Phantom Fighter Review by: rcarter2 - 3.5/10
Martial Arts vs PhantomsThe day I made this review, I decided to look for some of the old NES games that I have that I haven't played much. One of the games that came to mind was Phantom Fighters. One thing I noticed is that this game has gotten VERY few plays. Though I can't say I am surprised. I ?purchased this game when PlayStation 2 games were around, and I had never even heard of it before. I had no idea what to expect on the cover picture alone. When I first played it, I thought it was pretty much a waste of time, so moved on to the other 4 NES games I bought for a dollar. A few months later, I realized that the fact that I haven't beaten Phantom Fighters yet was bugging me, so I had to go ahead and play through it once. Interesting enough, the game was much better the second time around. I am by no means calling this some kind of diamond in the rough, but it is worth a go if you feel like it.
Graphics:?
Right off the bat, the graphics are not all that great. they are kind of sub-par when compared to later NES releases. This is one of those games where the people have decent details in things like clothing. But each individual character (their clothes included) are all one color. For example, your main character is a tan color. His skin and clothing are just different shades of tan. You apprentice (which is a weird guy, but I will get to that later) is pink. The phantoms you fight are the same way in that they are just different shades of the same color. Funny enough, the only ones not like that are some of the townspeople who you see all of a few seconds. they should have done that for the sprites you see more of.?
This entire game is in side scrolling view, but there are two different graphic views. When you are outside in the towns, the characters are kind of squished down a bit. They are pretty stubby looking things :P. The environment around the town is pretty flat and super generic. for the most part, there are no color variations in individual buildings. Most are just solid brown with a sign. Inside a building is the battle part of the game. Your character is taller and not stubby. He and the phantoms are in the right proportions (surprisingly very proportionate). The color scheme of the sprites is the same though. As for the background, it has a bit more depth. You get a better view of the floor, showing that it goes back, so the room had a nice three dimensional look to it. Good thing too, because the battle mechanism would not work well fr the stumpy figures.
The main thing that bothers me a bit is that there is not much variety in the different levels. All the towns are night time and the buildings look pretty much the same on the outside. You get more variation on the battle parts, but you will soon realize they repeat the same ones a lot.?
Sound:
First of, I will discuss the music. The music isn't bad by any means, but there is a lot of room for improvement. If you had to imagine what Karate action music from eastern Asia would sound like, you get Phantom Fighters. It isn't super pitchy and robotic screech like NES games can do at times, but it certainly is the loudest part of the game. It makes any sound effects (which are very little) not even noticeable. I actually had to go back and play it for a second just to see if there were actually any sound effects at all. It takes over that much. There also isn't much variety. You have outdoor music and indoor music. All the outside of towns is the same, and the battle parts are pretty much the same (rarely some small variation of the same thing).?
Sound effects really bring the rating for this down. Like I said, I had to go back real quick just to see if there actually were any sound effects because I couldn't even remember. It would be nice if it at least had one distinct sound effect that when you heard it, you know exactly what it is from Phantom Fighters. Kind of like Mario's jumping sound or the sound of Sonic collecting a ring. This has very few sound effects. You hear slight sound from landing a punch or kick on a phantom, and a little when they burn after dying. That is pretty much it other than using an item real quick. But they are so quiet, they are hardly even noticeable. There could be no sound effects in this game at all, and you would not even notice the difference. It offers that little to the game.
Story:
The story isn't exactly well developed in this game. Just playing the game, and nothing else, you get a bare gist. Kyonshi is a word for zombie phantoms. They have risen from the dead and become violent. You are a Phantom Fighter (with a useless apprentice) going from town to town to defeat them. As you fight Phantoms in each town, you much collect 3 Jades, which are tears from a dragon, to enter the domain of the boss Phantom of that town. There are 8 towns in all. Looking up this game, I found out it was loosely based on a movie called Mr. Vampire (the translation might be different). I have never seen this, so I can't really go into what the story of that is. Pretty much what you get in the beginning town is the most story that you are going to get.?
Depth:
The big flaw in this game is that it is super repetitive. Almost every single boss has the same movements and method of attack. The Kyonnshis come in different sizes, colors, and weight (fat, average, thin). The hold their arms out right in front of them at shoulder height. They hop around. If they slam into when they hop, it makes you fall over taking damage. If you get very close to them, they will jab their arms in front of them, damaging you. There are 2 Kyonshi that fire projectiles (they are bosses). One boss Kyonshi flies around. The last one is acrobatic. They flyer and final kyonshi look very different (almost like monkey/cats). So you get one strategy, and apply it to almost every enemy. All fights are one on one. The only difference from the normal Kyonshi is that they jump faster or farther, depending on their type, which you just look at their color and size. There are a few items that give a little change. For example, there is one baby Kyonshi called a Conshi. This does not attack you. If you have a bell, you can ring it, and he will follow you. He will fight battles for you (you control him) until he dies. Given he has the same hopping and jabbing tactic, he does little for you. You also have an apprentice who follows you wherever you go. But don't count on him. He literally helps you 0%. He follows you around town, and is nowhere to be seen in battle. When you clear the house of the Kyonshi, he peaks through the door and says "Boss. What shall we do?". If you beat a boss Kyonshi, he comes in and tells you how amazing you are. Sure, getting your own personal butt kisser is cool, but he gets annoying. The game just gives you no variety in game play, making 8 towns seem super repetitive.?
Difficulty:?
When playing this the first time, you might disagree with my difficulty rating. It seems fairly difficult first time playing (or first time fighting a particular boss). But you can better your technique by training at a dojo. But the there is something that makes you almost invincible. If you duck down and just spam punch, you are set almost every time. Now, this only works for enemies either your height or taller. No matter the size, the hopping won't harm you. But they still have their jab. If the Kyonshi you are fighting is short, their arms reach you with their jabs. Anything taller than the short guys will always miss you as if they can't see you. Of course, this does not apply to 3 of the 8 bosses, but their patterns aren't hard to figure out.
Addictiveness:
This game isn't bad, but I would hardly call it addicting. I owned this game for over 10 years, and I have played through it twice (not including the time I just spent playing through it in order to write this). First off, it is very short if you know exactly what you are doing. but that could be excused if maybe there was some kind of score system so you can try to beat your score or something. But it doesn't. So you have a short game that offers nothing for you to challenge yourself with once you have beaten it. On top of that, it is pretty simple. As I stated in the depth and difficulty section, all the fighting is pretty much the same thing over and over and over...... The most you have to do is slightly tweak your movement strategy depending on how far or fast these phantoms hop around (with the exception of a few bosses).
Overall: 5/10
Keep in mind, this is just a score that doesn't just take the average of the scores of the given categories. I am taking into account that sometimes there is just something about a game that is fun for an unexplained reason. This is one of those games. Something about this game is kind of delightful and fun in a simple kind of way. I think the main drawback is that it is 8 levels, each having up to 6 Kyonshi to fight. This just makes it too repetitive. That would not be a big issue if it were shorter. Overall, it has pretty repetitive game play, the story is not well developed. The music is fine, but too few sound effects. The graphics are about average. It can be difficult at times, but easily spammed to the point of making it ridiculously easy. Again, this game is not bad. I like it. If you feel like a little something new, give this one a chance.
Graphics
5 Sound
3 Addictive
3 Depth
4 Story
4 Difficulty
2
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