Fight! Challengers by Doresh
Power Level 1
Original SA post Fight! - Challengers
Not your typical harem anime.
Power Level 1
It's Fight! Challengers, the "bestiary" of Fight!, if you will. The Contender Compendium. The Martial Artist Manual. The Fighter Folio. The... oh, I'll stop now.
This book features 39 example Fighters from all Power Levels, usable as-is or as inspiration, be it as a NPC or PC. In fact some of these guys and gals were characters in a playtest campaign or two.
For some beat-'em-up action the book also provides 30 different Thugs, from the lowly street thug to a friggin' tank.
The organization of the book is a bit unorthodox in that the Fighters are ordered by Power Level (each using a different main color, except for levels 5 and 6 which are both blue), and then by name. I think this works out in this case since this is a book about individuals instead of generic creatures, and I guess a tournament-centric campaign can benefit from having example characters that are close in power be physically next to each other.
Each Fighter has one or two genres they should work best in. The "Standard" genre is your typical modern-day-ish setting, but there's also "Future" (high-tech stuff), "Historical" (old stuff), "Horror" (magic stuff), and "Extreme", which is basically the genre for anime fighters like Guilty Gear or Melty Blood where pretty much anything goes.
A very small number of Fighters fall into the "3D-Fighter" genre, which means they've been build using dynamic Attack Strings to simulate all those fancy combo chains you see in Tekken.
Fighter descriptions themselves are very video-gamey. You have a description of various taunts, poses and win quotes, the name of his/her fighting style, Blood Type... some even get a second appearance description for an alternative costume. The only thing I'm missing for the source material are the silly "likes/dislikes" entries.
There's also fun stuff like a "Strategy Guide" for each Fighter with tips of how to make best use of his or her Moves, campaign and character notes for some behind-the-scenes stuff, and development guidelines with tips on what to do with the Fighter in case of level-ups.
With that out of thhe way, let's tackle Power Level 1. I'll post the fighting style and one Win Quote per Fighter. None of this has any mechanical effects, but it gives a good first impression.
Amarao Azure
Time for a haiku.
Fighting Style: Storm Hand Style
Win Quote:"The wind and I will go where we will and nothing can stop us."
A character originally created for the Mana Trigger campaign. I can't really find anything about it on the web, but the book is helpful to tell us it was about mythic not-China that also had modern technology.
Amarao is one the younger of the two princes of that land, and he's obsessed with proving his father that he would make the better heir. He'll probably not be very popular, seeing how he is kind of an arrogant, self-centered douchebag. One of his "victory poses" even has him call painters to draw his glorious victory.
(He's also a good example for retooling characters, since a more "normal" setting could have him just be some bloke from a wealthy family.)
Amarao uses wind-based attacks in combat to go with his rad dragon tatoo, and there always seems to be a wind around him to move his fabuluous hair.
He's fast character who balances his low Strength with ranged attacks, namely the Wind Knife (a fast projectile that causes the target to stagger backwards) and Sky Blade (a mid-air shockwave). Opponents that come to close are in danger of eating a Leaf versus Tornado (like a Shoryuken, except done by a tornado).
Damien Darkraven
Surprisingly fun-looking for someone with that name.
Fighting Style: Animus Reqiuem
Win Quote:"It's a kind of magic." (actually his third win quote, but I just had to use it)
Damien's backstory reads like something out of Melty Blood or Under Night: As the son of two magic-users who fought demons in the Dark Ages and found the secret of immortality, he fights with a combination of magic and a summoned scythe.
Unfortunately for Damien, the power inherited by his parents is far too much for him to handle at the moment, so most of his abilities are sealed away. Still, he occasionally pulls an Iori Yagami and goes a bit crazy.
His main motivation for fighting is to protect others (like his girlfriend) and to become stronger in order to controls his powers.
Combat-wise, he's very offense-orientied with little defenses, forcing him to rely on high Initiative and Combos. He has a Special Move to represent the various basic attacks he can do with his Death Scythe (whose reach makes it a good combo starter), a KoF-style ground wave in the form of the Blood Sweep, and his Rising Scythe has him throw the scythe in the air for a more juggle-friendly Shoryuken.
Ganton Blade
The Australian "A Nightmare on Elm Street" reboot took some liberties with the original design.
Fighting Style: Valgo Hunting Techniques
Win Quote:"Amateurs shouldn't interfere with professionals."
Ganton hails from the Lastborn campaign, set in the late 21s century where most people live in megacities to protect themselves from the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Mr. Blade here was a bad enough dude to venture outside, where became friends with the Valgo tribe and learned all there is to surviving against mutants and whatnot.
He has a pet chameleon (that can breathe fire), and the claw on his right arm is something he made out of one of his prey, Monster-Hunter-style. Also his crossbow makes shotgun sounds when reloading.
Power Level 1 is always a funny place to be in Fight!. unless you forgo ranged attacks and Combos, you'll most likely only have enough points to be somewhat decent in one type of defense (probably to keep things simple at first). Most go for Defense and Evasion as those are the most straightforward types of responses.
Not so Ganton. He has points in Tactics and Tactics alone. Since he doesn't have counter Moves (yet), his main defensive options are the Basic Response (aka interrupt people with a quick jab or something) and the Jinking Response (aka backing off at the last minute).
Luckily for him, two of his three Moves - Salamander Breath and Spike Fall - are ranged, and the other one is Claw Slash, which has reach and knocks down.
Innocence
Kamen Rider Wings. No, seriously.
Fighting Style: Sacred Sword Fist
Win Quote:"This is a distraction. I have to be going now."
Another character from Mana Trigger, Innocence is a sort of mysterious biker vigilante, patrolling the streets at night and beating up evildoers. She claims to be an angel - and has the wings to back it up - but that raises even more questions because angels aren't commonly associated with bikers.
Her Moves are flashy and cool: her Halo Burn is a damaging aura that can interrupt attackers, her Righteous Lance is a dash punch, and the Heaven-sent Hawk is a chargeable dive kick which I'll just assume to be a Rider Kick.
Kaozan the Red Tiger
Apparently both are reacting to a bad joke.
Fighting Style: Red Tiger Claw
Win Quote:"I cannot rest while people need my help!"
Another one from Mana Trigger. Kaozan is Amarao older brother. He's much less of a jerk, if a bit simple-minded, and he is so bored of his life at court that he's effectively moved on to be a wandering hero, beating up bandits and such with his fist and the help of his pet tiger.
Whereas his brother focuses on ranged attack, Kaozan is all about getting close and personal with devastating combos. He has a short hop attack (Tiger Pounce), a command throw (Tiger Tail), and a short-ranged backhand (Swatting Tiger).
