Sumo Fighter
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
| Sumo Fighter | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Meet one of the most poorly programmed game ever made!
| ||||||||||
|
Sumo Fighter: Tōkaidō Basho (相撲ファイター 東海道場所, "Sumo Fighter Location Tōkaidō) (known in North America only as Sumo Fighter) is a 2D sumo-based action game, developed by KID and published by I'Max, which was released in 1991. In North America, the game was released by DTMC.
Summary
The main character named Bontaro Heiseiyama goes to Kyoto to save Kayo.
Why It's Not A Sumo Fighter
- In a similar manner to the Game Boy port of Ren & Stimpy: Veediots!, the game is extremely poorly programmed to the point of being probably one of the most poorly programmed game and this even ruin the game because of it, this include collision, combats, controls and the hit-detection, which will all be explained below.
- There's so many glitchs in this game, to the point of being one of the buggiest Game Boy game ever made, along with some of The Simpsons games on this console, such as:
- The things that you destroy sometime will not be destroyed even if you attack it where you should be, and this cannot be fixed until you restart, this prevent from some of the bonus stages, and this doesn't happen only once, thank to how poorly programmed this game is.
- There are many collision glitchs, though they will had their own pointers due to how much there are of these, and we kid you not.
- The soundtrack, while not the worst, is ruined because of the awful sounding composition that make them incredibly ear bleeding to listen to, especially the boss and bonus musics that are the worst offender, and due to how awful the tunes already sound, it's make them unbearable to listen to and thus, make them the worst sounding musics in the entire game.
- Horrible sound effects.
- Horrible hit-detection that is even worse than games like Mega Man II and Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures, since it barely work at all, and when you attack enemies, the detection is delayed, this isn't helped by the sluggish framerate and animations.
- The hit-detection as stated before is already bad but sometime, it doesn't even make any senses due to the fact that some bosses can only be hit from a unique way, such as right to touch the boss without taking damages with the boss, this make it incredibly frustrating, tedious and show how bad this game was programmed and also show how poorly made this game is.
- Another illogical moment might be when you can't hit a rock somewhere but after moving for 2 seconds, you found another rock to hit and you can, while the other before it cannot be destroyed, this is very stupid, and make you wonder if this game was even finished before being released.
- The controls are incredibly stiff, clunky and unresponsive, to the point of making the level design completely awful, and also is to the point of making the game almost unplayable, and sometime the controls make the game harder due to how terrible they are, the fact that they are horribly clunky and unresponsive make the platforming sections extremely hard to do and you will likely fall due to how terrible they are, not to mention that the jump is also sluggish and take half a second to work, which is already a bad sign and a major red flag for a platform game, this made many platformer that had this problem being bad and this game is definitely not an exception, in fact it might be the worst offender of it.
- This is even to the point of making some levels harder or even make the game unplayable at times, thank to how terrible the controls are.
- Having your character move is incredibly annoying and painful due to how abysmal the programming is, and this is why the gameplay is so clunky.
- Abysmal framerate that is very sluggish and make the game feel like it wasn't even finished, and this is even on par with the framerate of the Game Boy port of Toy Story, due to sometime feeling like it's run at 20 FPS, and it barely go above 30 FPS, which is completely unnaceptable, even for a 1991 Game Boy game.
- Horrible bosses, as they are very frustrating, unbalanced, had awful paths and their attacks are way too hard to dodge, as well as being luck-based, due to them hitting you when you attack the bosses, in other words, you get hit when the boss get hit by your attacks, which make it incredibly frustrating and tedious, and also make it for some bosses that feel like they could be considered to be some of the worst bosses in gaming history.
- Both box arts are misleading:
- The North America box art make you think that it is a fighting game despite having only one character in it, but in reality, it is a platformer, and not a good one at that, it doesn't help that the name of the game also make you think it is a fighting game.
- The Japanese box art isn't as misleading but we never see a level with waters, not even in a pit, making the background a little misleading.
- Misleading title for the North America version, due to being called Sumo Fighter, it might make you think it's a fighting game but in reality, it is a fighting game, it doesn't help that the box art is also misleading, as stated in the previous pointer.
- The level design is average, and while it isn't really that bad, it is because this game doesn't play well enough for that level design, and some of the platforming sections are proof of why the level design doesn't work for this game, because the controls aren't designed with it, and the fact that the enemies and platforms are extremely poorly placed, it make senses of why this game can be considered to had a poor level design, and this is the case for many games with awful controls.
- The game is very short, as it take 50 minutes to beat it, though it is longer than most standards Game Boy games.
- While not completely bad for a Game Boy game, the graphics are somewhat subpar for this game because of the poor sprite work for the enemies and characters, and because of poor colors choices, though they are decent for a 1991 Game Boy game.
- The easy mode ending is very awful and even mock the player and both your character along with his girlfriend tell you to try hard mode, which is not only a punishment for those who cannot play hard mode but it is even worse when you releasing that the easy mode is already hard enough, and the hard mode is way worse than easy mode.
- Both bonus stages are fun at first but then, when you progress in the game, they became stupidly hard to the point of being unplayable and so unfair and being absolutely horrible, it might even cause your hands to feeling terrible and you might get your hands hurt after playing those for too long.
- Despite being a Sumo game, it doesn't even feel like a Sumo game since it feel mostly like a generic platformer that had a Sumo throw at the last second so that the game can be called a Sumo game.
- The story is completely lacking, and while it is understable considering that this is a Game Boy game, they could have made some small cutscenes like some of the Ren & Stimpy game on Game Boy, and this isn't helping that the characters barely had any personality, even for a Game Boy game.
- Having exps is extremely difficult, due to them being easier to get in bonus stages, and because they actually are rare in the levels themself.
- The game potential was great and could have give an awesome game but the game is ruined thank to how bad the programming is and thank to how terrible the controls are, and due to these problems, it is pretty much easy to see why the game is rather forgotten and is an obscure game, even nowadays it wasn't that popular.
Redeeming Qualities
- As stated in WINASF#14, the graphics are decent, at least for a 1991 Game Boy game.
- Some of the musics are catchy, despite being bad, and they actually feel Japanese, compared to most of the game.
- The game at times can be fun, either due to how much you like the bad games, or because of the bonus stages.
Videos
Comments
Loading comments...