Violence Fight is a Fighting Game developed and published by Taito in 1989 in arcades. The game is notable for being on the earlier beat'em-ups previous to Street Fighter II, not to mention having some elements that SFII will popularize later, like matches divided in rounds and even special moves, albeit neither as fantastical as their Capcom's counterparts. It was also notorious for having all the characters some kind of small backstory and their reasons for fighting in the tournament
In the U.S. during The '50s, there was a underground fighting tournament named as "Violence Fight", who was popular between the criminal underworld and the general audience. The contestants, drawn from all the country, compete for a large sum of money and the glory of being named "The Number One Quarreler" of the good old U.S.A. The contestants are the following:
- Bad Blue: A young man from Los Angeles, CA and The Hero of sorts of the game. He is the Jack of All Stats of the game and he wants to win the tournament, so he and his manager, a Sharp-Dressed Man named "Blinks", could get the prize money for themselves.
- Ben Smith: An African-American former war veteran from Carson City, Nevada, nicknamed the "Fierce Eagle of Nevada'' due to his quick reflexes and speed.
- Lee Chen: A Chinese-American kung-fu fighter from Miami, FL and an expert of the deadliest forms of kung-fu he learned from his father after traveling to China for training.
- Rick Joe: A disgraced wrestler from Ardmore, Oklahoma, expelled from the wrestling world after killing 13 wrestlers and he wants to atone his crimes in this tournament.
- Ron Max: A fat farmer from Texas, whose bald head is tougher than his fists. One of the final bosses of the game and promoted to playable in the sequel.
- Tony Won: A Scary Black Man from New York, who doesn't have any problems to use any kind of dirty trick to wipe the floor with you, including using chains. He's also the leader of the gang who organized the tournament in first place. He is also promoted to playable in the sequel as well.
The game spawned a Mission-Pack Sequel named Solitary Fighter, when the bosses are playable and some extra elements are included, like hostile audiences.
The game wasn't particulary popular in neither in Japan or the U.S. in the arcades, albeit it was ludicrously popular in Mexico in the same time period and it was never ported to consoles until the Playstation 2/Xbox era (and only in Japan, oddly enough).
CAMON, BOY!
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Rick Joe. Although he is depicted in the game as an aging, paunchy man wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, the game's flyer
◊ shows him younger, taller, with a bare torso and well-defined abdominal muscles. - All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu: Lee Chen, albeit technically, he is Chinese-American.
- Anachronism Stew: Although the game takes place in the early years of 1950s, stages 2 and 6 feature the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in the background. In real life, the construction of the Twin Towers only began between 1968 and 1969, to be completed in 1973.
- Artistic License – Martial Arts: Rick Joe's backstory of killing thirteen wrestlers in the ring is incredibly ludicrous, even for the standards of the genre: While it could be explained by both
Values Dissonance from the Japanese programmers and lack of research about how combat sports are handled in both the U.S. and many western countries,note Rick Joe not only would have been expelled from wrestling; he could also have been arrested for mass murder and, taking into account the time period when the game takes place, likely executed. - Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Bad Blue has a set of well balanced stats, Ben Smith makes emphasis on speed and light hits, Rick Joe has powerful punches and kicks but lack of speed, and Lee Chen combines long jumps and the highest stats on kick damage.
- Bald of Evil: Ron Max.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Violence Fight features one of the most inconsistent translations of a Taito game ever featured in their story, as many of the names of the characters (and sometimes, even cities) aren't translated correctly: As an example, Bad Blue is translated as "Bat Blue", Rick Joe as "Lick Joe", Los Angeles as "Los Angels"note and "Ardmore" as "Aadmore". The sequel features an even worse translation.
- Not even Japanese players understand just what the "Sammy You!" text balloon that appears on the win screen is supposed to mean.
- Button Mashing: One of Bad Blue's deadly techniques, "Star Dust Punch" (an uppercut surrounded by a bright light), requires players to tap the punch button quickly and repetitively.
- Chain Pain: Tony Won occasionally attacks his opponents with a chain, gaining an advantage in range and damage power.
- Dash Attack: Ron Max's deadly techniques involve him charging towards his opponent.
- Evil Twin: The final boss of the first game is not Tony Won, but a Palette Swap of your character, who consider himself as your lost younger brother, and you have to fight against him.
- Flipping the Bird: Rick Joe, Ron Max and at least one of the members of the audience in one stage have a knack for doing that, at least in the arcade version. Subsequent releases may have edited that out owing to obscenity concerns.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Ben Smith, a former member of the United States Navy who ended up as a contender in an illegal underworld fighting tournament.
- Genre Throwback: The graphics of Violence Fight are a love letter to the style used to draw comics during the 1950s. The effort to maintain the context of the comics is so evident that when an opponent is knocked down with a strong attack, a Written Sound Effect appears on screen.
- Jack of All Stats: Bad Blue.
- Promoted to Playable: Ron Max and Tony Won, the NPC bosses from the first installment, became playable characters in the sequel.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Ben Smith has a deadly technique, "Machinegun Punch", in which he performs a very rapid series of punches using only one arm.
- Scary Black Man: The final boss, Tony Won, and, in less degree, Ben Smith.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Ron Max's outfit consists of dark blue pants with white stars and a sleeveless shirt with red and white stripes, in a clear allusion to the United States flag and, by extension, the flag of his home state, Texas.
- Wrestler of Beasts: Beating stages two and four of the game allows players to enter an extra fight to gain bonus attack power for punches or kicks, as long as they defeat a tiger. The game's sequel takes things even further, replacing the tiger from the first bonus stage with a bear.
- Written Sound Effect: GOON!, GOGOON!, GOGOGOON!
