Bloodstorm - The Worst Fighting Game

[@nothingislogical]

Not gonna lie. When I first saw this come up in my feed, I got it mixed up with BoneStorm from The Simpsons which got me curious about there being a real life version of that game.

[@Hatsworthful]

honestly with how exaggerated bloodstorm is it may aswell be that lol

[@BeersAndBeatsPDX]

Buy me Bonestorm or go to hell!

[@MrBumpits]

THRILLHO

[@SunStarSounds]

Holy shit me too lmao

[@benjaminmuratore9341]

What's even funnier is that a game literally called "bloodstorm" is mentioned by name in that same episode.

[@justinjanicki6561]

When I heard “Emperor of mankind killed”, a lot of 40k memories from college was triggered.

[@QuickTimeFailure]

Honestly, if they're gonna bring in Daniel Pesina and dress him up as Johnny Cage to do marketing, you may as well just throw him in the game a la Twin Goddesses. It would've been dumb and make the artstyle even more disgusting than it already is but screw it, this is BloodStorm. Call him something "Jamie Blaze" or some crap lol

[@jessragan6714]

I've played that on PSP! It's delightfully stupid, unlike this which is more depressingly stupid. There's even a gag/making of reel at the end which illustrates how tight the budget for the graphics making process was! Almost as bad as Way of the Warrior, the production of which wouldn't fit in Naughty Dog's naughty dorm room!

[@Metallion98]

That would have cost them a lot more money for sure.

[@nemopouncey3827]

poor daniel.

[@nemopouncey3827]

they dragged em into this awful b.s.

[@nemopouncey3827]

it takes more than the actor who played johnny cage to endorse this steaming pile of crap.

[@thesegaguy6279]

Was wondering when you'd cover this one. I met Daniel Pesina earlier this year. He's a great guy. According to him, the famous Bloodstorm ad was actually recommended to him by Ed Boon and John Tobias, due in part to Midway refusing to pay him properly, but also because someone at Strata was a former Midway employee asking for a favor. There are layers upon layers with this tale. Lol

[@AirknightTails]

I could've met Mr. Pesina myself as he was at TooManyGames earlier this year. But 1. I didn't have the Money for an Autograph and 2. I went (and waited 3 hours for) an Autograph from Caddicarus instead

[@Jahn_Pah_Jonz]

@@AirknightTails who's that other dude?

[@AirknightTails]

British KZbinr

[@LVPB]

@@AirknightTails shitty choice

[@AirknightTails]

@@LVPB 1. I didn't have the Money for to get an Autograph from Mr. Pesina and 2. He was pretty popular if it took me around 3+ Hours just to get an Autograph from him.

[@deanfranz]

Is it just me, or does Talon look EVERYTHING like Lex Luthor in his warsuit (aka his Lexorian armor) from Justice League?

[@universalperson]

What a pleasant surprise! 6:25 The arcade release actually advertised a guidebook that went more in depth with the lore. Apparently Nekron was a mad scientist who ended up in not!hell after an experiment gone wrong, but proved badass enough to conquer the place. Of course, none of this is hinted in the game itself.

[@shiftfire4511]

That's actually a cool idea behind a character! Like some sort of mixture of Doom Guy and Dr. Hell from Mazinger. Too bad they slapped it onto a character that looks like a kid took a 70s Super Robot villain, ripped the upper half off, and then stuck it on the legs from a knockoff Gundam toy.

[@angelriverasantana7755]

He sounds like Emperor Mateus of Palamecia from FF2. He fought through Hell and conquered it all

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

Yeah. Only downside of the whole hell thing is he looks a rival of Tekken's King with a love of Gundam.

[@jagtaggart936]

As a kid, with a name that sounded like that one game from the Simpsons (BONESTORM!!!), Bloodstorm was one of those games that was just trying so hard to be edgy that it was just goofy. It played and looked goofy. Even us 90s kids had standards. If you wanted us to take your game seriously, then take your game seriously. MK might look like pure camp, but it did try to take its characters and lore seriously enough for people to care.

[@shaggyturtlestudios]

“If you wanted us to take your game seriously, then take your game seriously” is _seriously_ some of the best advice to offer not just game designers and producers, but honestly anybody who writes stories.

[@999apeman]

@@erics8192 But he got to input his name as THRILLHO

[@TheKillerWolfie]

*Have a nice day*

[@jagtaggart936]

@@TheKillerWolfie "I understood that reference"

[@VecTron5]

Pretty sure the kkid that cusses out his mom in front of Bart at the store actually referenced having 'Bloodstorm'. I don't know if that was intentional or ust a funny coincidence, though.

