game) and again, amusing. Solid stuff, but only for the true cognoscenti." PSM Magazine gave the game a score of 3.1 / 2, describing it as "A unique and humorous approach to the fighting game." and that the game "really delivers". PS Extreme gave it a score of 80%, stating that the game "should be real popular with those who enjoy fighting games, but aren't interested in memorizing long lists of moves and combos".

Legacy

A pachinko game released by SANKYO, Fever Street Fighter II, which was released five years after Gem Fighter in Japan only, re-uses most of the sprites for five of the Street Fighter series characters from this game.

Two mobile-only spin-offs based on this game, Solitier Fighter and Poker Fighter were released for cellphones in 2003 in Japan. Also, on Capcom's Japanese mobile phone site "Capcom Party", several cellphone games using the SD characters in the style of this title were distributed.