Developer: System Vision Publisher: Kaneko Release: 01/93 Genre: Action
Ah yes, Power Moves. If you grew up in the 90’s chances are you saw the striking ad of a man getting punched and his face exploding in blood. Well at least that was the case for the Sega Genesis version. Power Moves was released at a time when developers were still experimenting in the fighting genre. Even though Street Fighter 2 established the rules there was still room to play around. Unfortunately most of these “experimental” titles were junk and Power Moves is no exception. There are some features here that could have made for an interesting title. But the implementation is lacking and makes the game worse. Power Moves is another in a long line of fighting games like Battle Blaze and Fighting Masters that deserves to languish in obscurity.
Stop me if you have heard this before: a lone fighter wants to prove himself as the best in the world. To do so he travels the globe challenging the world’s finest to earn a bout with Ranker, the best fighter on the planet. While the story is cliché Power Moves at least has a few elements that make it unique within the genre. Sadly the execution of these ideas and the game as a whole leaves a lot to be desired.
In the single player mode you can only ply as our hero Joe. Joe is as milquetoast as a protagonist gets but I digress. At least the entire cast is playable in versus mode. They are an eclectic bunch and you will recognize many Capcom expys in the cast. Vagnad is your Zangief stand in, from his double arm lariat to also hailing from Russia. Baraki is similar to Blanka; switch electricity for fire and you are good to go. Reayon is Chun Li, Joe is Ryu, Warren might as well be E. Honda. I suppose if you are going to copy you might as well rip from the best.
Even though Street Fighter was the big dog stomping the yard Power Moves does not adapt its quarter circle motions for special moves. In fact the controls are very simple as there is only a single punch, kick, and jump button. Special moves are activated with easy button combinations such as forward + punch and kick. The game recognizes your button inputs extremely well making combat fluid; I am side eyeing the SNES version of Fatal Fury right now. Well about as fluid as this game can be. There are a few interesting quirks regarding the fighting system. Due to the plane system there are no crouching attacks. In addition until you level up strength there is no block damage.
With its belt scrolling field and controls Power Moves plays more like a beat ‘em up than a traditional fighting game. Someone decided to take the plane system from Fatal Fury but allow movement in and out of the background at will. It unfortunately introduces a number of problems. Lining up attacks is a problem as the game is inconsistent as to which moves have a full area of effect or are line of sight. I have very clearly moved in to the background to dodge a fireball only to take the hit. Joe is an extremely limited protagonist while your opponents seem able to hit you on any level with their attacks. Outside of that there is no combo system leaving combat feeling unsatisfying. The novelty of playing as the full roster wears off pretty quickly once you realize the game has less depth than the original Double Dragon.
Power Moves is ruthlessly difficult in single player mode. That is due to the leveling system. The game tries to add depth by boosting your stats in five categories after each match. You can freely fight each character repeatedly to level up speed, strength, jump, defense, and life. Your stats increase based on the difference between your opponents with the exception of life. Every character starts out with grossly higher stats than Joe and it is grueling to eke out one win in the beginning. With this simple fighting system no one wants to fight Warren five or six times to stand a chance against someone else. The RPG mechanic is a good idea theoretically but like Revengers of Vengeance and Doomsday Warrior they botch the execution. Honestly even if the difficulty were lower Power Moves lacks the content and depth to even be worth a 1-day rental.
In Closing
I knew going in to it Power Moves would be bad. While the advertisements were eye catching I never did play it back in the day; I trusted my gut. That instinct proved to true as there is little of worth in this package. I guess some of the characters look cool and some of the backgrounds are pretty. But I would rather stare at a picture than play this tosh. We are not playing Power Moves 8,9, or 10 right now for a reason.
