Fighter’s History (ファイターズヒストリー, Faitāzu Hisutorī) is a series of fighting games that were produced by Data East during the 1990s. The original Fighter’s History was first released for the arcades in 1993 and ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994.
Two different sequels were produced: Fighter’s History Dynamite (aka Karnov’s Revenge outside of Japan) for the Neo Geo in 1994, followed by Fighter’s History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!! (ファイターズヒストリー 〜溝口危機一髪!!〜, Faitāzu Hisutorī: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!, “Mizoguchi’s Moment of Crisis!!”), released in Japan for the Super Famicom in 1995.
The main unique feature of the Fighter’s History series is its “weak point system”. By repeatedly hitting an opponent’s weak point, the player can temporarily stun them once per round, leaving the opponent open for an attack. The location of an opponent’s weak spot varies with each character and is usually represented by a specific article of clothing (e.g. a headband, a vest, a mask).
Fighter’s History was made available through Nintendo Switch Online in 2022.
Fighter’s History
The original game was released as an arcade game in March 1993. The game uses a six-button control configuration similar to Street Fighter II and its iterations, as well as an alternate version of the first Street Fighter, with three punch buttons and three kick buttons, each for different strength levels (light, medium, and heavy).
There are a total of nine playable characters, as well as two non-playable boss characters at the end of the single-player tournament. (The boss characters are able to be unlocked by pressing Right, Right, Up, Up, L, R. This can only be activated on the first title screen before the menu options appear).
The final boss and sponsor of the tournament is revealed to be Karnov, the protagonist of the Data East action game of the same name. In this installment hitting an opponent’s weak point will not only stun the opponent, it will also cause the opponent to sustain greater damage when the weak point is repeatedly struck afterward.
