Fighting Champions

Fighting Champions is a 2D fighting game developed and published by ACS. Released in 1992 for Arcades (ACS Supra System), Sharp X68000, FM Towns, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, PC-Engine CD, Game Boy and Game Gear. It is ACS’ second fighting game following Kumite (1986).

Fighting Champions was published by ACS as the company's answer to Capcom's Street Fighter II, which was hugely popular in arcades at the time of the game's release.

Gameplay
Compared to other fighting games at the time, which feature separate buttons for punches and kicks, Fighting Champions uses a three-button system consisting of Light, Medium and Heavy attacks. Throwing is done by moving to the direction toward the opponent and then pressing Heavy Attack, while back throws are done by moving to the direction opposite the opponent and then pressing Heavy Attack.

The game mostly plays similar to Street Fighter II, including its emphasis on special moves and combos. Each player has a set of special moves that can be performed by performing specific button combinations. The gameplay of Fighting Champions is noted to be slightly faster than its contemporaries. Fighting Champions is also one of the first fighting games to feature “air special moves” which are special moves that can only be performed while in mid-air.

Each game of Fighting Champions is composed of 11 stages. 8 fights against the regular fighters (save for the player's character), 2 fights against sub-bosses Basham and Lucio, and the final fight against Kabuto. After every four fights, the player could enter one of two Bonus Stages which would either have the player destroying a large boulder, or fighting a bunch of wooden training dummies.

Story
The World of Fighting tournament. The biggest and most prestigious fighting tournament in the world. Every year, many fighters from all over the world, each with their own reasons for participating, gather around in order to prove who is the strongest fighter of them all.

Hosted by the Japanese Yakuza in secret, this year, the winner of the World of Fighting tournament will be given a sum of $1,000,000 as the main prize, provided that they are able to defeat the current champion, the fearsome masked fighter known as "Kabuto", first.

This year, nine fighters enter the World of Fighting tournament, each seeking to prove their own strength against one another and become the strongest fighter. The question remains: Who will come out victorious?

Playables

 * Ryuga

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

A cocky, loudmouthed karateka from Japan. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to prove that he is the strongest fighter of them all.


 * Kevin Chrysler

Birthplace: 🇺🇸 USA

A rowdy street brawler from the USA. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to obtain his dreams of fame, fortune and pretty women.


 * Ling Fang-Ming

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

A waitress and kung-fu apprentice from China. She joins the World of Fighting tournament to free her grandfather from the Yakuza.


 * Baron von Braun

Birthplace: 🇩🇪 Germany

A big, burly professional wrestler from Germany. He joins the World of Fighting tournament for the thrill of breaking bones.


 * Zuba

Birthplace:  Congo

A warrior prince coming from an indigenous tribe from Congo. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to protect their homeland.


 * Andrei Maximov

Birthplace:  Russia

A cybernetically-enhanced military general from Soviet Russia. He joins the World of Fighting Tournament to test his abilities.


 * Chongrak Sintawichai

Birthplace: 🇹🇭 Thailand

A Muay Thai kicboxer from Thailand. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to avenge his father's death at the hands of Kabuto.


 * Sasuke

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

A descendant coming from a clan of ninja assassins from Japan. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to assassinate Kabuto.


 * Chin-Tao

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

A stout tai-chi master and restaurant owner from China. He joins the World of Fighting Tournament to expand his business.

Bosses

 * Rick Basham

Birthplace: 🇦🇺 Australia

A disgraced boxer from Australia. He was banned from pro boxing after killing his opponent, and now serves for the Yakuza.


 * Lucio Coltello

Birthplace: 🇮🇹 Italy

A depraved assassin from Italy. He has an obsession with knives and the pain of his opponents, and now serves for the Yakuza.


 * Kabuto

Birthplace:  Unknown

A notorious and powerful fighter whose face is hidden by a large helmet. He is the current champion of the World of Fighting tournament.

Sequel
A sequel to the game, Fighting Champions II, was released in 1993 for Arcades (ACS Supra System), Sharp X68000, FM Towns, PC-Engine CD, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD and 3DO. It featured new characters as well as new gameplay mechanics and stages.

Trivia

 * The SNES version of Fighting Champions was heavily censored in accordance to Nintendo's strict censorship policies around the time. Some of these changes include:
 * Certain attacks, such as Lucio's knife attacks, no longer draw blood upon hit.
 * The character's defeat portraits are edited to remove the blood on their faces.
 * Winquotes that included references to blood and death were also altered.
 * The PC-Engine CD port of Fighting Champions (which was only released in Japan), includes an arranged soundtrack.
 * This is the first ACS fighting game to feature the 3-button Light-Medium-Heavy system, which would then become a staple of nearly all of ACS' 2D fighters moving forward.
 * Buried within the arcade version's sprite data is an unused title screen for the game that bore the title "Deathly Blows", possibly an early or provisional title for the game.