Changes: Kart Fighter

Revision as of 02:13, 12 January 2020

Kart Fighter (瑪莉快打) is a fighting game for the Famicom by Hummer Team. The game was possibly made in early 1994 because AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting reuses assets from Kart Fighter. It's well known due to having characters from Super Mario Kart beating each other up, Street Fighter II style.

Overview

File:KFgameplay.PNG

Kart Fighter's Gameplay.

Kart Fighter keeps the same style of gameplay and base engine as Street Fighter II (Famicom). Everyone has a set of moves, although they are pretty similar overall. Every character, except Nokonoko, can throw a projectile. Also, some characters have charge attacks and some have stationary attacks. A handful of the background graphics seem to have been taken from Little Nemo: The Dream Master, Mario & Wario, and, obviously, Super Mario Kart. The music mostly consists of 8-bit renditions of songs from Mario & Wario, but the songs from Peach's stage, the title screen, and the ending theme are all remixed from Super Mario Kart.

There are five difficulty levels to choose from, like in most of the games based on this engine. The AI, however, seems to have a predefined pattern on the second round no matter which difficulty level is selected (ex: ducking will cause them to shoot a projectile if they have one, jumping leads to either a charge move or an uppercut, etc.) Kart Fighter also has a versus mode; to join, press the 'a' button on a second controller.

Characters

File:KFSelect.PNG

Character Select Screen.

There are a total of 8 playable characters in Kart Fighter. The character's names in-game are in parentheses.

Mario (Mari)
Luigi (Luigi)
Princess Peach (Peach)
Yoshi (Yossy)
Toad (Kinopio)
Donkey Kong Jr. (Donkey)
Koopa Troopa (Nokonoko)
Bowser (Koopa)

Move Commands

Mari (Mario)

D, DF, F, a: Fireball
B, F, a: Uppercut (Can only hit grounded opponents)
B, B, b: Flying Kick

Luigi

D, DF, F, a: Fireball
?, ??, ?, ?: Uppercut (Can only hit grounded opponents)
?, ??, ?, ?: Flying Kick

Peach

D, DF, F, a: Fireball
D, DB, B, b: Spin Kick
Hold Back, b: Hair Whip

Yossy (Yoshi)

D, DF, F, a: Fireball
D, DF, F, b: Tongue Attack
F, DF, D, b: Tail Dance

Kinopio (Toad)

D, DF, F, a: Mushroom Shot
B, B, a: Uppercut (Can only hit airborne opponents)
F, FU, U, b: Flying Kick

Donkey (Donkey Kong Jr.)

D, DF, F, a: Banana Slide
D, DB, B, b: Uppercut (Can only hit airborne opponents)
B, DB, D, a: Spin Attack

Nokonoko (Koopa Troopa)

D, DB, B, a: Charge
B, F, b: Shell Spin

Koopa (Bowser)

D, DF, F, a: Fireball
B, DB, B, b: Charge
D, D, a: Tail Flop

Connections

Selecting Start or Option on the title screen plays part of an unused Chaos Emerald sound effect from Somari.
The option screen uses Super Mario World (Famicom)'s Super Mushrooms as the border around the difficulty levels. The spin-jump sound effect from the same game is played when choosing one.
The lava in Luigi's stage is also from Super Mario World (Famicom).
The song in Donkey Kong Jr.'s stage is a slightly altered music track from Jing Ke Xin Zhuan.
Kart Fighter was likely developed sometime after Garou Densetsu Special (Famicom), since Donkey Kong Jr. has a grounded projectile similar to Terry Bogard's Power Wave.
Some of the sound effects in Kart Fighter were reused in Harry's Legend.

Unused Tiles

File:KFUnusedTiles.PNG

Unused "Game Over" tiles.

Going through Kart Fighter's tiles, one can find some that spell out "Game Over". Kart Fighter was most likely planned to have a Game Over screen, but it was scrapped.

Reception

Since Kart Fighter is an unlicensed game, it doesn't have feedback from any commercial gaming magazines. However, with the ROM being available to the public, there are plenty of user reviews on GameFAQs, YouTube, and several independent review sites.

Kart Fighter on GameFAQs has an average user rating of 3.5 out of 5 with three reviews. One reviewer praised both the graphics and sound, as well as the gameplay, and said 'Overall this is quite possibly THE best Bootleg game EVER made. And its also simply a very good 2-D fighter game as well.' They gave a score of 4 out of 5.
Another reviewer on GameSpot stated that Kart Fighter 'is like a poor man's version of Super Smash Bros.', but is still worth a play. They gave the game a 7 out of 10.
Siliconera said that Kart Fighter is clearly Street Fighter II-inspired, and 'As a pirate NES game Kart Fighter is fairly advanced.' Their feedback was mainly positive.

