Red Earth
Red Earth, known as Warzard (ウォーザード , Wōzādo) in Japan, is a 1996 fantasy-themed head-to-head fighting game released by Capcom as a coin-operated arcade game. It was the first game for Capcom's CP System III hardware, the same hardware on which the later Street Fighter III games ran. Red Earth is the only CPS III video game which has never been officially ported to home platforms, although its characters have appeared in later Capcom games.
There are four selectable characters and eight computer-controlled opponents, and two game modes, Quest and Versus. In Quest Mode, the player chooses one of the four main characters, and progresses through a story while battling the various boss characters and gaining experience. In Versus Mode, two players fight against each other, but they can only choose from the four main characters. Red Earth also uses a special password system that allows the player to play the game later on the same skill level reached when it ended the last time. The character is able to "learn" special attacks and gain new equipment depending on the skill level that has been reached.
The fighting engine itself is similar to games such as Street Fighter, but with a few differences. First of all, the health bar of the enemy 'bosses' the player battles in Quest Mode is displayed across the bottom of the screen, and is much larger than that of the players. Also, as the player lands hits on the bosses, various coins and treasure chests come out. Collecting coins provides experience, while various things can be found in treasure chests, such as orbs (used for super attacks) and food (that restores health). These elements make the game more of a Boss Rush action/beat-em-up style game rather than a traditional one-on-one fighter.
In addition, Red Earth is one of few Capcom games with finishing moves. They include splitting the opponent in half either horizontally or vertically, decapitation, artery rupture, organ removal and limb slicing; the Darkstalkers series also holds this distinction.
Character Sheet is in the works.
- All Witches Have Cats: The sorcerologist Tessa owns four cats, two of whom (Al and Ivan) actually aid her in battle from time to time. The catch is that Tessa owns several other pets, such as a bird (Hato), a frog (Kaeru) and a dragon spirit which doubles as her cape (Manot).
- As Long as There Is Evil: Scion will live on.
- Badass: Leo is one of many.
- Badass Cape: Tessa.
- Big Bad: Scion.
- Blade of Fearsome Size: Leo.
- Boss Game
- Censorship Bureau: Blade was originally known as "Jihad" in Japan; however, because of religious connotations (a rare example of an Islamic reference), it was changed to what it is now. Curiously, many later sources, including the Japanese ones, now refer to the character as Blade instead of Jihad.
- Combat Tentacles: Hydron/Nool.
- Composite Character: Ravange.
- Cool Mask: Kenji.
- Crossover: Tessa/Tabasa is a playable character in Pocket Fighter/Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (in which Leo and Hauzer make cameos; the former in her stage, the latter in Ryu's ending), and Capcom Fighting Evolution had the appearances of Leo, Hauzer, Hydron/Nool and Kenji/Mukuro as playable, plus cameos from Tessa, Mai-Ling, Blade, Kongou and Gi Gi in Leo, Jedah and Pyron's endings.
- Capcom vs. Whatever: Aside from SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash (which features even Mai-Ling), Tessa appeared in SNK vs. Capcom SVC Chaos, Hauzer appeared in Karas and Saki's endings in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, and Gi Gi has an appearance in PTX-40A's ending in the same game. Leo appeared in Hawkeye's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Tessa also appeared in Dr. Strange's ending in the same game, Kenji's colour scheme is an outfit for Strider Hiryu's outfit, and also in among the "Heroes and Heralds" cards. Kongou and Ravange also appeared in Hsien-ko's ending.
- Demoted to Extra: While the game is a relatively obscure title, almost all of the playable characters have been in at least one game outside of this one (see Crossover above) except for Mai-Ling/Tao whom has yet to have been playable outside of the original game.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Most of the bosses.
- Cursed with Awesome: Leo.
- Detached Sleeves: Tessa.
- Dimensional Traveler: Alluded to in Tessa's backstory and more explicitly confirmed in her crossover appearances.
- The Dragon: Blade.
- Expy: Mai-Ling seems to be the long lost daughter of Chun-Li and Adon, given some of her poses, specials, and her fighting style.
- As non-character examples, we have the planet itself (Earth, which is blue), Zipang (Japan), Icelarn (Iceland), Sangypt/Alanbird (Egypt, Alanbird was the original Japanese name), Savalia/Greedia (Greece, Greedia is the original Japanese name) and Gora (China). The exterior of Gi Gi's stage is never seen, but judging by his appearance (a robotic Chavín statue), it's probably a fantasy version of ancient Peru.
- Fan Service: Tessa/Tabasa's "bad" ending.
- Finishing Move: You can chop your enemy in half, or take his/her heart and squish it up.
- Foot Focus: Mai-Ling.
- Girlish Pigtails: Mai-Ling. Overlaps with Rapunzel Hair.
- Gratuitous English: Tabasa was probably meant to be named Tabbatha, but whoever was in charge of converting the names from Japanese to English screwed up and simply did a direct Romanizing of タバサ.
- The Heartless: Scion.
- Hot Witch: Tessa, although she'll tell you that the correct term is "Hot Sorcerologist".
- Hyperactive Metabolism
- Katanas Are Just Better: Kenji.
- Meaningful Name: Leo and Hydron.
- Mistaken for Gay: Slightly played with in this We Can Rule Together moment:
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Clara: "You've done well to get this far. With your mind and my empire, we could rule the world." |
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- Nice Hat: Tessa and Mai-Ling.
- Ninja: Kenji/Mukuro.
- Power-Up: The spheres and emeralds, carried on later to Pocket Fighter as part of its gameplay.
- Redheaded Heroine: Tessa.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Leo, who is the king of his own country.
- Shoulders of Doom: Kenji.
- SNK Boss: Because Red Earth is a Boss Rush game, this is expected. These are Blade and his sword-drill; and Scion, his dragons and his two forms. The second form even has an attack which will turn you into an inoffensive creature during a limited time where you can't block nor attack in any form. Oh, and he loves to abuse an attack in which he spawns swords from the bottom and the top. And, of course, abuses a lot of his dragons.
- Waif Fu: Mai-Ling.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Yeah, he's got fur, but Leo isn't wearing much other than a Loin Cloth.
- Woman in White: Tessa, more or less.