Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave (known in Japan as Fighting Champions DX) is a 3D fighting game developed by Racdym (now Racjin) and published by ACS. It is a spin-off of the Fighting Champions series. Released in 1997 for Arcades (ACS TGX Modeller System) and the PlayStation as an exclusive title.
Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave combines the 2D gameplay of Fighting Champions with polygonal 3D graphics and third axis movement. Story-wise, it is an alternate retelling of the first game’s events, with some characters from the later titles in the series, as well as a couple of new characters.
Gameplay[]
The gameplay of Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave is primarily based on the previous mainline title in the series, Fighting Champions III, while also borrowing several elements from 3D fighting games around the time such as Virtua Fighter and Tekken. Unlike in the previous game, the Power meter now operates like a standard super meter, and as a result, Power mode has been removed entirely.
The game includes new gameplay mechanics, such as the Rave Combo, which allows players to cancel normal, special and Super Power attacks together to create a combo of their own. Rave Combo mode can be activated by pressing all three attack buttons while the Power meter is full, and will drain the Power meter rapidly upon its activation.
The game takes advantage of the third axis by including a Sidestep feature. By pressing the newly added Step button, the player can move toward the foreground or background and dodge enemy attacks. Unlike the sidestep in Sentoki: The Strongest Warrior, the sidestep in Maximum Rave is far more limited, owing to the game's 2D nature.
Each game of Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave is composed of 10 stages. 8 fights against the regular fighters, 1 fight against a “rival”, and the final battle with Kabuto. Like in Fighting Champions II Maximum, the game features no bonus stages
Story[]
As an alternate retelling of the original Fighting Champions' plot, the story is roughly the same as with the original. As such, the game itself is not canon with the timeline of the main series.
The World of Fighting tournament. The biggest 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 Yakuza, 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 will enter the World of Fighting tournament, each seeking to prove their own strength against one another and become the strongest fighter in the universe. However, the question remains: Who will come out victorious?
Characters[]
From Fighting Champions (1992)[]
- Ryuga
Birthplace: 
Japan
Voice Actor: Akira Kamiya
- Kevin Chrysler
Birthplace: 
USA
Voice Actor: Ryotaro Okiayu
- Ling Fang-Ming
Birthplace: 
China
Voice Actress: Yuri Amano
- Baron von Braun
Birthplace: 
Germany
Voice Actor: Banjo Ginga
- Zuba
Birthplace: 
Congo
Voice Actor: Wataru Takagi
- Rick Basham
Birthplace: 
Australia
Voice Actor: Nobuo Tobita
- Kabuto
Birthplace: Japan
Voice Actor: Hirotaka Suzuoki
From Fighting Champions II (1993)[]
- Mysti
Birthplace: 
Egypt
Voice Actress: Maria Kawamura
From Fighting Champions III (1995)[]
- Claude LaRue
Birthplace: 
France
Voice Actor: Kaneto Shiozawa
New[]
- Go Yoshimura
Birthplace: Japan
Voice Actor: Hideyuki Umezu
A formerly retired judo master from Japan. He joins the World of Fighting tournament to reclaim his dojo from the Yakuza's grasp.
- Farrah Rosenthal
Birthplace: 
England
Voice Actress: Yuriko Fuchizaki
A mysterious yet elegant assassin from England. She joins the World of Fighting tournament to assassinate Ryuga.
- Max Storm
Birthplace: USA
Voice Actor: Takeshi Kusao
A street brawler from the USA. He is a guest character from the Urban Warriors series of beat-em-ups and serves as a secret boss.
Console Exclusives[]
From Fighting Champions (1992)[]
- Sasuke
Birthplace: Japan
Voice Actor: Toshihiko Seki
From Fighting Champions II Excellent (1994)[]
- Yu Taeyon
Birthplace: 
Korea
Voice Actress: Yukana Nogami
From Fighting Champions III (1995)[]
- Paula Cabrera
Birthplace: 
Brazil
Voice Actress: Mika Kanai
Trivia[]
- As ACS' core development team was then busy with the development of Sentoki: The Strongest Warrior, which would be released that same year, Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave was instead developed by Racdym, who had previously developed Heaven's Gate the year before.
- For a while, rumors of a Nintendo 64 port of Fighting Champions: Maximum Rave, known as "Fighting Champions 64", were floating around in various game magazines and news sites of the era. However, there have been no confirmations from ACS themselves regarding whether or not such a port was actually in development.
- Unused data in the arcade version suggests the possible inclusion of several other characters in the game. In particular Sasuke, Taeyon and Paula each have unused character select and in-game HUD portraits. All three characters would later be completed and added in the PlayStation version.