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Hidden Character (ver. 0.5)
...and what would have been a competent but relatively forgettable entry into the growing pantheon of fighting games turned into an arcade phenomenon with the discovery of the new character. Appearing to only the most skilled and exploratory players, the hidden fighter's health meter wouldn't even display a name, at least not in any Earthly language, his arrival as unexplained as it was unexpected. And while hidden fighters was far from a new concept in fighting games at the time, it was the unique presentation of this new fighter that set him apart from all the rest. The nameless character, whom fans colloquially referred to as Torture, unnerved fans in many ways, not the least of which being his character sprite, which was drawn in a noticeably different style than the sprites of the regular characters, a trait owing to a completely separated artist being solely responsible for all of the hidden fighter's sprites and animations. More disturbing yet was the character's behavior and movement, unpredictable, unnerving movements with random changes in speed and the occasional twitches and convulsions of the character's sprite, and when coupled with the character's way of rarely looking directly at his opponent but rather staring off into an unknown void, the final presentation was that of a character so upsettingly unlike anything ever seen that some arcade goers would insist on leaving the arcade if another player happened to trigger the well-hidden fight. The ambience of the encounter was further enhanced by the now famous theme music which accompanies the character, described by many as an otherwordly track that, like the rest of the experience, felt like nothing previously encountered in the game. What was more, the moves and movements that appeared to interfere or tamper with the arcade cabinet itself, creating textual glitches and screen flickering that had players legitimately convinced that the machine was malfunctioning. Some arcade owners were even known to call the manufacturer seeking maintenance on their machine, having to be told that the supposed malfunctions were all part of the planned experience. Later iterations of the character later in the series would even seemingly create errors and glitches specific to the console the game was being played on. Players looking for any insight as to the identity or backstory of the character would find the game to be stubbornly lacking in clarification, although hints of his origins and perhaps his motives could potentially be pieced from both the biographies and endings of the game's regular characters, though usually nothing more concrete than fan theories and speculation. One of the biggest hints as to the fighter's motives would ultimately lie in the eventual discovery that only characters affiliated with a certain clan could trigger the fight. Only adding to the mystery was the exceedingly unlikely event in which a player would actually defeat the ghostly opponent, at which point thunder and lighting can be heard, accompanied by the light sobbing of an unknown, female voice. And yet it was perhaps losing to the fighter that presented the most intrigue of all, with the player character's usual ending being swapped out for a new one in which the character purportedly goes missing, an ending the same regardless of which eligible character the player was using at the time.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / All
Species Rat
Size 1000 x 1284px
File Size 1.17 MB
Assuming I take it anywhere. For now it's put to the aside as I'm currently neck deep in summa the same old shit and this kind of thing is fun for a while but isn't often too fulfilling by the end. That side, there's been more work done on it since this was posted, enough to warrant a second WIP if I felt like it.
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