Trivia

In Kart Fighter, Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Bowser are referred to by their Japanese names. Yoshi is sometimes called Yossy in Japan.
Mario and Luigi have their hat colors swapped on the title screen when compared to Super Mario Kart's. Also, their in-game sprites are only palette swaps of each other.
The inputs for Luigi's Uppercut and Flying Kick seem to be executed by a command that only the CPU can do. This is likely a bug in the game, seeing as Mario's commands work.
Bowser's the shortest character in the game. This is because the size of the CHR banks prevented his sprite from being any larger. Going through the tiles shows that he was likely the last character developed.
Peach has black hair instead of blonde and wears a different outfit then her usual dress.
The song played on the Top 8 screen, which is loosely based on the 'Mario's Rank' song in Super Mario Kart, has been reused in many of Hummer Team's other fighting games. Kart Fighter, being the only Mario-themed game to use this music track, is likely where it originated from.
On the Top 8 screen, the last 0 in each score on the board is different compared to the other 0's.
The game does keep score; it'll appear on the Top 8 screen if you get enough points.

Gallery

Video

Kart Fighter Walkthrough

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 |developer  = [[Hummer Team]]
 |console    = Famicom
-|date       = 1994
+|date       = 1994(?)
 |engine     = [[Street Fighter II Engine]]
 |sound      = [[Hummer Sound Engine]]
 |alt        = ''[[AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting]]''
 }}
-'''''Kart Fighter''''' ({{Mousetext|瑪莉快打|Mǎ lì kuài dǎ, lit. ''Mario Fighter''}}) is a fighting game made for the Famicom by [[Hummer Team]]. The game was possibly made in early 1994 because ''[[AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting]]'' reuses things from the game. It's well known due to having characters from [[Wikipedia:Super Mario Kart|''Super Mario Kart'']] beating each other up [[Street Fighter#Street Fighter II: The World Warrior|''Street Fighter II'' style]].
+'''''Kart Fighter''''' ({{Mousetext|瑪莉快打|Mǎ lì kuài dǎ, lit. ''Mario Fighter''}}) is a fighting game for the Famicom by [[Hummer Team]]. The game was possibly made in early 1994 because ''[[AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting]]'' reuses assets from ''Kart Fighter''. It's well known due to having characters from [[Wikipedia:Super Mario Kart|''Super Mario Kart'']] beating each other up, [[Street Fighter#Street Fighter II: The World Warrior|''Street Fighter II'']] style.
 == Overview ==
 [[File:KFgameplay.PNG|left|thumb|150px|''Kart Fighter''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Gameplay.]]
-The game keeps the same style of gameplay as ''Street Fighter II''. Each character has a set of moves although they are pretty similar overall. Everyone of them, except Nokonoko, is able to throw projectiles, has something like a charge attack; several have a stationary attack. Some of the background graphics have been taken from ''Mario & Wario'' and ''Little Nemo: The Dream Master''. The music has also mostly 8-bit versions of the songs from ''Mario & Wario'', although the music tracks for the title screen, Peach's stage and ending are from ''Super Mario Kart''.
+''Kart Fighter'' keeps the same style of gameplay and base engine as ''[https://bootleggames.fandom.com/wiki/Street_Fighter_II:_The_World_Warrior Street Fighter II (Famicom)]''. Everyone has a set of moves, although they are pretty similar overall. Every character, except Nokonoko, can throw a projectile. Also, some characters have charge attacks and some have stationary attacks. A handful of the background graphics seem to have been taken from ''Little Nemo: The Dream Master'', ''Mario & Wario'', and, obviously, ''Super Mario Kart''. The music mostly consists of 8-bit renditions of songs from ''Mario & Wario'', but the songs from Peach's stage, the title screen, and the ending theme are all remixed from ''Super Mario Kart''.
-There are five difficulty levels in the game, like in most of the games based on this engine. The AI, however, seems to have a predefined pattern on the second round no matter which difficulty level is selected (ex: Ducking will cause them to shoot a projectile if they have one, jumping leads to either a charge move or an uppercut, etc.) The game also has a versus mode; in order to activate it, a button on the second player's gamepad has to be pressed.
+There are five difficulty levels to choose from, like in most of the games based on this engine. The AI, however, seems to have a predefined pattern on the second round no matter which difficulty level is selected (ex: ducking will cause them to shoot a projectile if they have one, jumping leads to either a charge move or an uppercut, etc.) ''Kart Fighter'' also has a versus mode; to join, press the 'a' button on a second controller.
