Force Five [ARCADE (CANCELLED), 2003]: Arcade Mode with Yang Mei-Ling
5Played via the Flycast emulator.
Now... considering how well my KenJu run did ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ti0yi7TnI ), and again, I'm on a time traveling binge right now, might as well go to it's next door neighbor in regards to Dreamcast era cancelled fighting games.
For what I know (and it isn't much), Force Five was the slightly more well known cancelled fighting game for this time compared to KenJu. It was a three button, 3D Atomiswave-based fighter made by the peeps behind the Nintendo 64's Fighter's Destiny [Fighting Cup in Japan] duology (remind me to revisit those games, btw...) as well as the Toy Fighter arcade game, which I've covered on the channel a few months ago ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Ij_JIDt94 ). For what it's worth it at least looked pretty alright graphically and art style wise. I can dig the character designs in this game (even more so since, despite not being the same IP as Fighter's Destiny, Force Five has their own Mei-Ling incarnation that shares quite a bit in common with the original from the N64 games... [shoot, I even inspired a story OC off of said girl and even carries the name-sake]). Though I'll admit the in-game models could've used a tiny bit more touching up before it got the boot, but for what it's worth, it's alright.
However, what I WILL say I'm not exactly fond of (and honestly, I can see why it failed in location tests), is the gameplay. In concept, it's not exactly ground breaking. It plays like a pretty by the books Virtua Fighter/Dead or Alive clone, with a SLIGHT highlight on certain moves dealing extra damage on counter hit. You pick a character, beat up on the normal cast, and challenge one of the three end-bosses of your choice to clear the game. Simple stuff really. Seems every character also has some sort of projectile or long-range attack as well, but overall, nothing to write home about once you get in the ring.
The issue, however, is the game's feel. For lack of a better term, it's very.... loose. "Spammy" feels more like it the proper word (at least that's how the AI certain can be like at times). With the Fighter's Destiny games (or ANY fighting game worth it's salt), there was notable time to adjust your tactics based on how hits interacted through rounds. In Force Five there's VERY little hit stop, meaning that it's hard to tell when to go on the offensive after blocking strings because it feels there's little delay in-between fast attacks. Because of this (and due to the lack of on-the-ground invincibility), it basically means that if you're not careful, foes will melt your lifebar like crazy (which is what I found out the hard way during test runs).
Is it fun? Yeah. It certainly feels more or less as if the game was around 85-90% complete, similar to KenJu, but unfortunately that's all it managed before being shelved. Apparently the game's assets were used years later in another game named "Jingi Storm: The Arcade" but... apparently said game was even worse off due to all the changes they did from the original game. I honestly never heard of that even more off on, so I'll have to do some personal research on that debacle...
That being said, time to give this relic a go. May do this again with either May-Ling's 2nd outfit or as Raven (since I kind of like her design) to show off the 2nd Final Boss. Don't expect me to do all three though: the 3rd boss (No. 9) is practically impossible to defeat. He's THAT overpowered (at least they rightfully warn you about him, for sure.)
0:00 Boot-up
0:12 Atomiswave Logo & Game Title Screen
0:15 Character Select
0:44 Stage 1: Beck
2:00 Stage 2: Shura
3:16 Stage 3: Ralf
7:06 Stage 4: Del Sol
10:51 Stage 5: Shin
12:17 Stage 6: Saka
14:16 Stage 7: Raven
15:30 Boss Selection
15:47 Stage 8: Grand Master [FINAL BOSS 1]
17:03 Staff Roll
18:35 Name Entry