◊Tuff E Nuff (or Dead Dance in Japan) was a fighting game for the Super Nintendo made in 1993 by Jaleco. In a Post-Apocalyptic world in the year 2151 (or 200X in the JP version), the "war to end all wars" happens where only the strongest can survive. "Jade" (or Jado in the JP version), the self proclaimed "Fighting King", has built a huge tower to show off his strength. Those who challenged the fighting king have not lived to tell the tale, until weeks later...
4 Great Champions were chosen to fight Jade. Their names are Syoh, Zazi, Kotono, and Vortz, and they must face each other, before facing the guardians of the tower and then against Jade himself. Only one of them can be champion, and only one can be Tuff E Nuff.
...And that's how the game's story is...or lack thereof in the English releases. When the game came out in the United States and in Europe, none of the game's dialogue text or endings were included/translated for unknown reasons. In the same way, the blood on the character's face has also been removed (also, Death Match has been renamed Fatal Contest if the timer is set on infinite). However, the game did introduce its own special attack growth system, though only in Story Mode, after every couple of stages cleared, performing special moves will change in stylistic appearance, though it was mostly aesthetic and didn't do much difference in terms of damage and such, it was a neat touch to the game. Also, match ending replays where you can rewind, fast-forward, or frame-by-frame action. And a password system dependent by character and difficulty level.
This game contains examples of:
- After the End: Considering that the game takes place in 2151 (US/PAL)/200X (JP), where the "War to end all Wars" broke out and nearly destroyed the entire planet, and only the strong survive.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: A really harsh example: the box art for the US release shows a really bad design of the final boss Jade/Jado, with a silly tagline in front of the box that says "Hey Punk! Are you Tuff E Nuff? Master the Moves to Master Me!"
◊ This box art even appears in the Jaleco Shmump Game Tengoku in the first stage. The PAL and JP versions have artwork done by UK gaming magazine Computer and Video Games. - A Winner Is You: Beating the game on easy and normal will just give you a congratulatory message just to try a harder difficulty; in the JP version, if you beat it on hard, you get an ending for any of the 4 characters. In the US/PAL versions, however, it's just a congratulatory message saying that you're Tuff-E-Nuff. No endings, since they've been removed.
- Bowdlerise: In the Japanese version, the game had blood coming out of a character's forehead the more you or your opponent took damage, dialogue text before and after rounds/matches in the Story Mode, and an ending if you beat the game on Hard difficulty; none of those are in the US and PAL versions. However, they have been fan-translated.
- Head Swap:
- Zazi and Syoh share sprites, movesets, voice clips and victory poses, but have different heads and skin tones.
- Gajet is a headswap and recolor of Vortz. Justified because he is Vortz's younger brother who has decided to side with Jade.
- Shout-Out: While more obvious in the Japanese version, many of the characters are expies from characters from Fist of the North Star, especially in their motivations and personalities, though not always in their looks and special techniques. The plot is also very similar to the manga in some degree, especially in Zazi's ending, who mirror Raoh's goals and he even had a black horse like Koku-oh.
- Secret Character: Depending on the version, you can play as the unplayable guardians. In the JP version, in the Story mode, just press start on the second controller to take control of the current opponent with all his/her moves. In the English (US/PAL) version, you have to input a code on the main menu once to activate it for VS CPU, and then again (though in reverse) for VS 2 Players, doing so lets you play the whole roster, while the second player has alternate colors.
- Victory Pose: As is commonplace for fighting games. Notable because Vortz has two, unlike the other playable characters: one he uses for most opponents, and one where he looks down in sorrow, used only after defeating Gajet. This is because he's lamenting at having to fight his brother.