Leonides
Hey, it's the Round 2 cover guy!
Fighting Style: Blazing Soul Universal Style
Win Quote:"My style is more versatile than any style in the world!"
Leonides has a simple "Chosen Hero" background: born with the mark of the Blazing Soul, he was trained in various forms of martial arts until he was ready for the Universal Style, the greatest of them all. He is eager to master this style, and find out about as many different techniques as he can.
His move set is pretty darn weird in a positive way: Blazing Zeal is a punch that sets the opponent on fire after a short delay, the Freeform Fire Kata - Alternate Stance is a random Move akin to Faust (Leonides just picks a random attack from memory), and then we have the Universal Combat Technique #11, a command throw with the Copies Moves Element.
Copies Moves - if you haven't read or remembered my review of the corebook - is Kirby, the Element. You land a hit and get a pretty good chance at copying a Move from the opponent for a short while.
All in all, Leonides is very adaptable, but also rather random.
Marie Legendre
The first challenger of the Challengers cover appears.
Fighting Style: Enlightened Revolutionary Style Combat Arts
Win Quote:"Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!" (This quote will make more sense in a second)
Our first historical Fighter, Marie hails from 18th century France, and she's more than ready to kick royal butt in the name of the revolution.
Her stats are well-rounded so far, but her Moves are very unorthodox: Esprit de Corps is a heal Move that only works on others, Boulet de Canon has her call for a cannon strike for a massive - if inaccurate - AoE attack, and Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité has her throw makeshift bombs.
She's basically a beat-'em-up character and a real riot at larger brawls.
Mira Whitewitch
Where's a Chocobo if you need one?
Fighting Style: Tribal White Magic
Win Quote:"Be a good child from nyow on, nyokay?"
Another Lastborn character. Mira hails from a tribe of catgirls and catboys whose magical tradition is threatened by the tribe's growing industrialization. As one of the tribe's last mages, she tries to keep the tradition alive while helping to give everyone a brighter future.
Also she has lots of verbal tics because catgirl.
Having a white mage theme, it is no surprise that she doesn't hit very hard, but can use Magic Heal to patch herself or her allies up. Magic Blast provides ranged support, while Everything is Cuter with Kittens has her summon a bunch of kittens to maul whoever gets close to her.
She's basically a silly mage-type, like Akari Ichijou from Last Blade.
Rafaella Roderick
And here's the Round 2 cover girl!
Fighting Style: Secret Arts of the Court of Stars
Win Quote:"You can't beat me! I can be anybody!"
With what is probably the craziest - and most white-wolfish - origin so far, Rafaella is a changeling, a shapeshifter with faerie heritage. She was part of a secret society of fellow changelings called the Court of Stars - until an organization known as the Fomorian Initiative murdered just about everyone but her. Now she's out for revenge.
Rafaella can be easily stunned with her Glass Jaw Weakness, and her Move Set makes her a hardcore Shang Tsung: All of her three Moves have the Borrow Identity Element, causing her to temporarily transform into a specific other Fighter she has met and fought before. Each identity she can take on has to be its own Special Move (meaning you can tie her to up to three other characters from the get-go).
I like the idea that these transforming Moves can otherwise work just like regular Special Moves. You could probably do some neat stuff building each respictive Borrow Identity move into something the actual character would use (an uppercut to turn into Ken, a suplex to turn into Zangief,...)
Next Time: Power Level 2. Fighter Boogaloo.
Power Level 2
Original SA post Fight! - ChallengersPower Level 2
Fighters don't stay in PL1 for very long. When they level up, they can get themselves more defensive options and can start to really customize their base capabilities.
Akiko Sakai
A new challenger appears for Sakura.
Fighting Style: No formal martial arts training. She's just really good at football/soccer.
Win Quote: "Hey, you're pretty good! Who do you play for?"
Ms. Fanservice Tomboy over here hails from Osaka. She's the star player of her school's football/soccer team (the Ijima Firebirds), which is actually a boys team but hey, you gotta make exception for the student that can kick a ball at Mach 1+.
Why would someone like her join any sort of fighting game tournament? Well, her coach was blackmailed into kicking her out, and now it's payback time before her team gets curbstomped.
Akiko's entry is packed with lots of little fighting game quirks: One of her opening poses? She kicks a ball into the air, proclaims she'll defeat you before it lands, and the ball will fall onto her defeated opponent when she wins. The ball also comes back on a taunt, only to be kicked back up.
Wnat some different kind of fanservice? Her alternate costume is her team's uniform, with occasional glimpses at her sports bra. And since her father owns a Chinese restaurant, you can of course "unlock" her skimpy Chinese dress costume.
Costume 3 posted:
Unlockable only by clearing Story Mode with no continues used, no rounds lost, and every round won using Crescent Dive, which unlocks her hidden ending where she is seen wearing this costume.
Statswise, she's a glass cannon: Her Strength of 2 makes her hit like a truck but she can't really take a beating with her Stamina of -1. This is the kind of stats you'd give to the playable version of a boss character.
It comes to no surprise that she's big into running and kicking. She's basically a more specialized Guy in that regard: Her Field Dash lets her quickly move around the arena, and all of her other Moves are in a Move Sub-Set, meaning they can only be used after a Field Dash. This makes her tactics a bit predictable, but at least she has four follow-ups from the dash.
Strike Slicer and Grass Splitter are basically Guy's leaping and slide kick, with the difference being that both knock down. Skyrocket Kick launches the opponent into the air for mad juggles, and the above-mentioned Crescent Drive has her kick the opponent's head so hard he slides across the "screen".
Cannon McCabe
That shirt's tight, man.
Fighting Style: Sky Raptor Karate
Win Quote: "Your heart is as important as your fists"
Cannon is basically another Karate Kid reboot: Having to grow up as an African-American in Japan thanks to his father working there wasn't exactly easy. Luckily the bullying stopped after he met his sensei, and nowadays he does Ryu's shtick of fighting to become better and stop evil guys. He's honorable, very famous in the martial arts tournament world, and an overall swell guy.
There isn't really much to say about his moves since he's basically Ryu, right down to the shoulder throw and the beefed-up Hadoken form the Alpha games. His Hurricane-Kick-equivalent may be a leaping axe kick, and his Shoryuken-equivalent may hit multiple times like Sakura, but they're effectively the same.
(Though I admit his shoto moves have some cool names: (Blue) Overdrive Burst for the Hadokens, Eagle Axe Kick for the Hurricane Kick, and Ascendant Agression for the Shoryuken)
Hoss
"Do you know of any evil dictator types who are looking for boxers?"
Fighting Style: Boxing
Win Quote: "Yeah! That's why I'm the best!"
Bare-knuckle Balrog here is actually named Harry Daniels. A talented boxer with a bright future ahead of him, he has been in a downward spiral ever since his mentor and uncle died. He's playing the debt collector for a crime syndicate, though he doesn't do more than his conscience allows. He's actually looking for a way back into proper boxing, and what better way to earn a second chance than a fighting game tournament?
Hoss is from the King of the City setting, which is your typical crime-ridden city you see in stuff like Final Fight or Fatal Fury. Though unlike in those games, Hoss is a 3D Fighter with Attack Strings. His combo potential is a bit low thanks to him dumping Speed to become very tanky, though, so he's focusing on hitting hard.
His Move inputs are a bit unorthodox for a 3D Fighter apart from the Bull Rush (a shoulder bash): The Ol' Lefty (his most powerful punch with extra knockback) is a charge-back Move, and the Golden Gloves is a button-mash Move like the Hundred Hand Slap and the Vulcan Punch.
On top of that, he is both big and tall, which makes him even tankier and makes it easier for him to hit people at long range with his Basic Moves. His hit box is a bit large, though.
(Oh, did I mention that every Move in the book comes with button inputs? 'Cause that's totally a thing.)
Kaida Carson
Those are some fancy jeans.
Fighting Style: Typhon Seraph and Lightning Devil Styles
Win Quote: "You lost. I'm not surprised."
The former star of her school's martial arts club, she quit fighting after getting utterly annihilated - and wounded - by an opponent using an unkown fighting style.
Luckily, her grandfather and mentor got er back into the ring after unveiling the Lightning Devil Style, which he teached her on top of the Typhoon Seraph Style she grew up with.
Now she's out of school (and unlike Sakura didn't keep her school uniform) and joining all sorts of tournaments. Aside from the typical "I want to become better and prove that I'm the best" motivation, she's also following rumors about her old rival also popping up in tournaments, and she keeps finding hints about her two styles being ancient in origin. I'd be surprised if she didn't run into actual angels and devils at one point.
Kaida is an offensive character with a nasty Accuracy bonus, and she unsurprisingly has two styles like Gen. This grants her slightly stronger Moves at the cost of having to use dedicated style switchers to hop back and forth between her two move sets.
Her original Typhoon Seraph Style is all about playing with distance and positioning: Crash Zephyr is a non-damaging knockback attack, Slipstream Drill is a powerful jab to the head that comes out after she sidesteps behind her opponent, and the Blue Streak Blast has her dash past the opponent and kick him in the back.
The Lightning Devil Style is all about preparing the opponent for combos. Damnation Nexus is a quick slap to the face that staggers, and Doom Herald is a spinning kick that sometimes causes a knockdown.
Her style switcher is interesting in that it involves a dash (surprise style change!) and can be used to get back on her feet after a knockdown.
Killer Queen
Think Rachel Alucard meets Alice in Wonderland.
Fighting Style: Whimsy cartoon stuff
Win Quote: "You don't seem to have an eye for fashion; maybe I could give you a tip or two."
In what probably has to rank rather high on the list of crazy fighting game character backstories, Killer Queen is the Queen of Spades from Wonderland (as in Alice in Wonderland) who somehow ended up in the real world (probably thanks to that pesky Queen of Hearts). She's now fighting in tournaments because she figured that beating up the strongest being in this world could help her get back home.
Killer Queen is sexy, arrogant, and especially eccentric - if not downright crazy - like most Wonderland folks. She is obsessed with good looks, and she wears a different dress in each fight. Try implementing that in a fighting game.
She's a more extreme Rachel Alucard in that none of her "animations" look like she's actually fighting: she lays on a sofa instead of crouching, gets carried by servants if she has to do anything more athletic than a walk, and she summons cards and stuff to do the attacking and blocking for her. The opponent also doesn't actually hurt her on a hit as much as he messes up her dress and makeup.
She's from the Lord of Battle campaign, an "all genres allowed" kind of tournament.
Her defenses are a bit lacking, and her Moves are all over the place: Wonder Step makes her teleport like Faust with a card theme, Dangerous Makeup heals her and damages the opponent, and Blow Your Mind is a AoE explosion.
Her ranged attack is the Jack of Spades, which has her throw a handkerchief into the air to summon one of her loyal cards to attack. Puppet Theater is a command throw that has her turn the opponent into a small puppet to get beaten up by spades, and she can follow this up with The Big Hug that causes the spades to stick around and choke the opponent.
Mateo de Córdoba (Rawrak Rumimaki)
Smoking is bad for your health.
Fighting Style: No name given, but something along the line of "Burning Stone-Hand" should do the trick.
Win Quote: "Don't forget to follow the spirit and the path of your ancestors."
Another unconventional historical character. He's a half-blood from early 17th century Córdoba, raised by his Spanish father (a smith) and his Native American mother who called him Rawrak Rumimaki ("Burning Stone-Hand", a very fitting name in hindsight).
Mateo made for a very good apprentice smith, until things went crazy: natives attacked the town and kidnapped his newborn brother. He led a rescue party that ended up getting ambushed, leaving him the only survivor.
This wasn't the tribe he was after, but at least the local shaman realized his potential and trained him to harness the power of Mother Earth, granting him control over magma and earth.
After 10 years of beating people up, he finally found the kidnappers, and he and his brother thankfully instantly recognized each other. A full family reunion sadly didn't happen because it turns out that he and his brother were presumed dead, and his parents are either dead or have left Cordóba out of fear from a mysterious person that has it out for the whole family.
Naturally, he wants to protect his brother, find out what happened to his parents, and figure out who this shadowy person is.
He's overall a pretty balanced Fighter, aside from sucking at dodging. All his Moves are in Spanish, but come with a translation. He also has quite a bit of Command (aka L2) Moves, which can lead to dangerous Combos if he ramped up his Combo Skill some more.
Said Command Moves are Magma Repentino (Sudden Magma), a Vulcan Punch with auto block, Avalancha Imparable (Unstoppable Avalanche), a dash punch and Corazón de Piedra (Heart of Stone), a shockwave with such a slow startup it's downright useless outside of Combos.
His "proper" Special Moves are Gancho Ardiente (Burning Uppercut), which is surprisingly not a Shoryuken but a juggle starter, Erupción (Eruption), which is a more suped up Gancho Ardiente he can only uses a few times per fight, and Agarre de la Pachamama (Pachamama's Grasp), which causes the earth to rise and trap the opponent in place.
Skyrina Wourlde
A bit too colorful to be a goth, but the skin tone is spot on.
