I've tried to write an introduction for Little Fighter 2 many times before and never I've been satisfied with the result. Maybe that's because I am an experienced player and always want to tell people more about the details. However, I'll try to write a good introduction, that helps people to understand what's so special about Little Fighter 2.
General Information
Little Fighter is a Beat 'em Up for Windows. You control your character using keyboard or game pad or any other device that will be recognized as game pad. The controls are simple. You only need seven keys to control your character: Up, Down, Left, Right, Defend, Attack and Jump.
The game can be played in single player mode or multiplayer mode, in network or on only one computer. There is an unusual amount of modes in this game. You can play Versus, Stage, Championship or Battle Mode. In case you want to lean back and observe, you can choose Demo Mode. In contrast to other Beat 'em Ups, you often have more than one opponent at the same time and you are fighting in a semi three-dimensional area, where you can go left, right, up, down, jump or roll.
Each player has a HP bar and a MP bar. You usually (there are exceptions) lose HP when you get hit and use MP to execute special moves. Your amount of MP increases over time until it reaches it's maximum. HP slowly regenerate as well, up to a certain amount.
You can choose from 21 characters, which one you want to play, so there is plenty of change and you can find the one which fits you best.
The game can be played in single player mode or multiplayer mode, in network or on only one computer. There is an unusual amount of modes in this game. You can play Versus, Stage, Championship or Battle Mode. In case you want to lean back and observe, you can choose Demo Mode. In contrast to other Beat 'em Ups, you often have more than one opponent at the same time and you are fighting in a semi three-dimensional area, where you can go left, right, up, down, jump or roll.
Each player has a HP bar and a MP bar. You usually (there are exceptions) lose HP when you get hit and use MP to execute special moves. Your amount of MP increases over time until it reaches it's maximum. HP slowly regenerate as well, up to a certain amount.
You can choose from 21 characters, which one you want to play, so there is plenty of change and you can find the one which fits you best.
Game Modes
I want to explain the game modes a little bit more, because I think the combination of available game modes are one of the features, which make Little Fighter 2 unique.
First of all there is the Versus Mode. In Versus Mode you fight one or more opponents at the same time. You choose one of the 21 characters or choose, that the character will be random. Then you can choose 1 of 4 teams or go for independent, which means not being in a team. Your opponents do the same and the fight can begin. Additionally you can choose on which map and on which difficulty you want to fight. The difficulty only influences the AI. That's right, you can play against the computer too. In this case you'll have to choose a character for them or let the character be random.
Next we have the Stage Mode, which actually consists of 2 modes, the original Stage Mode and the Survival Mode, which was added in version 2.0. The Stage Mode is more complex than the Versus Mode. You cannot choose a team, but will automatically be in team 1, working together with your teammates in fighting the AI. In this mode you can select a difficulty like in Versus Mode. This time your opponents will enter the map from the left or from the right, instead of simply being there from the start. Once you beat them, there will be a new wave of opponents until you finished the stage. There are 5 stages, which become increasingly difficult to beat.
The waves of opponents have a structure. What I mean by 'structure' is, that there can be bosses and soldiers. As long as a boss is still alive, the soldiers will keep coming, no matter how often you beat them. There is also the possibility, that an opponent appears a predefined number of times.
Additionally you can free allies who might help you beating your opponents.
For Survival Mode the same is true, however, you cannot really finish Survival Mode, because it is programmed in a way, so that there will always be a next wave of opponents. Also there are no allies you can free. It's about surviving as long as you can and coming as far as you can. This gave Little Fighter players a way of setting world records. A few friends and I hold many of these records and we're still trying to beat some of the records we aren't holding.
The waves of opponents have a structure. What I mean by 'structure' is, that there can be bosses and soldiers. As long as a boss is still alive, the soldiers will keep coming, no matter how often you beat them. There is also the possibility, that an opponent appears a predefined number of times.
Additionally you can free allies who might help you beating your opponents.
For Survival Mode the same is true, however, you cannot really finish Survival Mode, because it is programmed in a way, so that there will always be a next wave of opponents. Also there are no allies you can free. It's about surviving as long as you can and coming as far as you can. This gave Little Fighter players a way of setting world records. A few friends and I hold many of these records and we're still trying to beat some of the records we aren't holding.
Championship Mode. Championship Mode is a game mode we usually play when we don't know what else to do. It's simply a mode that puts you into a little K.O. tournament with the AI or other human players. Each fight is equal to a fight in Versus Mode. However, if you lose HP, you'll have less HP in the next fight.
There are 2 versions of Championship Mode, 1on1 Championship and 2on2 Championship. In 1on1 Championship you are alone fighting one other player, while in 2on2 Championship you fight with one ally against two opponents.
There are 2 versions of Championship Mode, 1on1 Championship and 2on2 Championship. In 1on1 Championship you are alone fighting one other player, while in 2on2 Championship you fight with one ally against two opponents.
In Battle Mode, you can simulate Stage Mode situations. You can choose a character and add an army to your or your opponents side. Additionally to map and difficulty, you can choose a defense multiplier. This multiplier influences, how much damage your character can take. For example x3.0 means, that you'll only take one third of the usual damage if you get hit.
Demo Mode simply lets a random amount of AI players fight each other.
Combos
No matter in which mode you play, the moves and special moves of the characters can be combined in many ways to create awesome combos. I am still wondering, which approach the developers used to allow such combo variety and at the same time to not allow every move to hit all the time. This is something that Little Fighter 2 really excels in. Somehow all the characters fit together, as do their moves and special moves and although they fit together so well, it still feels different to play from character to character.
Creating combo possibilities in a beat 'em up game that only allows 1on1 fights is an easy task compared to creating the carefully balanced amount of 'combo-bilitiy' you can see in Little Fighter 2. So I am impressed by how well it's done in Little Fighter 2.
Creating combo possibilities in a beat 'em up game that only allows 1on1 fights is an easy task compared to creating the carefully balanced amount of 'combo-bilitiy' you can see in Little Fighter 2. So I am impressed by how well it's done in Little Fighter 2.