I think the NEC PC-8801 (and a lot of the 8-bit computers of the era) excelled at RPGs and graphic adventures. It allowed the developers to show off the beautiful graphic capabilities without running into the problems that vertical scrolling created for most of these systems. Action games existed, of course, and they worked around the scrolling problems (or sometimes didn’t). But I think one-on-one fighting games must be one of the rarest contemporary genres for these systems. I believe this is the first one I’ve gotten my hands on.
This one’s called Prajator, and I am sure someone who is a fan of fighting games would consider this too simple and be bored with it, but I’m a pretty simple guy so I find it entertaining. It’s not fast-paced but it does at least run smoothly. With the exception of the opening sequence and the (static) intermission scene, the color count is low for this machine, but the graphics are highly detailed and makes for a pleasant aesthetic.
In the game, you play a giant robot fighting against other robots in various parts of Tokyo. They did a good job in the background scenery of Shinjuku, with the clusters of towering buildings, but I’m not sure what image they were trying to recreate in the other two scenes that I’ve made it to. After you complete every area, you’re allowed to upgrade and re-configure some aspects of your robot.
That’s kind of cool. I don’t think I’ve seen a fighting game with leveling up before. What sort of things can you level? Is it just stats or can you acquire new abilities?
Heh, I’m not 100% sure! I don’t know how far I got into the game in terms of percentage, but from what I saw you could only directly upgrade the stats at the bottom. It seems like upgrading those stats would cause your equipment to change. If I recall correctly, it also let you downgrade, for example if you want to focus more on legs you could remove from hands or body and put them there.