Fighting Style: Transanguinary Hair Magick
Win Quote: "Never will this blood be enough!" (that's her hair speaking)
Skyrina also comes from Lord of Battle and has a lovingly WoD-esque origin: Running away from her absusive parents at age 15, she stumbled upon a tome of black magic and ended up getting cursed by a demon. Now she can shapeshift her hair into all sorts of shapes and weapons like Milia Rage, but it's also vampiric and needs to drink the blood of her defeated opponents if she doesn't want to lose her powers. She's now looking for a way to get rid of the vampiric trait so she can focus on helping others with a similar depressing upbringing.
If you want her to be more like Bayonetta and Witchblade, there's her alternate outfit: A body suit (with shifting levels of skin exposure) that can sprout blades and covers less and less as she gets hit.
Skyrina is a fragile speedster that has to make use of her mobility and long range to get the upper hand.
Feast of the Blood Rose and the faster Blossom of One Million Edges has her make use of her hair's long reach to poke at the opponent and start combos. Summon Dragon's Jaws is a sort of homing projectile, and Rain of Bloody Petals is a hard to evade aerial attack. And of course she has a hair-based throw with Revenge of the Abused.
Therese Rush
She kicks ass for the Lord.
Fighting Style: Ninjutsu and Aikido
Win Quote: "Virtue triumphs again. Thanks be to God."
Therese always wanted to become a nun, and she would've probably spend the rest of her life as one if it wasn't for...
quote:
She found joy in the quiet contemplation of her new life, until the convent was invaded by evil men. Brutal men. Therese escape with her life, but no her innocence, and she was still more fortunate than the rest of the women.
After what I hope isn't a full on Beast Hero backstory, she went through a training montage or two to become a martial artist and start her journey of righteous revenge.
Her most straightforward Moves are Kiss of Death (a sweep) and Phoenix Revenge (a mid-air overhead attack). Her ninja training is represented by Shadow Memory, which has her teleport to her opponent for a surprise punch.
Her other Moves are either pretty basic or have a short range, but they make up with that by having lots of Accuracy: Justice Spear is a flurry of blows, Chain Breaker is a throw that staggers the opponent, and Vengeance Rising is a dashing command throw like something Geese Howard would use. Oppnents should better keep their distance.
Next Time: Power Level 3. Time to go super.
Power Level 3
Original SA post Fight! - ChallengersPower Level 3
Now it's finally time for the Fighters to get themselves a Super Move. I'll probably only highlight their most notable Moves, since those move sets are starting to get a bit long.
Chastity
Not even a contender in the "World's most scantly-clad fighting game character" contest.
Fighting Style: Spec Ops training (?!) and Inferno Force elemental mastery
Win Quote: "You got too close to the fire so now you know what it means to burn."
Chastity used to be a spoiled party girl until she angered her rich parents one too many times. Her little trip to a boot camp went a bit too well, and she started a career as a friggin' mercenary.
During a firefight in some ancient ruins in Central America, she accidentally awakened an elemental called the Inferno Force and ended up fusing with it.
Having also rekindled some of her teenage spirit, she looked for another job and ended up as a bodyguard for the arms dealer Aphrodite Ambrosia - who I can only assume is a bit crazy if she orders her bodoyguard to compete in tournaments wearing a babydoll.
She was originally a character of the Twin Strike campaign, which sounds a lot like a tag team tournament. Except her tag buddy to show up later.
Chastity is a well-rounded and accurate character with some Shoto moves like a Shoryuken (Aggressive Eruption) and a Hadoken Fire Force. She has some twists, though: She can temporarily power up Fire Force with another move (Fire Up), and annoy the opponent with teleports and dazzling lights.
Her Super is Meltdown, a suped-up Fire Force she can charge up like Sakura.
Gabriella Alvarez
Watcha gonna do when Gabrimana runs wild on you?
Fighting Style: Basically "All your grapples are belong to me"
Win Quote: "Hot, smart, and rich. I'm the complete package."
Another Twin Strike denizen (not Chastity's partner). She's a Cuban exile whose boring IT job cause her to learn martial arts and steal from her company, which also had her uncover that her employer is kind of a d-bag. She eventually quit her job when one of her robberies had her run into Hugo, a proper thief. They quickly bonded and decided to steal from evil corporations everywhere, like your typical fighting game tournament organiser.
Gabriella is a grappler (think Shermie or Vice from KoF, especially since she's not really into 360° moves) which you really don't want to have close to you due to her high Accuracy bonuses. She also has throws for any occasion. Need to hurl someone against a wall? Check. Need to do a sustained hold? She has two of those. She has a counter throw very much like Geese Howard called Denial of Service, and her Crack the Code (a leap followed by a leg lock) is one of those Moves that have been built with most of the effects of a normal throw to allow for some movement before the throw. Her Super is System Crash, a more powerful version of Crack the Code.
Also she has a knockdown slap called Queen Bitch.
Hugo Herrara
Introducing the Muscle Rogue.
Fighting Style: Predator-style Kickboxing
Win Quote: "Thanks for the throwdown. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other plans."
Gabriella's tag buddy and partner in crime. Having grown up in poverty in Mexico City, he one day tried his luck with the rain forest. He somehow copied the fighting style of predatory animals and turned it into kickboxing.
He eventually returned to civilization and found out about evil corporation shenanigans, which led him to become a thief.
Hugo is a slow character that hits hard. Despite his size, he does a lot of quick kick combos and roundhouses for his Moves. His main way to get close the his opponent is the Lion Raid, a jumping punch attack similar to Potemkin's Mega Fist. Other interesting Moves include Tiger Melee (a series of kicks and knee strikes that can deal more damage by burning up leftover Control) and Iron Panther (a standing roundhouse kick with guard crush potential that forces the opponent to burn up Fighting Spirit or lose a bit of health on a miss).
His Super is Invincible Predator, which starts with a flurry of kicks and ends with the mother of all roundhouse kicks.
Modesty
I think there's something wrong with her name.
Fighting Style: Spec Ops training and Ice Witch elemental mastery
Win Quote: "The cold-hearted can achieve victory in any circumstance."
Chastity's tag budy and ice-themed counterpart. Much of her past is a secret, but she worked for a Russian crime syndicate until a little shootout shattered a blue gem she was about to sell and caused her to fuse with the Ice Witch elemental bound within. She also ended up becoming Aphrodite's bodyguard, and the rest is tag team history.
Also her artwork is less revealing than the she actually is.
Her stats are mostly well-rounded, but she can't into anything fancier than 2-hit combos at the moment. Then again she has exactly two projectiles (the slow-moving Frigid Witch energy ball and the Icicle Impale which drops form the ceiling), so she's quite annoying at a distance.
