''Critical Blow'' is a 1997 Japanese video game for the Sony PlayStation developed by

Racdym Racjin, (株式会社ラクジン ''Kabushiki-Gaisha Rakujin'') formerly known as , is a Japanese video game development company located in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, established in 1995. Its name was changed in 2000 to make it more easily pronounced to ...

and published by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-own ...

. It is a three dimensional fighting game, and is a sequel to '' Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle.'' It features character designs by manga artist

Ryōji Minagawa is a Japanese manga artist born in Sumida, Tokyo. He was invited with ''Spriggan'' story writer Hiroshi Takashige to go to a comic convention in Portugal in 1996 as a guest of honor due to his work on ''Spriggan''. He worked on other manga co ...

. The game was never released outside of Japan.

Gameplay

The game uses three dimensional polygons to render the graphics, and runs at 60fps. It features four distinct gameplay modes: tournament mode, theater mode, VS mode, and a trading mode. Trading mode allows for the customization of characters using skills earned by defeating computer controlled opponents.

Story

Two years since the first Power of Solid worldwide martial arts tournament, its core sponsor, the Phillips Konzern, mysteriously encountered financial difficulties and was taken over by a rival corporation, the UK based Merkuar Conglomorate. Hosting the second known Power of Solid Tournament, the Merkuar Conglomorate sends out invitations throughout the world to martial artists, in a proof of participation by a scarab motif jeweled brooch. However, unlike the first P.O.S. Tournaments, where the world watched from multimedia broadcasts and official sponsored events by the millions, this Power of Solid Tournament is more shadowy, and more brutal, in where all participants are allowed by any means to win. In the city state of Hong Kong, young teenage martial artist Rickey Leon has become his nation's breakout national champion. Having received one of these invitations to the Power of Solid tournament, his grandmother, his only known family, is murdered at their doorstep by a mysterious assailant. Wishing to know what these newfound events mean, Rickey follows forward on his journey, to fight his way to the truth.

Development

The game was developed by Japanese game developer Racdym. It is a sequel to '' Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle'' and many characters returned in that game. Character designs for the game were created by manga artist Ryoji Minagawa who is best known as the illustrator of the series

Spriggan A spriggan is a legendary creature from Cornish mythology, Cornish folklore. Spriggans are particularly associated with West Penwith in Cornwall. Etymology ''Spriggan'' is a dialect word, pronounced with the grapheme as /d͡ʒ/, sprid-jan, ...

. To render the animations in the game, the developers used

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

Release

Critical Blow was released on December 4, 1997 for the Sony PlayStation home console and was published by

. The game was never released outside of Japan, nor was it ever re-released through the PlayStation Network Game Archives.

Reception

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 ...

'' gave the game a score of 6.9 out of 10. ''MegaFun'' gave the game a score of 74 out of 100. ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave the game a score of 26 out of 40. Three reviewers for ''

GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

'' gave it scores of 95, 92, and 92.

References

{{Reflist, 2 1997 video games Japan-exclusive video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Fighting games Video games developed in Japan