Fighting Layer

"Are you right? Are you ready? GO!

--Announcer"

In 1998, Fighting Layer was developed by game company Arika and published by Arika and Namco as an attempt to create a similar game to Arika and Capcom's modest-success, Street Fighter EX, without having it tie in with the game's Excuse Plot or the Capcom-owned characters. The game includes Allen Snider and Blair Dame, both characters from the first EX game. Debuting with this series is Spirited Competitor Tetsuo Kato, police officer George Jensent, Tae Kwon Do specialist Hong Gillson, high school student Lan Yinghua, weapon-toting assassin Janis Luciani, hardcore heel pro-wrestler Exodus, thief and self-taught fighter Shang Fenghuang, Mongolian sumo wrestler Jig Jid Bartol, Ninja Sessyu Tsukikage and tribal Witch Doctor Cappricio. Along with them are three unlockable bosses: boxer and ex-prize fighter Joe Fendi, legendary power wrestler Clemence Keliber and shell shocked Cyborg Preston Ajax as well as unplayable characters, Knight, a giant, sentient, suit of armor, Tiger, Shark and Hawk, a giant tiger, shark and hawk respectively and Big Bad Vold Ignitio. The game played similar to Street Fighter EX but with the addition of multiple ways of getting to the Final Boss.

The game was only released in Japanese arcades and none of the characters were ever featured in another Arika or Namco property. It's rare for someone (even in Japan) to know about the game, let alone have played it. So yeah, it's a little bit obscure.

Tropes Distinct To, Or Introduced In, This Game:

 * Announcer Chatter: The announcer is pretty much a mesquite smoked ham who screams every time a super is done.
 * Expy: Hong Gillson is a blatant rip off of Hwoarang. Let's see, a youthful but arrogant Korean Taekwondo Fighter with dyed reddish hair and a headband? His name seems to be based on Korean folk hero Hong Gildong.
 * Island Base: South Island
 * No Export for You: For absolutely nobody outside of Japan.
 * Shared Universe: With Street Fighter EX.
 * Transplant: Allen and Blair who were in Street Fighter EX previously.