History VideoGame / KnuckleHeads

Though Knuckle Heads is a 2D fighting UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame, however it has some distinguishing features to differentiate itself from Street Fighter II: All fighters have a weapon at their disposal, whereas in Capcom's most characters have strictly open fist fighting styles and, more notably, Knuckle Heads also has a tag-team fighting option. Not just only can two players go up against a set of CPU opponents, two different set of players can also simultaneously fight it out in Two players vs two players matches.

Thus, Knuckle Heads would go to become... obscure in later years as can be indicated by the lack of sequels and/or [[CapcomSequelStagnation updates of sequels]]. However, Namco's first endeavor in fighting games wouldn't be a complete failure as the company would two years later come up with a more successful game, ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', that would utilize a 3D fighting layout. In addition, Namco would also revisit the concept of weapon-based fighting with 1995's ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]''. Also, for what it's worth, Knuckle Heads would see a re-release on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} via the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole ([[NoExportForYou but only in Japan]]).

** Blat Vaike: [[DropTheHammer A warhammer]]

* NatureHero: Claudia is a somewhat mundane example. Her ending has her using the prize money to buy the entire Amazon rain forest in order to protect it from further deforestation. The last lines also cryptically mention "She disappeared into the Amazon and was never seen again. Maybe she was just the spirit of [the] great Amazon itself?"

* TheHedonist: Vaike is such an individual. In his ending, he spends his ten billion dollars winning on every day of indulgences... for three years.

* {{Eagleland}}: Rob is a mixed example. Though he is a bit of a boisterous braggart, such as proclaiming "I Am Number One!" in his victory animation, however he also does have a genuinely altruistic reason for taking part in this competition. [[spoiler: His father owned a company that went bankrupt and with the prize money that Rob wins in his ending, he gives it all to him in order to get him back on his feet.]]

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: While most characters' names are passable, but in the case of two of the fighters the names would not be credible. It is unlikely any real-life Norwegian would have the surname "Darrell" (of which is of French origin) and then more blatantly unrealistic is the case of Blat Vaike of Greece who has a name that is not only not Greek in origin, but also composed of names from another part of Europe a long distance away from Greece, that being the Baltic countries and Russia.

* MsFanservice: Claudia checks off quite a few {{Fanservice}} tropes. She has a {{Stripperiffic}} outfit which shows off her [[LegFocus luscious legs]], [[BareMidriffsAreFeminine toned midriff]], and [[BuxomBeautyStandard ample bosom]] [[NavelDeepNeckline and cleavage]], of which the last [[{{Gainaxing}} displays a bounce in her victory animation]]. Also amusing to note that she uses a rather sultry voice during said victory animation, at the least invokes a bit of FemmeFatale persona. When also considering that the creators are Japanese, this Brazilian lady would also likely fall under GorgeousGaijin as well. The name for her theme ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAAGIlw1OPU Link here]] for those curious) is even titled as "Latin [[LoveGoddess Aphrodite]]".

* {{SNKBoss}}: Averted as this game doesn't have boss characters of any kind. Instead, the last opponent that players will confront is a golden PaletteSwap of whatever character the player is playing as, who aside from having a higher AI difficulty than prior opponents has no advantages over the player's chosen character.

** Rob Vincent: tonfas
** Takeshi Fujioka: a kusarigama (with sickles at both ends of the chain)

** Gregory Darrell: dual axes
** Claudia Silva: steel claws

Though Knuckles Heads is a 2D fighting UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame, however it has some distinguishing features to differentiate itself from Street Fighter II: All fighters have a weapon at their disposal, whereas in Capcom's most characters have strictly open fist fighting styles and, more notably, Knuckle Heads also has a tag-team fighting option. Not just only can two players go up against a set of CPU opponents, two different set of players can also simultaneously fight it out in Two players vs two players matches.

Thus, Knuckles Heads would go to become... obscure in later years as can be indicated by the lack of sequels and/or [[CapcomSequelStagnation updates of sequels]]. However, Namco's first endeavor in fighting games wouldn't be a complete failure as the company would two years later come up with a more successful game, ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', that would utilize a 3D fighting layout. In addition, Namco would also revisit the concept of weapon-based fighting with 1995's ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]''. Also, for what it's worth, Knuckle Heads would see a re-release on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} via the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole ([[NoExportForYou but only in Japan]]).