[@AverageShotoMain01]

I remember when I was younger, my brother showed me the intro of this game...I started puking and he got grounded when my mom found out, but weirdly enough, for the longest time I never ever remembered the intro itself after that happened, I only remembered the game and stayed the hell away from it

[@maxxpower3d6]

Time Killers was a guilty pleasure, a one-quarter indulgence of hard-hitting violence. It was a silly game, practically a meme in a cabinet, and it had a habit of showing up in places like convenience stores, pizza places, and anywhere else that didn't wanna shell out for Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Strata could have used this fringe success to carve out a minor niche for themselves, but instead, they made a sequel with worse art design, worse theming, a generic name, poor marketing (poaching Daniel Pesina for a game that isn't even mocap), and a game system where it's somehow possible to win after being literally bisected. At every turn, they made the worst move possible. It's actually kind of impressive.

[@JoebDragon]

well IT did hit it big with golden tee they also made arlington horse racing

[@alicekingston8521]

I used to play this game on an arcade cabinet at a Godfather's pizzeria when I lived in Anchorage, Alaska. I have no clue how it found its way up there, but I remember thinking that "Freon" being the ice guy was the most clever thing ever. To be fair, I was like 9 or 8 at the time.

[@patriotwhitewash7985]

@@favoritemustard3542 Yep! I fondly remember Godfathers. Played lotsa Pac-Man in my neck of the woods.

[@JustinPurcell-dm7pv]

Moo-mesa was at mine when I was 5. Loved godfathers in the 90's

[@lightspeedlegato]

I have been waiting for you to get to this one. Nobody ever talks about it except the Simpsons. Buy me Blood Storm or go to Hell!

[@josephjefferies346]

Actually, it was Bone Storm. The boy at the store said he got Blood Storm, Bone Squad, and Blood Storm 2, which was Statra's planned sequel and it got axed.

[@periflores1002]

“Young man, in this house, we use a little word called *please*.”

[@jrichardmarshall]

Would you like to play again? You have selected No.

[@lightspeedlegato]

@@josephjefferies346 Yeah I know it was Bone Storm in that episode. I just figured they were talking about Blood Storm. I don't know which one came out first, Blood Storm or that episode of the Simpsons.

[@christophergerics]

But Lee Carvalho Putting Challenge is a CLASSIC

[@holdingpattern245]

It's bad, but some of the concepts are interesting. Unlike most Mortal Kombat clones that totally fail to capture the original's sense of milieu, Bloodstorm nails this aspect of the game and even competes with actual Mortal Kombat games in this respect. Having fights be shorter isn't a bad idea either, in fact fighting game audiences of the time would have probably preferred it. The edginess was a big mistake though, the game invites unflattering comparisons to Chiller.

[@cjhedrick6418]

Don't know if I'd necessarily call it "good", but damned if it wasn't pretty ambitious with having as many secret unlockable fights as there were hidden characters.

[@actuallynotsteve]

Yeah it's actually really pretty inventive in a lot of ways. If the gameplay was a bit tighter from a control perspective it would actually be a classic

[@Paulafan5]

I'd love to see a "fixed" version come to the consoles. Updated graphics, fix the bugs, add more characters and unique fatalities and it could be a blast.

[@MoonlightStrider]

@@Paulafan5 That would be interesting to see and there's no excuse not to, I mean if Bubsy could get a new game based on infamy alone then what's stopping Bloodstorm from doing the same.

[@KamenWeaver]

I love these. Btw, my suggestion for this series is Ultraman for SNES. It's just so slow and even when the enemy has no health you have to charge up your final attack in order to win.

[@MrDN83]

The Bonestorm quote came to mind seeing this before I even realized it was a Simpsons quote.

[@Jesus-hu4lq]

I remember someone else reviewed the game and explained every character and their endings In a nutshell all I can say that tremor out of all of them is the more sane of the fighters

[@deathsyth8888]

"Today's forecast is a 60% chance of light BloodShowers this morning that will transition into a BloodStorm for the rest of the day. Tomorrow will continue with a BloodDownpour until later that evening."

[@mysteriousperson1726]

It's probably cheating to nominate this, with it being a very low budget indie title, but perhaps you can take a look at Timeslaughter from Bloodlust Software. While their games are noteworthy for containing a tremendous amount of (poorly drawn) pixel gore and... particularly crude humor, one of the developers did go on to make a noteworthy impact on the NES Emulation scene.

