Burning Fight

Burning Fight[lower-alpha 1] is a beat 'em up arcade game released by SNK in 1991 for the Neo Geo MVS system.[2] Introduced to capture a share in the then-popular beat 'em ups market, it was meant to compete with Technōs' Double Dragon, the leader of the genre at the time. Three years after its release in the arcades and on the Neo Geo AES, it was released on Neo Geo CD as the only other home version.[3]

Burning Fight
Developer(s)SNK
Publisher(s)SNK
D4 Enterprise
(Virtual Console)
HAMSTER Corporation (PS4/Switch/Xbox One)
Producer(s)Eikichi Kawasaki
Designer(s)Naoto Abe[1]
Composer(s)Yasumasa Yamada
Platform(s)
Release
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)
Arcade systemNeo Geo MVS

The game is produced by Eikichi Kawasaki, one of SNK's founders and the man behind various well-known SNK titles, such as Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown series.

A re-released version of Burning Fight is included in SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1, which was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii in 2008.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot showcasing the first boss.

Burning Fight follows a formula and concepts commonly seen in titles of this genre, such as Streets of Rage, Double Dragon and Final Fight: balanced character selection, objects and weapons found on the ground cause greater damage to opponents, and semi-interactive environments (players can damage objects like phone booths and street signs along the way). The game is set in a fictional version of Osaka city (during a train station scene the platform even shows an "Umida" station sign).

There are three playable characters, each with their own levels of strength, agility and special moves: Ryu is quick but weak, Billy is slow but very strong, and Duke is a more balanced hitter. One element that helps the game stand out from its competition is mini-stages, where the player must defeat some enemies in a short period of time in order to win prizes.

Antagonists are members of Heiwa-Gumi, a Japanese yakuza gang, though there are a few Caucasian bosses and mid-level bosses (including three wrestling characters, Tom Anderson, Gary Powell and the Mad Dilly, modelled after Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), and the final boss is Italian mob boss Castella (Casterora in Japanese). Moreover, the game has no individual endings, no matter which character has been chosen. After defeating Castella, players are presented with various scenes of the game along with the credits, and finally a group picture of the main characters.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Burning Fight on their June 15, 1991 issue as being the eighth most-popular arcade game at the time.[19] Likewise, RePlay reported the game to be the second most-popular arcade game at the time.[20] The title received generally mixed reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms, with most reviewers comparing it with better known competitors in the beat 'em up genre.[21][22][23][24] Both the Neo Geo and Nintendo Switch versions hold a 55% and 30% respectively on the review aggregator GameRankings.[4][5]

AllGame's Kyle Knight regarded Burning Fight as a Final Fight rip-off of inferior quality. Knight criticized the "jerky and stiff" character animations, lack of enemy variety, as well as the repetitive fighting system and gameplay but commended the controls and audio.[6] In contrast, Consoles Plus' Loulou and El Nio Nio compared the game with both Final Fight and Streets of Rage but praised the presentation, graphics, animations, hard rock-style soundtrack, gameplay and longevity.[7] Computer and Video Games' Paul Rand and Tim Boone also regarded the title as a Final Fight rip-off, while Rand in particular drew comparison between Cody and Guy with two of the playable characters. Unlike Knight, both Rand and Boone praised the visuals, sound, gameplay and longevity but criticized the absence of unlimited continues in the AES version.[8]

GamePro's Slasher Quan remarked that it was similar to Final Fight in terms of visuals and gameplay but also praised the presentation and music.[10] Both Joypad's Steph and Joystick's Jean-Marc Demoly compared Burning Fight with Final Fight, Ninja Gaiden and Streets of Rage but praised the audiovisual presentation and controls.[12][13] Player One's Cyril Drevet compared its two-player mode with Double Dragon but commended the visuals, animations, audio, difficulty and longevity.[16] However, Sinclair User highlighted a sense of dullness in the game, stating that "Burning Fight is a competent journey along the usual beat-'em-up road..."[17]

