Red Earth, known as Warzard (ウォーザード , Wōzādo) in Japan, is a 1996 fantasy-themed head-to-head Fighting Game released by Capcom as a coin-operated arcade game. It was the first game for Capcom's CP System III hardware, the same hardware on which the later Street Fighter III and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure games ran. Red Earth was the only CPS-3 video game that was never officially ported to home platforms or subjected to Capcom Sequel Stagnation, although its characters have appeared in later Capcom games. That eventually changed when it was announced in February of 2022 that Red Earth would join nine other games in Capcom Fighting Collection for current platforms with Rollback-based online play to be released the following summer.
There are four selectable characters and eight computer-controlled opponents; and two game modes, Quest and Versus. In Quest Mode, the player chooses one of the four main characters, and progresses through a story while battling the various boss characters and gaining experience. In Versus Mode, two players fight against each other, but they can only choose from the four main characters. Red Earth also uses a special password system that allows the player to play the game later on the same skill level reached when it ended the last time. The character is able to "learn" special attacks and gain new equipment depending on the skill level that has been reached.
The fighting engine itself is similar to games such as Street Fighter, but with a few differences. First of all, the health bar of the enemy "bosses" the player battles in Quest Mode is displayed across the bottom of the screen, and is much larger than that of the player's. Also, as the player lands hits on the bosses, various coins and treasure chests come out. Collecting coins provides experience, while various things can be found in treasure chests, such as orbs (used for super attacks) and food (that restores health). These elements make the game more of a Boss Rush action/beat-em-up style game rather than a traditional one-on-one fighter.
In addition, Red Earth is one of few Capcom games with Finishing Moves. They include splitting the opponent in half either horizontally or vertically, decapitation, artery rupture, organ removal and limb slicing; the Darkstalkers series also holds this distinction.
The character sheet is in the works.
No mercy... ATTACK!
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Tessa's staff is polygonal while the rest of her is sprite-based.
- After the End: The Japanese version's plot says this game takes place in a post-apocalyptic 1999.
- All Witches Have Cats: The sorcerologist Tessa owns four cats, two of whom (Al and Ivan) actually aid her in battle from time to time. The catch is that Tessa owns several other pets, such as a bird (Hato), a frog (Kaeru), and a dragon spirit which doubles as her cape (Manot).
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Averted. The CPS-3's capabilities are shown here in a subtle manner; whenever Tessa does a kick, one of her cat familiars appears on her kicking foot. If she is kicking to the right, with her left leg, Al will appear; if it's the other way around, it'll be Ivan. She even calls them accordingly.
- As Long as There Is Evil: Scion claims he will live on. Possibly thanks to the alien that controlled him in Tessa's ending.
- Censorship Bureau: Blade was originally known as "Jihad" in prototype versions, however, because of religious connotations (a rare example of an Islamic reference) it was changed to what it is now.
- Cool Mask: Kenji.
- Crossover: Tessa is a playable character in Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (in which Leo and Hauzer make cameos; the former in her stage, the latter in Ryu's ending), and Capcom Fighting Evolution had the appearances of Leo, Hauzer, Hydron, and Kenji as playable, plus cameos from Tessa, Mai-Ling, Blade, Kongou, and Gi Gi in Leo, Jedah, and Pyron's endings.
- Capcom vs.: Aside from SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash (which features even Mai-Ling), Tessa appears in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, Hauzer appears in Karas and Saki's endings in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, and Gi Gi has an appearance in PTX-40A's ending in the same game. Leo appears in Hawkeye's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Tessa appears in Dr. Strange's ending in the same game, while Kenji's color scheme is a selectable palette for Strider Hiryu and Kenji himself is among the "Heroes and Heralds" cards. Kongou and Ravange also appear in Hsien-Ko's ending.
- Demoted to Extra: While the game is a relatively obscure title, almost all of the playable characters have been in at least one game outside of this one (see "Crossover" above) except for Mai-Ling whom has yet to have been playable outside of the original game.
- Dimensional Traveler: Alluded to in Tessa's backstory and more explicitly confirmed in her crossover appearances.
- Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Hauzer, the Trexpy boss, is stated to be a "dragon" while more-or-less being a demonic T. rex with tiny dragon wings and the ability to breathe fire.
- Dub Name Change: Most characters, with the exceptions of Leo, Hauzer and Kongounote had their names changed from Warzard to Red Earth:
- Tabasa = Tessa
- Tao = Mai-Ling
- Mukuro = Kenji
- Nool = Hydron
- Luan = Lavia
- Secmeto = Ravange
- Jihad = Blade (OK, this one was sensible)
- Valdoll = Scion
- Expy:
- Leo is one of Lion-O. He even has a palette in some of his fighting game appearances that gives him the same colour scheme.
- Mai-Ling seems to be the long lost daughter of Chun-Li and Adon, given some of her poses, specials, and her fighting style.
- Fanservice: Tessa's "bad" ending,
which features her naked for whatever reason.- Fan Disservice: She's naked and cozying up to an alien fetus in a jar, which... most likely isn't a good alien since it was found in Scion's lair.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Several, including Zipang (Japan), Icelarn (Iceland), Sangypt (Egypt, Alanbird was the original Japanese name), Savalia (Greece, Greedia is the original Japanese name), and Gora (China). The exterior of Gi Gi's stage is never seen, but judging by his appearance (a robotic Chavín statue) it's probably a fantasy version of ancient Peru. Taking the game's title at face value even extends this trope to the earth itself (which is, obviously, blue as opposed to red).
- The rest of the world map has two unvisited landmasses: Auster (Australia) and Indeal Land (North America, and by extension Native Americans).
- Finishing Move: You can chop your enemy in half, or (if you play with Kenji) take their heart and squish it. Mai-Ling doesn't have any, though.
- Girlish Pigtails: The long feathers on Mai-Ling's hat give this impression.
- Gratuitous English: Tabasa was probably meant to be named Tabitha, but whoever was in charge of converting the names from Japanese to English screwed up and simply did a direct Romanizing of タバサ.
- The Heartless: Scion.
- Hot Witch: Tessa, although she'll tell you that the correct term is "Hot Sorcerologist."
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople): As the Red Earth is an alternate version of our planet, many of the various fictitious countries have names reminiscent of their real life counterparts.
- Meaningful Name: Leo and Hydron. One is styled after a lion, the other has hydra-like tentacles.
- Mistaken for Gay: Slightly played with in this We Can Rule Together moment:Clara: "You've done well to get this far. With your mind and my empire, we could rule the world."
Tessa: "Empire? A team? You must be joking. I'm not that kind of girl." - Multiple Endings: Which ending you get is determined by how many continues you use, as well as, in certain cases, what dialogue options you choose or whether you dismember one of the last opponents or not.
- Our Sphinxes Are Different: Ravange, one of the boss monsters, is a cross between an Egyptian sphinx and the Greek Chimera. He was created by Clara Tantra and fuses the power of the lion, goat, eagle, dragon, and cobra together along with hers.
- Power-Up: The spheres and emeralds, carried on later to Pocket Fighter as part of its gameplay.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leo, who is the king of his own country.
- SNK Boss: Because Red Earth is a Boss Rush game, this is expected. These are Blade and his sword-drill; and Scion, his dragons and his two forms. The second form even has an attack which will turn you into an inoffensive creature during a limited time where you can't block nor attack in any form. Oh, and he loves to abuse an attack in which he spawns swords from the bottom and the top. And, of course, abuses a lot of his dragons.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Yeah, he's got fur, but Leo isn't wearing much other than a lioncloth (sorry).