[@BinaryHedgehog1]

I mean, to be fair the game was mostly developed by two kids. No really, the mains devs were like 16 at the time.

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

Ah, my favourite fighting game cutscene. "BASTARD... MY EYE." Immediately gets arm cut off.

[@Nafeels]

As a huge Mortal Kombat fan I found out about this game through a Mortal Kombat documentary (remember MKSecrets?) and ngl I only picked it up because of the secrets. An underrated and equally epic part of the MK games was the secret content, and ever since playing those it’s like a third eye had been opened. It’s a shame that Data East/Strata, just like most of the studios after Doom and Mortal Kombat, didn’t go further than just trying to rush a cheap copy of their respective competitors. Seriously, I think some of the stages (Southern Abyss) and their soundtracks really slap. The instant deaths also even return in later MK games like Deception (to most players’ dismay) which I do enjoy from time to time. Thanks for covering this game! Us 90’s kids remember this fondly.

[@JIreland1992]

BloodStorm is such a 90’s ass name. It’s the kind of name The Simpsons made fun of with Bone Storm.

[@garuelx8627]

That bratty kid mentioned he already has Bloodstorm and the non existent Bloodstorm 2, so the satire was probably intentional.

[@Paulafan5]

It's like calling a game "Mortal Kombat" but to be "cool" you spell it with a "k".

[@juhanipolvi4729]

Actual blood storm (as in rainstorm, but with blood) would be a tad unpleasant, though....

[@thatisamazing912]

The name is extreme.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

@@Paulafan5 Kortal Kombat?

[@jarofcomics]

my brother worked for Incredible Technologies as his first job out of college, this is what he told me: “We had a blood storm arcade cabinet in the office. It was terrible. But they were proud of it, Mentioned that they planned to release a new fighting game based on those learnings, which never happened.”

[@RawrX32009]

Oh no💀

[@joshthefunkdoc]

There's actually been a bit of a revival for this on Fightcade recently with players unearthing more interesting tech than you'd expect. Similar to Tattoo Assassins in that department although i'd say Bloodstorm has easily more depth to it than that game. Both beat the pants off of garbage like Fight Fever or Best of Best (not to be confused with the kickboxing game Best of the Best) and i will die on that hill

[@boricuajoeechandy6280]

I was so excited about this game when I was in my teens due to the video game magazines having pictures of Bloodstorm. Then I actually played it...and the hype was better than playing it 🤣

[@bigredradish]

imagine going to an arcade to play what looks like DOS shareware

[@burgertim7878]

It really looks like one of those games by Bloodlust Software made for DOS, like Executioners or Nogginknockers.

[@nemopouncey3827]

the guy's who made the nesticle emulator.

[@pixelcrunch300]

I know, right?! DOS games have that sort of "stank" to their artstyle.

[@BunnychanFarabee]

OMF2097 looked better than this game.

[@k4rec4]

Yeah, looks like that 'Tongue of the Fatman'

[@SirLightsOut99]

If you need another suggestion for worst fighting game, I'd recommend Cardinal Syn for the PS1. I thought it was super cool when I was young, but in hindsight it's a really clunky fighter that just like many things in the 90s, wanted to be mortal kombat. Also it's made by the same people who did criticom, so you know you're in for a treat.

[@jesseperry9602]

I remember that game! God, what a disappointment it was as a kid to have blown my 1 game rental for the weekend on that POS.

[@SirLightsOut99]

@@jesseperry9602 what's sad about it is I genuinely do think it had a pretty cool story for a fighting game and some nice gameplay concepts as well. However the problem is it was a tryhard 90s fighting game that really wanted to be mortal Kombat and it was developed by the guys that did criticom. There was no way it could win.

[@Mateus_Carvalho]

@@SirLightsOut99 God, it really did have some cool ass characters. I really liked Mongwan and his helmet, but the game definitively had some major bangers all around. Shame that's probably what they focused on.

