In their most recent episode of Friday Night Fisticuffs, the Super Best Friends take a trip to the not-so-distant future for their second Mechaweek. As “Mechaweek” probably gave away, the game of choice pits giant robot against giant robot–or in the case of this game, Human Assisted Robot against Human Assisted Robot–in an all-out battle.
That game is none other than Epic Megagames’ One Must Fall: 2097.
This title was obscure when it came out back in 1994 and that certainly hasn’t changed. It released for IBM-compatible computers and was created early enough in the history of gaming to have existed on floppy disks, which always adds a certain degree of class that one can’t find in other distribution methods. Since it hit shelves a couple of years into the fighting game revolution of the early 90s, it’s pretty clear where it got most of its influences. I mean, if the fact that it features Fatality-style, round-ending attacks called “scrap” and “destruction” moves isn’t enough, one of the HARs even brings some of Noob Saibot’s attacks to the battle.
One Must Fall did have some of its own flair, though. For one, instead of picking a single fighter before entering a match, players choose a pilot and the HAR they will control. There’s a sort of stat system that affects the way that certain pilots drive each mecha, so the matchup potential stands to be rather deep for a game with such a small roster. Additionally, it’s got stage hazards, which include things like giant spikes appearing from the background and slamming into the fighting HARs, or my personal favorite, fly-by attacks from fighter jets.
If you long for an old-school slugfest that centers around massive machines mauling one another, check out the video below.
Source: TheSw1tcher via Super Best Friends Play