Superpowered Catastrophe

"'Reveal the truth!' - Tagline'"Superpowered Catastrophe is a fighting game developed by Draconian Games and published by The Deviant Fighting Company, released on June 20, 2017, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows via Steam. It's the third game in the DraconianVerse and the first chapter of The Superpowered Trilogy.

Gameplay and Features
Superpowered Catastrophe is a 2.5D fighter inspired in the Injustice game series, while also incorporates elements of the Arc System Works franchises such as Guilty Gear and BlazBlue and the Marvel vs. Capcom games.

Despite the fight system being formatted in Rounds, no match-point sequences are included. Once you knock down your opponent in the first rounds, the announcer says "DOWN!" and immediately start the next round with both health indicators restored. If you win the "Best-of-three" rounds by default, the announcer says "FINISH!", and therefore you win the battle. After you win the entire match, the phrase "To Be Continued!" appears at the right bottom of the screen during the Story Mode until the final match.

There are Stage Interactables, which can be used to deal more damage to the opponent or do unique maneuvers. Some interactables are infinite, while the rest of them are limited. Also, like the Injustice series, there are Stage Transitions. Some stages have transitions whereas the rest doesn't have.

The signature attacks of the game are Powered Charges, and each character has two of them, costing 50% of the Power Indicator. It should be noted that the Power Indicator resets to 0% each time a new round starts. Also, the finishers are the Ultimate Charges, which cost the 100% of the Power Indicator and must be performed when your opponent has 25% of health or less and having won your first round. They are cinematic in nature and the final minutes of "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence are played at the moment. Use it with anticipation.

Each character has a special ability called Superdrive, which will increase the stats of the fighter for four minutes, as well as enhancing the Powered Charges. During the Superdrive, the timer is paused, just like BlazBlue's Overdrives. To do that, the character emblem must be flashing and after using it, must have a cooldown of eight minutes before using it again.

The Story Mode will have 6 regular matches, with the seventh one taking place in their respective rival's scene and concluding with three final matches, one against Greed-O-Crazy (just like Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat II and 2011), and the last ones are the surprise sub-boss and final boss respectively. In the Story Mode, after you choose a character, it shows a small biography and personal data. There are also interlude cutscenes in Story Mode where characters will interact with each other right before the fight and then after the fight. The only drawback is that you cannot perform Stage Transitions and Ultimate Charges during these matches.

A major feature in Superpowered Catastrophe is the Advanced Clothing System, where you can customize your characters with outfit parts that you can win through random matches or buying secret files in the Superpowered Shop. These parts can boost the stats of your character, but you can disable these stats for competitive purposes, especially when done for E-Sports. Think of it as the Gear System of Injustice 2.

Also, there's the Spec-Ops Missions mode, where you can play in series of matches with unusual features, e.g.: boost pick-ups, tilting camera, handicap mode, no blocking, etc. Completing these missions raise the chance to get more secret files to unlock even rarer parts of your characters for the Advanced Clothing System. This is clearly inspired in The Multiverse of Injustice 2 and the Living Towers of Mortal Kombat X where it's mostly offline to play and online to update at the same time.

The Training Dome stage is a place which resembles a dome similar to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and 3. Stage Interactables are shown randomly via holograms. It's also the only stage to have a Stage Transition located at both sides, which the victim returns to the same stage after ending the transition. As always, the game runs on 60 frames per second on everything, save for the opening cutscene which runs in 24 frames per second and the cutscenes involving the character introduction and victory sequences, as well as the Ultimate Finishes and the story mode cutscenes, which run on 30 frames per second.

Story
In the year of 2077, in Wonder City, the place with advanced scientific achievements in history, used to be one of the most beautiful cities in Earth, thanks to the legacy of Major Megapower, one of the best Superheroes ever existed. Unfortunately, a terrorist act occurring in the award ceremony took a toll of 2,500,000 people, Major Megapower included. At the next day, the citizens started to revolt against the Superheroes for an unknown reason. The Team, a group of rookie superheroes, think that the new mayor Emilio Pastrana, is responsible for the revolt, so it's up to then to start to join forces to reveal the truth... which will be not what they think, due to a secret war game that they are unwillingly involved.

Characters
Superpowered Catastrophe launched with 28 characters, which includes the two unlockables Major Megapower (sub-boss) and Xenozydos (final boss), with 8 additional characters added via DLC. Eternal Mystery was available as a pre-order bonus and later as an online purchase. A second season pass DLC composed of 8 guest characters is confirmed, with Harley Quinn from the DC Universe being the first to join the fray.

Stages

 * Abandoned Observatory: Major Megapower's stage
 * Acquaro Atlantico: Tritor's stage
 * Brothel of Seduction: Kitty Cutie's stage
 * Chinatown: Primadonna's stage
 * Communal England: EctoSpectre's stage
 * Construction Area: Ground Wrecker's stage
 * Criminal Slums: Chainzaw's stage
 * Cry of Mother Russia: Icy Princess' stage
 * Desolated West: Wild Outlaw's stage
 * Domm Industries: Nano-Gun's stage
 * Jessica Lee's Dojo: Fit Fists' stage
 * Les Saisons Academy: Valiant Schoolgirl's stage
 * Neo-American Nuclear Camp: Radioactive Kid's stage
 * Neo-Tenochtlitlan Street: Kuautemok's stage
 * Neo-Tokyo Bridge: Biker Hopper's stage
 * Neo-Tokyo Plaza: Heart Guardian's stage
 * Olympus High School Yard: Bulldozer's stage
 * Plaza de Toros: Matadora Sangrienta's stage
 * Poisonous Sewers: Venomica's stage
 * Polluting Factory: Pollution Master's stage
 * Quarantine Zone: Parasytus' stage
 * Rainy Street: Mach Volcano's stage
 * Techno-Hacker's Lair: Techno-Hacker's stage
 * The Mayor's Office: Greed-O-Crazy's stage
 * The Overlord's Summoning: Xenozydos' stage
 * Temple of the Kenshin: Bushido's stage
 * Tragic Favela: Living Swarm's stage
 * Training Dome

