WTB: Fatal Encounter - fighting game for IBM-PC (DOS), 1993, released in Australia

[austfox]

I was trying to think what Computer magazines were around in 1993 in Australia that focused on games. I was thinking of PC PowerPlay, but turns out that it wasn't published until 1996.

Issue 31 of MegaZone was the last issue before it was sold, and ditched all gaming platforms and focused solely on Sega products.

I thought I might be able to find an advertisement for the game, in which case there would probably be a photo of the box / artwork, but I guess a review of the game is just as good.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

Issue 31 of MegaZone was the last issue before it was sold, and ditched all gaming platforms and focused solely on Sega products.

I noticed that, and my first thought was, "Wow. That Fatal Encounter review just barely made it in there, under the wire."

I thought I might be able to find an advertisement for the game, in which case there would probably be a photo of the box / artwork, but I guess a review of the game is just as good.

Not only does it make a nice addition to my "press collection," it lends credence to the fact that the game was, in fact, released in Australia: which, for some people, may be a lot more convincing than my assurances alone.

Best case scenario, someone sees the review and goes, "Oh yeah! I bought that back in the day!" and digs it out for me. Fingers crossed.

 

[austfox]

I'm not on Facebook so I can't check it out, but someone told me of a group you can join called 'Big Box Games Australia'. Maybe someone on there can help you with your quest?

 

[DeathAdderSF]

Couldn't hurt to try, thanks.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

I finally have a photo of the retail product to share. If any of you have this in your collection... please sell it to me?

 

[DeathAdderSF]

Holy schnikes. I have the game.

FINALLY!!

After 20+ years of searching, I was able to purchase Fatal Encounter from a collector in Australia. It arrived yesterday, and I wasted no time in archiving everything. To my surprise, all four of the 3½" floppy disks still work, so I was able to make images in WinImage and HD-Copy. And everything's in great shape, so I could make lovely, high-quality scans of the box and instruction manual.

This is a huge relief.

Now that I've archived everything, I'm sharing it here in the hopes that people will download it, enjoy it, and help spread it around the 'net.

* Full game, installed:
www.diskman.com/presents/supersango/downloads/fatal_encounter.zip

* Disk images (in both WinImage and HD-COPY format):
www.diskman.com/presents/supersango/downloads/fatal_encounter_-_disk_images.zip

* Instruction manual:
www.diskman.com/presents/supersango/downloads/Fatal_Encounter_-_instruction_manual.pdf

(Note I own the legal rights to this game, so it's not "piracy." Enjoy it guilt-free.)

If you're interested in the full story behind Super Fighter / Fatal Encounter / Street Counter, check out this link...

Super Fighter versus Sango Fighter: Chinese War Ends in America

Thanks to everyone who kept an eye out for me, while I was seeking the game. I appreciate it!
But special thanks to austfox, whose recommendation to try asking on a particular collector's group was the tip that paid off!

 

[austfox]

Glad I could help in some small way, and thanks for making this game available freely for everyone to enjoy.

Your quest is finally over...

 

[Trixter]

Holy schnikes indeed!!!

 

[Trixter]

(Note I own the legal rights to this game, so it's not "piracy." Enjoy it guilt-free.)

That is the best flex I've read all year.

 

[Hak Foo]

Although the box photos say "PC-AT or compatible required", it doesn't seem to require a 286. I was able to play it on a NEC V40, so it likely would work on other XT-class machines with a V20 installed, or maybe even a vanilla 8088. The performance at that end of the spectrum obviously is a little weak, maybe a couple of frames per second at 8MHz, but the fact it runs is impressive in and of itself.

This would have definitely been beloved for the kid whose parents bought him an "educational" PC when all his friends got consoles and played Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter. The large characters definitely loom impressive compared to SNES/Genesis competition. Kudos to the developer team and DeathAdderSF for bringing it back from the dead.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

This would have definitely been beloved for the kid whose parents bought him an "educational" PC when all his friends got consoles and played Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter.

*raises hand* I never had any game consoles at home until I was in high school and could buy them secondhand from classmates, or from FuncoLand, on the cheap. So the only way I could get in on the "fighting game craze" as a kiddy was to download overseas delights via BBS, and have a go. And what an incredible experience it was! Far more curious & entertaining than just plopping a cartridge into a console.

The travesty was that when we finally did get a legit port of Street Fighter II for DOS, it was that pig slop US Gold conversion = worthless.

Kudos to the developer team and DeathAdderSF for bringing it back from the dead.

