We live in an era where no franchise is truly left behind, and it’s genuinely refreshing to see so many classic series revived and re-released on modern hardware. Take Fighting Force, for example, Square Enix’s infamous 3D brawler series which spawned two titles on PS1 in 1997 and 1999 respectively. This author actually owned the sequel on the SEGA Dreamcast, while the original also launched extremely late on the Nintendo 64.
“Who doesn’t love a good brawler? In Fighting Force, you and up to three friends have a simple, four step strategy: break things, get weapons, use those weapons to pummel people, and repeat as needed. It’s straightforward streetside carnage with a 3D flair, coming home to you in 2025 care of Limited Run Games,” the summary reads.
Yes, as mentioned in the press materials above, both titles will be bundled together on PS5 and PS4 in 2025. As this is another Limited Run Games joint, you can expect the digital release to be accompanied by a physical collection, with more on that scheduled to be announced in the future.
Hands up if you owned Fighting Force on any of its original platforms? Will you be grabbing this collection when it launches next year? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 38
Fighting Force was my Streets of Rage. Me and my friends played the crap out of the first one on PS1 in Primary School days
Ahhh Fighting Force...the mediocre SoR / Final Fight wannabe but in 3D, although the game was quite fun to play with friends.
I didn't know SE owned the IP and not Eidos.
I used to have a copy. While I love a bit of retro gaming and am quite forgiving regarding games of yesteryear, Push Square definitely has the rosetined spectacles on. Fighting Force was and remains terrible.
God dang! That screencap at the top of the page is terrifying. And i am not going to let it off the hook ''because it is a PS1 game'' either as this was a contemporary of Tekken 3.
@Mustoe I genuinely loved Fighting Force 2 on the Dreamcast. But yes, I can't imagine it's aged well.
this was THEE multi-tap game . damn i miss games like this
@get2sammyb
3D scrolling beat 'em ups are rarely any good. In fact, I can't recall any that stand out. Remember the launch title The Bouncer on PS2? That was awful too.
From my youth 2D beat 'em ups in the arcades were king.
Never played the second game, but loved the first one. One of the first games that comes to mind when I think of the games I played growing up.
This is the first PS game I ever played. I wasn't much older than a toddler but it's because of this game that I'm a gamer.
Woah
Woah
Woah.
I will not hear the name of Core Design forgotten in these parts. Outside Tomb Raider they made some great games, many of which are also deserving of a remaster.
An HD update of Herdy Gerdy or Project Eden would be great.
Another one that has a very, very special place in my heart.
I played it to death when I was young and vividly remember a male character having 300+ IQ (which made me believe that it went that high...)
@Mustoe "3D scrolling beat 'em ups are rarely any good. In fact, I can't recall any that stand out"
Die Hard Arcade / Dynamite Deka is a pretty solid 3D scrolling beat em up and it's quite stand out. There's also Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, God Hand, Mad World, Yakuza series (except 7 & 8) including Judgment and FotN: Lost Paradise, Viewtiful Joe, and Sifu.
I agreed 2D beat em up is still the king but i think 3D has pretty solid and stand out titles.
@PuppetMaster
I suppose Yakuza counts to a point, but it's not a traditional scrolling beat 'em up.
Sifu is great, (as is Absolver), but like Yakuza while it lifts ideas from the beat 'em up genre it's still not a true 3D take on the 2D scrollers of yesteryear.
Perhaps I'm being overly picky, but when I think of scrolling beat 'em ups I think of Double Dragon, Dragon Ninja, Final Fight etc.
Never played any of the others you mentioned.
Oh hell yeah. I loved these games as a kid and never thought i would play them again 😁
@Mustoe "it's still not a true 3D take on the 2D scrollers of yesteryear"
I don't get this one. Did you mean graphic is 3D but gameplay still linear scrolling left to right ala 2D, you mean like Streets of Rage 4 or Double Dragon Neon?
