Developed for the PlayStation by UNICO (Known later as Uniana, and better known for Dragon Master in 1994), and published in 1997 by Cinema Supply, little is known about The Masters Fighter (sic), except maybe, that it is considered one of the worst, if not the worst, Fighting Game of all time... that's right! A game even worse than Shaq Fu or Rise of the Robots, due mainly to Hitbox Dissonance, poor graphics, near non-existent music, and the fact that the characters seem to have been plagiarized from characters in other games.
Gameplay-wise it is very similar to The King of Fighters, as it uses four buttons (two punches and two kicks), and other buttons do nothing. You can choose among eleven "original" characters, each with their own movesets. The game has three modes: Story Mode, where you compete against all CPU-controlled characters till you get to a final boss, Versus Mode, to play with a friend, and Watch Mode, to see the CPU fighting itself (Sadly the matches are decided randomly, so it doesn't make difference from watching the demo).
You can see a detailed review of the game here (If you understand spanish)
, where the "inspirations" for the characters are traced, and explains the flaws that make this game considered the worst of all. Not to confuse with Fighting Masters, a (barely) better game, with a gramatically correct title.
TROPES:
- Action Girl: J and Mishell are the only female combatants in an otherwise all-male cast.
- Artistic License – Geography: When you confront Bill in Story Mode, the map shows that the battle takes place in Central Africa, but actually it takes place in some motorcycle parade, more reminiscent to New York or
Los Angeles.- Some other locations are more or less plausible: for example, for Sakamoto's battle, the map points to a location in Europe; in-game it takes place in some sort of Japanese dojo, although to be fair, there are dojos all over the world which teach Asian martial arts.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Kang Te Kong's name invokes this feeling.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Kain, whose suit seems to be copied from Geese Howard in the second Art of Fighting.
- Bruce Lee Clone: Long-Way, a shirtless martial artist from China.
- Carry a Big Stick: Sakamoto uses something in battle... A stick? A pipe?
- Cast of Expies: With the possible exception of Gamp, the characters' designs are blatant copies of sprites from other games, some of them are even fusions of two characters.
- Azarl is like a combination of John Crawley from Art of Fighting and Guile from Street Fighter II, he even wears the same exact outfit and colors as Guile.
- Bill seems to be copied from Jack Turner from Art of Fighting, with a few moves of Zangief.
- J resembles Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury, complete with Benimaru's hair.
- Kain, the Big Bad, is like an old version of Geese Howard, following his appearance in the second Art of Fighting,
- Kang Te Kong seems to be Lee Pai Long, with the head of Tung Fu Rue.
- Long-Way, the local Bruce Lee Clone, seems to be Dragon from the World Heroes series.
- Mishell is clearly Yuri Sakazaki from Art of Fighting, apparently dressed as Leona, or Fio.
- Mr. Death is a blatant copy of Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting, in sprites and moveset.
- Did you know that Yagyu Jubei from Samurai Shodown appears in this game...? No, wait... looks like his actual name is Sakamoto.
- T-660, the Final Boss, looks suspiciously similar to Choi Bounge from The King of Fighters.
- Takuya, the (apparent) protagonist, seems to be Kim Kaphwan with some moves from Ryo Sakazaki.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The characters apparently have Super Moves, but only the CPU can pull them off.
- As of 2023, 26 years after the game's release, there is finally a (nearly-complete) movelist on GameFAQs thanks to user KyoMew, revealing that your Super Moves can only be done from low health. Most have traditional fighting game super inputs like double quarter or half circle motions, although a special mention must go to Mishell's pair of Supers which both require two quarter circle forwards and then a quarter circle back.
- As of 2023, 26 years after the game's release, there is finally a (nearly-complete) movelist on GameFAQs thanks to user KyoMew
- Dragon: Mr. Death is this to Kain.
- Elevator Action Sequence: Takuya's battle takes place in a platform lift in front of a skyscraper.
- Engrish: Just look at the title of the game. The distorted voice at the end of the intro demonstrates it better:ZA MASTAAS FAITAA
- Executive Suite Fight: The finals against Mr. Death, Kain and T-660 take place inside Kain's office.
- Eyepatch of Power: Sakamoto wears one on his left eye.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Apparently Kain is the Big Bad to be defeated, and no explanation is offered about where T-660 came from.
- Hitbox Dissonance: Sometimes the hits connect, sometimes they don't.
- Hurricane Kick: J has this in her arsenal; looks suspiciously similar to Ryu's and Ken's Hurricane Kick.
- Kamehame Hadoken: Some characters can throw projeciles: Takuya, for example, has a fireball, very reminiscent of Ryo Sakazaki's Ko-Oh Ken.
- Mighty Glacier: Bill, the local Fat Bastard; subverted as he's as slow as everyone else.
- Non-Lethal K.O.: When the character's life meter is depleted, he/she stands up again for a split second after the KO sign appears, then he/she just falls on his/her knees; whether it was done on purpose or it's a programming error is unclear.
- Old Master: Kang Te Kong looks like a typical wise old Asian martial arts master, in the vein of other characters from contemporary games.
- One-Letter Name: J.
- Samurai: Sakamoto is this game's version of samurai Yagyu Jubei, although he looks suspiciously like the Jubei from Samurai Shodown.
- Shock and Awe: Mishell can attack with electricity, but only (apparently) when computer-controlled.
- Spell My Name With An S: Is it The Masters Fighter, The Master's Fighter, or The Master Fighter?
- You Don't Look Like You: Some characters look different from their aspect in portraits: for example, Kain looks in his portrait like if he was on his thirties, in-game he looks more like a Silver Fox on his fifties.
