''Catfight'' (also known as ''Cat Fight'' and ''CatFight: The Ultimate Female Fighting Game'') is a
fighting
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by American studio Phantom Card and published in 1996 by Atlantean Interactive (front for pornographic film company
Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment Group is an American pornographic film production company, ) for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. Several publications have included it on lists of the
worst video games ever made.
Plot
The plot of ''Catfight'' revolves around a dark goddess Shinma and 10 female warriors competing to
challenge her and obtain the ultimate power. The game's advertisement on Atlantean Interactive's website states:
"Join eleven of the fiercest female warriors from across the Ether
In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be c ...
s as they battle it out for the ultimate power of the Universe! Watch the head-to-head fighting assault blaze its way to your screen -- with the hottest women in games engaging in the most violent fighting techniques imaginable! Some of the things you must endure are disembowelment
Disembowelment or evisceration is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract (the bowels, or viscera), usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an accident ...
, decapitation
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
, and worse! It's the ultimate life versus death struggle, where you must pulverize your opponent in eight awesome arenas to survive! Here is your chance to claim your place next to the most awesome women in the galaxy!"
Development
Like the early games in the ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' series, ''Catfight'' uses
digitized actors for creating the
sprites representing the fighters. Martial actress
Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Rodriguez-Ogren (maiden name Katalin Rodriguez Zamiar, best known as Katalin Zamiar) (born August 12, 1971 in Chicago) is an American martial artist, sportswriter, fitness instructor, gym owner and martial arts actress.
Life and career
...
of ''
Mortal Kombat II
''Mortal Kombat II'' is a 1993 arcade fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was later ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super Nint ...
'' fame portrayed a female ninja character Chae Lee.
Reception
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
rated the game at only 8.67%, their score based on three magazine reviews (''
Computer Games Magazine'' rated the game 0/5). Ron Dulin scored it a 1.6/10 in
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
, calling it "without a doubt, the worst
computer game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
ever released". He added: "The worst thing about ''Catfight'' (and, believe me, that's a hefty accomplishment) is that the
gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...
is just so damn bad. I'll sleep easier knowing there will never be a ''Catfight 2''." ''
The Daily Pennsylvanian
''The Daily Pennsylvanian, Inc.'' is the independent student media organization of the University of Pennsylvania. The DP, Inc. publishes The Daily Pennsylvanian newspaper, 34th Street Magazine, and Under the Button, as well as five newslette ...
'' called ''Catfight'' the "number one
sexist game ever created". A reviewer for ''
Next Generation'' panned the game for "the poor image quality, ... nonexistent play control, ridiculously inane special effects, and abysmal sound." He scored it one out of five stars, remarking, "Our scoring system won't let us give zeroes, so Atlantean owes us one star."
In 2010, ''
PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'' ranked ''Catfight'' as the seventh worst game of all time, describing it as "so bad, being caught masturbating to it would actually be less embarrassing than being caught playing it." It was also included among the worst games of all time by
Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
in 2012 and by
GamesRadar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
in 2014.
See also
*
List of video games notable for negative reception
This is a list of video games that have gained an enduring negative reception, often due to being perceived by reviewers as having low-quality or outdated Video game graphics, graphics, Video game glitch, glitches, poor controls for gameplay, o ...
References
External links
''CatFight: The Ultimate Female Fighting Game''at
MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...
''Catfight''at
GameFAQs
GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catfight (Video Game)
1996 video games
Fantasy video games
Mortal Kombat clones
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Fighting games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring female protagonists
Video games with digitized sprites
Windows games
Windows-only games