 == Characters ==
 [[File:KFSelect.PNG|thumb|right|200px|Character Select Screen.]]
-There are 8 playable characters in the game. Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Bowser are referred to by their Japanese names which are in parentheses.
+There are a total of 8 playable characters in ''Kart Fighter''. The character's names in-game are in parentheses.
 *Mario (Mari)
-*Luigi
+*Luigi (Luigi)
-*Peach
+*Princess Peach (Peach)
 *Yoshi (Yossy)
 *Toad (Kinopio)
 *Donkey Kong Jr. (Donkey)
-*Koopa (Nokonoko)
+*Koopa Troopa (Nokonoko)
 *Bowser (Koopa)
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 '''Mari''' ('''Mario''')
 *D, DF, F, a: Fireball
-*B, F, a: Uppercut
+*B, F, a: Uppercut (Can only hit grounded opponents)
 *B, B, b: Flying Kick
 '''Luigi'''
 *D, DF, F, a: Fireball
-*?, ??, ?, ?: Uppercut
+*?, ??, ?, ?: Uppercut (Can only hit grounded opponents)
 * ?, ??, ?, ?: Flying Kick
 '''Peach'''
@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 '''Kinopio''' ('''Toad''')
 *D, DF, F, a: Mushroom Shot
-*B, B, a: Uppercut (Unlike Mario's and Luigi's, this one can only hit in the air)
+*B, B, a: Uppercut (Can only hit airborne opponents)
 *F, FU, U, b: Flying Kick
 '''Donkey''' ('''Donkey Kong Jr.''')
 *D, DF, F, a: Banana Slide
-*D, DB, B, b: Uppercut (acts like Toad's)
+*D, DB, B, b: Uppercut (Can only hit airborne opponents)
 *B, DB, D, a: Spin Attack
-'''Nokonoko''' ('''Koopa''')
+'''Nokonoko''' ('''Koopa Troopa''')
 *D, DB, B, a: Charge
 *B, F, b: Shell Spin
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 == Connections ==
-*Selecting Start or Option on the title screen plays an unused Chaos Emerald sound effect from [[Somari|''Somari'']]'', ''but this time, part of it is deleted.
+*Selecting Start or Option on the title screen plays part of an unused Chaos Emerald sound effect from [[Somari|''Somari'']].
-*The option screen uses [[Super Mario World (Famicom)|''Super Mario World''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s (Famicom)]] mushroom as the border and the cape spin sound when choosing the difficulty. Not only does it use the mushroom but there's other graphics (like the lava in the castle stage) that are also used in ''Super Mario World''.
+*The option screen uses [[Super Mario World (Famicom)|''Super Mario World (Famicom)'']]'s Super Mushrooms as the border around the difficulty levels. The spin-jump sound effect from the same game is played when choosing one.
-*The music in Donkey Kong Jr.'s stage is altered slightly from a music track in [[Jing Ke Xin Zhuan|''Jing Ke Xin Zhuan'']].
+*The lava in Luigi's stage is also from [[Super Mario World (Famicom)|''Super Mario World (Famicom)'']].
+*The song in Donkey Kong Jr.'s stage is a slightly altered music track from [[Jing Ke Xin Zhuan|''Jing Ke Xin Zhuan'']].
-*Some of the sound effects were reused in [[Titenic#Harry's Legend|''Harry's Legend'']].
+*''Kart Fighter'' was likely developed sometime after [[Garou Densetsu Special|''Garou Densetsu Special (Famicom)'']], since Donkey Kong Jr. has a grounded projectile similar to Terry Bogard's Power Wave.
-*The ending music, based off the one from ''Super Mario Kart'', was reused in many of Hummer Team's fighting games. As this is the only Mario themed game to use this music, it's likely that this was the first game to use it.
+*Some of the sound effects in ''Kart Fighter'' were reused in [[Titenic#Harry's Legend|''Harry's Legend'']].
 == Unused Tiles ==
 [[File:KFUnusedTiles.PNG|thumb|200px|Unused "Game Over" tiles.]]
-Going through ''Kart Fighter''<nowiki/>'s tiles, one can find an unused "Game Over". It was most likely planned to have a Game Over screen but it got dropped.
+Going through ''Kart Fighter''<nowiki/>'s tiles, one can find some that spell out "Game Over". ''Kart Fighter'' was most likely planned to have a Game Over screen, but it was scrapped.
 {{Br}}
 == Reception ==
-Due to the fact that this is an unlicensed game, it still has no feedback from the commercial gaming magazines. However, with the ROM being available to public, it got a plenty of user reviews on GameFAQs and YouTube, as well on several independent review sites.
+Since ''Kart Fighter'' is an unlicensed game, it doesn't have feedback from any commercial gaming magazines. However, with the ROM being available to the public, there are plenty of user reviews on GameFAQs, YouTube, and several independent review sites.
+*''Kart Fighter'' on GameFAQs has an average user rating of 3.5 out of 5 with three reviews. [http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/574596-kart-fighter/reviews/review-79436 One reviewer] praised both the graphics and sound, as well as the gameplay, and said 'Overall this is quite possibly THE best Bootleg game EVER made. And its also simply a very good 2-D fighter game as well.' They gave a score of 4 out of 5.
