Have You Played... Body Blows?
Probably shouldn't.
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I have a soft spot for slightly shoddy, me-too games from the early '90s. The three or four football games that all tried desperately to ape Sensible Soccer after its success, for example. Or, in this case, Body Blows' attempt to mimic the success of Street Fighter II. I played it originally on the Amiga but it was also available on DOS, and in my memories, it was charmingly rubbish.
Instead of Ken and Ryu, you had Nik and Dan, the latter of which could throw balls of fire. Instead of Zangief, you had Kossak, who had a ponytail instead of a mohawk. Not all of the fighters were inspired directly by Street Fighter, of course: spoilers for this 22 year-old game, but defeating the last fighter Max would reveal him to be a robot called 'T17', after Terminator and the game's developer, Team 17.
My pointing out these similarities aren't criticisms - or at least, not strong ones. I was around eight years-old when I played Body Blows and I didn't mind one bit that it felt a little like unofficial Frozen merchandise does now. It was fun, it was a little bit like another game I liked, and I played it probably just as much as Capcom's classic.
Here's a video of it in action, from YouTube channel World of Longplays.