* ShotoClone: The American Karateka Rob has a [[KamehameHadoken Hadoken-style projectile]] (called "Blast Wave") and an attack that operates similarly to the {{Shoryuken}} ("Spiral Cutter"). His equivalent to the {{Tatsumaki}} involves him performing spinning-kneeling lariat type of attack.

* ShotoClone: The American Karateka Rob has {{Kamehame Hadoken}}-style projectile (called "Blast Wave") and an attack that operates similarly to the Shoryuken ("Spiral Cutter").

Though Namco had been a notable pillar of the arcades back in the seventies and eighties, but in the early 1990s a then less than decade old competitor known as Creator/{{Capcom}} came out with [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII a game]] that was about [[Franchise/StreetFighter street fighting or something]] that was stealing the thunder of the House of ''VideoGame/PacMan''. Thus, Namco accepted it would have to [[FollowTheLeader try its hand at the genre]] of {{Fighting Game}}s in order to avoid being left out of the spotlight. Thus Namco's ''Knuckle Heads'' was born in 1992.

* LatinoIsBrown: Averted in regard to Claudia. She is Brazilian, but she is of mostly Portuguese and/or other European descent based on her fair complexion and red hair. On stage, the spectators are portrayed as running the gamut of Brazil's real-world ethnic diversity.

* MsFanservice: Claudia checks off quite a few {{Fanservice}} tropes. She has a {{Stripperiffic}} outfit which shows off her [[LegFocus luscious legs]], [[BareMidriffsAreFeminine toned midriff]], and [[BuxomBeautyStandard ample]] [[NavelDeepNeckline cleavage]], of which the last [[{{Gainaxing}} displays a bounce in her victory animation]]. Also amusing to note that she uses a rather sultry voice during said victory animation, at the least invokes a bit of FemmeFatale persona. When also considering that this Brazilian lady is from a land foreign from her, she would also likely fall under GorgeousGaijin as well.

* {{Ninja}}: Fujioka has been trained in the way of ninjitsu. Though interestingly his ending also reveals that [[spoiler: he is a police officer working for an Interpol-like police organization. More specifically, he went undercover in order to bust the organizers of the tournament who have also been running a drug cartel.]]

* WeaponSpecialization: The weapons each character has includes:

** Takeshi Fujioka: kusarigama

** Gregory Darrell: axes

* ShotoClone: Rob has {{Kamehame Hadoken}}-style projectile and a Shoryuken-like uppercut move.

Though Knuckles Heads is a 2D fighting UsefulNotes/Arcadegame, however it has some distinguishing features to differentiate itself from Street Fighter II: All fighters have a weapon at their disposal, whereas in Capcom's most characters have strictly open fist fighting styles and, more notably, Knuckle Heads also has a tag-team fighting option. Not just only can two players go up against a set of CPU opponents, two different set of players can also simultaneously fight it out in Two players vs two players matches.

Though Knuckles Heads is a 2D fighting game, however it has some distinguishing features to differentiate itself from Street Fighter II: All fighters have a weapon at their disposal, whereas in Capcom's most characters have strictly open fist fighting styles and, more notably, Knuckle Heads also has a tag-team fighting option. Not just only can two players go up against a set of CPU opponents, two different set of players can also simultaneously fight it out in Two players vs two players matches.

Thus, Knuckles Heads would go to become... obscure in later years as can be indicated by the lack of sequels and/or [[CapcomSequelStagnation updates of sequels]]. However, Namco's first endeavor in fighting games wouldn't be a complete failure as the company would two years later come up with a more successful game, ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', that would utilize a 3D fighting layout. In addition, Namco would also revisit the concept of weapon-based fighting with 1995's ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]''. Also, for what it's worth, Knuckle Heads would see a re-release on the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} via the Virtual Console (but only in Japan).

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: While most characters' names are passable, but it is unlikely any real-life Norwegian would have the name "Gregory Darrell" and then in the case of Blat Vaike that is not even a Greek name.

* ExcusePlot: A television network is putting on a televised fighting tournament who are fighting for a prize of ten billion dollars. However, Takeshi Fujioka's ending does reveal that [[spoiler: the outfit that is hosting the tourney has been engaging in criminal activity, specifically drug dealing.]]