Thanks. If y'all find the original DOS game a bit too rough around the edges, feel welcome to try out our updated & improved, freeware version for Windows...

https://www.superfighter.com/sf/index.html

It features a remixed soundtrack, nearly 100 re-added animation frames that were cut from the DOS version to save disk space, et Cetera.

 

[nullvalue]

The travesty was that when we finally did get a legit port of Street Fighter II for DOS, it was that pig slop US Gold conversion = worthless.

I remember trying to play it on my 486 with a gravis gamepad. It was awful, yet we didn't have a console system so we still played it a lot!

 

[Trixter]

download overseas delights via BBS

So, I remember downloading and playing a completely unofficial Street Fighter II clone out of China, roughly 1993 or 1994. It was rough, but really good for a completely homebrew effort. Do you happen to know what the name of it was, history, etc? I might still have it on floppies somewhere.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

I remember trying to play it on my 486 with a gravis gamepad. It was awful, yet we didn't have a console system so we still played it a lot!

When we were developing our updated version of Sango Fighter, we replaced the joystick calibration code with updated code from Panda's later game, Crazy Dodgeball, that skipped calibration entirely (solely because I've never been a fan of the tedious process of calibrating a joystick). I bought a "new old stock" Gravis pad solely to test it all out. It was my first experience using anything but a keyboard for DOS games, and I agree, it was awful. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't enjoy playing any DOS games with a game pad. Once a keyboard gamer, always a keyboard gamer.

So, I remember downloading and playing a completely unofficial Street Fighter II clone out of China, roughly 1993 or 1994. It was rough, but really good for a completely homebrew effort. Do you happen to know what the name of it was, history, etc? I might still have it on floppies somewhere.

Most likely it was out of Taiwan, not China. But, I mean, you'd need to narrow it down a bit as there were a whole pile of Taiwanese fighting games published for DOS in the early '90s.

However! If you are speaking in the very strictest sense of the term "Street Fighter II clone," you're likely referring to "Street Fighter II IBM" also known informally as "SFIBM" that was developed in South Korea by a certain Jung Young Dug. He basically programmed his own fighting engine from the ground up, and used video capture frames from the Super Famicom version of Street Fighter II to rip and implement the graphics. A wild and crazy -- and in some cases pretty darn impressive -- version of the soundtrack was also composed for this version, which can be downloaded and enjoyed courtesy the Ad Lib music archive.

Street Fighter II IBM in all its glory!!

 

[Trixter]

That was it! I'd recognize that font, direct-driven sample playback (no DMA!), and janky animation anywhere. Thanks for the background info!

I may try to unearth it on my floppies anyway; while TDC has a playable release, I recall there were multiple releases of it (ie. when he would release more playable characters) so it might be fun to see how many there were.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

That was it!
I recall there were multiple releases of it

Yeah, it was very popular, with gamers and modding teams alike, back in the "good old days."

And while we're on the subject, here's a fun fact: One of those teams took the official South Korean release of Super Fighter, titled "Street Counter," and created their own (very loosely adapted!) version using the SFIBM engine, which they named "Street Count 2+"...

Street Count 2+ video

 

[Trixter]

Crazy. Never knew that.

Hey, the music at

is stolen from Silpheed :-D

 

[Gary C]

And so the obvious question

Why were you so desperate to get it, does the little hint that you ' own the legal rights to this game' have bearing ?

Is there an interesting story here to share

 

[DeathAdderSF]

You inspired me to take a trip down memory lane, so I went searching for the old SFIBM tool kit and accidentally stumbled upon this...

Street Fighter Pygame

It is a remake of SFIBM running in Python. There's also links to a lot of SFIBM history. But the most interesting thing to me is that he apparently dug up the legit SFIBM source code at some point. If you're interested in knowing how the old engine works, you may wanna check that out.

 

[DeathAdderSF]

Why were you so desperate to get it

Love. Fascination. Obsession. And a little bit of nostalgia sprinkled on top. Super Fighter was my favorite DOS game as a kid, and as far back as 1998 [!] I had a website up about it.

does the little hint that you ' own the legal rights to this game' have bearing ?

Well, I do own the rights. But I basically just included that line so no one would try and sink this thread due to alleged "warez" claims.

Is there an interesting story here to share

I certainly think so. Super Fighter has had a profound impact on my life, both personally and professionally. I've written a detailed article on it, which I linked to above. But in case you missed it...

Super Fighter versus Sango Fighter: Chinese War Ends in America

Please let me know if you have any questions not answered there. Thanks for your interest.