Top Fighter 2000 MK VIII is a fighting game created for the Sega Mega Drive, presumably in the year 2000 by an unknown company. It features 8 characters from many different places and sources, including real-life personalities such as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali.
Overview
Ending screen.
This is a fighting game with 8 opponents and no repeats between them. Each character has their own special moves and one super move, along with 8 backgrounds that are not character specific. The backgrounds are cobbled together using elements of backgrounds found in several different games, including World Heroes, Street Fighter II, The King of Fighters '95, and Fatal Fury 2. The controls appear to be somewhat better than other Mega Drive pirated fighting games, such as Tekken 3 Special However, the A button is unused, leaving B and C to be used for all attacks, similar to a NES fighting pirate.
Each fight lasts until one fighter wins 1 or 3 rounds and each round can last for up to 30, 60 or 99 seconds, depending on the settings. The hit detection is poor, with many attacks that miss the opponent when they're supposed to hit them. The endings are minimal, with a portrait of your character on a simple "YOU ARE BEST. GAME OVER" (sic) screen.
Characters
- Michael Jordan (misspelled Joden in game) [Sprite taken from The King of Fighters '94]
- Geese Howard (misspelled Gees in game) [Sprite taken from Fatal Fury Special]
- Ryu [Sprite taken from from Street Fighter Alpha]
- Goku [Sprite taken from Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden 3]
- Kyo [Sprite taken from The King of Fighters '98]
- Cyclops (named Cycl in game) [Sprite taken from X-Men: Children of the Atom]
- Muhammad Ali (named Ali in game) [Sprite taken from The King of Fighters '94]
- Ryo [Sprite taken from Fatal Fury Special]
Trivia
- This game was later released as Top Fighter 2005 MK VIII, translated into Chinese.
- The sprites for Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are edits of Lucky Glauber and Heavy D from The King of Fighters '94.
- An overlooked control bug exists in both versions; characters are unable to attack if Forward + B are pressed at the same time. Additionally, characters may perform special moves if the attack button is held down and then the directional movements are put in. For example, holding B then pressing D, DF, F will allow Ali to throw his flaming punch.
- Many recent reprints of Top Fighter 2000 drop the original name from the cartridge label, using the name "Mortal Kombat 8", and feature character artwork from Mortal Kombat Gold and Mortal Kombat: Deception.
- The sounds come from many different games. The death cries are from Super Street Fighter 2. Kyo, Joden and Ali's voices are from The King of Fighters 98, Gees' voice is from the Sony PlayStation version of Real Bout Fatal Fury, the "Winner" sound clip is ALSO from The King of Fighters 98, the Continue Countdown is from Real Bout Fatal Fury and the "Round 1!" and "Fight!" soundclips are from X-Men vs. Street Fighter.
- The background graphics are also from different games, including Fatal Fury 2 (Gees Stage), Fighters History (Ryu Stage), The King of Fighters 94 (Kyo stage), etc.
- Ali's theme is remade from the character select music of the SNES/Mega Drive version of Soul Blade vs. Samurai Spirits, while Ryu uses the "Go Go Power Rangers!" theme.
- Some of the projectile sprites, including Ryo's Ko Oh Ken and Haohshokouken (both recolored from gold to purple) and Ryu's Shinku were reused in The King of Fighters 2000 for the SNES.
- As well as an unused level, the Box back shows a different title screen, where 'Ali' has a mustache. In the used title screen, the right side of this was removed, allowing just the left side to be taken as Shadow, but still visible to the original mustache design.
- The unused stage is Axel Hawk's from Fatal Fury Special, and shows Ali in it, suggesting that the developers may have originally intended to edit his sprite (Axel Hawk is a boxer) instead of Heavy D!'s.
- The Sound Engine in the game is a taken sound engine used in various Data East games for the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive such as High Seas Havoc.
- "Top Fighter" is a mistranslation of one of the Chinese names for The King of Fighters series, so the intended title would have been "The King of Fighters 2000 Mortal Kombat VIII".
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