Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix

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Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix
Screenshot of Super Gem Fighter
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Release date(s)	1997
Genre(s)	Fighting game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen) Console ports only
Platform(s)	Arcade, WonderSwan, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 (Street Fighter Alpha Anthology)
Input	8-way Joystick, three buttons
Arcade cabinet	Standard
Arcade system(s)	CPS-2
Arcade display	Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors

Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (Pocket Fighter in Japan) is a fighting game released by Capcom in September 1997 on the CPS-2 arcade system. It was ported to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and WonderSwan, as well as Playstation 2 as part of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology's collection. It uses the same kind of super deformed sprites as Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.

The game includes characters from Street Fighter Alpha, Darkstalkers, Street Fighter III, and the more obscure Red Earth, which was only released for the CPS-3 arcade board. It also features many cameos from various Capcom games scattered in the background of the stages, such as Balrog, Vega, etc. In addition to the standard fighting, there are various gems that you can collect during matches to level up your character, as well as elemental orbs you can throw at your opponent in a variety of angles, which may affect the opponent (turn into stone, freeze, etc.) Each character starts each match with one of these (Tessa, for example, always starts with the ice orb).

There are two bars and three sub-bars in the interface. The two main bars are the life bar and the super bar, the first indicates your health and the second your ability to throw super combos. The Super Bar itself can be filled up to 9 levels, which means you can do more super combos. Each super combo has a level assigned to it, and it uses Super Bars depending on it.

The three sub-bars show the level of three of your special moves. Each character has at least three special moves, as shown in the sub-bars, and each of these corresponds to a colour. Some characters have one or two additional Special Moves that aren't affected by sub-bars. Each time you hit your opponent, gems pop out of him or her, and you can take them to power up your special moves according to the colours.

There are four buttons: Punch, Kick, Special, and Taunt. The Special button is a chargeable move that cannot be blocked and upon impact drops gems in the opponent's possession. More gems will be dropped depending on how much you charge the attack. Holding Down, Forward or no direction at all when using the Special button will cause a specific gem color to drop from the enemy. Holding Back along with the Special button allows for a defense that is specific against the unblockable Special attacks. Other kinds of attacks do no damage when blocked, and unlike most 2D fighting games, this includes special and super moves.

Super Gem Fighter also features Flash Combos where you can do a combo by pressing the Kick or Punch button after you hit your opponent using the Punch button for a total of four hits. Flash Combos will usually cause your fighter (except Ryu) to change into various costumes during the sequence, and perform a powerful attack in the end - this final hit is usually the hardest in the sequence to connect with. These costumes range from uniforms (such as traffic cops or schoolgirls), to swimsuits, and even cameos of other Capcom characters. For example, Chun-Li may turn into Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil series, while Felicia may turn into Mega Man or other Darkstalkers characters not playable in the game.

The commands are also very easy compared to the Street Fighter series, thanks to Special button. By doing a motion (for example: qcf or hcf) and pressing Special Button will make your fighter launch his/her super combo.