Happy Monday, everyone. Today I am going to talk about another Nintendo classic that, for some reason, still hasn’t received a North American release—not on NES, not on Wii Virtual Console, not on Nintendo eShop, not even on Nintendo Switch Online. It’s a fighting game, often considered to be the best fighting game of the 8-bit era, and it is considered to be one of the greatest technical marvels in gaming. I am, of course, talking about Joy Mech Fight.
Developed and published by Nintendo, Joy Mech Fight was released in Japan for the Famicom in 1993, almost three full years following the Super Famicom’s release. The development history behind this game is quite interesting. It was created by two students who were attending a game development seminar hosted by Nintendo. They initially named it Battle Battle League. Nintendo, seeing the final product, was so impressed by their programming skills that they opted to publish the game for the Famicom under the name Joy Mech Fight.
First, let’s discuss what Joy Mech Fight is best known for: its visuals. The graphics are very well-drawn and highly detailed, sometimes even rivaling Super NES quality. The animation is also super smooth, which is almost unheard of for a Famicom game, and even Some Super Famicom games don’t incorporate such fluid animation. The punches, the kicks, the jumps, the bounces, the victory dances… it’s all very impressive for such limited hardware. As for the music, it is also well-composed and very catchy most of the time, with the highlights being probably the menu theme and the victory dance music.
The game is a one-on-one fighter that plays very similar to Street Fighter II and Killer Instinct, both released for the Super Famicom. All the characters are robots, each with floating limbs. According to the developers, the robots in the game were designed with floating limbs in order to get around hardware limitations so they could make the animation as smooth as possible. Needless to say, they succeeded, and it’s also what gives Joy Mech Fight its charm. But anyway, each robot can punch, kick, sweep, guard, jump, and power punch (a stronger punch, obviously). They can also perform attacks while in mid-air. Each robot has a unique weapon: some use giant iron balls, some use fire, some use drills, some use projectiles, and some use claws. Each robot also has unique special moves that can be performed by pressing a particular combination of buttons. The controls in Joy Mech Fight are super responsive, which is essential for a fighting game. You can almost feel the action as you press the buttons and hit your opponents.
Each match is a best of three style series of games with a health bar supplied to each robot. Once a robot’s health is depleted in the first round, the other robot will regain health as a reward. Some attacks can severely drain a robot’s health, and if that happens, the robot will be rendered immobile and vulnerable for a short time. Although this is rare, if both robots suffer a final knockout, the match will be deemed a draw and restart.
Like other fighting games that came out around this time, Joy Mech Fight has a story mode. You have to travel through a futuristic city setting, fighting a different robot along the way (although “different” is a relative term, as some robots are simply re-skins of others). Each robot is challenging, especially since they use special moves whenever they can, but the boss fights are something else entirely. They almost always use their special moves to the point where you must always use yours to damage them or it will be a surefire victory for your opponent. The designs of the bosses are quite bizarre, too. One is a giant mechanical ostrich and one is a giant cyclops with drills. When you defeat an opponent, including a boss, they are unlocked as a playable character.
That’s Joy Mech Fight. When it comes to fighting games from the time, it’s about on par with everything else. But in terms of technical achievement, it’s way ahead of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. It has beautiful visuals, fluid animation, smooth controls, spot-on hit detection, and a catchy soundtrack. Taking those into consideration, along with its story mode and multiplayer mode, I can safely say this is the best fighting game of the 8-bit era. Other fighting games released for 8-bit consoles don’t come close to its technical achievements and level of enjoyability.
Sadly, we have yet to see a North American release of Joy Mech Fight. While Sukapon, the main character, has appeared as a sticker in Super Smash Bros Brawl and as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the game itself has never been released outside of Japan since its debut in 1993. Your best bet is to buy the Famicom version for $15, which is the easiest method. I highly recommend it for Nintendo fans, import gamers, and fighting game fanatics.
Rating: 10/10
Thank you so much for reading my articles over the last few semesters. Unfortunately it is now time for me to officially announce my departure from The Critic. After writing reviews for this paper since 2015, it is time for me to shift my focus onto other things. I thoroughly enjoyed playing these games and sharing my thoughts about them for The Critic, and I hope you enjoyed reading my articles as much as I did writing them. I wish Alex and the rest of The Critic staff the best of luck in the future with this wonderful paper.
—Jac