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Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord (Read 7335 times)

Started by Blue Monkey, August 04, 2011, 11:36:08 am
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Blue Monkey

Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#1  August 04, 2011, 11:36:08 am
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A 1- or 2-player fighting game by Visual Concepts, and published by Namco. WeaponLord was originally designed for the Super Nintendo, and as such, was the much better looking and sounding version of the game. There were far more colors and detail on the sprites and backgrounds. Sound effects and music were also richer, and voice samples were generally clearer.
However, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version is considered the slightly faster of the two, and also worked well with the 6-button Genesis controller.



Weaponlord has several very advanced techniques. Most noteworthy of which is "Thrust Blocking", a form of advanced blocking. While World Heroes 2 is the first fighter to have a form of this, Weaponlord is the first fighter to allow this as a method of defending against every attack, predating even Last Blade. To execute this technique hold either of the two least powerful attack buttons (B & Y for SNES or A & X for Genesis) and tap a direction corresponding to the level of the attack you are defending (Up for highs, Forward for mids, Down for lows, and Down to air block). If executed properly, this will cause your opponent to recoil, allowing you to get an easy hit in if you're quick. Most other advanced techniques are executed by attacking with moves that have properties that cause your desired effect. These techniques are: "Catchers", which freeze your opponent for a fraction of a second, potentially allowing their weapon to be partially broken; "Deflects", which essentially overpower your opponent's attack if the two collide; "Openers", which will cancel your opponent's block; "Take Downs" and "Knock Downs", which will knock your opponent on their back or ass, respectively; and "Double Overs", which cause a opponent to stumble, allowing combos to be extended. You can also attack opponents while they are on the ground, and there is a limitless juggle combo system. This moves precede the parrying system of nowadays and for me it suffered of beign way ahead of its time.



Your movesets are also a bit different from most fighters. Weaponlord lacks conventional throws, instead having command throws. Rather than there being huge flashy specials, most specials are just multi-hit weapon strikes. However, rather than two or three specials, like in most fighters, characters have a good ten specials each.
Like countless fighters from the years immediately after Mortal Kombat's release, Weaponlord has fatalities. Rather than entering a command to execute them, you have to defeat your opponent with a specific move, or sometimes combo into a specific move after defeating them. Each character has about six fatalities from a shared pool of about eight, with Zarak having an exclusive character specific fatality. It is even possible to combine multiple fatalities. For example, you could disembowel your opponent, decapitate them after they fall to the ground, and then slice open their skull as it flies up in the air to expose their brain. This game is Bloody to say the least.



Intentions of a second Weaponlord were clear from many of the character endings in the game, in which it was revealed that an evil entity, perhaps more powerful than Zarak the Demonlord himself, was an influential force in both the individual stories and overall plot. However, due to the demise of the 16-bit generation within a year or so afterward, Weaponlord 2 never came to be. Despite excellent sales and high praise, Visual Concepts never began work on the second game. It is believed that Namco still holds publication rights to the Weaponlord name.



Hope you enjoy this games as much as i do !:

ROM download (SNES version): http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/43473/snes/Weapon-Lord-U.html
ROM download (Genesis version):
http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/21235/genesis/Weaponlord-4.html

Gameplay of SNES version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwGA9A7vuos&feature=related
Combo exhibition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9LVem4DcY

Characters converted to Mugen:

Jen Tai by Kain the Supreme: http://www.kaints.com/index.php?pg=mugen&url=chars

Korr by Ah! Yah! Cos!: http://mugenguild.com/forumx/index.php?topic=93124.msg820206#msg820206
Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 11:47:28 am by Blue Monkey

Blue Monkey

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#2  August 04, 2011, 11:39:25 am
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Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 11:45:13 am by Blue Monkey

Bastard Mami

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#3  August 04, 2011, 04:56:09 pm
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I remember rading articles back when the game was being developed, and indeed, it osunded very interesting ; apparently it had some other problems besides being ahead of it's time (whihc it was, hell it even seems to be ahead of curretn gaes in some aspects).

