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Sonic the Fighters
  PS3FightingUC  
  opened by paleface at 19:37:38 01/23/24  
  last modified by paleface at 23:57:41 03/18/24  
  paleface [sys=PS3; cat=Fighting; reg=NA]
           

 
Playthrough as Sonic
 
I basically melted down repeatedly trying to do certain maneuvers in this mostly Virtua-Fighter control scheme: Punch, Kick, and Barrier buttons, with combinations doing throws and evades, but Barrier being a full-body affair--no high/low distinction--with limited uses allowed per match or per round. Wikipedia says "With its simplified controls, the game was marketed towards beginners, including women and children," but I play regular VF regularly and I couldn't handle the stuff in this!
 
I kept trying to burn my "Barrier" charges--I don't block in VF or whatnot: holdin' a button all the time 'tain't ergonomic! : P--on activating Hyper Mode for chain comboing everything for five seconds or so but had huge trouble just activating it and then using it; I'd finally manage to get it activated and then get flattened. Aside from the fast pace of the game causing me to panic and rush the bG+P activation input, I was getting this stuff wrong:
 
- Can't re-activate Hyper Mode for about 5 seconds after it wears off--Barrier icons have to revert from orange through yellow back to blue
- Hyper Mode activation is an attack, if it misses you're start the mode off in recovery and will likely get flattened and spend most of the mode time on your back = P
- In default Type A game, Barrier charges don't reset between rounds, so you only have 5 (default value) for the whole match; pay attention to how many you have left 'cause it's easy to run out
 
Later I melted down trying to do a down attack (for Sonic at least it was dK while opponent is down):
 
- Kept forgetting if the lever direction for it was up or down : PPP
- It's not a jump up in the air, it's a little heel drop kick thing he does quickly, sort of hard to spot
- I have completely stopped doing down attacks in VF pretty much out of fear of getting caught out trying them by the AI, and laziness, so I'm just ugh at doing them at all now I guess d-argh
 
What I had actually wanted though was just hold(?) uK, where Sonic does a leap up in the air, inflates his feet and lands for a big stomp--he can actually do this whenever, at any distance! I think it functions as an on-the-ground hit if the opponent is down; Sonic's spin dash special move (d,dP, I think) hit OtG as well, I think.
 
This game is pretty insane, maybe way too insane, I dunno. The fighting area is dinky, and backwards movement is very slow, certain special moves can zip right across the screen, and everyone has fast chain combos--so the opponent is pretty much always in your face. A lot of moves/combos have long recovery times; the CPU is pretty good with blocks (although in earlier matches you can get them to burn through their Barrier charges in the first round, leaving them largely at your mercy for the rest of the match) and evades, and brutal with punishes. Later AI is disgusting with throws. There was some sort of throw state I got them in where they were sort of held but not thrown, not sure what that was or what follow-up input I needed to do. Also kept whiffing throws pressing f plus the G+P; can't do a direction (at least for Sonic's throws) except uh I think it was d, which does the nutty weapon steal move!
 
In the arcade it ran on Sega Model 2 hardware, which Virtua Fighter 2 ran on--but unlike VF2--at least in VF2's sharp PS3 port; dunno about its actual arcade version--StF has decent-feeling character collision and throw mechanics. StF came out just a month before Virtua Fighter 3 rolled out on the fancy new Sega Model 3 hardware; I wonder StF was partly a way to use up remaining Model 2 inventory.
 
The PS3/360 version added three playable characters: the two supposedly very overpowered boss characters, who can only be used in casual online/local Vs matches (press Start on Sonic and Bean), and the supposedly underpowered Honey the Cat (press Start on Amy). These are said to be available also in the virtual arcade version in "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man who Erased His Name," but not the one in the earlier "Lost Judgment."
 
Online appears to be operational still, but I didn't find an opponent.
 
Oh, Fang fires corks out of a revolver--a dark blue revolver on a black/dark blue background, very fast. : P
 
The final boss is a Dural-type one-and-done bonus match situation where you're done and on to the credits after one match--just one 15-second round, here!--win or lose.
 
  paleface 01:38:55 01/24/24
           
Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polerbear (sic) were invented for this game https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Bean_the_Dynamite#Concept_and_creation , although Bean is apparently based on characters Bin and Pin from an earlier Sega AM2 beat em up, Dynamite Dux.
 
  paleface 23:52:40 03/18/24
           

 
On PS3, playing SEGA games like or at least sort of like the five SEGA arcade games you can play in "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name"--which I just played on PC, for comparison.
 
Sonic the Fighters
 
No screen filter here on PS3 and you've got access to move lists and higher difficulty settings and stuff so this version is technically better (my pad mashing was way more successful than in Gaiden; probably less input delay but I didn't measure), unless maybe you feel strongly about being able to run it at higher than 1080p as I would guess you can on PC if you've got the right hardware.
 
If I really wanted to play the game it would be PS3.
    
 
references:
· Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PC)
· Sonic Gems Collection (GC)
· Sonic Smackdown (PC)
· Virtua Fighter 2 (PS3)

 
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