History VideoGame / WarGods

* FantasyKitchenSink: This game has two gods (one Norse and one Egyptian, although the latter is originally a graverobber in his text), a witch, a Caribbean voodoo priest, an Aztec high priest, a Roman gladiator, a stone idol, a samurai, a modern soldier, and a robot all beating the crap out of each other.

* NonindicativeName: ''War Gods''. There is no war (more like skirmishes), no one actually becomes a god, is a god, or is even a god whose domain is war.

* GoGoenslavement: [[FatBastard Grox's]] [[FanDisservice manner of dress.]]

* FantasyKitchenSink: This game has two gods (one Norse and one Egyptian, although the latter is originally a graverobber in his text), a witches, a Caribbean voodoo priest, an Aztec high priest, a Roman gladiator, a stone idol, a samurai, a modern soldier, and a robot all beating the crap out of each other.

* TwoGirlsToATeam: While not a team per se, the roster has only two female character: Viking virago Vallah, and dark art practioner Pagan. The bosses Grox and Exor, alien as they are, are also male-coded.

* NonindicativeName: War Gods. There is no war (more like skirmishes), and no one actually becomes a god, or is a god.

* TheDragon: Grox is this to Exor.

* VanillaEdition: The PS1/N64 ports are ''very'' barebones, even for the time - there's only the traditional arcade ladder, and while a second player can jump in by pressing start during the game, there's no separate VS. Battle mode, despite that long being a standard in fighting game home ports by this point.

* FantasyKitchenSink: This game has two gods (one Egyptian and one Norse), two witches, an Aztec high priest, a Roman gladiator, a stone idol, a samurai, a modern soldier, and a robot all beating the crap out of each other.

The game did not make much waves critically or commercially upon release, and its legacy was a long-standing urban legend that it was a testing game for ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'''s hardware. Despite being debunked by Midway Chicago's Ed Boon since release, it was confirmed by a member of the development team, George Petro, that ''War Gods'' was indeed an isolated production that didn't even run on ''MK''-related hardware, but rather, the graphics engine of ''[[VideoGame/{{Cruisn}} Cruis'n USA]]''.

* FollowTheLeader: The game shares a lot of cues with ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', sharing an identical control scheme and dashing dial-a-combo 10-hit strings (and fatalities, of course). The game was also created so that Midway had a presence in [=3D=] fighting games as the subgenre was gaining traction.

* RecycledInSpace: It's a 3D version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', sharing an identical control scheme, and dashing dial-a-combo 10-hit strings (and fatalities, of course).

* AWinnerIsYou: Despite each character having a specific backstory, everyone shares the same generic ending of possession the Ore and bringing peace back to the world, regardless of their heroic or villainous alignment.

''War Gods'' is a [=3D=] fighting game by Creator/MidwayGames, released in arcades in 1996 and ported to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation in 1997. With Midway Chicago (better known these days as Creator/NetherRealmStudios) still knee-deep in polishing up ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and its eventual ''Ultimate'' update, it would be a couple of years before they could enter the burgeoning [=3D=] fighting realm being carved by ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' and ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter''. To fill their market void, Midway commissioned a small development team made up of younger staff to take a crack at it, the result being ''War Gods''.

''War Gods'' is a [=3D=] fighting game by Creator/MidwayGames, released in arcades in 1996 and ported to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation. With Midway Chicago (better known these days as Creator/NetherRealmStudios) still knee-deep in polishing up ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and its eventual ''Ultimate'' update, it would be a couple of years before they could enter the burgeoning [=3D=] fighting realm being carved by ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' and ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter''. To fill their market void, Midway commissioned a small development team made up of younger staff to take a crack at it, the result being ''War Gods''.

In 1996, Creator/MidwayGames was working on ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4''. Its development required Midway to create an arcade system for it -- which was codenamed Zeus -- but the company wanted a way to test their new hardware to ensure it could do the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' name justice. Their "test" was ''War Gods''.

The game's cast is comprised of:
* '''Warhead''' ~ SuperSoldier who's a former best operative.
* '''Kabuki Jo''' ~ Feared {{Samurai}} who's DrunkWithPower.
* '''Cy-5''' ~ {{Cyborg}} from the [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture year 2096]].
* '''Pagan''' ~ Mistress of TheDarkArts.
* '''Maximus''' ~ [[GladiatorGames Mighty Gladiator]] from Ancient Rome.
* '''Anubis''' ~ Grave robber turned into the famous [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian God]].
* '''Voodoo''' ~ WitchDoctor from the [[HollywoodVoodoo Caribbean]].
* '''Ahau Kin''' ~ {{Evil|Sorcerer}} [[{{Mayincatec}} Aztec]] Priest.
* '''Vallah''' ~ Viking Warrior Princess.
* '''Tak''' ~ [[LivingStatue Living Stone Idol]] and avenger of a lost civilization.