[@nickdriscoll6131]

I remember playing the demo of this game! It would be a good one for this series for sure :)

[@pabulum28]

I was thinking about Cardinal Syn and also Bloodstorm the other day as I liked CS when it came out and I've watched some KZbin videos of BS lately by happenstance before Matt did this video here...if you think about it, BS kind of inspired CS directly in many ways to the point at which CS is almost a dark-fantasy ripoff of BS: Pseudo-political motive to win the Tournament (ruling over all the land...at least that is part of the goal in CS) Ugly gauntlet on each competitor's arm (although in each person in CS also has weapon in other hand) Bonus characters each of whom complement the main roster (at least in terms of physicality) A menacing lady named Sin/Syn! (although Tempest from BS is the megalomaniacal one like Syn in CS, not Sin from BS) Even though many other fighting games have some of these elements and such, none AFAIK have ALL of them, not in the way here that CS had cribbed from BS.

[@FEARSWTOR]

One of those classic instances where people remember a commercial/advert clearly but cannot remember what was actually being sold.

[@BatKitKat]

A particularly awful game that comes to my mind is Time Slaughter. Though it wasn’t made by a big company and was more a project that a couple students did in a short time frame just for fun so take it as you will.

[@ajragle]

I was thinking of this the whole time just because the art was very similar.

[@GreenChillZone]

From what I've read it was basically a parody of these sorts of games (they literally called themselves Bloodlust Software) and it even takes a couple of shots at Time Killers. The guys who made it actually went on to make NESticle, believe it or not. Given that it was basically a shitpost I'm not sure it should really be judged on the same level as the other Worst Fighting Games.

[@MasterSubLink]

All part of the Fecal Lord

[@Silviasdumm]

I came up with the name Bloodstorm for my comic, unaware of this game, and I decided to search it up on KZbin to see what else has bloodstorm for the name, I wasn’t expecting a Terrible Fighting Game

[@MoonlightStrider]

I remember seeing this game on a MAME disc that my dad had in his house and I spent ages playing on it, I also got my brother into trouble at school for asking him to print off the GameFAQ of the moves and how to fight the Agents of Nekron. Good times.

[@RichDuckKing]

Bloodstorm looks like the characters were drawn in MS Paint. It reminds me of the way Bloodlust Software games looked.

[@atraxos]

I got serious Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (SNES) vibes from how the pixel-art characters looked, clunky weapon artwork aside.

[@bugashi]

What do you get when a controversial snuff film producer makes a fighting game? You get one of the legendarily bad titles that became a nightmare just to purchase. Death Cargo. Good luck finding it, because it was only made available through the company that made it, Necrostorm, which no longer sells it.

[@ideitbawxproductions1880]

I'm sorry, what?! Like, this "producer" didn't just make special-effects gorefests, but videos of real people literally being killed? Did I read this right? And then he made a video game? I feel like even if I *could* get my hands on a copy, I wouldn't want to

[@bugashi]

​@@ideitbawxproductions1880 Necrostorm Productions is an entertainment company that produces and distributes films of a certain gore-filled quality, independent from the rest of the industry because they don't want their "creativity" to be limited by "DANM SON, THAT'S F***ING GRAPHIC!" A few years back, they decided to get into the games business with a fighter that supposedly blended elements from King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat, along with their own flare of "I'm tellin' ya'll, that ain't rite" and announced Death Cargo for the PC in 2011. Death Cargo would be slated for a 2014 release with the promise of "infinite DLC", giving players new characters, new stages, new everything at little to no additional cost. This would be made available through Necrostorm's own site, instead of any platforms like Steam or... well, anywhere really. The release date came and went, and rumors started to spread about the game being a hoax. However, sometime later, it would eventually see... I guess you could call it a release... it's... complicated. A good number of people who attempted to purchase and download the game would be met with an overly complicated process, transactions being blocked by Paypal, and accusations of trolling when contacting the company about any of their troubles. In fact, it was widely accepted that the game had not been released at all, given how few people were able to get through all the steps required to generate the game file. Necrostorm claimed that this was their anti-piracy process, even though it was more anti-consumer at best. To the company's credit, they would refund anyone who wasn't able to get the game to run, but they were also quick to claim everyone was harassing them. Of those who were able to get the game in some way shape or form, it would often be compared to a custom game built on the M.U.G.E.N engine, but with some quality put into the graphics, and live-action videos for the "death rips" (the game's version of fatalities). Eventually, Necrostorm apologized for releasing a broken game and pulled it from their site, rebranding the project as "Gorebreaker" for a future release. That all happened in 2015. Since then, they have been busy trying to scrub the internet of any and everything "Death Cargo" related, turning the game into an instant urban legend. While articles about the game, like Yannick LeJacq's attempt to look into the title for Kotaku, remain available, the trailers and various gameplay videos would get DMCA'ed off KZbin like a terrible night in Vegas. As for Gorebreaker... well, it's 2023 and there's nothing to show for it. A demo would be released in 2019, but the download link led to an error page. The game is still listed on their site, but there's nothing else. But yeah, a production company that specializes in gore-filled snuff films tried to release a fighting game, created an overly convoluted method of purchasing and acquiring the game, called most of the people complaining about it annoying trolls, pulled the game, rebranded it, and has yet to do anything else. Kinda reminds me of the response to that Velma animated series, but much more family-friendly.