@PuppetMaster
No, I mean in how it plays and the genre itself. Fighting Force is a [poor] 3D take on the likes of traditional scrolling beat 'em ups such as Final Fight, whereas Yakuza and Sifu are not. Those two just lift ideas from the genre.
This was one that I remember getting back on PS1, having a blast, and seeing all there was to see in like a few hours.
@Mustoe If you want a "good" 3D brawler. Look no further than God Hand. Capcom should REALLY rerelease that one!
@NicolausCamp
Heard of it, but never played. I will have a look.
I suppose the first Fist of the North Star was pretty good, if a little barren. 🤔
For my money, though, you can't beat the beat 'em ups of the 80s arcades.
I think this would only be marginally playable if they bumped these up to 60fps. Even so, they weren't very good games at all. Especially FF2... yikes.
Great! A few days ago I found my Fighting Force PC CD and went to install it. 🙂
Hahahaha I am pretty sure in one of the recent PS+ Premium addition posts I complained about games that should be on there and one was Fighting Force. Excited for this!
I loved it at the time! But as with most games of that era, borderline unplayable now.
@PuppetMaster Isn't viewtiful Joe on a 2d plane though? I could be misremembering as it's been a hot decade or 2 since I played it.
As for these, had the sequel on the DC and while I enjoyed it enough to complete I'd hardly consider it worthy or bringing back and the first didn't seem like it was great either.
I also second the poster who says that side/belt scrollers don't work well in 3d. Yakuza is ok to a point but the combat was the weakest part of the game for me with some of the cheesiest bosses I've ever beaten. Judgement improved on it quite a bit, especially the sequel and the snake stance.
Also I can only assume this will be overpriced at about £25 like the recently released Rocket Knight collection. I forgave them with Jurassic Park (just bought it on sale) as I assumed licence fees had to be paid but these collections are to much and.im.not normally like this regarding games. If treasure can release Guardian Heroes (a while back I know) and even Konami can put out a Castlevania collection with New Generation/Bloodlines on it for 15 quid then so can these as both of those games to buy in the used market set you back £100 or more.
Weird that Square kept this IP when selling the ex-Eidos studios to Embracer but not Tomb Raider. Still, I wouldn’t credit it as “Square Enix’s infamous 3D brawler series” when they’ve never touched them. Both games were made by Core during the Eidos days.
I played the 1st FF A LOT in my teenage days! The rent store had it, so me and friends would go there play it. Became a classic.
Wow i remember have fighting force on my ps1.it was a fun game.glad its coming to ps4.word up son
@VeldinX That is what I thought when I read the headline and even the article makes it seem like SquareEnix had something to do with the game when they simply just own the IP and did nothing with it since purchasing it.
My brother and I obsessively played this game. We could always clear it and it was always a blast!!!!!
Rented this and enjoyed a weekend thanks to Blockbuster back in 1999.
I remember stickers for the first game coming with a copy of gamesmaster magazine back in the 90's, I put them all over my school lunchbox lol
The first game holds a special place in my heart but the second one......ehhhh
Nah
Hey Sqaure Enix. How bout we get Parasite Eve 1 and 2 on PS5, if you're not going to remake em xD
Loved the first game, Still have it and play it one in a while.
I dont like the second.
Oh wow, the memories this one brings me. I remember not having a PS1 Memory Card, so I tried to play the whole thing in one sitting (never completed it). Years later went back to it through emulation and damn, It did feel great completing it. A classic!
@PuppetMaster didn't they more or less evolve into spectacle fighters like Bayonetta over time? The latter have enough of their own features (or they wouldn't have earned a subgenre name) but the DNA of navigating through brawl-segmented stages and racking up hit combos is arguably recognizable.
@nhSnork I feel Bayonetta like an evolution of hack & slash than beat em up. But i guess it also count? I'm not even sure anymore.
It's not right to call it as square enix's as they never worked on it. They just bought the rights.
This is Eidos and core design.
@GroundPlay exactly what me and my mate did! Hours and hours of fun.
Tap here to load 38 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...