The Super NES port of Fighter’s History was developed and published by Data East for the North American and Japanese Market in 1994. The original arcade game was developed by Data East and released in 1993.
Karnov playthrough
Karnov is the final boss of the game. A mythical and feared Russian man that is said to be some sort of deity, he is also known as a collector of ancient and powerful artefacts, either gained as awards or as a theft. Bored with his current life of peace, he hosts the Great Grapple tournament to find new challenges, offering his fortune as a prize. Although an antagonist by principle, he doesn’t have any evil intention.
To play as him, you must input the following sequence of buttons at the title screen. A sound will play if it was entered correctly: Right, Right, Up, Up, L, R. This cheat will also unlock Clown.
Karnov is the character with the most special moves in the game. He is a motion character for four of his special moves. His famed fireball attack from his own game is his projectile. Unlike every other projectile, it bounces on the ground and will cause a knockdown to his opponent if hit. He is also able to breathe fire as well as doing it while crouched, also causing a knockdown. His Balloon Attack cause to him to go over his opponent, inflates and then drop on him. Finally, he has a multistrike kick technique called Super 100 Kicks, which can strike up to five times. He is the only character without a throw.
Against the CPU, Karnov is definitely broken. His three-fireball technique will be rarely blocked, even at the highest difficulty level, which seems to be a glitch and not intended. What makes him unbelievably strong is his Super 100 Kick technique. Because it can be used as a combo ender, it guarantees to stun opponent with weak point at the head and body level. Performing the combo again will defeat the opponent. Even for opponents with a weak point at the leg level, Karnov can deal 40% of damage with a single use of the move in the corner. He is also the fastest character in the game, which easily allow him to place himself around the arena to perform his combos and his fireball. The Balloon Attack is the only move that is rarely used, because of the signifant delay, but Karnov is invulnerable during the inflation part of the move, except for air throw.
As a side note, Karnov is the same character as the one appearing in the game bearing his name. He also ps1appeared as a cameo in many games made by Data East, such as being the first boss in Bad Dudes VS. Dragon Ninja and its ports. Although never officially stated, he is considered as the unofficial mascot of the company since the release of his game in 1987.
TAS tools were used in this playthrough.