If she wants, she can also close the distance by skating on ice and punching you (Blizzard Blitz), followed by encasing you in ice with a snap of her finger (Frozen Image).
Her Super Bold Snap combines her Blizzard Blitz with her Ice Storm, a jumping double axe kick.
Red Magnum (Rowind Owlatz)
Dakka on Titan.
Fighting Style: Street fighting and boxing
Win Quote: "Remember, Justice allows you to survive in order to learn. Don't make me teach you again!"
Rowind has a heavy Green Lantern vibe going on: The original Red Magnum was an alien cop/hero who crashed to Earth while fighting another alien known as the Blue Mallet. They double-KOed each other hard, and Red Magnum passed his armor and obligation to fight for justice onto Rowind, who happened to see the whole fight.
Surprisingly enough, having alien power armor with gun barrels on your arms doesn't turn you into dual chaingun Megaman. His only ranged attack is an arcing projectile known as Mortar, and he can only use it 5 times per combat. The only other Move limited like that is Booster Blaster, which causes the barrels to slide down to the hips and act as boosters for a nifty flying punch. Though the limited uses are well worth it for the Temporary Invulnerability Element. Your opponent is constantly countering you? Booster Blaster just no-sells it.
All his other Moves use the gun barrels for melee-range blasts to enhance his punches, and they have a gimmick seen in some pistol-wielding fighting game characters in that he has to "reload" these Moves every now and then. His Revolver Fist is a fast and accurate blast punch that can directly combo into the Crimson Barrel, which keeps Rowind close to the opponent for follow-up attacks and has a good chance to cause stun. He also has the Magnum Cannon, a far-reaching punch combo that hits hard.
His Super Move, the Ultimate Magnumg Cannon, is unsurprisingly a suped-up Magnum Cannon that covers a bigger area and hurts even more.
Vesta Angelborn
At least she gets a complete description of her appearance in text form like everyone else.
Fighting Style: Primal Arcana
Win Quote: None stated.
Vesta hails from an isolated community that has dedicated itself to protecting the world from otherwordly threats. She was born blind, but with the ability to see the world of the primal spirits, with whose help she is now travelling the world, looking for evil spirits and other intruders.
Another low-combo Fighter, Vesta has all sorts of funky Moves. She can reflect projectiles with Primal Shield, can use her Thunderball as a floating bomb, and Spirit Form that binds the opponent in place while allowing her to float wherever she wants. Also Great Beast Form has her do a wildshape for one attack.
Vicious Transformation is a real gem of a Super: It doesn't actually deal damage, but instead locks the opponent in place for a while and prevents him from doing anything fancier than a Basic Move. The best part? It costs less Super Energy to use, and she has a Special Move called Spirit Power Collect that does nothing but provide temporary Super Energy, which she can use to either spam her Super or ramp up the duration of the debuff. It's basically a save-or-suck spell. In a multi-Fighter brawl, she's either your BFF or worst nightmare.
Next Time: Power Level 4. Power harder.
Power Level 4
Original SA post Fight! - ChallengersPower Level 4
Colt Freeborn
Those whacky Alucard clones.
Fighting Style: Devil Pistol Duelling
Win Quote: "Don't worry - I swore these guns would never take another life."
Colt is another Fighter from the Lastborn campaign, which apparently took some inspirations from Final Fantasy 7: He used to work as a ruthless mercenary, collecting bounty to afford medicine from the Shori Corporation (Not-Shinra) to help his ill sister.
Naturally, earning cash by shooting people in the head doesn't make one particularly popular, and one day one of his enemies found his home and killed his sister.
Colt was about to just throw himself from the megacity's wall when he had a sudden vision from Prima (aka the Not-Lifestream).
Unlike in FF7, he didn't become a terrorist, just a priest, trying to promote a more harmonious life with nature. Then he had another vision telling him his pistol skills were needed once again.
(Also his pistols can just slide in and out of his sleeves.)
Colt is a balanced Fighter aside from his height. He naturally makes use of his pistols, be it as part of his Throw (Punishing Barrage), two Special Moves (Cross Fire and Righteous Hammer) for long-range combos. His Super uses them as well, firing an extra powerful shot with the Cruciform Myster.
Colt also has grenades with him (Devil Grenade) and knows a few kick Moves to serve as combo starters.
Dr. Silver Maxwell
Dr. Magnethand's edgier brother.
Fighting Style: Protean Improvisation
Win Quote: "Truly, this victory was due to... PILLS! I need PILLS!"
Silver Edison Maxwell is basically a WoD Deviant meets: Having been hired by the Society of Theoreticla Metallurgy to run some tests on their formable "command metal", he ended up morphing with the alloy after an explosion.
Now being basically a T-1000, Maxwell has gotten a lot more attention than he'd prefer - especially from rival organizations and the occasional martial artist who want bragging rights for defeating a metal man. He also has to take special anti-psychotic pills or else his mind starts going a bit crazy.
Oh, and the name tag on his coat just says "Science!"
Maxwell is a very slow fellow who can tank pretty darn good. He can even heal himself with Re-Forged Man. He has two Moves with Always Does Damage (Cutting Analysis and Vivisection, both involving his arms turning into blades) to whittle away at the enemy. Chains of Ignorance lets him bind opponents in place by turning part of his body into chains.
He's also the first Fighter here with two Super Moves: Pre-Mortem Autopsy has him dash towards his opponent and essentially explode into a whirlwind of scalpels and other surgical instruments, and Molten Meteor turns him into a superheated sphere to ram the opponent.
Hannah St. Germaine
Black Widow: The Animation
Fighting Style: Spy Training
Win Quote: "I deal with people like you so the rest of the world can sleep easy at night."
Another character from the Twin Strike setting, though her partner Eddie Kaine is Sir-not-appearing-in-this-book. Her origin is pretty straightforward: She was recruited by the top secret World Security Consulate, and has been working for them ever since.
Hannah has been optimized for ranged combat. Her Strength -1 won't win her any candles in close combat, but her Speed of 2 also comes in handy. She's also put quite a few points in Ki, and she's gotten herself a 3-hit chain Combo (Head Shot -> Double Tap -> Three Round Burst) to capitalize on it, though she ocassionally has to reload the first Move.
Her short-range Moves mostly consist of a sweep and throws to keep the opponent on the ground, including a 2-part-throw (Commando Lock -> Arm Break).
Her super is another ranged attack: One Shot, One Kill, a suped-up Head Shot.
Jinsokuna Kitsune (Jin)
Not actually a foxboy. Just a cosplay ninja.
Fighting Style: Hagane no daitai Ninjutsu
Win Quote: "Don't mess with my clan"
Yet another Lastborn Fighter. He hails from the wasteland, more specifically from a ninja clan that was part of the Cult of Apollyon. Bad guys basically, but he himself eventually become more heroic.