* TheHedonist: Blat Vaike is such an individual. In his ending, he spends his ten billion dollars winning on every day of indulgences... for three years.

* LatinoIsBrown: Averted in regard to Claudia. She is Brazilian, but she is of mostly Portuguese and/or other European descent based on her fair complexion and red hair.

* AnimeChineseGirl: Christine Myao
* TheAtoner: Gregory Darrell's rationale for taking part in the tourney. His frequent sailing put a strain on his family to the point that his wife divorced him. He thus seeks to win the prize money from the competition in an effort to make up for his past failing. In his ending, he gives them the whole ten-billion-dollar prize and walks away. Upon seeing this act of selflessness, Ms. Darrell tells him "Wait! Darling!! Let's start over again!".

* {{Eagleland}}: Rob is a mixed example. Though he is a bit of a boisterous braggart, such as proclaiming "I Am Number One" in his victory animation, however he also does have a genuinely altruistic reason for taking part in this competition. His father owned a company that went bankrupt and with the prize money that Rob wins in his ending, he gives it all to him in order to get him back on his feet.

* NatureHero: Claudia is a somewhat mundane example. Her ending has her using the prize money to buy the entire Amazon rain forest in order to prevent to protect from further deforestation. The last lines also cryptically mention "She disappeared into the Amazon and was never seen again. Maybe she was just the spirit of [the] great Amazon itself?"
* {{Ninja}}: Fujioka has been trained in the way of ninjitsu. Though interestingly his ending also reveals that [[spoiler: he is a police officer working for an Interpol-like police organization. More specifically, he went under cover in order to bust the organizers of the tournament who have also been running a drug cartel.]]
* ShotoClone: Rob has {{Kamehameha Hadoken}}-style projectile and a Shoryuken-like uppercut move.

* DropTheHammer: Blat Vaike's weapon of choice.

* MsFanservice: Claudia checks off quite a few {{Fanservice}} tropes. She has a {{Striperific}} outfit which shows off her [[LegFocus luscious legs]], [[BareMidriffsAreFeminine toned midriff]], and [[BuxomBeautyStandard ample]] [[NavelDeepNeckline cleavage]], of which the last [[{{Gainaxing}} displays a bounce in her victory animation]]. Also amusing to note that she uses a rather [[seductive voice during said victory animation, at the least invokes a bit of FemmeFatale persona. When also considering that this Brazilian lady is from a land foreign from her, she would also likely fall under GorgeousGaijin as well.
* NatureHero: Claudia is a somewhat mundane example. Her ending has her using the prize money to buy the entire Amazon rain forest in order to prevent to protect from further deforestation. The last lines also cryptically mentions "She disappeared into the Amazon and was never seen again. Maybe she was just the spirit of [the] great Amazon itself?"

* MsFanservice: Claudia checks off quite a few {{Fanservice}} tropes. She has a {{Striperific}} outfit which shows off her [[LegFocus luscious legs]] and [[NavelDeepNeckline ample cleavage]], of which the latter [[displays a bounce in her victory animation]].

Though Namco had been a notable pillar of the arcades back in the seventies and eighties, but in the early 1990s a then less than decade old competitor known as Creator/{{Capcom}} came out with [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII a game]] that was about [[Franchise/StreetFigher street fighting or something]] that was stealing the thunder of the House of ''VideoGame/PacMan''. Thus, Namco accepted it would have to [[FollowTheLeader try its hand at the genre]] of {{Fighting Game}}s in order to avoid being left out of the spotlight. Thus Namco's ''Knuckle Heads'' was born in 1992.

Thus Knuckles Heads would go to become... mostly obscure in later years as can be indicated by the lack of sequels and/or [[CapcomSequelStagnation updates of sequels]]. However, Namco's first endeavor in fighting games wouldn't be a complete failure as the company would two years later come up with a more successful game, VideoGame/{{Tekken}}, that would utilize a 3D fighting layout. In addition, Namco would also revisit the concept of weapon based fighting with 1995's [[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]].

Unrelated to the similarly named Canadian animated series ''WesternAnimation/{{Knuckleheads}}''.

Unrelated to the similarly name animated series ''WesternAnimation/Knuckleheads''.