Sentoki: The Strongest Warrior

戦闘機 Sentoki: The Strongest Warrior (戦闘機 sentoki; fighter), known in Japan as 戦闘機 Sentoki ~Global Martial Arts~ is a 3D fighting game developed and published by ACS. Released in 1997 for Arcades (ACS TGX2 Modeller System) and the PlayStation as an exclusive title. It is ACS' second 3D fighting game following the 1996 3D weapons-based fighting game Legendary Blades.

Gameplay
The game uses a clear-cut 4-button system, with each button corresponding to Punch, Kick, Guard and Hold, respectively. Punch, Kick and Guard, as their names indicate, allow the player to perform punches, kicks and block the opponent's attacks, respectively. Meanwhile, the Hold button acts as both a reversal button and a throw button, allowing the player to perform grabs and throws.

The core gameplay of Sentoki is mostly similar to other 3D fighting games like Tekken and Dead or Alive, with a greater emphasis on juggling and preset punch/kick combinations. The game allows free movement in the third axis, with characters being able to sidestep with a quick tap of the up or down buttons. Jumping is available, but kept to a minimum.

When the player gets their health meter depleted to 25% and below, the outline on the player's life bar starts flashing red and the player enters Fury mode, which grants the player increased attack power.

By tapping the Hold button slightly before the opponent's attack hits, the player can reverse the opponent's attack, causing damage to the opponent. Doing the same with the Guard button would allow the player to perform a parry, which doesn't deal damage, but instead repels the attack and leaves the opponent open for retaliation. Parrying and reversing attacks are essential defensive techniques in the game, but some attacks cannot be reversed or parried.

Sentoki’s primary mechanic is the “Combo Wheel”, a combo system that emphasizes the usage of varied strikes and blows to chain together a long, damaging combo. Players can start off the combo wheel by performing a “starter” attack, after which the player can chain together up to six hits using a set of preset attacks consisting of either P, K, f+P, f+K, d+P or d+K, after which the player can end the sequence by performing a special “combo ender” to finish the combo off. The time frame for each move in a Combo Wheel tightens after each successive hit, so players need quick hands and perfect timing in order to perform some of the longest, most devastating combos in the game.

The game also includes certain elements from other fighting games such as attacking a downed opponent with pursuit strikes like stomps and ground punches, and chain-grabs, throws that connect with each other but require a long string of button combinations to execute successfully.

Stages in the game are classified into two types: Open and Walled. Walled stages have walls that can be broken after hitting the opponent to the wall numerous times to reveal the edges of the ring, while Open stages have no walls, leaving the ring's edges wide open. Pushing the opponent off the edges of the ring will allow for an Out of Ring victory.

Each character has three outfits, with two available from the start, while the third one can be unlocked by finishing Arcade mode with said character.

Story
For years, the worldwide conglomerate Orion Corporation, known for both their innovations in the world of technology, as well as their many dubious experiments, has conducted a bunch of experiments regarding "fight data" and has since collected data from fighters all around the world for use in their bio-weapons, leaving them for dead once they are finished with them.

At the center of the story is Shin Ikushima, son of the renowned martial artist Shiho Ikushima. He grew up under the guidance of his mother, with his father having left Shiho right before he was born. Realizing his potential, Shiho decided to teach Shin the art of Kyokushin karate.

Shin used to live a peaceful life with his mother until one day, a group of Orion soldiers barged in their house and tried to abduct Shiho. However, Shiho fought the soldiers until she was taken down, and ultimately killed, by a shot to the head fired by one of the soldiers. He has since despised Orion and began to train himself in order to exact his revenge.

Years later, Orion announced the first Sentoki: Global Martial Arts tournament, where various martial artists gather around to prove who is the strongest of them all. Shin decides to join the tournament in order to destroy Orion.

However, what Shin did not realize is that it was was actually a ruse for Orion to collect more fight data in order to unleash their ultimate weapon: Antares.

Characters

 * Shin Ikushima

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Full Contact Karate

Voice Actor: Tomokazu Seki

Shin Ikushima is a martial artist hailing from Saitama, Japan. One day, Shin witnessed the death of his mother Shiho in the hands of Orion's soldiers, and has since swore to avenge her death. Upon finding out about the Sentoki tournament, Shin decides to enter it in order to exact his revenge and destroy Orion.


 * Ralph Rollins

Birthplace: 🇺🇸 USA

Fighting Style: Street Fighting

Voice Actor: Ryo Horikawa

Ralph Rollins is a street fighter who comes from the Bronx, New York. A notorious face in the underground circuit, Ralph went undefeated in every match he fought in up until his encounter with Shin, where he lost for the first time. After finding out that Shin was entering the Sentoki tournament, Ralph decides to enter as well in order to settle the score with him.

Birthplace: 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
 * Huang Long

Fighting Style: Jeet Kune Do

Voice Actor: Nobutoshi Hayashi

Huang Long is a martial artist and action star hailing from Hong Kong. Known for his formidable skills in jeet kune do, Long has starred in many smash-hit action movies and is one of the generation’s most popular action stars, but despite his popularity, he still feels that his style is imperfect and lacking. As he caught wind of the Sentoki tournament, Huang Long decides to enter the tournament in order to promote his latest movie, as well as to perfect his fighting style.


 * Joanna Spencer

Birthplace: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales

Fighting Style: Kuk Sool Won

Voice Actress: Atsuko Tanaka

Joanna Spencer is an assassin who was born in Cardiff, Wales. Noted for her unique usage of Kuk Sool Won for assasination, Joanna is part of a secretive organization of assassins, which only conducts assassination upon payment of a large sum of money. After being paid by a business rival, Joanna enters the Sentoki tournament in order to assassinate the CEO of Orion Corporation.


 * Bru Bronson

Birthplace: 🇬🇧 England

Fighting Style: Pro Wrestling

Voice Actor: Daisuke Gori

Brutus "Bru" Bronson is a professional wrestler billed from London, England. Also known amongst his fans as "Big Bru", Bru dedicated his life to wrestling, winning championships and entertaining his fans, especially kids, who see him as their hero. With the support of his many fans worldwide, Bru decides to join the Sentoki tournament for the pride of England.


 * Kagero

Birthplace: 🇯🇵 Japan

Fighting Style: Ninjutsu

Voice Actor: Kaneto Shiozawa

Kagero is a ninja who is attached to the mysterious Yatagarasu clan. Trained as a ninja ever since childhood, Kagero grew up to become the Yatagarasu clan's top assassins. After recieving orders from the head of his clan, Kagero attempts to infiltrate the Sentoki tournament to gather intel about Orion's activities.


 * Liang Meifen

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Tai Chi Quan

Voice Actress: Michie Tomizawa

Liang Meifen is a martial artist from China. A master of tai chi, Meifen and her father used to run a dojo up until her father was diagnosed with bronchitis, which eventually took his life, but not before telling Meifen to rebuild their dojo. Wanting to fulfill her father's dying wish, Meifen decides to enter the Sentoki tournament in order to restore her family dojo.


 * Ruslanovich

Birthplace: 🇷🇺 Russia

Fighting Style: Command Sambo

Voice Actors: Fumihiko Tachiki

Nikolai Ruslanovich is a mercenary from Russia. Originally serving for the military, Ruslanovich found his love of destruction in the battlefield and tore through enemies one by one, not caring about his allies. Growing tired of the same battles, Ruslanovich enters the Sentoki tournament for the thrill of a brand new battlefield.


 * Sonchai Damrongsak

Birthplace: 🇹🇭 Thailand

Fighting Style: Muay Thai

Voice Actor: Yuji Ueda

Sonchai Damrongsak is a muay thai fighter from Thailand. While training in a forest one day, Sonchai came across a young elephant who was injured by hunters and decided to take care of it, naming it Kham, and visiting it everyday during his training, until one day, he entered the forest only to realize that Kham was missing. Upon finding out that Kham was smuggled to Japan by Orion for experimentation, Sonchai enters the Sentoki tournament in order to rescue Kham.


 * Chen Zhixin

Birthplace: 🇨🇳 China

Fighting Style: Drunken Fist

Voice Actor: Takeshi Aono

Chen Zhixin is a chef and semi-retired kung-fu master from China. After his dojo closed down, Chen decided to start a noodle shop business, but things aren't going well for him as he had failed to pay rent for the place after a period of losing customers. As his debts grow larger and larger, Chen decides to enter the tournament in order to pay the rent for his noodle shop.


 * Antares

Birthplace:  Unknown

Fighting Style: Combination of all fighter's styles

Voice Actor: None (roars)

Antares is a bio-weapon created by Orion. Antares was once a geneticist working for Orion who grew horrified by the company's activities and attempted to escape, but was then captured and forcibly turned into a test subject for their fight data experiments. With all of Orion's fight data implanted within its mind, Antares was set to be unveiled to the world come the finals of the Sentoki tournament.

Stages

 * Plains - Open


 * Street - Walled


 * Temple - Open


 * Rooftop - Walled


 * Arena - Walled


 * Forest - Open


 * Raft - Open


 * Desert - Walled


 * Island - Open


 * Truck - Walled


 * Unknown - Walled

Game Modes

 * Arcade


 * Versus


 * Time Attack


 * Survival


 * Team Battle


 * Practice


 * Options

Sequel
A sequel to the game, Sentoki 2, was released in 2000 for Arcades (ACS NOVA System) and the PlayStation 2. It featured new characters as well as new gameplay mechanics and stages.

Trivia

 * The game includes several “katas” which can be seen during attract mode. These katas feature the characters performing various martial arts exhibition routines.


 * The North American PlayStation release of Sentoki features English voices for Ralph, Joanna, Bru and Ruslanovich, provided by uncredited voice actors. The Japanese and European PlayStation versions retain all of the original Japanese voices from the arcade version, however.


 * This game marks Liang Meifen’s one and only appearance in the Sentoki series until her return in Sentoki 4: Unleashed, as she was replaced in favor of her daughter Meilin in the sequel.


 * The PlayStation port of the game included a demo disc of the then-upcoming RPG game by ACS, Fantasia of the Forbidden III: Aphopis’ Awakening. The demo disc was no longer included in the Greatest Hits re-release, however.


 * Sentoki was the first game released for ACS’ TGX2 Modeller arcade board, which was based on heavily-modified PlayStation hardware.


 * Infamously, Sentoki went through several changes during its time in development. The first prototype of Sentoki was drastically different from the finalized product, featuring several different character designs and stages, as well as a kangaroo-like character named “Punchy”, which was scrapped in the final version.


 * Interestingly, several unused data for “Punchy” exists in the final version. By using MAME cheats, one can play as “Punchy”, complete with a working character model as well as portraits. However, he does not have a moveset of his own, instead using Ralph’s, for some reason.