"Bad News" Hoffmann

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#4  August 04, 2011, 05:03:10 pm
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Back than i even imported it from the usa on the snes because i didnt want to wait months for the pal version.

While the graphics and sound were great for the snes, i was dissapointed by the gameplay though. And being the first "true" weapon based fighting game? Sorry..but what made Weapon Lord so "true" compared with Samurai Shodown?

GMSpectre

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#5  August 04, 2011, 06:45:52 pm
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It had a lot of good ideas and techniques and felt ahead of it's time, but I found the controls for the special moves unnecessarily complicated.

Blue Monkey

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#6  August 04, 2011, 06:50:53 pm
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GBK667 said, August 04, 2011, 05:03:10 pm
Back than i even imported it from the usa on the snes because i didnt want to wait months for the pal version.

While the graphics and sound were great for the snes, i was dissapointed by the gameplay though. And being the first "true" weapon based fighting game? Sorry..but what made Weapon Lord so "true" compared with Samurai Shodown?

I believe both games had complementary aspects of a realistic weapon combat. While Showdown gave the option to disarm and opponent and a force battle whenever both players clashed their swords when they hitted the same attack at the same time Weaponlord incorporated the beginning of what would later become the parrying system, the chance to deflect the opponent attacks to open a spot on their defense also opened a place for strategy.
Im a fan of both games and i enjoy them equally but to be fair while samurai showdown has had what around 6 2d chances to build upon its system (not including 3d sequels of the game) This project only had one chance to get it right, i would like to see how this system developed unto this generation of consoles. I don´t think Soul Calibur is the game that took the mantle of this project, and frankly, looking at the new character´s designs of V i wish they took some inspiration from it. 

Blue Monkey

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#7  August 04, 2011, 07:05:21 pm
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GMSpectre said, August 04, 2011, 06:45:52 pm
It had a lot of good ideas and techniques and felt ahead of it's time, but I found the controls for the special moves unnecessarily complicated.

I agree in some degree,  i believe they felt like they had to incorporate every idea they had come up with unto this game and in result mixed plenty of different styles into the same control system which in some cases resulted confusing.

"Bad News" Hoffmann

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#8  August 04, 2011, 07:05:56 pm
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Yarr Weapon Lord looked always like a "Conan the Barbarian" fighting game to me without the Conan license.

There was a name called "Barbarian" for the Playstation 2 which had some similar characterdesigns..its gameplay however is very different but fun for a while

Its true but it was never a problem for me that Samurai Shodown never developed its system more into a weapon fighter with parrys, counters etc.

A Weapon Lord 2 would have been cool...i guess my import of the game wasnt enough to justify a sequel

Blue Monkey

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#9  August 04, 2011, 07:26:39 pm
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GBK667 said, August 04, 2011, 07:05:56 pm
Yarr Weapon Lord looked always like a "Conan the Barbarian" fighting game to me without the Conan license.

There was a name called "Barbarian" for the Playstation 2 which had some similar characterdesigns..its gameplay however is very different but fun for a while

Its true but it was never a problem for me that Samurai Shodown never developed its system more into a weapon fighter with parrys, counters etc.

A Weapon Lord 2 would have been cool...i guess my import of the game wasnt enough to justify a sequel

Yes! they even incorporated Simon Beasley, who did some Conan the Barbarian artwork at the time, in the art design department for the game.

The diferent game styles weren´t an issue for me neither...until they started bringing firearmed people unto the series like on Edge of Destiny which broke the balance of the game, this generation of SS sure would have welcomed some of the ideas putted into this game.

 hehe Kind of lost my hope for a sequel, just hope some characters of this underestimated game made a cameo here or there on other Namco series, Oh well i guess i´ll have to conform with Astaroth and Lizardman for my fix of brutal fantasy combat

"Bad News" Hoffmann

Re: Unsung fighting games No.3 Weaponlord
#10  August 04, 2011, 07:43:26 pm
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Since Namco did only publish the title, i doubt there will be any cameos anytime

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