English

 * Troy Baker - Announcer
 * Gregg Berger - Living Swarm
 * Corey Burton - Techno-Hacker
 * Ryan Carter - Chainzaw
 * Lacey Chabert - Icy Princess
 * Cam Clarke - Hockey Warrior
 * Laura "Allie" Dennis - Kitty Cutie
 * Zac Efron - Mach Volcano
 * Elizabeth Gillies - Venomica
 * Andrew Gray - Black Angel
 * Grey Griffin - Sister Misandry
 * Jennifer Hale - Ending Narrator
 * David Hayter - Tritor
 * Taliesin Jaffe - Corrospitter
 * Mikey Kelley - Fit Fists
 * Terry Klassen - Greed-O-Crazy
 * Hugh Laurie - Xenozydos
 * Matthew Lillard - Pollution Master
 * David Lodge - Desert Trooper
 * Stephen Lunsford - Biker Hopper
 * Christina Masterson - Heart Guardian
 * Danica McKellar - Vampire Blade
 * Brennan Mejia - Kuautemok
 * Matthew Mercer - Eternal Mystery
 * Xander Mobus - Morbidus Obesus
 * George Newbern - Major Megapower
 * Charlotte Nicdao - Primadonna
 * Daniel Radcliffe - EctoSpectre
 * Sam Riegel - Wild Outlaw
 * Emma Roberts - Valiant Schoolgirl
 * P.M. Rodriguez - Harpika
 * Brandon Routh - Radioactive Kid
 * Gaku Space - Bushido
 * Tara Strong - Harley Quinn
 * Yoshi Sudarso - Bulldozer
 * Fred Tatasciore - Ground Wrecker
 * Justin Timberlake - Radioactive Kid
 * Eve Torres-Gracie - Matadora Sangrienta

Japanese

 * Fumika Baba - Venomica
 * Ryouma Baba - Ground Wrecker
 * Yudai Chiba - Black Angel
 * Hiroshi Fujioka - Major Megapower
 * Toru Furuya - Eternal Mystery
 * Mayu Gamou - Sister Misandry
 * Takashi Hagino - Tritor
 * Kento Handa - Hockey Warrior
 * Kei Hosogai - Mach Volcano
 * Hayato Isomura - Living Swarm
 * Marie Iitoyo - Vampire Blade
 * Mitsuru Karahashi - Bushido
 * Yui Koike - Heart Guardian
 * Arisa Komiya - Valiant Schoolgirl
 * Yuka Konan - Harpika
 * Yamato Kinjo - Bulldozer
 * Rie Kugimiya - Harley Quinn
 * Yu Inaba - Nano-Gun
 * Syo Jinnai - Techno-Hacker
 * Ai Moritaka - Kitty Cutie
 * Kohei Murakami - Chainzaw
 * Tasuku Nagase - Desert Trooper
 * Shun Nishime - EctoSpectre
 * Hochu Otsuka - Announcer
 * Romi Park - Ending Narrator
 * Gaku Sano - Kuautemok
 * Haruka Suenaga - Primadonna
 * Takamasa Suga - Biker Hopper
 * Yumi Sugimoto - Icy Princess
 * Shogo Suzuki (the actor) - Radioactive Kid
 * Mahiro Takasugi - Corrospitter
 * Soran Tamoto - Greed-O-Crazy
 * Minori Terada - Xenozydos
 * Kimito Totani - Wild Outlaw
 * Minami Tsukui - Matadora Sangrienta
 * Tomoya Warabino - Pollution Master
 * Metal Yoshida - Morbidus Obesus
 * Ryo Yoshizaka - Fit Fists

Development
The game started development around mid-2016, with a new team assigned by director Saúl Saavedra. He handpicked the team personally due to their experience with the superhero genre, and his intention is to make a story that subverts and deconstructs its conventional tropes. In addition, character deaths will be a common occurrence within the plot, with each confirmed death having a big impact.

A poll was made to determine who will be the main protagonist of the game out of the four picks: Valiant Schoolgirl, Kuautemok, Mach Volcano and Heart Guardian. Valiant Schoolgirl got the most votes from the audience.

Sequels
Right after the release of Superpowered Catastrophe, two sequels that comprise the rest of the trilogy are confirmed by Saúl Saavedra H.: Superpowered Devastation, the second chapter, is currently in development, and Superpowered Extinction, the final chapter, is in the planning stages.

In addition, The Second Superpowered Trilogy, which will be comprised of three more games taking place five years after the first trilogy, is confirmed for "The Multiversal Saga" of the DraconianVerse.

Trivia

 * The Japanese voice cast of this game regarding the playable characters is comprised entirely of actors who participated in the Toei Tokusatsu productions. The only Seiyuu participating are Toru Furuya as Eternal Mystery, Rie Kugimiya as Harley Quinn and the unconfirmed Seiyuu voicing the guest characters.