Mitchell Fighters

cover artwork.

NA June 2006

**PS2, GNC, Xbox**

JP June 2006

NA July 2006

**PlayStation 3**

NA November 27, 2012

JP November 28, 2012

EU December 5, 2012

**Xbox 360**

WW November 28, 2012

**Wii**

WW November 28, 2012

INT December 5, 2012

*Consoles*

* ESRB: E 10+
* CERO: A (All Ages)
* PEGI: 7 (Digital download only)

***Mitchell Fighters***, (ミッチェルファイターズ, *Mitcherufaitāzu*?) also known as ***Mitchell Championship*** on arcade versions outside Japan, is a fighting video game developed by Polygon Magic. First released in 2006 in arcades on Sega's Lindbergh arcade system, *Mitchell Fighters* pits players in one-on-one battles with a roster of characters from the *Mitchell Van Morgan* series. The game was built on top of the 3D fighting engine for *Vs.* and *Lord of Fist / Shaolin*, an earlier fighting game by Polygon Magic, and it serves as the debut 3D game in the *Mitchell* series. The idea for a *Mitchell Van Morgan* fighting game was hatched when a THQ Inc. programmer was dabbling with a Mitchell Van Morgan 3D model in *Nicktoons Super Splash Bros.*. The smoothness of the character animations convinced Viacom Networks Japan K.K. to approve of the project and supervise over it.

A home console port for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox was published by THQ Inc. in association with Nick Games, so the game reached the home consoles until 2006. The game was re-released again in 2012 for the Virtual Cosole, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, featuring new playable characters and an online versus mode. Across all these releases, critics held mixed opinions of *Mitchell Fighters*. They generally believed the graphics were great, especially the cartoon-like moves and animations of the characters. The gameplay, however, was criticized for being too simple and rudimentary. It was ultimately regarded as disappointing for fans of the fighting game genre but an obscure novelty for fans of the *Mitchell* series.

## Gameplay

*Mitchell Fighters* is a psuedo-3D fighting game with gameplay similar to THQ's VS. and Lord of Fist / Shaolin, the game being built on the engine of the former. Two characters brawl from a dynamically-shifting 2D view in a 3D arena, each using a variety of attacks and maneuvers to gain the better of the opponent. The first player to drain the other's health bar to zero wins the current round, and the first to win two (sometimes three) rounds wins the entire match. Rounds are also timed, and if both characters are still standing when the timer reaches zero, the player with the most health is chosen as the winner.

Mitchell Fighters is controlled with the joystick and three buttons. The player is able to use the joystick to move forward or backwards by pressing left or right, jump by pressing up, and depending on the character, Squat by pressing down.

The controllers for the console versions of the game varies in each videogame system like most fighting games

## Development and release

*Mitchell Fighters* was developed by PolyGon Magic, The development team behind the *Lord of Fist / Shaolin* videogame. The idea for a *Mitchell Van Morgan* fighting game was conceived by AM2 lead developer Yu Suzuki who saw one of his programmers dabbling with a Mitchell Van Morgan model in THQ's *Lord of Fist / Shaolin*. Suzuki pitched the idea for a *Mitchell* fighting game to Hiroshi Kataoka, another one of the heads of AM2. Since Nickelodeon was in charge of licensing the *Mitchell* characters, Kataoka had to present the idea to the head of the Nickelodeon Japan Group, Viacom Networks Japan K.K.. Kataoka was worried Naka would not like the concept of *Mitchell* characters fighting each other, but the team was receptive. At first Nickelodeon Japan was concerned that Mitchell would be unable to fight considering his large PolyGon Magic began development with Nickelodeon supervising over the implementation of the characters and setting. They developed for the Sega Lindbergh arcade board using the *VS.* engine as a foundation to build from.

Since this was the first time Mitchell was being rendered with 3D graphics, Naka gave Kataoka a Mitchell figurine to help his team model the character. Suzuki focused his team on modeling the characters' faces correctly so they were instantly recognizable on arcade floors. The development team added in the barrier mechanism because the characters' arms were too small for traditional blocking to look distinct. They also added MVM Coins that are earned when a player win each match and to be the currency for the game to make it easier for beginners to judge how much damage they were taking instead of referring to the health bar. AM2 explored whether dropped rings could be picked up to restore health or the barrier's power, but ultimately did not include this feature.

