Sentoki 4

Sentoki 4 (戦闘機; fighter) is a 3D fighting game developed and published by ACS. It is the sequel to Sentoki 3 and the fourth installment of the Sentoki series. Released in 2009 for Arcades (ACS System 202: ENDYMION), PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

The game later recieved an update in 2010 in the form of Sentoki 4: Unleashed, which added new characters and stages, as well as rebalanced some characters and included new customization items. Released for Arcades (ACS System 202: ENDYMION), PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the PlayStation Vita (under the name Sentoki 4: Unleashed V+).

A final update named Sentoki 4: Final Edition was released exclusively for Arcades (ACS System 202: ENDYMION) in 2012, which added a balanced version of final boss K², as well as including new customization items and the ability to select stages from vanilla Sentoki 4.

Gameplay
The game mostly plays the same as the previous game, though new gameplay mechanics have been added. The game introduces Fury mode, a comeback mechanic that is activated whenever the player has at least 20% health remaining. Upon activation, the outline around the player's life bar starts flashing red and the player is then granted a significant boost in their attack power.

Another new addition is the inclusion of a "Guard Limiter", where every defended attack would result in damage to the Guard Limiter, as shown by the color of the hitsparks when blocking: it starts off as blue, then yellow, then red. A red spark indicates that the Guard Limiter is in critical condition, after which the player must refrain from blocking, or else the next attack that is blocked would result in a "Guard Break" state, which leaves the player wide-open for counterattack for a few seconds.

To compliment the Guard Limiter system, the game also introduces "Guard Crushers", which are attacks that cause significant damage to the Guard Limiter when blocked, and can trigger Guard Break on an opponent with a critical Guard Limiter. To balance things out, Guard Crushers tend to be attacks which deal heavy damage, but possess a rather slow startup, and are easily distinguished through their unique spark effect and hit trails.

Sentoki 4 also boasts a massive expansion of its customization suite. Whereas customization in the previous game was limited to equipping accessories and recoloring the default clothes, Sentoki 4 introduces the option to mix and match unique outfits together, with separate categories for the head, face, upper body, hands, lower body, feet and accessories, as well as the ability to color each part of the costume individually.

Ranks

 * ^ denotes new ranks


 * Novice
 * 10th kyu
 * 9th kyu
 * 8th kyu
 * 7th kyu
 * 6th kyu
 * 5th kyu
 * 4th kyu
 * 3rd kyu
 * 2nd kyu
 * 1st kyu
 * 1st dan
 * 2nd dan
 * 3rd dan
 * 4th dan
 * 5th dan
 * 6th dan
 * 7th dan
 * 8th dan
 * 9th dan
 * 10th dan
 * Fighter^
 * Contender
 * Hero
 * Ace^
 * Master
 * Champion
 * Icon^
 * Legend
 * Innovator^
 * Warrior
 * Dominator
 * Conquerer^
 * Ruler
 * Magistrate^
 * Sage
 * Deity^
 * Overlord
 * Lord of Fighting^
 * Lord of Sentoki
 * God of Fighting^
 * God of Sentoki^

Story
As Kei Ikushima reaches the finals of the Sentoki tournament, Ranzou Kihara, who was watching over the tournament, would unleash K-001, a clone created in Kei's image and infused with all of the fight data collected by Orion, upon her. After a grueling battle, Kei was able to defeat the clone and win the match, until Ranzou, not liking the results, decided to restart the match right there and then.

As the match got restarted, K-001 proceeded to attack the battered and exhausted Kei in cold blood, delivering vicious blows and strikes, which incapacitated her. She was about to be killed when Shin intervened and fought with the clone. He was eventually able to defeat K-001, but Kei barely survived after all of the injuries she suffered, and was sent to the hospital shortly afterwards.

Meanwhile, outside the arena, a mysterious man who goes by the name of "Nixon" watches the entireity of the tournament through some of the TVs displayed on a surplus window. All alone on the streets, Nixon has no memory about his past, living his current life as a vagrant, walking the streets of Tokyo aimlessly and occasionally fighting in underground pit fights as his only livelihood.

However, despite his amnesia, he seems to recognize the face of Ranzou Kihara. He dosen't understand it either. He just felt something... oddly familiar about him. It was as if Nixon's mind was drawn to this man, for reasons that aren't clear to himself at all. A rising urge builds up within him: a strong desire to meet Ranzou Kihara himself in order to make sense of his amnesiac mind.

