Fighter's History (series)

***Fighter's History*** (ファイターズ ヒストリー) is a 2D fighting game series created by Data East. The series originally started on Data East's own arcade hardware in 1993 and then got a sequel on the Neo Geo. After that all other games were released on home consoles.

## About the series

*Fighter's History* focuses on the Great Grapple, a fighting tournament hosted by none other than Karnov, Data East's mascot, who also acts as the game's boss. The games follow closely the template set up by *Street Fighter II*, with one-on-one matches decided on a best of three rounds.

The series was targeted by Capcom for being a supposed clone of *Street Fighter II*. In the courts, it was made clear that *Fighter's History* was as different as any other fighting game and that game mechanics cannot be copyrighted. As part of Data East's argument, they made it clear that Capcom had done their own "cloning" by making the original *Street Fighter*, a game based on Data East's *Karate Champ*, the template for just about all of their pre-*Street Fighter II* fighting games. Capcom lost and *Fighter's History* proceeded to enjoy a level of popularity, particularly in Japan.

The series has retained a cult following among fans, particularly for *Fighter's History Dynamite* and its unusual game balance. In late 2006, SNK Playmore signed a deal with G-Mode, the owner of most of Data East's intellectual properties, to use Data East characters in future SNK Playmore titles. Makoto Mizoguchi appeared as a new character in *KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation A*, while a cellphone game featuring *Fatal Fury* and *Fighter's History* characters was released the following year.

## Games

### Mainline

* **Fighter's History (1993)**

The first game of the series. Originally released in the arcades and later ported to the Super NES with additional features.

* **Fighter's History Dynamite (1994)**

A direct sequel of the original. Released in European arcades as *Karnov's Revenge*, also appeared on the Neo-Geo CD and Sega Saturn consoles. It made the bosses Clown and Karnov playable, and added two new characters, Yungmie and Zazie. It is arguably the most popular entry of the series. A two volume manga was also made for the game. The Neo Geo game got rereleases on Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console service, Zeebo and modern consoles by Hamster Corporation.

* **Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!! (1995)**

A spin-off which features a story mode starring Mizoguchi. The boss of this game was Chelnov, a character from another Data East game, who is the only exclusive character in the game. However, five characters were taken out - Ray, Matlok, Samchay, Jean and Marstorius. This was also one of the few Super Famicom titles that featured a tag team mode, as well as a training mode and combo trials (exercise mode). This game was released for the Super Famicom and later added to the Sega Saturn port of *Fighter's History Dynamite* as an extra.

### Mobile

* **Garou Densetsu vs. Fighter's History Dynamite (2007)**

A crossover beat 'em up game starring *Fighter's History* and *Fatal Fury* characters. It was a part of a collaboration between G-Mode and SNK Playmore for 15th anniversary of *Fatal Fury* series.

## Characters

### Introduced in Fighter's History

* Ray McDougall
* Liu Feilin
* Ryoko Kano
* Matlok Jade
* Samchay Tomyamkun
* Lee Diendo
* Makoto Mizoguchi
* Jean Pierre
* Marstorius
* Clown - sub-boss
* Karnov - final boss

### Introduced in Fighter's History Dynamite

* Liu Yungmie
* Zazie Muhaba
* Ox - secret boss