Welcome to our new Antstream feature where we will pick a game of the week and tell you all the nitty gritty to get you playing something new or an absolute favourite retro game from our collection.
Released recently on Antstream is a brawler from the ‘90s. When Street Fighter 2 changed the landscape for fighting games it was inevitable that a series of similar titles would emerge. Jaleco’s Tuff E Nuff is a great title which nails the basics of the genre.
Narrative
If you like the anime, Fist of the North Star, the game’s story will be familiar. In a post-apocalyptic Earth, a man named Jade has found a suit of powerful armor. Wearing it gives him the power to take over the world. He becomes power hungry and a bit of a baddie deciding to erect a tower and have it guarded by six soldiers. In the middle of all this drama Jade decides to host a tournament to determine who is the strongest. Several nations send their toughest warriors to try and take Jade out. But are they Tuff E Nuff?
Game Modes
There are a few modes to the game to explore. Story, 1 Player vs CPU and multiplayer. With Story mode you eventually challenge Jade for his throne.
Characters
There are four heroes to choose from – Syoh, Kotono, Zazi and Vortz. The button style is similar to Street Fighter 2 with one exception. In order to charge moves, you hold forward rather than back.
Syoh is a 22-year-old street fighter from Hokkaido in Japan. He uses a fight style known as Heavenly Claw and he wants to finish his fight with Zazi which was interrupted to the Great War.
Kotono is a 19-year-old female ninja from Kyoto, Japan. She uses a fighting style known as Kuki Shindenryu Ninjutsu. She’s a master of sword fighting and loves to use kunai throwing knives. Her specialty is brutal kick attacks. She’s out for revenge against Jade who killed her father.
Zazi is the 22-year-old rival to Syoh from the US. His fighting style is Earth Claw. Think of him like the Ken to Syoh’s Ryu.
Vortz is a 31-year-old professional wrestler from the Netherlands whose nickname is ‘The Beast’. His specialty is utilizing body slam moves. He is in the tournament to search for an unknown person.
Gameplay
The AI is pretty tough, it always seems to figure out how to beat your block so I have found that its better to just go on the attack. Attempting to overwhelm your opponent completely. I’ve been able to chain together consistent 1-2 hit combos that have helped me defeat the CPU. You will need to master these as your enemy will find a way to make every hit connect. On the hardest difficulty I found that my opponent was always moving. They were fast and seemed to be at the right spot at the correct time in order to dish out serious damage.
One of the notable aspects of this title is the ability to use a ‘replay mode’. This lets you slow down the last moments of a round and highlight your best moves. Even now most fighting games don’t offer this feature and its really good fun to play around with.
One of the best features of this game is its soundtrack. One of my favourites is Zazi’s theme. Its energetic and has a 90’s hard hitting quality. Rei’s theme is also memorable as it gets the blood pumping. Tuff E Nuff does a great job of matching the fighters with their personalities and their fighting styles.
Trivia
There’s a notable difference between the original Japanese and US version. The US version removes the short dialogues between the opponents before the fight starts. There’s also no end cutscenes.
Game Scores at the time of Release
“One of the best Street Fighter II clones on the SNES” - 81% -Super Nintendo Buyers Guide
“This game has dethroned Fatal Fury 2” – 78% - Super Play
So, what are you waiting for?
Let us know what you think of the game on our Discord channel, maybe record a video and let us see how good you are!
Discord Handle: Dr_Chris_McAuley https://discord.gg/antstream
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