[@TheInhumanBeatdown]

It actually did not take me long to find a full copy, and all the DLC, I'd say of questionable legality but if they stopped selling it then I'd say its free game. Edit: I also discovered with a quick google search that they are or have(?) Remade Death Cargo as "GoreBreaker" which looks to basically be the exact same thing only slightly different. Still looks awful lol

[@bugashi]

@@TheInhumanBeatdown Gorebreaker was a rebranding of Death Cargo, which was Necrostorm's way of saying "forget that mess, we obviously didn't know what we were doing, here's what we're really working on", which has yet to get an actual release. While they did offer a demo of the game back in 2019, the download links didn't work, making it unavailable. Since then, they only note the title on their site, with nothing to show for it. To be perfectly honest, the only way most people were even able to check out the game was by pirating it, as few could legitimately get their hands on it in a legal manner. I suppose this was what made them so overprotective of the game's image, as they would often try to claim that footage seen on your tubes was of a leaked unfinished build, or some other made-up reason. Ultimately, they would just begin DMCA'ing all footage regardless in the hopes of salvaging the project as something else. If I had to set a wager, Beyond Good and Evil 2 will probably see a release before whatever becomes of Gorebreaker.

[@Choralone422]

I remember playing Bloodstorm once in the arcade and thinking to myself "Yeah, I'm good." Even teenage me could feel like that game wasn't entirely finished and was pushed out just to try and rake in some coin. Time Killers was sort of fun from the shock value POV when it was first released but I think by mid to late 93 I stopped seeing it around in the arcades. Which says a lot since fighting games were freaking EVERYWHERE at that time.

[@Sh0tgunJust1ce]

I actually have a soft spot for this game. Pure 90's cheese with a Game of Thrones esque plot.

[@AmAxel35]

I like the megaman power system and using passwords to save your progress

[@jessragan6714]

But thankfully, no floppy wieners.

[@mesetaplays]

Holy SHIT I’ve been waiting for this. Bloodstorm was my favorite MK clone thanks to how goofy it was. Thank you Matt. I really needed this today.

[@paperotavio]

Love this video series, Matt. Please consider trying Tongue of the Fatman at some point. I had to give it a shot myself once I saw the cover and sadly the game itself doesn't provide nearly as much joy

[@captainmartin1219]

Yeah that game is the worst. The segs Genesis version was called slaughter sport. I think the genesis version may be worse. I think most people who played that game only remember the female spider characters having cake.

[@maltheopia]

This game is absolutely insane and by any reasonable standard it is awful. All the same, I admire its ambition.

[@dusklunistheumbreon]

Yeah ngl there's some decent underlying potential there from what I can see. It just...has a lot of issues.

[@obadiahlackey1762]

​@@dusklunistheumbreon

[@obadiahlackey1762]

​@@dusklunistheumbreonit

[@ramonestefano]

I tried to find a TAS video for Bloodstorm, to find some comboes. There are none, so there goes that. Anyway, this was a great Bonest... Bloodstorm review. I would like to suggest Ultraman for SNES as the worse fighting game.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Ugh, a game so bad it made me hate Ultraman without having seen a single episode. (Don't worry tokusatsu fans, I don't hate it anymore.)

[@Guy4318]

Ultraman was one of the first games I ever rented and forced myself to beat it just to not stubbornly succomb to boredom. All I remember was super jumping a lot.

[@TheTrenternet]

Alan Noon who worked on this game usually answers questions about it and talks about it from time to timeon twitter. He mentioned that the original version of Bloodstorm wasn't so insanely focused on violence and in his opinion at least was a much better game.

[@angelriverasantana7755]

Sucks that it's lost media

[@TheNeoVid]

This dredged up memories. Bloodstorm had so many promising unique features that were completely bungled, like everything this studio did. I've got a suggestion for worst fighting game: There was a Ranma fighting game on the Super Famicom before the anime had been translated into english, so the SNES version localized it by completely remaking the characters into random, generic OCs. I still remember one preview saying, "Take the recent Ranma game and remove the characters, humor and fun, and you get this."

