Body Blows

Body Blows
Developer(s)	Team17
Publisher(s)	Team17
Designer(s)	Martyn Brown, Cedric McMillan JR., Danny Burke
Platform(s)	Amiga, CDTV, DOS
Release date(s)	March, 1993
Genre(s)	Versus fighting game
Mode(s)	Single player, Two player

Body Blows is an Amiga versus fighting game. It was released in 1993 by Team17.^[1] The game is compatible with all Amiga systems, including the CDTV system with joystick support. It was followed by Body Blows Galactic and Ultimate Body Blows. A version for DOS was also released. The game has a lot of similarities to Street Fighter II, for example, both had two characters with projectile, rising uppercut and spinning kick special moves and played identically (as with Ryu and Ken).^[2]

Gameplay

There are three modes of play in Body Blows:

1. One Player (Arcade mode). This mode involves the player selecting a character to battle opponents until they face a battle with MAX
2. Two Player. This mode allows two players to take control of joysticks and fight each other using a character they desire
3. Tournament. This mode lets four or eight players to play a tournament against each other

Characters

There are 11 characters in Body Blows. In one player mode the player can choose to play as 1 of 4 characters, Nik, Dan, Junior or Lo Ray. In other modes players can select from 10 of the characters in the game.

Main Contenders

• Dan is a street thug from a local gang in Boston who wants to prove he's the best fighter period.
• Nik is Dan's younger brother and is the leader of a rival Boston gang. He and Dan have a heated sibling rivalry and can match his brother move for move.
• Junior is a British boxer who was subsequently banned from boxing and found a better calling in street fighting.
• Lo Ray is a Buddhist monk who left his Shaolin Temple seeking fame and fortune on the prize fighting circuit.

Other characters

• Kossak is a strong kickboxer from Moscow who can surprise his foes with a special underground sneak attack.
• Dug is a pro wrestler from Vegas. His size and strength are unrivaled and his stomp can cause small earthquakes to stun his foes.
• Maria is an aeorbic dancer from Barcelona who is incredibly fast and agile.
• Mike is a Wall Street executive who can use wind-based attacks, including turning into a tornado.
• The Ninja is fast, sneaky and deadly. He carries a katana and can use magic to turn invisible temporarily.
• Yit-U is a highly disciplined warrior from Beijing and is notoriously fast.
• Max is a strong built fighter who battles near a construction site. He is the strongest fighter in the game. Max is only playable in the 1-Player and 2-Player modes on the PC version via a cheat code.
• T-17 is Max's true form, a T-800-like exoskeleton with lots of hidden weapons. If T-17 is defeated, he will explode and vanish.

Technical information

Body Blows is compatible with Amiga 500, 500+, 600, 1200, 2000, 3000, 4000, and CDTV systems. It requires at least 1MB of RAM and can utilise extra memory that's installed on the system. It has four channel stereo music, speech and sound effects. The game features full PAL screen scrolling at 50 Hz and 32 colour graphics. It cannot be installed to a hard drive.

Reaction

"The best beat-em up money can buy" - 91% - CU Amiga^[3]

"Not as good as the console sf2, but it's a very close thing" - 87% - Amiga Format^[4]

"If you thought Streetfighter II was the business, think again" - 92% - The One^[5]

"A true corker of a game with undeniable influences" - 89% - Amiga Power^[6]

See also

• Body Blows Galactic
• Ultimate Body Blows
• Fighting game
• List of Amiga games
• Team 17
• List of fighting games

References

1. ↑ "Team 17 official website with release details". Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 
2. ↑ Dan Slingsby;(Jan 1993);Body Blows Preview in CU Amiga ;(Jan 1993);pp39-40
3. ↑ CU Amiga review
4. ↑ Amiga Format Review
5. ↑ Amiga review
6. ↑ Amiga Power review

External links

• Body Blows can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive