Kart Fighter
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''Kart Fighter'' (, "Mario Fast-Strike," punning on the Chinese title of ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
'') is an unlicensed 2D
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
produced for the
Nintendo Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...
by Taiwanese studio
Hummer Team Hummer Team() was a Taiwanese developer of bootleg video games. It was most well known for making NES ports of games originally developed on more advanced hardware. History Hummer Team was founded in Taipei, Taiwan by Hummer Cheng, who ha ...
. The game features unauthorized appearances by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
's mascot
Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...
and the rest of the cast of ''
Super Mario Kart is a 1992 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The first game in the ''Mario Kart'' series, it was released in Japan and North America in 1992, and in Europe the following yea ...
'' in a
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
of ''
Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...
''. ''Kart Fighter'' has received some media attention, including mostly positive reviews, in part because of its perceived similarity to the later ''Super Smash Bros.'' series.


Gameplay

''Kart Fighter'' follows many of the rules and conventions already established for the
fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...
genre by the time of its release. The player engages opponents in one-on-one close quarter combat. The object of each round is to deplete the opponent's
vitality Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. Vitality is also the characteristic that distinguishes life, living from non-living things. To experience vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a comp ...
before the timer runs out. Because it is an adaptation of ''
Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...
'', the game controls resemble those of the ''Street Fighter'' series. The player uses the
D-pad The D-pad (short for directional pad) is a compact input method developed for video games, designed to translate thumb movement into directional control through a flat, cross-shaped surface that rests on four internal switches. Each switch corres ...
to move the character towards or away from the opponent or to jump. The A and B buttons perform punches and kicks, as well as jump punches and jump kicks when combined with movement. Additionally, each character has a selection of special moves performed by inputting a combination of directional and button-based commands. Unlike ''Street Fighter II'', nearly all characters have some form of projectile attack available as a special move, but the blocking system is more limited. Five
difficulty levels Game balance is a branch of game design with the intention of improving gameplay and user experience by balancing difficulty and fairness. Game balance consists of adjusting rewards, challenges, and/or elements of a game to create the intended pla ...
are available for solo play. A second player can also select a character, allowing for
two-player A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
matches. However, because no indication of this feature appears in game, it can be easily overlooked.


Characters

All eight playable characters from ''
Super Mario Kart is a 1992 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The first game in the ''Mario Kart'' series, it was released in Japan and North America in 1992, and in Europe the following yea ...
'' appear in ''Kart Fighter'', although several have been renamed or are Japanese versions of names– Mari (Mario),
Luigi Luigi (; ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Part of Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, he is a kind-hearted, cowardly Italian plumber, and the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Like ...
, Peach (Princess Toadstool), Yossy (Yoshi), Kupa (Bowser), Donkey (Donkey Kong Jr.), Nokonoko (Koopa Troopa), and Kinopio (Toad). Many of the characters' appearances are closely adapted from ''Super Mario Kart'' sprites, although they are not to scale. However, Donkey Kong Jr. has a substantially different appearance and Princess Peach appears in a miniskirt and boots, similar to
Chun-Li Chun-Li (; Japanese: , Hepburn: ) is a character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' video game series. She first appeared in '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' in 1991 and is the first female playable character to appear in a fighting game t ...
of ''Street Fighter'' fame.


Development

During the 1980s and 1990s, production of
pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
games in
East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...
was commonplace, aided by the Famicom's absence of the
10NES The Checking Integrated Circuit (CIC) is a lockout chip designed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game console in 1985; the chip is part of a system known as 10NES, in which a ''key'' (which is stored in the game) i ...
lockout chip In a general sense, a lockout chip is a chip within an electronic device to prevent other manufacturers from using a company's device to perform certain functions. A notable example is the lockout chip found in Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment S ...
included in North American versions of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The commercial success of ''Street Fighter II'' made it a particularly frequent choice for unauthorized
ports Ports collections (or ports trees, or just ports) are the sets of makefiles and Patch (Unix), patches provided by the BSD-based operating systems, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, as a simple method of installing software or creating binary packages. T ...
and adaptations. ''Kart Fighter'' was a resulting game made from this craze, developed by a
team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to in ...
known as Hummer Team or Gouder, and
published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
by
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
–based Ge De Industry, likely in 1993. ''Kart Fighter'' emulated the general look of the characters from the 1992
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
''Super Mario Kart''. The limited hardware of the
8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...
Famicom would have forced the characters to look far worse, especially when the source material was on a
16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
platform, being limited to four colors instead of 16. Hummer Team overcame this by combining two separate sprites to utilize more colors for each character. Material from other games were also stolen, including a
stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...
background taken from '' Little Nemo: The Dream Master''. Hummer Team also created other unauthorized ''Street Fighter II'' adaptations. One such game was included on the ''1998 Super HIK 4 in 1 12M''
multicart In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase (such as '' Sega Smash Pack'') or were previously available individually (such as '' Final ...
, in which Mario appeared alongside characters from the Street Fighter franchise. The same engine ''Kart Fighter'' used was also modded to create the ''
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
''-themed ''AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting''.


Legacy

Several years after its release, ''Kart Fighter'' received critical attention for its similarities to the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. Reviews were generally positive, especially in the context of fighting games on the NES or unauthorized NES games, categories viewed as having typically poor quality. Reviews cited its originality, music, and relative lack of bugs, with several considering it one of the best unauthorized games of its era, meeting or exceeding the quality of similar licensed games such as '' TMNT: Tournament Fighters''. However, ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' considered ''Kart Fighter'' the worst fighting game ever made. Other reviewers remarked negatively on the screen flicker resulting from the game's sprite system, poor AI, missing menu options, and lack of a proper ending.


See also

* ''
Somari ''Somari the Adventurer'' (commonly known as simply ''Somari'' ( and 速音瑪莉; pinyin: ''Sùyīn mǎlì'' )) is a side-scrolling platform video game for the Family Computer. An unlicensed remake of Sega's 1991 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game ...
'', another unlicensed Hummer Team game featuring Mario


References

{{Unofficial Mario media 1993 video games Mario Kart Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Unofficial works based on Mario Fighting games Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games developed in Taiwan