[@damienhailey118]

That explains SO MUCH about the Street Fighter movie ending. Even as a kid, I though Cammy seemed a little down bad for Guile all of a sudden, and it even bled into the Animated Series.

[@Phoebe5448]

"This game is incredible!! And I've only just entered my name!! THRILLHOUSE!!" WELCOME THRILLHO

[@subacetylene]

This game was a huge hit in the arcade I used to go to. I spent more time watching people play and waiting for my turn than ever getting to play myself. But anyway, this was one of my favorite arcade games as a kid. When I did get a chance to play I had a ton of fun with it being that I also was a fan of their previous game, Time Killers. Personally I liked that you could lose within seconds if you didn't know how to play right. Watching the gameplay brings back great memories. :)

[@czechlineage]

I'd like to nominate either Fighting Masters on the Sega Genesis, or Power Moves/Deadly Moves on the SNES/Genesis. Fighting the computer in the former is so damn frustrating, and Power Moves tries some things that ultimately don't work well mechanically. But it does have a sick bass riff on the title screen...and Warren. He's a good boy.

[@CaptainCanoe]

Not sure if it qualifies as a fighting game but I would put WCW backstage assault up there as one of the worst fighting / wrestling games ever

[@teowes7528]

I loved this game! It had a custom taunt feature where certain inputs brought up specific messages including my all time favorite "You don't know shyt about this game, go read EGM." No one else in the arcade played it, so I never got a feel for it competitively, but it was nice having it all to myself.

[@DoorsInTheLabyrinth]

waiting for Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft. Man, I wanted to LOVE that game. D&D plus fighting? Sign me up! As it is, I did play more of it than I should ever admit to.

[@LtheOriginal]

This game always feels like a BAD fever dream for me. Like I can't quite explain it. I think it's a cross between the music and sound effects, as well the constant weird clicking sounds after a match, and the sheer fact that you can unlock secrets by doing...."practically anything" None of it feels like a real working game.....Or as I said, it feels like a bad fever dream.

[@emilysong2000]

Who would've imagined that Matt would be celebrating his birthday by tackling one of the jankiest fighting games from the mid-90s, Bonestorm...uh, I mean Bloodstorm!

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

He wanted Bonestorm for his birthday, but got this instead. Buy him Bonestorm or go to Hell.

[@pichaelthompson]

At first I thought you meant Matt Groening

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

@@pichaelthompson You know, we've never seen Matt McMuscles and Matt Groening together in the same room. I'm not suggesting they have a Tyler Durden thing going on but... Actually, that's exactly what I'm suggesting, nevermind.

[@davidfitzgerald4748]

I don’t think any of us kids woulda noticed if they just hired a different actor to play Johnny Cage for MK3. Or perhaps more precisely, none of us woulda cared.

[@DesertRainReads]

Sucks, if this game actually had more time in the oven, it could've been a nice MK knock-off. I agree completely with your assessment.

[@Rangaisia]

To give Bloodstorm (and Time Killers) some credit, they were among the few of the 90's murdercore fighters to actually work the brutality and murder into actual gameplay. They weren't just standard fighting games with fatalities and edgy attitude slapped in like too many of these forgettable 90's MK wannabes, murder actually informed the mechanics. The actual execution might had been lacking, but you have to give Strata credit for at least trying to flesh out the murder to be a substantial core element of the gameplay.

[@Globalastral5]

As an die-hard Kylie fan… honestly… good for her 👏

[@RawrX32009]

Guile be cheating like he ain't a family man💀

[@MathematicalVoid]

9:47 - The video just skips ahead at this point. I don't know why. I don't remember it doing that before.

[@walterlucero5757]

"Tell you parents 'Buy me Bloodstorm or go to hell!'"

[@xtlm]

I actually liked Time Killers in the Arcade, learned that there was a 'sequel' just a few years ago but havn't played it yet. That said, the worst fighting game is "The Risers" on Steam but that probably doesn't count since it's....steam.

[@caesarsalad77]

The only time I was ever able to play Bloodstorm was when the county fair came to town. I would have been 13 or so at the time so it was the perfect kind of game for me, and playing it in a grimy temporary arcade set up for a county fair just made it that much better. All in all, a terrible game, but fond memories.

[@dr_deathfist8785]

FUCK YES! Dude this game looks insane, I’m so happy you’re covering it.

[@noway9320]

fun fact, there's an operator setting to change the name to just STORM if BLOOD offends you, there's also a mention of alternate cabinet art calling it THE STORM in the operator's manual

[@rga1605]

Hellhound what a fun guy his ending was faithful to himself

[@rpgaholic8202]

I guess I'm surprised you didn't touch on then-Senator Joseph Lieberman being a secret character via one of the Big Head codes (called SENLIEB in-game) tossed in as a big "F#*@ you" as he was active in several campaigns against violence in video games.

[@TheRealHonkeyKong]

I've got to be "that guy" and point out that if you set a password when you start the game (literally just hit any sequence of buttons after selecting your character), you can restore all the upgrades you've earned after continuing by entering that same password again when you select your character. You can just smash a single button several times after you select your fighter, it really doesn't matter.

[@PubeStache]

My buddy and I literally begged the management at the Putt Putt on Union Road in Buffalo, NY to carry this game. They looked into it and said it was too violent.. My buddy got to play it in a different state and wouldn't shut up about it. Sadly, I never got to play it.

[@NerfPlayeR135]

It looks like part of the video was cut out at around 9:47. Not sure why this happened, but it affected the 6-hour compilation too.

[@MattMcMuscles]

got demonetized for showing Sheeva's butt.

[@Guy4318]

That picture of Johnny Ninja and Bret Hart got me back to my adolesence quicker than an AOL article about Sunny.

[@ryansmith2334]

Battle Beast: The Ultimate Fight Game could definitely be an interesting game to cover on this series. I loved the concept of the game as a kid but man was it rough to try to actually play

[@wraithcadmus]

I will keep suggesting this no matter how many Telegram scams I get. Do Body Blows Galactic on the Amiga! - 1993, they should have known better - Team 17, who should have known better - Unfair AI - A single special move per player - One-button gameplay

[@Super121830]

It happened! I'm so happy you covered this game, while I admit this game is janky as hell adnd was just mildly fun, I had this time when I dedicated every weekend to beat Bloodstorm with all agents defeated first try, I wasn't the most sane person. Also, it's the "best" worst figting game so far, that's more good news! Thanks for making this video, I really enjoyed the information of the game itself and the story behind it.

[@TheWeebinar]

Is it just me or is Nekron a combination of Jet Jaguar and a barbie doll with Godzilla's head?

[@cowboydandank]

I would love to see you check out FX Fighter, an old early 3D fighter for the PC. It had some decent tunes and funny voice lines.

[@penancedota4139]

There was a Bloodstorm cabinet in a gas station/convenience store in Woodstock, IL when I was a kid. I don't remember the game looking this bad, but aging memories and CRTs will do that I suppose.

[@kintaroahnra4110]

I never found this game in the wild, just saw it in a few EGMs and the like and was convinced that it was one of the coolest-looking fighting games around. Oh to be young again.

[@MrFutago87]

You know, looking at the premise of the game I was just thinking...A Warhammer 40k fighting game.

[@MixMasterLar]

never even heard of this lol. Good (bad?) find for the show. honestly you kind of already covered what I would consider the worst fighting game unless we really want to pick some low fruit and choose Karate Champ on NES. Although with your comment about the limb mechanic now I'm scared Bushido Blade might get on this chomping block (please don't I love it)

[@Solradguy2501]

God I love this game for it's stupid amount of gimmicks, killing every secret boss requires the patience of a saint

[@LordOfClarkness]

BONESTORM on the other hand is freaking amazing.

[@derekmatzek9551]

“Buy me Bonestorm or Go to Hell!” “Young man in this house we use a little word called ‘Please’”

[@CodeNameX001]

Nekron looks like a mashup between He-Man and Mazinger Z.

[@ThingsOnDemand]

I can’t believe the Penn & Teller “Death move!” clip didn’t get used. I CANNOT believe it.

[@rossman8919]

Buy me bloodstorm or go to hell Edit: darn others beat me to it

[@QUK_DDCT]

Honestly I remember absolutely loving Bloodstorm back in the day. Yes, I played the crap out of MK games before I got my hands on Bloodstorm and yes ofc MK is better but I mean Bloodstorm aint THAT bad. If you play it as a goofy fighting game and appreciate the gore, it's pretty damn fun. Especially with friends but again almost anything is fun with friends lmao

[@SAPProd]

BUY ME BLOODSTORM OR GO TO HELL!

[@faroffblue5529]

Tommy "Limb Damage Is The Future Of Fighting Games" Tallarico: "This game is easily Top 5 Fighting games of all time!"

[@Cheezitnator]

Did something happen to this video? It seems like a chunk is missing when he starts the explanation of game mechanics and I could've sworn the first time I watched this it didn't do that.

[@Chris_Prime]

I used to play this game in the arcade of a movie theater, and I will never forget "Mirage" and how she came from the "harsh desert region of obsel", because "obsel" spelled backwards is "lesbo". LOL

[@Jhylla81]

My local arcade had this game and Time Killers as a kid. Time Killers was at least fun. This was a mess.

[@wommpa]

Funnily enough, this was at an old video rental store in my town before it got torn down for a CVS, I hated it. also, 12:42 , what's the music from?

[@RawrX32009]

CVS as in the drug store or Capcom vs SNK?

[@realdiesoft]

This is the kind of game that I feel has a weird place in peoples' hearts. Dogshit, yeah, but that era of trying to outshock everyone else with violence, it was a fun time to see stuff like that. I miss that kind of violence lol. Also makes me wonder if amateur game devs would ever try to "fix" this game. You know, Bloodstorm the good version. Or fuck it, Bloodstorm 2: the Bonestormening

[@346436]

I still remember when the arcade near me replaced their SSF2 machine with a Bloodstorm one. Talk about a downgrade

[@LDRtheRaptorJesus]

for some reason I always thought this game was some tie in for some Image comic or something. it just gives off that certain liefeld jenesequa.

[@jessragan6714]

"Get with it, Strata is the new king of fighting games!" Heh, you keep dreaming, guys. Years and years and years ago, I used to do a column on my web site called Fighter's Misery that covered many of the games you have. That was back in the early 2000s, when the internet was more of a literary medium than a visual one. Any chance you remember that? Ah, good times. I honestly think Bloodstorm is a better game than Time Killers, but it's definitely a victim of its own wicked excess. Like Way of the Warrior, they cram in too much stuff without making it all work as part of a cohesive whole. At least there's a code to unlock a Senator Lieberman-ized version of one of the characters!

[@Cocoricoow]

I had a stinky fighting game as a kid, Clayfighter 69/3, the game have "some" charm, but the gameplay is not great when I played it again

[@youtubemusicowesmemoney8470]

Never knew that Incredible did Golden Tee! I spent many days after work in a bar playing Golden Tee with drinks and rants about my supervisor. The cheat of Golden Tee was the seven iron. After your tee off, you only needed to use the 7 to get an easy eagle, or a hole in one on the tee off. The drinks we won with that game. Ah! Good times! 😁

[@JoebDragon]

maybe an Tin Cup joke

[@arghpee]

Personally, I like the art style besides the character designs.

[@The_TylrG]

If you got that Chilly McFreeze reference, give me a Hell Yeah!

[@Fnorgh]

There seems to be a missing chunk between 9:47 and 9:48

[@DavCube]

What with the MK potshots being taken, I would think Hellhound's arcade ending was a jab at the "Everyone dies, Have a nice day" endings that were present for Rayden and Shang Tsung in MK 1 and 2 respectively.

[@MercuryCDX]

This game got boring. I'm really into this cup and ball now. Whoa! Wow! Whoa ho ho! Man, you never know which way this crazy ball's going to go.

[@Darqueness]

6:01 Mirage coming from a place where men are dominated by women and kept as cattle solely for "pleasure and food" is one thing, but the devs calling that region "Obsel" is a bit much if ya read that location name backwards.. Also while the sprite+CG weapons does look super bad, it also isn't great that most of the characters (especially the female characters) are using most of the same sprites as the other women. Like waist down 4 different charactes are exactly the same, waist to neck is another shared sprite section across at least 3 or 4. Only unique parts for some is the head. Super lazy spritework. Guess they blew it all in the gore, which I'll give is definitely quite over the top. Opening sight of the king cut open is a pretty brutal way to start a game. But literally dying from just moving too far back is super weak. Lots of potential for something if they just thought things through.

[@dougbarrett619part2]

i low key like this game. then again i enjoy things not good for people

[@PositiveBrothaHakeem]

I recall this nigh-unplayable dreck being rather hyped-up by Game Players Magazine at the time & included that infamous picture/ad of Daniel Pesina playing Bloodstorm. What a time to be alive...