#549 The Killing Blade Bosses (2/2): Twin Tartars gameplay.
0Gameplay of the sub-boss Twin Tartars/Tatars in IGS' The Killing Blade.
Twin Tartars' moves:
https://www.gamefaqs.com/arcade/935853-the-killing-blade/faqs/58325
Well, I guess it's not a true Chinese game without a few references to nomadic characters. It definitely adds a bit more authenticity into the mix. The sub-bosses of the game are these guys, the Twin Tartars, although they should be known as Tatars. The Tatars, historically speaking, were Turco-Mongolian nomadic people and similar in this way to most of the peoples of the steppes. They traditionally fought on horseback (indeed, were said to be able to ride a horse before they could even walk), and the fighting methods used by them as by all people of the Steppes were really up until the 18th century unbeatable by any army. They trained essentially from birth to utilise destructive hit and run tactics involving horse archers, which allowed them to pepper foes with numerous arrows while avoiding casualties themselves, as well as demoralising and dividing opponent forces to be able to easily cut them down.
Nomadic peoples have invaded and conquered China many times over in the past few thousand years, and it of course was what led to the development of the Great Wall of China, so it's understandable that IGS decided to pay homage to a huge part of not only Chinese history, but world history on the whole. The Mongol Empire, started by Genghis Khan, would eventually see the total conquest of China proper so it made sense to have a reference to nomadic peoples in a Chinese fighting game.
I mention all this to emphasise that they must have been on some pretty heavy drugs to come up these characters. Seemingly have nothing at all to do with Tatar civilisations, the Twin Tartars are that big and small fighting duo occasionally seen in media, reminiscent of Master and Blaster from Mad Max 3, or Gorc and Pic from Dark Forces II. In terms of design, they're unique, but the character designs take just a few too many liberties for me to be able to fully appreciate them. Samurai Shodown of course took a lot of liberties with its design, but was generally grounded enough to still have them be enjoyable. The sole representations of the great nomadic empires somehow having purple and blue skin, and looking like goblins, just takes me out of all of it personally.
In terms of gameplay, the Twins are nothing too special. They have fantastic range with their swords, dealing heavy damage and their super meter seems to raise much faster than the rest of the characters in the game. They have a somewhat useless breath projectile attack, and a unique and rather useful spin attack which causes the opponent to be pulled towards it as it if were a giant fan, dealing good damage and even very good chip damage if they've blocked. And that's good, because enemies in this game block endlessly, similar to Ragnagard. The Twins however fall short to some extent in the fact that they're just so slow. Most of the characters in this game are very quick, and having these power houses as a boss made sense, but playing as them goes to show just how dull they are, and indeed why they are bosses in the first place. Relatively interesting to fight considering their power, but too dull and slow to really be of much fun to play as, similar in that way to an early MK sub-boss. Again, not a character I'd recommend trying out.
And that finishes up Killing Blade. Up next, IGS' crowning jewel, Martial Masters.