Pit-Fighter
System: Genesis
Release Date: November 1991
Developer: Sterling Silver Software
Publisher: Tengen
Genre: Fighting
Battle your way through the masses in Pit-Fighter! It’s a no holds barred battle in this latest underground sport. There’s not much in the way of technique in these fighters. You just need to destroy all that stand in your way so you can become the champion. Are you tough enough?
Choose your favorite fighter from three choices. Buzz is a former pro wrestler. He specializes in grappling attacks at the sacrifice of striking prowess. Ty is a champion kick boxer. As you can guess, he does interesting kicks. Kato is a karate master. He is very speedy and agile. I began with Buzz when I started to learn the ropes. This isn’t the first time I’ve played Pit-Fighter. I remember as a child in the early 90s, my pops giving me a twenty at the bowling alley and me splitting my time between Pit-Fighter and the Simpsons. I remember those machines eating my cash…
The controls are begging for more than three buttons. The A Button is a punch, the B Button is a kick, the C Button is a jump. Combining the button presses gives you a jump kick or allows you to block. Double tapping left or right lets you evade and this is an important technique to win fights. Pressing the A, B, and C Buttons together unleashes your super move. Buzz does a grapple, while Ty and Kato do multiple strikes.
This hurts me to say, but the pro wrestler plays the worst out of them all. I think I liked Ty’s super kick the most. One thing to always be on the lookout for is a barrel on the stage, because it hides a power-pill that strengthens your attack and defense. Be careful, because your opponent can benefit from it as well. Fights devolve into finding ways to use weapons, special attacks, and the crowd to your advantage.
Some enemies are much more difficult than others and unless you want to cheese the AI, you’re going to have a rough time. Every few fights you have a grudge match against your palette swapped self and the first to three knockdowns wins. I didn’t actually make it to the Masked Warrior final boss, so was never crowned the Ultimate Champion. I’ll have another chance in a few months when the game debuts on the SNES.
Graphics: 2.0
The digitized fighters are certainly novel, but I can’t say they’re particularly good.
Sound: 2.0
The music and sounds are pretty thin and tinny, but they fit with the setting.
Gameplay: 1.5
The game works, but not well. It’s very shallow.
Difficulty: 1.5
You need to cheese fights in order to not lose too much health, which makes it less entertaining.
Fun Factor: 1.5
I’m not coming back to this one any time soon, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve played lately.
Overall Rating: 1.7
Pit-Fighter earns a C-. Look, this game isn’t going to earn any awards, but it’s an alright arcade conversion.