Pit Fighter (Domark 1991)

Poor Pit Fighter, the original arcade machine developed by Atari games was actually rather good, the first Mortal Combat game, in fact, however most of the versions made for the home computers and consoles were appalling, especially compared to the conversions of it's later clone, Mortal Combat. In theory Pit Fighter has it all. Blood, digitised fighters, samples, impressive sprite scaling, and a whole array of weapons to use, including bikes. And then it moves. God it's jerksville U.S.A. The movement is choppy and the fighters feel like their walking through treacle. Why this is the case I don't know. A few weeks after buying Pit Fighter I bought a copy of 'The One', which came with a demo of this game strapped to the front. It moves much more quickly, even slightly spritely.
To add insult to injury, a absolutely appalling sound chip tune plays constantly through every screen, probably in some frantic attempt to numb our senses into not realising how jumpy the screen is.
Pit Fighter is actually not entirely terrible however on the ST. The blood and violence factor is a reasonable pull and the weapons are ripe for a good friend bashing jape or two. Given the derth of other decent one on one beat'em-ups on the ST, the ancient Barbarian by Palace, World Karate Championship (The original I.K.), Panza Kick Boxing and perhaps Streetfighter 2 (at a real push) being all that spring to mind (though some strange people like I.K.+ ;-) ), Pit Fighter might even be seen as essential...

Zogging Hell Rating: 7/10

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Cheats

Type in LOBSTERS and then a number to take you to the relevant levels. Press C to go to the Championship level or press L to go to the Elimination match.

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