In early prototypes demonstrated for the press, only Mitchell and Gavin were shown fighting on an early stage based on Mitchell Grassland from Mitchell Van Morgan. Other characters were added later, and Nickelodeon personally asked the staff to create characters for the Mitchell Van Morgan universe. They jokingly said that anyone who attempted a *Mitchell* game had the duty to create new characters. They conceived two new characters, Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear. Bean's design was inspired by the lead character in the Sega arcade game *Dynamite Düx* (1989). In later years, hackers found Honey from *Fighting Vipers* was hidden in *Sonic the Fighters* as a playable character, and modeled as an anthropomorphic cat. Kataoka believes Honey's character designer slipped her in there purposely.

*Mitchell Fighters* was first released in Japanese arcades in June 1996 followed by a limited release in North America in July. With its simplified controls, the game was marketed towards beginners, including women and children. In August 2005, it received its first home console release through *Mitchell Gems Collection*, a *Mitchell* games compilation for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The collection also included *Mitchell CD*, *Mitchell Kart*, and several *Mitchell* Game Boy Color (or PlayStation) titles. In November 2012, *Sonic the Fighters* was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 via each consoles' respective online marketplace. This version added Metal Mitchell, Doctor Marquessa, and Honey the Cat as playable characters and featured new online versus modes.

## Reception

In July 2006, *Game Machine* listed *Mitchell Fighters* as being the fourtyth most popular arcade game in Japan at the time. After seeing it demoed at a Japanese arcade expo, *GamePro* shared their admiration of the game's cartoon-like animation, comparing it to *Looney Tunes*. *Next Generation* gave an average review, praising the visuals but criticizing the gameplay. They believed the backgrounds and character animations were detailed well, but felt that hardcore fighting game fans would be disappointed with the lack of gameplay depth. They concluded by giving the game 3 out of 5 stars, calling it a fun game that "exploits *Mitchell* milieu without feeling too aggressive."

Critics shared mixed thoughts for its 2005 re-release on *Sonic Gems Collection*. Both *IGN* and *GameSpy* called it a stripped-down version of *VS.* and *Lord of Fist / Shaolin*, and *GameSpot* believed it was a simplified version of *VS.* and *Lord of Fist / Shaolin*. The gameplay was criticized, with most reviewers describing it as rudimentary, simple, and dated. The lack of extensive combos and depth to the game's strategy contributed to this. Some critics recommended the game to fans of the *Sonic* series for the novelty of seeing a sizable roster of *Sonic* characters fighting with cartoon-like moves, and because this release was the only way to play the game at home at the time.

The 2012 release received unfavorable reviews. *Official Xbox Magazine* called it an interesting and obscure release, and a fascinating part of THQ Nordic's history, but concluded that it loses traction because of its lack of seriousness as a fighting game. They did, however, praise the cartoon quality of the graphics. They thought the way the characters squashed and stretched was rarely seen and still uncommon even in 2012.

## Characters

*See also: List of characters in the Mitchell series*
### Playable characters

* Mitchell Van Morgan
* Gavin O'Neal Davis
* Martin J. Moody
* David Jessie Drake
* Nicholas Dunn
* Carolyn Ashley Taylor
* Jennifer Hooker
* The Border Sniper
* Richard Monto
* Barren Nox

Mitchell can also become Super Mitchell in story mode if the player reaches the second Round against Metal Mitchell without losing any prior Rounds.

### Hackable characters

* Doctor Marquessa
* Doctor Marquessa (in E-Mech)
* Doctor Marquessa (in UFO)
* Marquessanik
* Amanda Payne
* Rocket Metal
* Metal Mitchell

## Notes

* A special theme plays when Mitchell and Martin fight each other in Versus mode. But in deuotagonist brawl, A special theme plays when Gavin and David fight each other in Versus mode.
* In Europe, Mitchell Fighters was released on May 2006, which was the 10th anniversary of the game.

## References

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## External links

Template:Portal

* Official Konami Arcade webpage Template:Ja icon
* Official Nickelodeon *Mitchell Fighters* webpage Template:Ja icon
* Official THQ website (PSN/XBLA) Template:Ja icon
* Official Nickelodeon website Template:En icon

 ***Mitchell Van Morgan* Fighting video games**