Fighters Destiny, known in Japan as , is a 1998 video game developed by Genki alongside Opus Corp and Anchor Inc for the Nintendo 64. It closely models the 3D fighting game standards of the time but integrates a unique point scoring system. The game's generic characters and unoriginal presentation have been panned by critics, but reviewers praised its point system and consider it to be one of the best fighting games on the Nintendo 64. It was followed by a sequel, Fighter Destiny 2, released in 2000.
Gameplay
left|thumb|Gameplay screenshot
In Fighters Destiny, the player controls a polygon-based character in a three dimensional battle arena. The game features typical hand to hand combat fighting: using a variety of punches, kicks, locks, and throws, players attempt to pummel their opponents into submission. Each character also has a large list of special commands (called "moves") that can be accessed during battle. These different moves range from simply pressing the "B" button to inputting button combinations.
In most fighting games, the objective is to deplete the opponent's health gauge. Fighters Destiny follows the same concept but also relies on a customizable point scoring system to determine the winner. These points, which are displayed as yellow stars under the character's health gauge, can be earned in a variety of ways. By default, knocking the character off the fighting platform (a "Ring Out") is worth one point, taking down an opponent with a throw nets the player two points, while a typical K.O. is worth three points, as well as taking the opponent down with a counterattack, and executing a "special" is worth four points. Finally, if the adjustable time counter runs out, then the winner is awarded one point by virtue of judge's decision. By default setting, the first fighter to score seven points wins the match.
K.O.'s can be achieved with instant-K.O. hits (referred to as "1-shot") or counterattack moves, or can be executed with a finishing blow when the player's opponent is in "Piyori condition", a brief spell of dizziness in which opponent's life bar has been drained completely and the fighter is allowed only limited control. "Specials" can only be executed when the opponent is in Piyori condition. If players are able to survive until Piyori condition passes, their health gauge refills completely. The health bar also refills continuously (albeit slowly) throughout the fight.
Fighters Destiny offers five different gameplay modes. By playing the traditional versus computer mode, players can earn a new character (Boro) and learn new skills for their character. They can also select to fight against a second player, challenge their skills and gain new characters in "Record Attack", play through the "Master Challenge" to expand their character's command list, and train against a robot character. When players learn new skills playing the computer or the Master Challenge, they can save their character's expanded command list to the Controller Pak; afterwards, the new command list can be accessed in any mode to aid the player. The voice of the announcer, Fighting D.J., was provided by Marc Silk in the English version.
Reception and sales
As with Mace: The Dark Age just a few months earlier, critics widely deemed Fighters Destiny the best fighting game on the Nintendo 64 to date, while noting that this was largely because the others were uniformly weak.
The graphics were generally seen as the game's weakest aspect, though still respectable. Several critics commented that the character designs are uninspired and suffer from low polygon counts and visible seams in their textures. In an effort to boost sales, Infogrames Entertainment (the parent company of Fighters Destiny international distributor Ocean Software) shaved US$20 off the price tag, dropping the game's price to US$49.99.