I have a growing suspicion this guy was definitely one of the PCs of that campaign, from a player who went all out. There's all sorts of crazy elaborate stuff about this character: There are different conditions listed for his win poses, every Special Move is in Japanese (with at least 3 words no less), some of his Moves are customized like crazy, and one of his Super has a description that goes on for 2 paragraphs. This guy has it all.
His base capabilities are near identical to Hannah, but whereas she relies on a bread-and-butter combo, Jin has all sorts of crazy tools.
Examples? One of his Moves comes with a Fake version to catch opponents off guard, Kage No Kitsune makes him go invisible, Watashi Wa Kurayami No Nakada (
) is a teleportation move, and Tamashi No Shiru is a troll counter move involving an illusionary doppelganger.His Supers are Sen Chen Wa Himitsu Kogeki (your typical "Ninja splits into four and attacks from all directions", except on partial hit; then he just goes a bit apeshit) and Hagane Daitai No Ishi is a healing move.
Ten
That's a nice collar.
Fighting Style: World Serpent Kung Fu
Win Quote: "And the crowd goes wild!"
It's Lastborn time again. With one of the main characters no less.
Ten is actually called Maggie Sims and a star in the world of combat reality shows (Street Fighter meets XCrawl?). Unbeknownst to her fans, she's actually the daughter of an influential member of Not-Shinra, and her good connections with him paints her as a sort of anti-hero.
Ten is well-rounded, with a stronger focus on defense. She has a wide variety on Moves, including multiple throws, a juggle Move (Ten Clubs!), two ranged attacks using ki (Kiss of the Ethereal Adder and Greater Ethereal Adder), and two Moves with the always-annoying Always Does Damage (with Writhing Serpent Smash being able to cause stagger and hit opponents in mid-air, while Flowing Motion is fast and combo friendly).
Her only Super is Snake Hand, which is similar to Kyo's classic Orochinagi (aka "charge yourself up with energy and attack")
Next Time: Power Level 5 and 6. They're both blue anyways, and the number of Fighters per Power Level is starting to get a bit low.
Power Level 5
Original SA post Fight! - ChallengersPower Level 5
Desdemona
She's not a Terminator. The gauntlet's just really tight.
Fighting Style: Demonic Necrofear Control
Win Quote: "Now you know that fear is the strongest emotion of all."
Desdemona is a bit of Darkstalkers mixed with Beauty and the Beast: An undead monster once terrorized the landscape. In hopes of appeasing the beast, a local noble sent his own daughter into its castle. This plan backfired a little bit: The monster left, but not before transforming the daughter to fill its place. Her old self is all but gone, and now she lives to bring fear and terror into the hearts of mortals.
Desdemona is the first all-out villain, a dragon-vampire-demon-thing. She even has the fitting weakness of being doomed to be defeated at the height of her power.
Her stats are balanced, and she's really big on building up Super Energy fast and dishing out the hurt: Vampiric Soul Leech is a customized Taunt that charges her Super Bar by drainig life force out of the opponent, and Necrofear Battery is a counter Move that absorbs the force of the enemy attack and turns it into Super Energy.
What can she do with all that energy? Well, she has three Supers: Phobos Awakes! is a super throw that temporarily let's her use her other Supers for free (so keep that time counter low). This is really handy since her Angel of Death (essentially a SNK Boss Super that summons homing demons to attack the opponent) is a lot more expensive than the defaul Super Move. She also has Necrofear Annihilation, which is like a purple laser beam she can power up with her own Life Bar.
You know these moments in Smash Bros. when one character picks up a hammer and everyone's trying their best to stay as far away from them as possible till the hammer vanishes? It's a bit like that, minus the complete invulnerability.
Jack Sage
Eye see you.
Fighting Style: North Storm Wing Chun.
Win Quote: "Do you see your error now?"
Jack is an orphan that spent his entire life in a monastery. His love for combat (he tended to get carried away during sparring matches) eventually caused the monks to send him out into the world to get rid of hi... err, I mean to spread their words of peace and wisdom.
And apparently he's only now wondering whether or not beating people up is a good way to teach the values of peace.
Jack's a psychic, and not only a Fighter form the Lord of Battle tournament, but also its winner. Apparently the other contenders weren't prepared for someone who can fill the screen with projectiles like Dizzy from Guilty Gear or Magaki from KoF.
Really, dude has a lot of projectiles: Brainwave is a short range blast that staggers, Mind Magnum stuns very good and can be charged, Cosmic Wave is a stronger but slower Brainwave, Golden Thought Bolt is like Sakura's Hadoken, and Mega Mind Magnum is of course a stringer Mind Magnum.
Thankfully he doesn't have anything movement-related, and as long as you stay out of his throw range he can't knock you back too far.
Shirokura Akemi
It's Haiku time again.
Fighting Style: Void Walker
Win Quote: "I'm sorry that I had to beat you so badly."
Akemi is part of the hero team of the Twin Strike campaign, with a tiny bit of Ryu. You see, just like how Ryu has to deal with the dark side of his fighting style, the Shirokura family has to deal with a darkness in their soul.
While her brother (who we'll get to in a minute for more backstory) embraced this dark side, Akemi suppressed it for the most part, living a peaceful life in a mountain monastery where she learned a fighting style harnessing the five elements.
Akemi is a nother well-rounded character with very high Ki and Accuracy, but somewhat limited defense options.
A good combo starter is the Tumultous Waterfall, a series of rising somersault kicks that end with her smashing the opponent to the ground. Another good one is Spinning Whirlwind, which has her quickly dash towards the enemy with a flury of kicks and punches.
Her main ranged options are Phoenix Fire (basically a ricochetting Hadoken) and Thrashing Vortex, which generates a tornado that she can also use to move away from the opponent. A neat gimmick of hers is Channel Ki with which she can temporarily boost the damage of her Phoenix Fire and Thrashing Vortex. She's like Jam from Guilty Gear in that regard, especially since she can decide when to make use of this boost.
Her other ranged attack is Screaming Sand Storm, which combines earth and wind into a sand tornado that juggles the opponent like crazy. Reminds me of Goenitz.
Her two Supers are Dragon's Breath, which combines Phoenix Fire and Thrashing Vortex, and Spiral Dragon's Whip, which combines Tumultous Waterfall and Spinning Whirlwind.
And just to troll stunned opponents, she can heal herself with Restore Balance.
Shirokura Genji
That's a fancy vest.
Fighting Style: Brawling and Break Platoon Combat Training
Win Quote: "It's just business."
