While many forgotten fighting games from the early 90's were inspired by Street Fighter II in design, the fighters themselves found in these obscure titles
tend to take their inspiration from other sources of pop culture.
Today's entry is a title called Doomsday Warrior (1992). One of the first obscure fighters that capitalized on the success of Street Fighter II and the
burgeoning 1-on-1 tournament fighter genre.
As an early clone, Doomsday isn't much to look at visually. The sprites are smaller than most fighting games of the era, and the overall control scheme (from simple
attacks to performing each player's special moves) is different in comparison to other 2D fighters.
The two starter characters Sledge and Layban are based on Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken (known as Fist of North Star in the west).
Many Japanese fighting games of the early 90's took inspiration from Hokuto, as the anime and manga had become tremendously popular in Japan
for it's mixture of over-the-top violence, macho-tough guy visuals, and characters inspired by both Bruce Lee and the original Mad Max movie franchise.
Graphically, both character's blue and red attires may remind some players of Billy and Jimmy Lee from the Double Dragon series, however, I feel
as both characters are palette swaps, the inspiration for such may be closer to Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter.
The next character is called Amon. A hulkish, slow-moving brute that plays a lot like a Zangief clone is supposed to fight as. Our friends at Hardcore Gaming 101 believe
Amon's character design was inspired by the standard outlaw thugs found in Hokuto No Ken.
I believe Amon's design was inspired by other influences as well. Amon's spiked shoulder pads, mohawk, face paint and fighting style could have been inspired by Road
Warrior Hawk & Animal (who they themselves were based on the same Mad Max source material). Amon's spiked shoulder pads could also be lifted from this character:
Neptuneman from the Kinnikuman franchise. Interestingly, Neptuneman, as we discussed in past posts, was inspired by Hulk Hogan.
Amon's name could be a reference to Amon Amarth (translated as 'mount doom') - a volcano in J.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings franchise that was used as the setting
to forge the one ring.
P. Lump is said to be based on Cheng Sinzan from the Fatal Fury series, yet Doomsday Warrior was released one month prior to Cheng's debut
in Fatal Fury 2.
I believe P. Lump is based slightly on Ramenman from the Kinnikuman series. Though, P. Lump can also breathe fire, which makes me think
of Data East's beloved fire-breathing mascot Karnov.
Hidden sub boss Ashura seems like he takes his inspiration from several sources. If I were to speculate, I would propose Ashura is based first of all on
Ashuraman; also from the Kinnikuman series.
In the original anime, Ashuraman's patented blue skin colour was swapped from a light tan.
Ashura also has a meditation pose and fireball (akin to Street Fighter's Dhalsim), and a hundred-hand slap similar to Street Fighter's E. Honda.
Magazine ad featuring an illustration Amon.
