Kabuki kung-fu
Mystical Fighter, ( released in Japan as Maō Renjishi [魔王連獅子, Demon King Renjishi] is a 1991 Beat 'em Up action game for the Sega Genesis.
Inspired by Japanese Mythology and set in ancient Japan, the players assume the role of an ass-kicking mystical fighter in Kabuki gear who travels the land to purge the world of evil. The heroic warrior (or warriors, thanks to 2 player co-op) must battle various enemies from rogue ninjas to monks, evil warlords and their minions, right up to facing assorted Yōkai and Oni enemies before a final confrontation with the evil Darkside Kabukimaster.
See also Kabuki Z, another game from around the same time with a similar premise.
Mystical Fighter contains examples of:
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: For some baffling reason, you'll be constantly attacked by Japanese Dōgen-style monks wearing Eye Obscuring Hats armed with heavy canes.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Presumably. Beating the game on Expert difficulty shows Darkside Kabukimaster being lifted up in a purple beam to parts unknown.
- Big Bad: The Darkside Kabukimaster who leads the demons.
- Boss Rush: You get to fight all the previous bosses in a row – including the Kirin, the Oni, the Wanyūdō and the Tengu – before facing the real Darkside Kabukimaster in Stage 6.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: Playing on the default settings (without adjusting the difficulty to "Hard") ends the game prematurely at Stage 5. With this friendly message on a black screen:CONGRATULATIONS!BUT THIS IS NOT THE TRUE ENDINGFIND THE REAL DARKSIDE KABUKIMASTER
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: The stage immediately following the Mansion have you going through Enma (the Japanese version of Underworld), crossing a rock bridge over a raging fire while you’re attacked by Oni and demonic samurai from all sides. At the end of said stage you exit hell… and go back to the mansion. Somehow. And then you return back to Enma again for Stage 5, all in order to face Darkside Kabukimaster (the fake one if you're playing on Normal difficulty).
- Flying Face: The boss of the bridge stage is a Wanyūdō, a flying head - on fire - who floats around trying to burn you while shooting fireballs. You can only damage it by hitting the central face.
- Harder Than Hard: Beating Mystical Fighter on Hard difficulty unlocks the Expert mode. Don't be surprised when the titular fighter takes a lot of damage.
- Human Hammer-Throw: There is a special move that allows you to grab enemies by the heels and spin them in circles before throwing the out of the screen. It only works for smaller, human-sized enemies, though.
- Interface Screw: The "foggy" stage, where you're in the streets at night, pixelated fog obscuring your vision half of the times while hostile ninja mooks come at you from left and right. Thankfully the segment ends once you reach the Mansion's entrance, with the next stage being set indoors.
- Kabuki Sounds: As you're a Kabuki-themed warrior, you tend to make these noises when hitting enemies, or after getting hit. The Darkside Kabukimaster too.
- Kirin: The first boss is a kirin (a monstrous lion creature) who constantly hops around the arena trying to trample you.
- Ninja: A common enemy, like every good action game set in Sengoku-Era Japan.
- No Name Given: The titular Mystical Fighter. Outside sources claim that he's based on White Lion - one of the two characters of the famous Japanese play Renjishi ("Two Lions"). Same can be said about the second playable character, the Red Lion.
- Oni: There are two gigantic Onis serving as a boss at the end of the second stage. Not a Dual Boss though, they come at you one at a time, and they are Recurring Bosses that shows up in the hell stages.
- Rolling Attack: Your character can perform a rolling tackle by pressing attack and forward at the same time.
- Samurai: The Heavily Armored Mook enemies in a few stages. They can take a lot more hits than regular peasant / soldier enemies thanks to being clad in samurai armor. The Mansion level in particular is full of these enemies.
- Sumo Wrestling: Giant, purple-skinned (as well as yellow, brown and black-skinned) demonic sumo wrestlers are recurring enemies in the game.
- Take It to the Bridge: The third stage have you fighting assorted enemies on a bridge, including ninjas who will climb over from the other side and hawks swooping at you from above. There are also sections where the bridge will give way, which you can fall into and die instantly (and then restart the whole mission!) though you can throw enemies into these pits.
- Tengu: A human-sized Tengu serves as the boss of the Mansion level.
- Timed Mission: You have 70 (incredibly long) seconds to complete each mission (99 for a final stage), and running out of time leads to you losing a life... and restarting the whole stage.
- Youkai: Most of the bosses are creatures from Japanese myths.