And here's her brother. As mentioned, he has spend a lot more time with living with the dark side of his soul, which ironically makes him able to control it better than her sister.
While she was goofing off at the monastery, Genji became a mercenary for the criminal Break Platoon. He left the platoon and reunited with his sister when one of his commanders named Deacon beat the crap out of him and accused him of having no passion.
Genji plays a lot differently than Akemi. He's a slow tank and turtler, with several charge-back Moves like Guile built to take advantage of situations where the opponent goes first and has his attack blocked by Genji. His taunt might as well be "Come at me, bro."
One of his best moves to cover distance is Sudden Impact, a shoulder tackle that juggles and combos right into Curb Stomp, which has him kick the opponent back to the ground, or Cover Your Tracks, which has him go behind the opponent first.
Clashing Sabers is a nice hand slash to annoy counter-heavy opponents thanks to its temporariy invulnerability. His ranged options are Phoenix Talon for short range and Magnum Instinct for longer range. The latter can only be used a limited number of times and inclides "drawing" a pistol made out of ki.
Now Invisiblity in Fight! is handled quite abstractly by debuffing the opponents Initiative and/or Control. Why am I telling this? Because Genji's Dossier uses the Invisibility Element and reskins it has him taking a picture from his opponent and calling for a fighting style analysis, Solid-Snake-style.
Genji also has a Move that's basically a flashback of sorts: Akemi Tenshi is a healing move he can only use while knocked down. It involves him getting taunted by an image of Genji before getting lift up by an image of his sister Akemi.
His Supers are Frenzied Reincarnation, which has him beat the crap out of the opponent with an onslaught of hits, and Relentless Impact Intercept which is a Super juggle.
Power Level 6
Deacon
"Get me the Ikari Warriors. Now!"
Fighting Style: Break Platoon Commando Style and Warrior of the Earth King Kung Fu.
Win Quote: "You don't have what it takes to win in battle."
It's a backstory trilogy, for here we have the Break Platoon commander that beat up Genji. He was also a "sub-boss".
Deacon is a tall American, though his family originally came from Egypt. He was sent to the military to build his character and found a liking to it. He joined the Break Platoon after becoming some sort of non-religious terrorist: he sees Western culture as weak, being all talk and no passion.
Another well-rounded Fighter, Deacon uses his size and several Moves with reach to pummel his enemies at a distance. Due to him being build as a sub-boss, he has Moves for all kinds of occasions. Ranged Fighters will especially hate his "Spirit of Battle!", which has him summon ki from the ground to yank the opponent closer to him. His nastiest attacks are probably Rapid Assault (a flying kick that can probably hit you from across the "screen" and is quite accurate) and Smart Bomb (a flying knee and fist combo that doesn't quite reach as far as Rapid Assault, but makes up for it by being unblockable).
His Supers are Annihilation (a kick combo that juggles the opponent real good) and Lightning Assault (since of course does he have a stronger version of Rapid Assault).
Helene Matisse
I think she broke her ankle.
Fighting Style: Custom Savate
Win Quote: "Mmmm! Well, this all looks familiar, especially with me winning."
Another French Fighter, this time from present day. While others struggle tournament after tournament to become the world's strongest Fighter, Helene actually accomplished this 15 years ago. Though seeing how many of her contenders were so obsessed with fighting that there seemed nothing else in their life, she decided to retire at the height of her career. She settled down, married and got kids, but she always made sure to keep her body in shape so she'd stay like she was all those years ago. Recently however, she has received an invitation to a tournament, as a "fighter of honor"...
If you want a veteran Fighter to act as a potential mentor, she's a pretty good choice.
Helene is overall balanced, but has no Ranged options at all, relying solely on getting close and wrecking opponents with long Combos.
Any close-range Fighter worth its salt needs Moves to close the distance, and she has two of those: Battering Ram is a lunging kick (that unfortunately knocks the opponent back qutie a bit), and Kiss the Ceiling is a fun dash that has her launch the opponent for a juggle.
For your daily dose of Shoryuken, she has Down to Earth, which actually includes both fist for a 2-hit strike. To further annoy the opponent, she can use Block Buster (an overhead kick that has both Always Does Damage and Temporary Invulnerability) and Debilitating Riposte (a pretty good counter Move).
Helene is also the first Fighter here with four Super Moves: Crash Rave combines her Shoryuken with a few kick moves, Reign of Terror has her hit the opponent with all of her Basic Moves, Between Two Trees is a throw that has her crush the opponent's torso with her tighs, and Joie de Combat is a devastating kick combo similar to King from KoF.
Hiroto
"It was thiiis wide!"
Fighting Style: Dragon Breath School of Archery.
Win Quote: "I'm sure that fight was important - why were we fighting again?"
Hiroto's a historical Fighter, this time around from a more orthodox era (unspecified mythic Japan). He's a not particularly bright samurai how one day stumbled upon a small shrine holding the Bow of the Thundering Heavens. Ever since, he has roamed Japan to where the bow subconciously lead him, beating up whatever bad guys he comes across.
Hiroto's main gimmick is similar to a Samurai Shodown character, with a bit of Cody and Vega: All of his ranged Moves have the Prop Liabilty. They are tied to his bow, which he loses whenever he gets knocked down, reducing his move set until he picks it up again.
But don't think he's useless without his bow. He's slow (Initiative -1), but pretty darn strong (Strength 2) and overall very offense-oriented. His katana hurts a lot.
His bow Moves include Yumi Mastery (basically Sakura's Hadoken), Kami Shot (a fast projectile) and Breath of Inexorable Doom (a knockdown projectile) and Dragon Claw (an anti-air projectile).
His most important katana Moves are Master of the Blade Stance (which lets him move all over the place), Dragon Wing Ascent (a nice combo starter that juggles the opponent) and Cut of a Thousand Blades (which knocks down and back).
Hiroto also has a bit of Street Fighter 3 going because he has to pick which of his three Supers to use for the fight: Shin Kami Shot is a suped-up Kami Shot, Ascent of the Dragon God is a more powerful Dragon Wing Ascent, and Yumi Perfect Technique is naturally a better Yumi Mastery.
Next Time: The rest. The strongest Fighters. Tanks. And catgirls.
Power Level 7
Original SA post Fight! - ChallengersPower Level 7
It's the final round for this book. Let's get ready to rumble for heaven and hell while the wheel of fate is turning and something something FIGHT!
Jason Stone
"Who ordered the sound beating?!"
Fighting Style: Boxing, Kickboxing and Wrestling
Win Quote: "Heh. That was worth my time. And I charge a lot."
Jason is an Englishman from an aristocratic family that made a fortune in the USA around a century ago. Bored of his mind and with a disdain for his family, Jason started to work out, learn some martial arts and have a blast in fight clubs.
