Weaponlord

Weaponlord

Developer(s) Visual Concepts
Publisher(s) Namco
Platform(s) Super NES, Sega Mega Drive
Release date(s) 1995
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Media/distribution 24-megabit Cartridge

Weaponlord (sometimes WeaponLord) is a 1- or 2-player fighting game originally designed for release on the Super Nintendo by Visual Concepts, and published by Namco. During the inception of the title, the development team also began work on a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version and both were released in October 1995. WeaponLord introduced many groundbreaking gameplay aspects that appear regularly today. Also unlike other titles, WeaponLord was not intended to replicate an arcade fighter, but built from the ground up on home consoles. This was a reverse of the normal trend, which had arcade versions being developed first, then getting ported in home consoles.

Contents

Story

On a battlefield a demon spirit enters the body of a dying mercenary. He is reborn and defeats the reigning war king in a duel. He goes on to found the reign of the DemonLord Zarak. At the height of his power, his doom is foretold by a shaman

"When the night turns violent and the moon bleeds, gripped by the skeletal fingers of death...a child will rise to face the demon in combat...and the lord of demons will fall by the hand of...the WeaponLord."

Against the advice of his lieutenants to kill the children born that night, the DemonLord waits to face his foretold killer in fair, one on one combat. 25 years later, sensing the prophecy is at hand, the DemonLord holds a great tournament of champion warriors. The winner will face the demon in a final battle. The Demonlord prepares to meet his destiny head on and to destroy the WeaponLord.

Gameplay

At its core, WeaponLord is a standard 2D fighting game experience. Where it differs is in its gameplay mechanics, and in some of its aesthetic choices and presentation. Some of WeaponLord's more original features were:

Special moves

One major aspect of 2D fighting games that WeaponLord really distinguished for itself were its special moves. In most 2D fighters, a character possessing 5 special moves was considered overly-plentiful, but all of WeaponLord's fighters possessed between 9-12 special moves each. This was a huge number of options for a player to have available to them, and really gave WeaponLord its complexity. In addition, special moves were done in 3 completely different ways.

Characters

Platform differences

WeaponLord was originally designed for the Super Nintendo, and as such, was the much better looking and sounding version of the game. There were far more colors and detail on the sprites and backgrounds, as usually was the case when it came to fighting games during the 16-bit era. Sound effects and music were also richer, and voice samples were generally clearer.

The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version also suffered from a reduced screen size, where the upper half of the screen was blacked out to display the health bars and timer. The SNES version had the upper health information floating over the stage background, as is standard in fighting titles.

However, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version is considered the slightly faster of the two, and also worked well with the 6-button Genesis controller which was designed with fighting games in mind.

Intentions of a second Weaponlord were clear from many of the character endings in the game, in which it was revealed that an evil entity, perhaps more powerful than Zarak the Demonlord himself, was an influential force in both the individual stories and overall plot. However, due to the demise of the 16-bit generation within a year or so afterward, Weaponlord 2 never came to be. Despite excellent sales and high praise, Visual Concepts never began work on the second game. It is believed that Namco still holds publication rights to the Weaponlord name.

Critical acclaim and release

WeaponLord was a highly anticipated game for the 16-bit systems, as it was the first developed exclusively for both consoles. In the past, game developers had cut back on some features when it came to both versions of the same game, or more improved versions were released later on. WeaponLord was praised for its graphics, animation and music, and its deep and involving story. One of the main criticisms against WeaponLord, however, was that it was too complex and too unforgiving for most casual players to enjoy. Its cast was also minuscule when compared to similar titles that boasted 16 characters or more. Unfortunately, with it also being released after the Sega Saturn and slightly before the original PlayStation, WeaponLord didn't get much time in the spotlight.

Due to the unique "Fatality Combo" system, exceptional players could chain together a horrific series of death moves before the final strike. Because of the nature of the fatalities (body pulping and evisceration), Weaponlord was considered to be the goriest game of its time, far surpassing even Mortal Kombat in its levels of blood, violence and gore. Despite the level of gore, both versions retained a rating of T for Teen.

One criticism stemming from the Death Combo system concerned the fact that players who were not skilled in performing Death Combos would have the difficulty of the game increase tenfold, since the "sub-boss" of the game was essentially the player fighting every character that they did not kill with a Death Combo, one after the other. If said player did not kill any opponent, they would then have to fight every single opponent over again before facing Zarak. However, due to the complexity of the game's combo system, most players would already have to be skilled in the game's mechanics to truly advance in story mode, as the game was nearly impossible for the average button-masher to pick up and play.

Visual Concepts had an incredibly tight schedule to complete the game, and the decision to add a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version came later into the development cycle than most other multi-platform titles.

Trivia

Visual Concepts staff

External links

References

  1. ^ "Fighting Spirits: The Men Behind the Combos". Gamespy. 13 February 2009. http://www.gamespy.com/articles/954/954328p4.html. Retrieved 3 June 2011.