Kaiser Knuckle
| Kaiser Knuckle | |
|---|---|
 Japanese arcade flyer of Kaiser Knuckle. | |
| Developer(s) | Taito |
| Publisher(s) | Taito |
| Designer(s) |
Takeshi Kobori (project leader[1]) Hiroshi Aoki (main programmer[1]) Nobuteru Yuki (image illustrator[1]) |
| Composer(s) | Yasuhisa Watanabe |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | July 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting game |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Arcade system | Taito F3 System hardware |
Kaiser Knuckle (カイザーナックル), which is known outside of Japan as Global Champion, is a 1994 fighting game released for the arcades by Taito. Kaiser Knuckle was released during the fighting game trend of the 1990s that began with Capcom's Street Fighter II.
Gameplay
Kaiser Knuckle follows the same fighting game conventions established by Street Fighter II, in which the player's character fights against his or her opponent in a best two-out-of-three match round format from within a single player tournament mode, either with the computer or against another human player in versus mode. The player has a character roster of nine initially selectable fighters to choose from and three unplayable computer-controlled bosses, each with their own unique fighting style and special techniques. The control layout is set to the six-button standard (a la most Capcom fighting games), but it can be switched to a five-button layout via dip settings. One unique feature is that Kaiser Knuckle was the first and only fighting game that has five strengths of basic attacks.
Another unique feature is that it introduced the power zones, which can be utilized via a successful hit of a special move when a player's "Crush Meter" is full. The power zones (either fire or electric) can also affect a certain special move that a character has. Backgrounds can be destructible when players get hit to charge up, and when those meters are full, the next special move that a player connects with his/her opponent will destroy the background's properties at will (other parts of stages, such as floors and walls are also destructible).
Fighters
There are nine playable fighters, and three unplayable bosses.
- Bosses
- General (ジェネラル) - The main antagonist and final boss of the game, who is the commander of a space station in orbit. General is the sponsor of "The Kaiser Knuckle" tournament, but his reasons for holding the competition in the first place is shrouded in mystery. (voice actor: Steve Yamashita[1])
- Other
- Announcer (voice actor: Randy Sexton[1])
Other versions
Global Champion
Global Champion is a modified international version of Kaiser Knuckle, the Japanese version. Global Champion has the "Winners Don't Use Drugs" screen, the "super moves" were cut, and the portraits of Kazuya, Liza and Lihua were re-drawn. After players choose their characters and their first opponents, they will then be able to see an intro sequence that shows the prologue of their chosen character's own personal story. The title screen is also different as well, but strangely, the letter "K" from both words in the Kaiser Knuckle logo can still be seen in some of Global Champion's backgrounds.
Dan-Ku-Ga
An updated version of Kaiser Knuckle was planned to be released in December 1994 as Dan-Ku-Ga (断仇牙), but it was later discontinued; however, the prototype itself was dumped onto the Internet as a ROM. This version allows the first two bosses, Gonzales and Azteca to become playable characters. You can no longer choose your first opponent in a one-player game, except on the Training difficulty level.
Other differences are the CPU AI being altered. Players choose the difficulty levels Normal, Professional, or Training before their game. Players can also backdash with all characters. Gonzales becomes the 5th opponent, Azteca becomes the 9th opponent and the doppelgänger of the player's chosen character becomes the 10th opponent. Kazuya, Lihua, and Liza have been redesigned on the character select screen, and all characters each have a third costume color. Also, some of the basic attacks that are executed with two punch or kick buttons are taken out, but the rest are still present and now executed with a single button plus a joystick direction. The third boss, General, can now be fought against without meeting certain conditions.
Apart from this, Kaiser Knuckle 2 (カイザーナックル2) was also planned as a sequel to the original arcade board used in making the full transition to 3D, but the planning board itself was later canceled. The entire project would soon be retitled as Psychic Force, which had replaced the old models with new ones.
References
External links
- Kaiser Knuckle
- Kaiser Knuckle at The Large Cult Fighting Game March (in Japanese)
- Kaiser Knuckle at arcade-history
- Global Champion / Dan-Ku-Ga
- Global Champion at arcade-history
- Dan-Ku-Ga at arcade-history
- Dan-Ku-Ga at The Large Cult Fighting Game March (in Japanese)