''War Gods'' is basically a 3D ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' clone -- complete with [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] -- which replaced the Run button with a 3D button (allowing characters to move along the Z-axis). ''War Gods'' also suffered from bad character design and annoyingly cheap AI; the home conversions of the game fare marginally better, as Midway tried its best to fix the AI. The game's reception and criticisms were taken into account when the ''Mortal Kombat'' development team (who didn't work on ''War Gods'') went to work on ''Mortal Kombat 4''.

* BigBad: Exor.

* DigitizedSprites: One of the rare games to use this in combination with 3D models; the developers photographed their actors then "wrapped" the skins around the wireframe model. The awkward implementation of this in gameplay motion presumably helped lead to the decision to make [=MK4=] fully polygonal by the MK development team.
* ExcusePlot: Very blatant as the game talks about how there are pieces of the ore shattered around the world, and all the playable characters have each piece and wants to fight each other so one can collect all the pieces and become the most powerful out of the rest of them. However, the ending says that the real objective, for all the characters, had been to stop Exor from invading the earth. What?

* FlawlessVictory

* RecoveryAttack
* RecycledInSpace: It's a 3D version of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' [[AC:with 3D movement and lame character designs]]!
* SNKBoss: Both Grox and Exor are very hard bosses to defeat... good luck defeating them!

* TechDemoGame: This was released mainly to see how the game play would perform for ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4''.
* TheAnnouncer: Exor, again.

* AWinnerIsYou: After defeating Exor, your character claims the Ore, then... that's it. You get a single-screen text blurb ''which doesn't even change for anyone'' (outside of gender pronouns) about having saved the world, then it goes right to the credits.

** If FridgeBrilliance is any indication, the ten characters are in an all-around war between each other, and they become immortals because of the pieces of ore. This might be a subversion.

* AWinnerIsYou: Beating the game reveals that the plot is to actually prevent an invasion and destruction of the world by Exxor, despite it being established that are the fighters are seeking to gain more power by claiming the shards of the orb. This ending applies to ''every character.''

* DefeatMeansExplosion: Defeating Exxor in the last round with him results in a satisfying explosion with an epic tune to accompany it.
* DigitizedSprites: One of the rare games to use this in combination with 3D models; the developers photographed their actors then "wrapped" the skins around the wireframe model. The awkward implementation of this in gameplay motion presumably helped lead to the decision to make [=MK4=] fully polygonal.

* FixedFloorFighting

* ImmortalityInducer: Each playable fighter has a piece of the ore that makes them explicitly immortal. It does not quite explain how they get [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers super powers though]]...
* MonsterModesty: The only thing hiding Grox's shame is a loincloth...thong...thing.

* TakenForGranite: Pagan's Fatality, where she releases Medusa's head and it turns the opponent to stone before EyeBeams blow them up. [[DevelopersForesight Amusingly, the first part of the move doesn't work on Tak, since he's already a statue.]] He taunts the head until it blasts him to pieces.

For the book series, see ''Literature/TheWarGods''. For the trope, see WarGod. For the unrelated, yet successful Sony franchise, see ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''.

''War Gods'' is basically a 3D ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' clone -- complete with [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] -- which replaced the Run button with a 3D button (allowing characters to move along the Z-axis). ''War Gods'' also suffered from bad character design and annoyingly cheap AI; the home conversions of the game fare marginally better, as Midway tried its best to fix the AI. The game's developers learned from their mistakes with this game and made sure to avoid them while developing ''Mortal Kombat 4''.

* DigitizedSprites: One of the rare games to use this in combination with 3D models; they photographed their actors then "wrapped" the skins around the wireframe model. The awkward implementation of this in gameplay motion presumably helped lead to the decision to make [=MK4=] fully polygonal.

In 1996, Creator/MidwayGames was working on ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4''. Its development required Midway to create an arcade system for it -- which was codenamed Zeus -- but the company wanted a way to test their new hardware to ensure it could do the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' name justice (by avoid hitting the PolygonCeiling). Their "test" was ''War Gods''.

* [[HeroicSecondWind Comeback Victory]]: To achieve this, one should be seriously injured, and then retaliate and beat up your opponent the fast as possible.

* '''Tak''' ~ [[LivingStatue Living Stone Idol]] and avenger of a lost civilizatiion.

* '''Tak''' ~ {{Living|Statue}} [[{{Golem}} Stone Idol]] and avenger of a lost civilizatiion.

* [[MostWonderfulSound/VideoGame Most Wonderful Sound]]: While Exor, the announcer voice is really mediocre and can ruin the mood, the way he says ''[[FinishingMove "Faaaaaaataality!"]]'' is beyond awesome.

* [[FlawlessVictory Perfect Victory]]

* [[FinishHim Prove Yourself]]: Given that it's made by the people that gave birth to the infamous "fatality" line, this is no surprise. What IS surprising is the fact that this is done between '''IMMORTALS!'''

* DigitizedSprites: One of the rare games to use this in combination with a 3D environment.

* '''Vallah''' ~ Viking [[BadassPrincess Warrior Princess]].

* FollowTheLeader: The game was designed to test ''VideoGame/MortalKombat4'''s brand-new Zeus engine. After ''War Gods'' was released, the dev team figured out what worked and what didn't, then used the knowledge to make ''Mortal Kombat 4'' better.