The ugliest pretty game... or is it the prettiest ugly game?

📖 Background Link to heading

Elfmania is a 1994 “fighting” game for the Amiga. “Fighting” is in quotes here because it’s possibly the second-simplest fighting game I’ve tested for Kusogrande yet. The game consists of holding a button and waggling the joystick to perform moves, which becomes all the more awkward when you try to dance around the stage at the same time. Characters all cost money to use, which you collect during fights like a crappy Smash Bros coin battle knock-off. Maybe this isn’t a problem in 2p mode, but against the CPU, you lose when you run out of money. The problem is, the starter elves take up to 100 gold to use at first, and there’s almost no way to make that back in one match. If you don’t have their required value, they take all your gold, meaning you’re one loss away from a game over most of the time.

The enemies are… Well, they cheat. It’s not uncommon to see a character triangle-jumping towards you like Dr. Doom, and they always seem to win potential trades. Matiki in particular has a truckload of health and does lots of damage. He’s the most expensive and powerful character, and always seems to be required aorund stage 3.

🎮 Controls Link to heading

  • Move: Joystick
  • Attack: Hold fire + move stick
  • Block: Fire + Down / Down + Fire

🏁 Goal Link to heading

To win a game, you must make a line on the board by winning matches in the appropriate squares. Each win is a marker for you, and each loss is a marker for your opponent. If your next match would add to a line, it’ll count towards the next round. Tiles that don’t add to your longest line will be for the same round as last.

📝 Notes Link to heading

  • Up-attacks are very useful at walling out opponents. Usually this is the ideal anti-air move, and some 9p moves will chain together if the opponent decides not to block.
  • Janika has long-range normals and a large aerial chop, but I’m not sure if she’s the best or just the fastest.
  • There’s some strategy in choosing fighters later on. You may decide to farm for gold on a stage that doesn’t get you closer to winning, and then purchase a weaker character so you don’t lose instantly if you lose that match.