Super Punch Fighter: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Fighting, Set Collection, Combo
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 1 - 6 PlayersTime to Play: 45 Minutes Game Designer: Robert Klotz
Player Age: 14+
Rundown:
Super Punch Fighter is a retro video-game inspired arena fighting game. Your mission is to gain nine stars which is achieved by pushing your enemies out of the arena, eliminating them or achieving goals in the middle.
Alteration:
The board has two sides; one is a close-quarters king of the hill fight and the other side is a more tactical ranged fight. There are two game modes; a 1-2 player mode that has players fighting minions, and a 3-6 player arena fighting game which is the main crux of the game.
Each player has a unique deck that has each player feeling different in their fighting styles in their combos that they perform. There are six of these fighting characters to keep the game feeling fresh.
Production:
The game leans heavily on a video game aesthetic with yellow and red spots on the board giving the players extra cards if they start their turn in that location and re-spawn areas for when players consistently die. The main game play also leans heavily into this theme. The other kinds of cards that players will draw throughout the game are Button Cards. These cards will have a thumb marker placed on them once they are used. These are essentially the buttons on the arcade mission. Just like in a retro fighting game these buttons can be used for their effect, such as moving, attacking, blocking or drawing a fighter card. As will as these actions, they can be used to create a combo (play a fighter card). A player may also chain multiple cards together on a turn if the last button on a card matches the first button of the next card. The game play and aesthetics help the production of the game to feel like a retro fighting video game.
Interaction:
There is consistent interaction with opponents trying to eliminate each other. The other interaction comes from managing the button cards as you can only have a keypad of 10 buttons. Every turn you can remove up to four thumbs (these thumbs are what you place after you activate a button for their action or a fighter card) that were used that round and then every other button will be discarded. So you can perform massive combos of numerous fighter cards but you will lose button cards and have to rebuild over other turns. Due to this, players are constantly deciding when to use the buttons to pull off combos or when to build the keypad for later turns.
Determination:
Pros:
- Interesting button system.
- Great use of theme.
Cons:
- Feels longer than a game with this theme should be.
- Wish there were more boards.
Super Punch Fighter has a promising theme and intuitive game play to help the theme come to life. The button system is interesting as the actions on a turn are limited but buttons can be stacked for larger actions, depleting the stash to then be built up again. While entertaining and strategic, the game can also feel longer than what the concept of the game promises. This is the kind of fighter game that will shine within your circle if you enjoy repeated plays to learn the different fighter mechanics.
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