Almost a year after the last tournament, Orion would eventually announce the fourth Sentoki: Global Martial Arts tournament. Upon hearing the news, Nixon wasted no time and decided to enter the tournament, his mind dead set on meeting Ranzou, thinking he has all the answers to his past.

Returning

 * Shin Ikushima

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Karate

Voice Actors: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Matthew Mercer (EN)


 * Ralph Rollins

Birthplace: 🇺🇸 USA

Fighting Style: Martial Arts

Voice Actors: Ryo Horikawa (JP), Liam O'Brien (EN)


 * Huang Long

Birthplace: 🇭🇰 Hong Kong

Fighting Style: Jeet Kune Do

Voice Actors: Nobutoshi Canna (JP), Kaiji Tang (EN)


 * Joanna Spencer

Birthplace: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales

Fighting Style: Kuk Sool Won

Voice Actresses: Rica Fukami (JP), Tara Platt (EN)


 * Bru Bronson

Birthplace: 🇬🇧 England

Fighting Style: Pro Wrestling

Voice Actors: Daisuke Gori (JP; S4), Koji Ishii (JP; Unleashed), Jamieson Price (EN)


 * Kagero

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Ninjutsu

Voice Actors: Takumi Yamazaki (JP), Derek Stephen Prince (EN)


 * Ruslanovich

Birthplace: 🇷🇺 Russia

Fighting Style: Command Sambo

Voice Actors: Fumihiko Tachiki (JP), Patrick Seitz (EN)


 * Sonchai Damrongsak

Birthplace: 🇹🇭 Thailand

Fighting Style: Muay Thai

Voice Actors: Mitsuaki Madono (JP), Brian Beacock (EN)


 * Chen Su

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Drunken Fist

Voice Actors: Takeshi Aono (JP), Kirk Thornton (EN)


 * Kei Ikushima

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Karate

Voice Actresses: Ryoka Yuzuki (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)


 * Kwon Eun-Soo

Birthplace: 🇰🇷 South Korea

Fighting Style: Taekwondo

Voice Actors: Nozomu Sasaki (JP), Grant George (EN)


 * Shannon Meltzer

Birthplace: 🇨🇦 Canada

Fighting Style: Catch Wrestling

Voice Actresses: Akiko Hiramatsu (JP), Erin Fitzgerald (EN)


 * Douglas Freeman

Birthplace: 🇺🇸 USA

Fighting Style: Boxing

Voice Actors: Hisao Egawa (JP), Keith Silverstein (EN)


 * Liang Meilin

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Baguazhang

Voice Actresses: Motoko Kumai (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)


 * Brandon Donovan

Birthplace: 🇮🇪 Ireland

Fighting Style: Vale Tudo

Voice Actors: Kazuya Nakai (JP), Tony Oliver (EN)


 * Fiona Andrade

Birthplace: 🇧🇷 Brazil

Fighting Style: Capoeira

Voice Actresses: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP), Lauren Landa (EN)


 * Yao Shuren

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Xingyiquan

Voice Actors: Hidekatsu Shibata (JP), Steve Kramer (EN)


 * Inori Kinomiya

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Aikido

Voice Actresses: Miyu Matsuki (JP), Stephanie Sheh (EN)


 * Akechi

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Sumo

Voice Actor: Ryuzaburo Otomo (JP), Paul St. Peter (EN)


 * Mira

Birthplace: Unknown

Fighting Style: Kalaripayattu

Voice Actors: Satsuki Yukino (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)

New

 * Nixon

Birthplace:  Unknown

Fighting Style: Kenpo

Voice Actors: Yuki Ono (JP), David Vincent (EN)

Nixon is a mysterious man who comes from an unknown country. Nixon is an amnesiac drifter with no home, no family and no memory of his past, besides vaguely recognizing the face of Ranzou Kihara. As he caught wind of the Sentoki tournament, Nixon decides to enter the tournament in order to meet Ranzou in order to confront him about his past and discover who he really is.


 * Valérie Lafontaine

Birthplace: 🇫🇷 France

Fighting Style: Savate

Voice Actresses: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Karen Strassman (EN)

Valérie Lafontaine is a businesswoman and savateur who was born in Paris, France. Valérie serves as Ranzou Kihara's secretary as a favor by her father Pierre Lafontaine, the lead scientist for Orion who had worked for Ranzou for a long time up until his death several years prior. Valérie was sent by Ranzou to the Sentoki tournament to watch over the newcomer Nixon, and to make sure that the Ikushimas would never go far in the tournament.