His dream is to create what is essentially WWE meet Tekken, hoping to to make more money than the family's fortune just to show 'em.
Jason hails from the Lord of Battle campaign, though he has been modified into a 3D Fighter for this book. He has no ranged attack options like most Tekken characters, but he can string together pretty long combos, and his maxed out Accuracy helps him in doing just that. Once is juggle train is starting, it keeps going for a good while.
As a 3D Fighter, his list of normal Special Moves is relatively short. His most noteworthy onces include Two-Stage Roundhouse (which deals only half damage if the opponent is just within range because the first hit doesn't quite go that far), Dashing Pummel (a dash jab whose slow recovery is explained by him wasting time cursing on a miss), and Ground'n Pound (a throw that his him grab the opponent, roll around with him for a bit and then start a beatdown). His Super is the Super Dashing Pummel (unsurprisingly a stronger Dashing Pummel).
Siersi
"Maybe I shouldn't have used that shampoo..."
Fighting Style: Ectoplasmic Mastery
Win Quote: "Warriors on this planet are weak."
Siersi is an alien criminal from another galaxy who got put into a stasis pod and launched into space after she was used as a guinea pig and ended up fusing with a snake-like, extradimensional entity.
Having crash-landed on Earth, she tries to figure out where she is and may or may not end up as a fighting game boss.
Siersi is a perticularly hard nut to crack as she has very high defenses and a lot of counter Moves at her disposal. Most of her attacks also involve tentacles and snakes bursting out of her body, which gives her quite a bit of reach.
Tentacle Grab is basically Scorpion's "Get over here!" (or whatever the "official" title is; I prefer mine), and Siphon Life has a couple snakes bit the opponent and drain health from him. Knocking her down can lead to her using Squeeze, which can knock down everyone around here.
Here two mobility options are Flash and Slash (limited-use a teleport) and Dizzy Lash (which can also reflect projectiles). Both can also be used as counters for extra fun.
Her Supers are Spinning Lash, which has er teleport next to the opponent for a surprise beating, and Singularity Lash which is another one of those nasty utility moves that lock the opponent in place.
Powerl Level 8
The two PL8 Fighters are interesting in that their statblock shows their entire development from PL1 to 8, letting you include them whenever you want.
Daiichi Takeda
Sleeping?
Fighting Style: Guardian God (Shugoshin) World Wrestling
Win Quote: "Don't underestimate the life-giving fist."
Daiichi was a lonely student whose pacifist nature made him a frequent target for bullies. His life changed completely when he ended up saving a girl from a street gang (aka "He distracted them long enough for her to beat them up."). As it turns out, the girl has family ties to a very secret and exclusive dojo (with a potential sentai vibe), where Daiichi learned some neat wrestling moves. Now he spends his time protecting other students and generally beating up bad guys.
Daiichi is actually rather well-rounded for a grappler, with a slight focus on defense and damage.
His big thing is a multi-part throw that keeps getting longer for the first half of his career: Daisetsuzan Oroshi has him launch the opponent into the air (also usable as a counter), Air Backbreaker has him catch the falling opponent on his shoulders and slam him to the ground, then Tornado Bomb has him do it a second time, and Spinning Piledriver has him channel the spirit of Zangief for the finisher.
His Super Shugoshin Saikyou Combo has him to all of the above in a single Move, and Shugoshin Enraged has him go angry and blast the opponent into the sky.
(He also gains a bit of Ki points for his last couple Power Levels, which doesn't actually do anything for him. Oh well, just add it to Fighting Spirit).
Rei Oshiro
"Yeah!"
Fighting Style: Demon Hunter Style
Win Quote: "I won't let my family down - there's no way I can lose!"
Rei's backstory is pretty video-gamey: He and his ancestors have been tasked with guarding the Demon Stones, artifacts of great power whose main gimmick is that they can only be used for evil. There's also the occasional demon to take care of.
He's also a former playtest character.
Rei's also relatively well-rounded, with lacking defenses at lower levels, no ranged attacks at all, and a very great combo potential.
Rei already starts his career with a juggler (Airwalk Fist) and a dash attack (Demon Hunter Kick). Later levels include a damaging combo finisher (Glorious Spirit Fist) and a counter move (Heavenly Wrath).
His Supers are Demon Annihilator (a stronger Demon Hunter Kick), Lifebreaker Assault (a flying kick combined with a flurry of blows) and God Airwalk Fist (a stronger Airwalk Fist).
Example Thugs
The example Thugs here are ordered according to their level like the Fighters, but there's also a list where they're organized according to theme.
For example, the "Criminal Element" section lists your typical modern day Thugs, including Hooligans and Street Thugs (both at level 1, with Hooligans leaning more towards offense), the amazingly-named Unruly Mob of Untrained Angry People (level 2 and essentially represents some kind of swarm) the Hulking Brute for your big tough guys (level 3 and actually able to cause Hit Stun).
Also useful for modern day scenarios are "Law Enforcement and Military" Thugs, going from simple Security Guards (level 1) and Police Officers (level 2 with a gun) and ending at Special Forces Soldiers (a straight level 3 upgrade from the officer) and Powered Armor Guard (level 4 and yet again a straight upgrade).
Fantasy thugs include the Fantasy Soldier (level 2 for your dwarves and orcs), the Mounted Soldier (also level 2, but very mobile) and of course a Dragon (level 5, with a ranged breath attack and hard to take out).
Sci-fi Thugs include the Warrior Alien (level 2 and a ranged attacker), the Assault Robot (a beefier level 3 upgrade) and a friggin' Mecha (level 5, with one of the most accurate and damaging ranged attacks among the Thugs).
If you just want to beat up vehicles, that's also a thing: The Armored Personal Carrier is level 4 and an annoying ranged support for other Thugs, while both the Attack Helicopter and the friggin' Tank are level 5 and more like early boss encounters. Especially the tank is pretty hard to hit. A starting character would require either an accurate Move or situational modifiers to even have a chance of damaging it. But once you have a few Power Levels under your belt, you have a pretty good chance to Shoryuken that tank. Yeah, it's that kind of game. No wonder these evil fighting game organizations always want to harness the power of martial artists to take over the world or something.
Other Thugs include various animals, and the holy tri-force of Cat Girl (level 1; fast, but falls over if you so much as look at her funny), Pirate (level 2 and basically better Street Thugs) and Ninja (level 3 and annoyingly fast). At least in Fight!, the Ninja clearly come out on top in the eternal Pirates vs Ninja discussion. Is that still a thing, anyways?
Next Time: I think it is time to go back and look at a few stars that are without number.