The Rumble Fish 2 review

The Rumble Fish 2 effectively emulates the 2005 coin-op. But if you’re looking for contemporary conveniences, this port might leave you yearning.

The early 2000s were a turbulent time for fighting games. Arcades were waning, SNK had filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and Capcom would take a nine-year hiatus from their most famous franchise following the release of 1997’s Street Fighter III. But echoing the resilience of their on-screen combatants, you couldn’t count the genre out. Console ports of titles such as Samurai Shodown V, Soul Calibur 2, Tekken 5, and The King of Fighters 2003 ensured fighting games remained relevant throughout the era.

However, not every proficient recreation of pugilism made it into Western homes. One notable omission was the output of Osaka-based Dimps. With talent that includes Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, and The King of Fighters co-creator Takashi Nishiyama as well as Hiroshi Matsumoto, the producer of Art of Fighting, The Last Blade, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the developer had a winning pedigree. But woefully, Dimps’ The Rumble Fish and its 2005 sequel were never published stateside.

Seventeen years later, publisher 3goo has rectified that oversight with the console and PC release of The Rumble Fish 2. For those who aren’t fluent in quarter circle forward and dragon punch motions, the Atomiswave port will probably be little more than a curiosity. Although the game flaunts modern amenities like 16:9 widescreen support and rollback code, at $30 USD it’s also premium priced. The decision to sell a trio of additional fighters (appropriately named Greed, as well as Hazama, and Beatrice) at $3.99 USD apiece is also difficult to justify for those who aren’t dedicated fighting game enthusiasts.

But genre fans might appreciate the emergence of The Rumble Fish 2’s localization, despite some prominent oversights. For one, it’s an attractive fighter, elevated by a visual style that Dimps called Smooth Model Animation, or S.M.A. In execution, character animation demonstrates more fluidity than most games of the era, by incorporating articulated joints and moderately detailed texturing. Sure, some attacks and flips can make fighters resemble marionettes, but there is a general silkiness to many of the fighting movements.

Another cool visual perk is persistent damage to a character’s face and clothing. While not quite as unsightly as those post-match Street Fighter II dialog screens, you might notice bruises, scratches, and ripped clothes on character models. Backgrounds are reasonably detailed as well, with polygonal features like speeding monorails, factories that glow with molten steel, and one stage where a mechanical gate opens to reveal a striking moon.

When it comes to play, Rumble Fish 2 showcases a few advanced mechanics that would inspire other fighters. Below your twin-colored health gauge is a guard meter that’s reduced every time you protect yourself against an imminent attack. It slowly regenerates over time ensuring that matches don’t turn into overblown slugfests.

On the bottom of the screen, each character has three-segment offensive and defensive art bars. These provide access to a multitude of special attacks and defensive counters, which are usually quite eye-catching. If you manage to max out both of these gauges, you can perform a critical art, which is dominant enough to defeat most opponents. It’s the time of flashy move that Hi Score Girl’s Akira Ono would use to humble her opponents.

But before approaching that level of technical mastery, you’ll probably need the proper tools. Both Sony’s DualSense and the Xbox Series X’s standard controller don’t have directional pads with enough precision to consistently pull off some of Rumble Fish 2’s advanced moves. Playing with Hori’s Fighting Stick Alpha and a Mayflash Arcade Stick F500 greatly improved the ability to dependability execute some of the game’s more sophisticated strikes.

When it comes to rosters, Rumble Fish 2 collection of 13 playables extends a pleasing sense of variety. While the eye-patch clad Mito might be pint-sized, she’s armed with a bokken (wooden sword) that can make forceful opponents hesitant. Leggy Garnet has a gratifyingly extended reach, while stocky Orville dispenses tempestuous wrestling-style drop kicks, tackles, and throws. While there’s plenty of eccentricity, Bazoo is the game’s resident weirdo. Perpetually hunched over, his long arms can catch ill-equipped opponents off-guard and can bring down parts of the ceiling on rivals.

While Rumble Fish 2 was slightly ahead of the curve when it came to mechanics, 17 years later the port is going to leave some players disheartened. Sure, online matches revealed a lack of lag, but the absence of lobbies means matches are one-and-done affairs. While there are in-game move lists and a training mode for squaring off against the AI, that’s the extent of the tutelage. As a fairly sophisticated fighting game, players need more information than what’s flashed on loading screens. All of these lapses point to a barebones port. After waiting all these years, players deserve a bit better.

The Rumble Fish 2 was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher