Version 1.2: Added in a few details from the SNES version. Fixed a major
error in the Arenas section. Minor formatting fixes. Maybe the next revision
will include a table of contents. Maybe. :)
Version 2.0: Added in the moves of the normally non-playable characters, thanks
to MAME cheat codes.
A. Intro
A wrestling game with mythical warriors? Yup. If you've ever wanted to see a
guy who looks like Guile from Street Fighter go mano-a-mano with a two-legged
wingless dragon, this is the game for you.
This 1991 game from Data East is a little crude and extremely difficult, but
it can be fun for a little while. It was fun long enough for me to write
this FAQ, for example. :)
I don't offer strategies here, just movelists and what to expect from the boss
characters.
Note: In Death Brade (the Japanese version of the game), the characters
actually have names, not just species. That's where I got the "Name" entry
from for each character. Other differences between Mutant Fighter and Death
Brade will be noted throughout, though all of them are very minor.
B. Game Intro
Fight!
Win the tournament and take the throne.
The kingdom will be yours.
Press either button rapidly (first hit must connect): combo attack (different
for each character)
Tap controller twice L or R: Sprint (P or K while sprinting for various
attacks)
Get close, push L or R into opponent to Grapple. Once you grapple, you can
select a move by pushing a direction (or no direction) and hitting one of the
buttons as fast as you can (like most wrestling games of the time).
Common Grappling moves:
L or R + P while grappling to Irish whip opponent left or right.
U + K while grappling and "SUPER THROW" is flashing to execute character's
super-throw.
Every time you successfully throw your opponent or take any damage, the Super
Throw meter under your lifebar fills up (you get more Super Throw energy for
taking damage than you get for delivering damage). When the meter is full, it
will flash with the words "Super Throw" (or "OK!" in Death Brade), and you can
then perform your character's Super Throw.
Press P + K to go into a defensive stance and block attacks.
Tap the buttons and wiggle the joystick to get up more quickly. Press L or R
while down to get up and lunge forward, press U or D while down to roll.
For all other moves, see individual character descriptions.
Note: I refer to the opponent as "him" for convenience sake. (Actually,
that'll be correct most of the time, since there's only one female character,
though Hydra seems to have both male and female heads)
D. Playable Characters
1. Fighter
Name: Michael
Height: 72 inches
Weight: 175 pounds
Age: 27
Characteristics:
All-around strong player.
Advice:
Use your best skill.
"Hey, you will die!" (???)
Strikes:
P: Jab
P combo: Jab, straight punch, jumping elbow
P while opponent is down: Jumping elbow drop
P while sprinting: Jumping knee
K: Jumping knee strike
K combo: Jumping knee strike, jumping front kick, rolling savate kick
K while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop
K while sprinting: Slide kick
Grapples:
P: Elbow strike
U + P: Body hurl
D + P: Flipping neckbreaker
K: Body Slam
U + K: Falling body slam
L/R + K: Running press slam
D + K: Back suplex with bridge
Super Throw: Sky High Body Slam
Super Throw Description: Fighter throws his opponent high into the air, into
the sky above the arena. He leaps up after him, grabs him, body slams him all
the way back down to the ground, then follows it up with a knee drop to the
opponent's head.
2. Amazoness
Name: Cindy
Height: 70 inches
Weight: 99 pounds
Age: 23
Characteristics:
Fastest warrior.
Advice:
Attack by wrestling her.
"You are no match!"
Strikes:
P: Slap
P combo: Slap, backhand, spin kick
P while opponent is down: Jumping elbow drop
P while sprinting: Front dropkick
K: Jumping knee strike
K combo: Jumping knee strike, jumping karate kick, rolling savate kick
K while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop
K while sprinting: Neckbreaker grab
Grapples:
P: Double knee strike
U + P: Knee strike, jumping downward-angled kick
D + P: Knee strike, reverse front dropkick
K: Body Slam
U + K: Knee strike, flying headscissors
L/R + K: Tomoe nage (think Street Fighter Ryu's kick throw)
D + K: German suplex
Super Throw: Valkyrie's Ride
Super Throw Description: Amazoness tosses her opponent high into the air,
jumps up after him, and lands on his back in a kneeling position. She grabs
the opponent's arms so he's spread-eagled and drives him into the ground.
(Against Dragon, she rides his chest instead of his back)
3. Hercules
Name: Pon
Height: 76 inches
Weight: 198 pounds
Age: 34
Characteristics:
Powerful tricks.
Advice:
Do not wrestle. Use speedy attack.
"You are a bug to me!"
Strikes:
P: Punch
P combo: Punch, punch, double axe handle
P while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop
P while sprinting: Shoulder block
K: Jumping knee strike
K combo: Jumping knee strike, jumping double axe handle, hop-back drop kick
K while opponent is down: Big splash
K while sprinting: Big splash
Grapples:
P: Headbutt
U + P: Gorilla press slam
D + P: One-hand backbreaker
K: One-hand body slam
U + K: Suplex
L/R + K: Running powerslam
D + K: Jumping piledriver
Super Throw: Final Piledriver
Super Throw Description: Hercules hurls his opponent into the air, then jumps
up after him. Once there, he flips the opponent upside down, and drives him
headfirst back to the ground.
4. Werewolf
Name: Boggy
Height: 73 inches
Weight: 143 pounds
Age: 84
Characteristics:
Quick. Good at flying attack.
Advice:
Dangerous when he dashes, or is apart.
"My teeth are hard!"
Strikes:
P: Claw slash
P combo: Claw slash, claw slash, front kick
P while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop
P while sprinting: Flying cross chop
K: Jumping knee strike
K combo: Jumping knee strike, jumping front kick, jumping roundhouse kick
K while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop (same as P)
K while sprinting: Spinning torpedo attack (think M. Bison, without the flame)
Grapples:
P: Double knee strike
U + P: Knee strike, jumping knee drop to the head
D + P: Knee strike, flipping neck slam
K: Biting
U + K: Airplane spin, back slam
L/R + K: Knee strike, flying headscissors
D + K: Double-underhook suplex
Super Throw: Spiraldriver
Super Throw Description: Werewolf hurls his opponent high into the air
(starting to sense a theme here?), then jumps up after him. He flips over,
grabs his opponent so both their heads are pointed towards the ground, then
drives the opponent into the ground head-first while spinning.
5. Minotaur
Name: Shankar
Height: 74 inches
Weight: 189 pounds
Age: 96
Characteristics:
Rams with his horns.
Advice:
Attack quickly. He gets stronger.
"Know the authority of my horns!"
Strikes:
P: Punch
P combo: Punch, punch, downwards elbow
P while opponent is down: Leg drop
P while sprinting: Horn stab
K: Downwards elbow (same as P-combo finisher)
K combo: Downwards elbow, double-hand punch, low kick
K while opponent is down: Horn dive
K while sprinting: Horn grab (same animation as sprinting P, but Minotaur
throws his opponent backwards when he hits like his U + P grapple)
Grapples:
P: Horn-butt
U + P: Horn-stab back body drop
D + P: Bulldog
K: Body slam
U + K: Argentine backbreaker (aka Torture Rack)
L/R + K: Back suplex with bridge
D + K: Suplex
Super Throw: Horn of Heaven
Super Throw Description: Minotaur hoists his opponent onto his shoulders, then
stabs him with his horns, knocking the opponent high into the air. He jumps
up after the opponent, and horn-stabs him *again*, knocking the opponent even
higher into the air and off the screen. He lands and flexes, as the opponent
comes crashing to earth behind him.
6. Golem
Name: Bodca
Height: 99 inches
Weight: 5518 pounds
Age: 219
Characteristics:
Punching is ineffective. Hard body.
Advice:
Use his weight against him.
"I will mash you!"
Strikes:
P: Chop
P combo: Chop, chop, front kick
P while opponent is down: stomp
P while sprinting: Shoulder block
K: Front kick
K combo: Front kick, palm strike, double-hand punch
K while opponent is down: Big splash
K while sprinting: Avalanche
Grapples:
P: Headbutt
U + P: One-handed press slam
D + P: Knee bash
K: Choke slam
U + K: Giant swing
L/R + K: Hip toss
D + K: High angled power bomb
Super Throw: Ultimate Powerslam
Super Throw Description: Golem hoists his opponent onto his shoulders, then
jumps high into the air, brings his opponent in front of him, then drops back
down, landing on his opponent with all his weight.
7. Beast (Looks like a gargoyle to me, actually)
Name: Flea
Height: 70 inches
Weight: 132 pounds
Age: 53
Characteristics:
Jump attack.
Advice:
Be careful of "neck breaker". He is stronger than he seems.
"Brains to eat!"
Strikes:
P: Overhand claw
P combo: Overhand claw, overhand claw, front two-legged jump kick
P while opponent is down: Four-legged press
P while sprinting: Jumping horn-butt
K: Low two-legged kick
K combo: Low two-legged kick, jumping horn-butt, jump on back and bite.
K while opponent is down: Hip press
K while sprinting: Running horn-butt
Grapples:
P: Horn-butt
U + P: Flipping neckbreaker (like Fighter's)
D + P: Jump on chest and bite
K: Neck hang
U + K: Falling body slam (again, like Fighter's)
L/R + K: Body press powerslam (lifts opponent above head, jumps, flips over,
and lands on them)
D + K: Knee bash
Super Throw: Sky High Four-Legged Press
Super Throw Description: Beast throws his opponent high into the air, jumps
up, lands on the opponent's chest on all fours, and drives his back into the
ground.
8. Dragon
Name: Joseph
Height: 98 inches
Weight: 264 pounds
Age: 482
Characteristics:
Good at kicking.
Advice:
Avoid the dragon's dangerous flames.
"Feel the heat of my breath!"
Strikes:
P: Claw
P combo: Claw, claw, tailstand front kick
P while opponent is down: Flame breath
P while sprinting: Low running forehead-spike headbutt
K: Flame breath
K combo: Flame breath, tail strike, rolling tail bash
K while opponent is down: Tail drop
K while sprinting: Flying tail whip
Grapples:
P: Forehead-spike headbutt
U + P: Hindclaw tomoe nage
D + P: Front face pancake
K: Biting
U + K: Standing back body drop
L/R + K: Hindclaw kick
D + K: Power bomb
Super Throw: Hyper Flame
Super Throw Description: Dragon's throat expands, and then he releases a huge
and long-lasting gout of flame in his opponent's face. No jumping into the
air for this one.
E. Non-Playable Characters
1. Hydra
Name: Charry
Height: 118 inches
Weight: 246 pounds
Age: 77
Characteristics:
Hard to defeat.
Advice:
Be careful of its choke hold, or you will be strangled.
"Our!" "Power!" "Is!" "Very!" "Great!" (each word in a different voice)
Note: When Hydra turns around, it counts as an attack as its tail sweeps the
floor. Because you fight it relatively early in the game (you can fight it as
early as the fourth match, before the Amazon or Golem, if you like), plus the
fact that its name appears on the end credits before Beast and Dragon, I
suspect that it was originally intended to be playable, but changed to a CPU-
only character late in development.
Glitch note: If you choose it with a cheat code, then switch to another
character, its tail will remain attached to and dragging behind your new
character. Hydra's tail does not count as an attack when used as a playable
character.
Strikes:
P: Green-head headbutt
P combo: Green-head headbutt, grey-head headbutt, tail sweep
P while opponent is down: Hydra bite
P while sprinting: Lunging five-head headbutt
K: Five-head headbutt
K combo: Five-head headbutt, curling five-head headbutt, lunging five-head
headbutt
K while opponent is down: Tail sweep
K while sprinting: Curling five-head headbutt
Grapples:
P: Curling five-head headbutt
U + P: Grey-head back body drop
D + P: Tail sweep
K: Five-head biting
U + K: Five-head grab and toss
L/R + K: Tail wrap hold (holds until opponent breaks out)
D + K: Green-head back "suplex"
Super Throw: Real Torture Rack
Super Throw Description: Four of Hydra's heads each grab a limb of the
opponent, and it hoists him over his head, stretching him. Instead of doing
damage all in one hit, does damage in small repeated chunks. Not very
impressive to look at, and not very powerful, though it appears that mashing
the buttons can make the move last longer.
2. Doppelganger
Name: Behoroi
Height: (70 inches)
Weight: (160 pounds)
Age: 12
Characteristics:
Changes into his opponents.
Advice:
Keep track of the real "You", and you can win.
"You're doomed!"
Note: Changes into a copy of his opponent, and uses the same attacks as the
player. He starts off as a darker color than the opponent, but slowly
lightens into an exact duplicate, making it difficult to tell which character
is yours. Called D.Ganger on lifebar and end credits.
3. Demon
Name: Pazuzu
Height: 89 inches
Weight: 176 pounds
Age: 5329
Characteristics:
All-around powerful player.
Advice:
Fight with everything you've got.
"Let's taste your blood!"
Note: The select screen calls him "Demon", but the name on his lifebar is
"Pazuzu" (in both Mutant Fighter and Death Brade). The mythical Pazuzu was
a Mesopotamian demon-king of the winds. He's not entirely an evil demon,
since he's also the enemy of a demon who kills women and children. None of
that has anything to do with this game's Pazuzu. :)
Strikes:
P: Kick (go figure)
P combo: Kick, jumping knee, spinning wing smash
P while opponent is down: Jumping elbow drop
P while sprinting: Shoulder block
K: Fire breath
K combo: Fire breath, fire breath, exploding fireball
K while opponent is down: Jumping knee drop
K while sprinting: Firebird transformation
Grapples:
P: Headbutt
U + P: Judo hurl
D + P: Suplex
K: One-hand neck hang toss
U + K: Spinning argentinian backbreaker suplex
L/R + K: Running bulldog
D + K: Body press one-handed powerslam (like Beast's, but Pazuzu drives the
opponent down with one hand instead of flipping over)
Super Throw: Wind Demon Drop
Super Throw Description: Pazuzu tosses his opponent into the air, then
surrounds himself with fire and flies up after him. He lands on the
opponent's chest in his normal standing position (with his arms crossed),
and drives him into the ground.
3. Archmage
Name: Cronus
Height: 69 inches
Weight: 128 pounds
Age: 98
Characteristics:
Magician.
Advice:
Keep close to him.
"My magic is greater than your strength!"
Note: He fights differently from everyone else. He uses mainly projectile
attacks, and he has no Super Throw meter (and, accordingly, no Super Throw).
Although he's not all that fast, and he has low defense (so your attacks do a
lot of damage to him - three Super Throws are enough to finish him), his
attacks do a lot of damage and it's difficult to get close to him because of
his Teleport attack. Frankly, I'm not sure how to beat him without cheating.
Note 2: The controls below are slightly different than other characters,
since the Archmage's attack style is so different. He only has one grapple
and no dashing attacks (though he can dash - slowly).
Glitch notes: The Lightning Bolt and Stalagmite Spear attacks only work
when the computer is using him, otherwise, the projectiles simply won't
appear. When fighting Archmage vs. Archmage, neither character
will be able to hurt the other, except with the staff swing.
Strikes and Spells:
P: Staff swing
P + U: Meteor Swarm
P + D: Exploding Fire
P + L/R: Energy Wave
K: Teleport (the direction seems random when used by a human player)
K + U: Lightning Bolt (glitched when used by a human player)
K + D: Stalagmite Spears (glitched when used by a human player)
K + L/R: Magic Missiles
Grapples:
All: Energy Wave
F. Arenas
There are ten arenas in all. Six of them are selectable in the 1P vs. 2P mode
(one of which *only* appears in 1P vs. 2P mode), and the others only appear in
the Player(s) Vs. CPU mode.
Normal: Just a normal rectangular arena, with walls on either side. You can
irish whip opponents into the walls for minor damage. (This is Stage 1 of the
Vs. CPU battles)
Ring: Like Normal, but instead of walls, there are ropes (like a boxing or
wrestling ring). You can whip opponents into the ropes and they'll bounce
off. (This is Stage 4 of the Vs. CPU battles)
Spike Ball: Like Normal, but there are four poles with spiked balls near the
center of the ring. Touching them will do damage, plus you can punch them to
bounce back and forth, making them harder to avoid. (This is Stage 2 of the
Vs. CPU battles)
Spike Wall: Like Normal, but the walls are covered with spikes. You can irish
whip opponents into the spikes, or throw them into the spikes... or run into
them yourself. As an added bonus, the floor is covered with ice, making it
easy to slide into the walls. There's also a small step on the right side
of the arena that can be walked over, but you're helpless during the little
hop your character makes. (This is Stage 5 of the Vs. CPU battles)
Piston Rod: The ground is covered with water, and pistons pop out of the
ground, knocking over anyone who's standing there when they appear. (This is
Stage 3 of the Vs. CPU battles)
Heat Board: The arena is suspended over lava, and sometimes yellow circles of
heat appear on the ground. Standing on them causes damage and knocks you
down. (This is Stage 6 of the CPU battles)
Ruins: This is basically just the Normal arena set against a cracked and
broken backdrop, with the Lion And Unicorn emblem of England on the floor.
(This is Stage 7 of the CPU battles, vs. Doppelganger)
Hell Ring: Like Spike Wall (without the ice or the step), but has different
decor, including a wire-mesh floor that you can see through. (This is Stage 8
of the Vs. CPU battles, vs. Pazuzu)
Dimension: Nothing really special here, but this is where the final battle
against the Archmage takes place. The floor shows images from Michaelangelo's
Sistine Chapel painting, while the background is some sort of dimensional warp.
After you win the battle, the background shifts to a simple tile floor with
what looks like a sumo ring in the middle. (You also see this background
briefly when the battle starts)
G. Ending
You won the tournament.
Now you rule the whole kingdom.
Rest for now, brave fighter-king...
Until a new challenger comes
THE BATTLE IS NEVER-ENDING.
H. Differences
These are differences between Mutant Fighter and Death Brade.
Difficulty seems higher on Death Brade, even on the same difficulty level. At
least, grapples seem more difficult to pull off against the CPU.
Characters have names in Death Brade, not just species. (Odd that they took
this out of the US version)
The Super Throw meter flashes "OK" in Death Brade, and "SUPER THROW" in
Mutant Fighter.
"Characteristics" and "Advice" text is in Japanese, as well as the story text,
ending text, staff name text, and "Choose your character" text. All other
text is in English.
And that's it.
Interestingly, the voices are in English in both versions. It's the same
voices speaking the same lines.
I've since learned there's a Japan-only SNES version of the game with
the Death Brade title (I'Max, 1993). The SNES version is graphically almost
identical to the arcade version, but it only has five selectable characters
(Fighter, Amazoness, Hercules, Beast, and Minotaur), only three selectable
rings in the 1P vs 2P: Normal, Hell Ring, and Dimension (the two that were
unselectable in the arcade version), and somewhat worse sound and music. The
voices are almost completely gone, except for grunts and the Archmage's
"Magic!" shout when he casts spells. I haven't gotten very far in it yet, so
I'm not sure whether the other characters are still there. (There's a Sound
Test, so that's how I know about the voices) Other than that, however, the
game appears to be very close to the arcade version.
The SNES version is where I got the names for the Hell Ring and Dimension
arenas.
I. Thanks
Thanks to me, for playing yet another obscure game with a dragon in it. I
really like dragons.
Thanks also to Data East. They weren't the greatest game-makers ever, but
they had some memorable ones. Are you bad enough to rescue President Ronnie?
