Tattoo Assassins

Flyer

**Tattoo Assassins** is an unreleased fighting game developed by Data East Pinball and slated for release in 1995/96. The game suffered from multiple issues during development due to the programmers being inexperienced with developing games, along with bad management, crunch time and poor feedback from beta testers, eventually ending cancelled after Data East Pinball was sold to Sega Pinball.

The game was spearheaded by Joe Kaminow of Data East Pinball, and the script written by Bob Gale (*Back to the Future*).

## Story

And so it came to pass, that Mullah Abba, spiritual leader of the order of colours, discovered the ancient secret of the mystic Ink of Ghize. The Ink of Ghize is an amorphous fluid organism can form into real objects for brief moments when applied to human bodies as tattoos. However, the ink is only compatible with those of a certain unusual genetic makeup, those known as hosts. The ink can cause bizarre mutations in those who prove unsuitable… Among the color guard, only Koldan was a suitable host. Thus believing himself superior to all mankind, Koldan stole the secret of the ink. His goal is to create an army of mutants and enslave the human race. Mullah Abba commanded the nine remaining color guards to find new hosts for the Ink of Ghize, one of whom might be powerful enough to defeat Koldan. Nine hosts were found. Each received magnificent chest and arm tattoos, plus a magical morph tattoo on their palm. Yet Koldans power had grown stronger. His consciousness possessed the assassins. He would use them to find the remaining ink for himself! But all was not lost, for Mullah Abba discovered the strange power of the mysterious tattooed woman, Lyla Blue. By using Lyla as a channel, Mullah Abba has the power to allow you to possess any one assassin. Choose! Now, you must defeat each of the other assassins. Use your tattoos as weapons. Earn new tattoos. Destroy the mutants. Find Koldan and defeat the mutants — If you can!

## Gameplay

*Tattoo Assassins* was made to cash in on the success of *Mortal Kombat*, featuring digitized sprites and a focus on hyper violence. It utilizes the same control scheme as *Mortal Kombat*, and much like its inspiration it features an array of finishing moves, the majority of which are shared between characters and executed with simple input combinations at the end of a match. The game has nine selectable characters, along with four boss-only characters.

### Playable Characters

* **Maya**: A tribeswoman who fights against a group of settlers trying to take her homeland.
* **Billy Two Moons**: A renegade native American fighting to protect the burial grounds of his ancestors.
* **Truck Davis**: The survivor of a biker gang who seeks revenge for his comrades.
* **A.C. Current**: A cyber-mercenary who's on the run from the government and his former employers.
* **Tak Hata**: A former Yakuza assassin, wanted by both the Yakuza and the police after being framed for a murder.
* **Luke Cord**: A former navy seal wanted by the CIA after a compromised operation against the Soviets.
* **Hannah Hart**: A strip dancer who seeks revenge against the murderer of her best friend.
* **Derek O'Toole**: A former rock star who was accused of being involved in terrorist activities.
* **Karla Keller**: An athlete who seeks revenge after being cheated by a rival.

### Boss Characters

* **Rhina, Deke Kay and Prizm**: Koldan's minions who serve as sub-bosses.
* **Koldan**: The game's main villain and final boss, who seeks to use the Ink of Ghize to enslave humanity and conquer the world.

## External Links

* Dan's Tattoo Assassins Page
* I-Mockery