Burning Fight has been met with a much more mixed reception from critics in recent years,[18][25] with Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead in particular regarding the game as a blatant copy of both Final Fight and Streets of Rage.[9] IGN's Lucas M. Thomas also compared its gameplay to Double Dragon but regarded it as more playable than Ninja Combat.[11] Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran and Dave Frear were critical of the title when reviewing the Virtual Console and Nintendo Switch releases respectively, comparing the playable cast of characters with those of Final Fight, while McFerran criticized the poor character animations.[14][15]

Notes
  1. Japanese: バーニング・ファイト Hepburn: Bāningu Faito

References
  1. "SNK". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 1545. Gzbrain. July 26, 2018. (Translation by One Million Power. Archived 2019-12-23 at the Wayback Machine).
  2. "VG: バーニングファイト". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). No. 17. SoftBank Creative. February 1991. p. 131.
  3. "Neo•Geo CD: The Arcade In A Box - Burning Fight". GamePro. No. Premiere Supplement. IDG. Spring 1996. p. 104.
  4. "Burning Fight for NeoGeo". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  5. "ACA NeoGeo: Burning Fight for Nintendo Switch". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  6. Knight, Kyle (1998). "Burning Fight (Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  7. Loulou; El Nio Nio (January 1992). "Neo Geo Review - Burning Fight". Consoles + (in French). No. 5. M.E.R.7. pp. 34–35. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  8. Rand, Paul; Boone, Tim (January 1992). "Reviews - Neo Geo -- Burning Fight". Computer and Video Games. No. 122. EMAP. pp. 34–35.
  9. Whitehead, Dan (June 2, 2008). "Virtual Console Roundup - Paradroid, Burning Fight, Pokemon Puzzle League and Samurai Shodown". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  10. Quan, Slasher (January 1992). "Neo Geo For Real! - Burning Fight". GamePro. No. 30. IDG. pp. 101–102.
  11. M. Thomas, Lucas (July 7, 2008). "Burning Fight Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  12. Steph; Demoly, Jean-Marc (November 1991). "Test - Neo Geo - Burning Fight". Joypad (in French). No. 2. Yellow Media. pp. 122–124. Archived from the original on 2017-09-17. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  13. Demoly, Jean-Marc (October 1991). "Tests - Neo Geo - Burning Fight". Joystick (in French). No. 20. Sipress. p. 131.
  14. McFerran, Damien (May 31, 2008). "Burning Fight Review (Neo Geo)". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  15. Frear, Dave (October 2, 2017). "Burning Fight Review (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  16. Drevet, Cyril (January 1992). "Tests De Jeux - Neo Geo - Burning Fight". Player One (in French). No. 16. Média Système Édition. pp. 80–81.
  17. "Coin Ops - Burning Fight • Neo Geo". Sinclair User. No. 113. EMAP. July 1991. p. 39.
  18. Gould, Trevor (October 18, 2017). "Review: ACA NEOGEO Burning Fight (Nintendo Switch)". Pure Nintendo Magazine. Pure Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  19. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 405. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 June 1991. p. 25.
  20. "The Player's Choice - Top Games Now in Operation, Based on Earnings-Opinion Poll of Operators: Best Software". RePlay. Vol. 16 no. 10. RePlay Publishing, Inc. July 1991. p. 4.
  21. Knauf, Andreas (January 1992). "News - Neo Geo - Burning Fight". Video Games (in German). No. 5. Future-Verlag. pp. 10–12. Archived from the original on 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  22. Yanma; Itabashi (July 1992). "Super Soft 大特集 - 今、『NEO・GEO』がおもしろい！: バーニングファイト". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 121. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 209.
  23. Noak, Philipp; Hellert, Stefan (August 1993). "Special - Neo Geo - Burning Fight". Mega Fun (in German). No. 11. Computec. pp. 28–30. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  24. "Reportaje - Clásicos en CD -- Titulos disponibles para el nuevo formato de SNK: Burning Fight". Hobby Hi-Tech (in Spanish). No. 1. Hobby Press. March 1995. p. 29.
  25. Osange, Elliott (October 1, 2017). "ACA NEOGEO BURNING FIGHT Review". bonusstage.co.uk. Bonus Stage. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
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