PixlBit

More like deadly farts.

Released by Konami in 1998, Deadly Arts appears to have attempted to capitalize on the lack of fighting games for the N64 at the time. The game strives for something more like martial arts than fantasy combat, which just means that it contains a limited variety of moves and generic characters. A couple of novel modes try to spice things up, but it isn't enough to make the game worthwhile.

There doesn't appear to be a story to the game, which just makes the plain human characters seem even more generic. The cast of eight all look like they are trying to dress up as Street Fighter characters, and the fighting arenas of warehouses and backyards are no more interesting. The moves all consist of various punches and kicks, which no ranged attacks to be found, giving more realism to the game. There also seem to be a few throws, but I saw only the CPU perform them and could never figure out what button combos they were.

I was glad to see seven difficulty settings in the game, though that probably just makes it more embarrassing when I select “very easy” and still lose. Though I'm at an even larger disadvantage without the manual for this game, as the button combos for special moves must be especially obtuse for me to not find a one. All four C buttons are listed as the Special button, though in my brief time I never managed to get them to do anything. There is also no grab button even though there is some way to grab and throw opponents, which makes it needlessly complicated.

In addition to the standard 1-player matches and the 2-player versus mode, there is also a tag match that sort of reminds me of Pokémon. In this mode, both sides pick three different characters to battle it out one at a time, and can swap out the current fighter mid-match when things get too dicey. At the end of the 1-player game is a boss who randomly transforms into a beast in the middle of the match, which seems totally out of place for a game that was realistic up to that point. It feels like a half-hearted attempt to add something, anything, out of the ordinary into the game, and ends up completely out of place.

The create-a-character is expectedly limited, but provides one interesting aspect. Only a handful of faces, hairsyles, body sizes, and clothing options are available, which leaves little possibilities. However, instead of selecting combat moves, the created character must learn moves by sparring with the stock fighters in the game. This provides an almost RPG-like aspect, as the created character essentially gets stronger from each match by increasing his or her fighting repertoire.

In the end, there's nothing noteworthy about Deadly Arts. Everyone will tire quickly of the basic gameplay, so the game is best left to diehards who like to play every fighting game in existence.