 * Hong Tengfei

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Hung Ga

Voice Actors: Shinji Kawada (JP), Taliesin Jaffe (EN)

Hong Tengfei is a Shaolin monk residing in the mountains of China. One stormy night, a one-man attack from the assassin Yao Shuren took place in the Shaolin temple which led to many of his fellow monks being slain, as well as the secret Shaolin scrolls being stolen from the monastery. As soon as he heard about Shuren's participation in the Sentoki tournament, Tengfei enters the tournament to defeat him and retrieve the scrolls of the Shaolin.


 * Candace Ryan

Birthplace: 🇦🇺 Australia

Fighting Style: Tricking

Voice Actresses: Marina Inoue (JP), Kate Higgins (EN)

Candace Ryan is a free runner from Sydney, Australia. A girl of adventure, Candace is an expert in various acrobatic arts, and loved to show off her skills to her peers by way of parkour and free running, as well as use her tricking expertise in street fights. Candace then hears about the Sentoki tournament from a friend, and decides to join just to show off her self-made combat tricking style.


 * K²

Birthplace:  Unknown

Fighting Style: Composite

Voice Actresses: Ryoka Yuzuki (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)

K² is the second clone of Kei Ikushima created by Orion. After Shin took down K-001 in the last tournament, Orion decided to continue development on their second batch of Kei clones, and infuse her with all of the fight data that Orion has collected, in their efforts to make K² stronger. K² is currently kept in a secret chamber in their labs and will be unveiled by Orion come the finals.

Unleashed Additions

 * Raul Mendoza

Birthplace: 🇲🇽 Mexico

Fighting Style: Judo

Voice Actors: Jurota Kosugi (JP), JB Blanc (EN)

Raul Mendoza is a former police officer from Tijuana, Mexico. After being framed up and sent to jail during a drug raid gone wrong, an incident which also cost him his right arm, Raul was visited in jail by an anonymous benefactor claiming to be from Orion, who supplied him with a prosthetic arm and an invitation. With nothing else left to lose, Raul accepts the invitation and enters the Sentoki tournament in order to make sense of everything.


 * Liang Meifen

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Baguazhang

Voice Actresses: Michie Tomizawa (JP), Julie Ann Taylor (EN)

After years of inactivity in the ring, Liang Meifen finally makes her triumphant return. Meifen spent years of inactivity to heal her injuries following her trifle with Orion's forces, while also vastly improving her fighting skills, eventually perfecting it into its present form. Armed with her new and improved form of baguazhang, Meifen enters the Sentoki tournament to support Meilin in her battles.

Stages

 * Kyoto Paradise
 * Streets of Shinjuku
 * Smash Mouth Park
 * Millionaire's Casino
 * Great Wall
 * Buddha's Rest
 * War-Torn Plaza
 * Construction Site
 * Seoul Airport
 * Power Plant
 * Amazonian Flora
 * Lucha Palace
 * Town Center
 * High Rise Office
 * Mountain Peak
 * Last Battle

Unleashed Additions

 * Prison Brawl
 * Oriental Seaside
 * Neo Colloseum

Game Modes

 * Arcade
 * Story
 * Circuit
 * Versus
 * Team Versus
 * Survival
 * Practice
 * Customize
 * Gallery
 * Online
 * Options

Sequel
A sequel to the game, Sentoki 5, was released in 2016 for the Arcade (nex System), PlayStation 4, Xbox ONE, Nintendo Switch and the Samsung Zeo. It featured new characters as well as new gameplay mechanics and stages.

Trivia

 * Sentoki 4 was the first game released for ACS’ System 202: ENDYMION arcade board, which was heavily based on PC hardware, similar to its predecessor, the System 201. This marks the first time that Sentoki ran in an arcade board that wasn’t based on PlayStation hardware.
 * Originally slated for a May 2011 release, the console ports of Sentoki 4: Unleashed were pushed back to a September release due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, as well as the resulting Fukushima power plant nuclear disaster, which happened in March of that year.
 * This game marks the first arcade release in the series to only be officially released in Asian arcades. This was presumably because of the massive decline of arcades overseas.
 * The PlayStation Vita port of Sentoki 4: Unleashed, dubbed Sentoki 4: Unleashed V+, was one of the launch titles for the system.
 * Due to the unfortunate circumstances of the death of Daisuke Gori in 2010, his role as Bru Bronson would be recast to Koji Ishii staring with the Unleashed update. This cast change would later carry over to the next game, Sentoki 5.