-Note that although this game has a true ending on higher difficulties and the fighters' names are not misspellings, as it was proved, many reviews tend to keep the same mistake over and over again.
+*[http://www.gamespot.com/nes/action/kartfighter/player_review.html?id=710154&tag=player-reviews%3Bcontinue%3B1 Another reviewer] on GameSpot stated that ''Kart Fighter'' 'is like a poor man's version of ''Super Smash Bros.''<nowiki/>', but is still worth a play. They gave the game a 7 out of 10.
-*GameFAQs has an average user rating of 7.0 by three reviews, two of which, however remain elusive. [http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/574596-kart-fighter/reviews/review-79436 One of which] praised both graphics and sounds, as well as the gameplay, considering that this is an unlicensed game after all and said that 'overall this is quite possibly the best bootleg game EVER made. And it's also simply a very good 2D fighter game as well.'
+*[http://www.siliconera.com/2006/07/05/before-super-smash-brothers-there-was-kart-fighter/ Siliconera] said that ''Kart Fighter'' is clearly ''Street Fighter II''-inspired, and 'As a pirate NES game ''Kart Fighter'' is fairly advanced.' Their feedback was mainly positive.
-*[http://www.gamespot.com/nes/action/kartfighter/player_review.html?id=710154&tag=player-reviews%3Bcontinue%3B1 Another reviewer on GameSpot] stated that this may look as 'a poor man's ''Super Smash Bros.''<nowiki/>' at the first glance, but in reality, it's a fun game.
-*[http://www.siliconera.com/2006/07/05/before-super-smash-brothers-there-was-kart-fighter/ Siliconera] said that this game is purely ''Street Fighter II''-inspired and that 'as a pirate NES game ''Kart Fighter'' is fairly advanced.'
+== Trivia ==
-*[http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=286 Fragmaster of Gamespy's Classic Gaming] stated that 'the names of most of the characters are changed slightly to avoid copyright problems' and that 'the game isn't as shoddily programmed as say… ''[[Somari]]''… and you probably won't notice any slowdown or visual errors.'
+* In ''Kart Fighter'', Toad, Koopa Troopa, and Bowser are referred to by their Japanese names. Yoshi is sometimes called Yossy in Japan.
+*Mario and Luigi have their hat colors swapped on the title screen when compared to ''Super Mario Kart'''s. Also, their in-game sprites are only palette swaps of each other.
+*The inputs for Luigi's Uppercut and Flying Kick seem to be executed by a command that only the CPU can do. This is likely a bug in the game, seeing as Mario's commands work.
+*Bowser's the shortest character in the game. This is because the size of the CHR banks prevented his sprite from being any larger. Going through the tiles shows that he was likely the last character developed.
+*Peach has black hair instead of blonde and wears a different outfit then her usual dress.
+* The song played on the Top 8 screen, which is loosely based on the 'Mario's Rank' song in ''Super Mario Kart'', has been reused in many of [[Hummer Team]]'s other fighting games. ''Kart Fighter'', being the only Mario-themed game to use this music track, is likely where it originated from.
+*On the Top 8 screen, the last 0 in each score on the board is different compared to the other 0's.
+*The game does keep score; it'll appear on the Top 8 screen if you get enough points.
 == Gallery ==
@@ Line 100: / Line 110: @@
 Kart Fighter Walkthrough|Gameplay.
 </gallery>
-== Trivia ==
-*Not counting Mario, almost all the character's names are their original Japanese names. This is due to the origin of the game in the east near Japan and not in the west. (Like almost all pirated games are)
-*The creators have seemed to confuse Mario and Luigi. On the title screen, Mario is wearing a green hat and Luigi is wearing a red hat. Also note that their alternate palettes seem to be the other brother's palette but lighter.
-*Speaking of Luigi, while playing as him the commands for the uppercut and the kick attack seem to be executed by a command that a human can't do but the CPU can. This leaves Luigi to be an AI-only character. This is likely a bug in the game, seeing as Mario's commands work.
-*Bowser is the shortest character in the game. Going through the tiles, he seems to be the last character when the game was being made. This was likely because the size of the CHR banks prevented his sprite from being any larger.
-*Peach has black hair instead of blonde and has and wears a different outfit.
-*This game was likely made after [[Garou Densetsu Special|''Garou Densetsu Special'']] since Donkey Kong Jr. has a ground projectile similar to Terry Bogard's Power Wave.
-*On the Top 8 screen, the last 0 in each score on the board is clearly different to the other 0's.
-*The Top 8 screen is real and your score appears after you get enough points, though it's a hard feat.(see above)
-{{Wikipedia}}
 [[Category:Games]]
 [[Category:Famicom/NES games]]