Welcome dudes and dudettes to another edition of 16-Bit Beach, where the best games of all time retire in glory… or do they?
After a rather unintentional couple month hiatus, 16-Bit Beach has returned. And while this is still going to be a far less updated article series as opposed to Playing With Power, there are still plenty of games to tackle. And on this edition, it’s time to get gooey with one of the strangest fighting games to come out of the 90’s. It’s time to get sculpting, and get brutal with ClayFighter. Is this an amazing feat of clay, or just a big mess?
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1993
PUBLISHER: Interplay
GENRE: Fighting
With the massive success of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat, the floodgates of a new genre were being opened up, and it was hard to control it. Like the mascot craze that was also clogging the gaming market at the time, it seemed that darn near every video game company had to dip their feet into the fighting genre.
One of the many companies taking the plunge into the fighting arena was Interplay Entertainment, who were at the time making SNES and Genesis games like Rock and Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. Both of which have since gone on to become cult classics among the 16-bit fans. But when they went into the fighting genre, Interplay knew they couldn’t just pull out something that looks pedestrian. And instead went to the drawing board.. err, sculpting board.
The big selling point to ClayFighter is that the game’s 8 fighters are all made from real clay models that were painstakingly brought to life through digitized graphics and stop motion animation. Definitely something unique. The game was released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo and later in 1994 for the Sega Genesis, right as the fighting boom was starting (and not right before it was already starting to wane), and sold quite well. It even earned the award of “Best Street Fighter Clone” from Gamepro. So, how does this game hold up? Let’s look further.
COVER STORY
The cover is simple, but very effective. You get to see some of these clayfighters in action, as well as see how coll they look, including personal favorite of mine, Bad Mr. Frosty. It does it’s job of selling the game by box quite well and is definitely one of my faves.
STORY
All was happy and calm at the Playland Circus, when all of a sudden, a giant clay meteor crashed at the big top. The meteor began to affect the inanimate objects around the big top, and now each of them have come to life, seeking to become the ruler of the circus.
GAMEPLAY
(This review will cover the Super Nintendo version)
ClayFighter is a 1-2 player fighting game. You control one of eight fighters as you battle your way to the top of the clay heap. Similar to almost all fighting games on the market at the time, the controls are pretty similar. You move left and right with the D-Pad, can duck with the down button, and jump with the up button. Attacks are broken into three degrees of damage. Quick, medium, and brutal. These can be executed with the A, B, X, Y, L and R buttons (and can be changed to your content at the options menu).
You can choose from one of six different clay battlers. And they are as follows.
Bad Mr. Frosty: There must have been some magic in that old silk hat, because when it was put on this snowman’s head, he became a butt kicking machine. Bad Mr. Frosty is proficient in tossing snowballs, and turning into a giant rolling boulder.
Taffy: This walking, talking, fighting piece of candy is hazardous to the health of any fighter that comes at him. He has the best reach of any fighter, and can twist his body about to cause serious damage to any fighter in his way.
Helga: The fight will be over when this fat lady sings. This operatic offender uses her singing talents as well as her horned helmet to do damage to any fighter that stands in her way.
Blue Suede Goo: This Elvis impersonator is a rock and roll nightmare. He uses his singing abilities, and his amazing pompadour to do damage to any of the fighters that try to be cruel to this rough rock and roller.
Bonker: A clown without pity. This big top brawler is proficient in pie projectiles, sinister seltzer, and his own athletic prowess. He can cartwheel you into submission if you aren’t careful.
Ickybod Clay: This ghostly combatant may have a pumpkin for a head, but if you take him lightly, he’ll squash you. With his fireball attacks, and fierce uppercuts, he’s a haunted hellraiser if you aren’t careful.
Goo: This living ball of goo is a proficient shape shifter. He can form his round body into anything that can help him in a jam, like a giant boot, or a spinning saw blade. He may be one of the best in the game to use, and is definitely the best for beginners.
Tiny: The name is clearly a joke, but this muscle bound brute is no laughing matter. He’s the Zangief of the group, and is highly proficient in using his own bulky body as a weapon against his clay enemies.
Each character has their own set of special moves, and their own stages that fit their gimmicks. For example, Tiny battles in a coliseum, while Blue Suede Goo is on a giant piano. The level all are very well designed, but we’ll get a bit more into the graphical portion shortly.
The game only has two major modes. The 1-player mode that will pit your fighter against the rest, and the two player mode, which, as expected, just has you play against your friend in a best of 2 battle. Not too much in terms of options, but simple enough to get some fun out of.
The downsides though begin with the 1-player mode, which is a bit underwhelming. The game really doesn’t use any story to convey what is going on in the game. Another problem is that no matter who you use, the order of fights will always be the same. You face all eight enemies, with rematches against a few of them (Taffy, Bonker, and Tiny), and eventually make it to the end boss, affectionately named N. Boss.
However, for all your work, you sadly don’t get any ending ceremonies. Just credits. Which is a real shame. For a game with such a creative cast, and unique idea, the lack of any real capitalization on the whole concept does feel like a letdown.
The only other issue I have is with the controls, that do feel a bit loose at times. Trying to hit a move perfectly does feel taxing, as it is very flighty on if it wants to work properly. Hit detection is a bit amiss too at times, and the balancing of damage could have been tweaked too, as sometimes the AI can hit a special move that will sap almost half of your health. Other than that, the game still feels fun to play despite its issues.
GRAPHICS
The game has excellent graphics. The clay models all look beautiful, and feel like they almost jump out of the screen. Level design is great too, fitting each character well. The only downside being the backgrounds aren’t also clay models, which do feel a little bit off putting. Despite that, they all look great.
SOUND
The music and sound in the game are awesome. All of the music is very cartoony and fun, befitting of a game that is trying to be goofy like it is. Every character has their own theme music that will make you want to bob your head. But the best tune in the game is the title screen, complete with goofy lyrics, telling you that you can hit em, smack em. They don’t care.
The sound is very clear for all of the vocal works. All of the characters have their own unique voices and sound effects. You have an announcer do introductions before the match begins, and it all comes off as one of the best sound packages for an early SNES title.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
ClayFighter is far from a perfect fighting game. It has great graphics, and excellent sound, but does feel a bit lacking in the control department to make it feel like a perfect fighter in the era when fighters were filling the market up. But Interplay would deliver for the fans a fixed Tournament Edition on the SNES later on that added some new options and fixed some of the issues control wise. The franchise continued with a sequel in C2: Judgment Clay on the SNES, as well as a sequel for the N64 that would feature the likes of Boogerman and Earthworm Jim. I do personally hope we someday see Clayfighter return, even if it’s doubtful. Give this game a try for yourself. If you can get used to some of the issues, you’ll have a clay old time.
RATING: Thumbs In The Middle