ALL NOVEL Chapter 40
[Hidden Character]
In games, this refers to characters that are generally not available but can become allies or be used by satisfying certain conditions.
The first hidden character I witnessed was “Mad Aoi” from The King of Fighters ’97.
During the peak of The King of Fighters ’97’s popularity, a friend, whose uncle was in Japan, dragged us to the arcade with the news that something incredible had happened.
Confused, we followed him, and he inserted a coin with a significant expression on his face.
He entered the unlock command for the hidden character he heard from his uncle on the character selection page.
Hold the Start button and input ←→←→←→ + CA
At that moment, “Aoi, Mad Under the Moonlight” was unlocked, and my friends and I cheered.
What made me remember the hidden character so vividly was its performance.
“Aoi, Mad Under the Moonlight” was, in short, a broken character.
Power and speed were absurdly exaggerated due to mid-boss adjustments, and its jump speed was so fast that it could teleport behind the opponent after dodging a ground projectile and land a hit.
Moreover, the infinite combo was so easy that if the strong punch landed properly, the opponent could do nothing but watch or prepare for a chair shot.
The first hidden character,
The ultimate broken character,
Executed for the first time by my friend in our local arcade,
Wiping out renowned pros while we watched the arcade being obliterated that day left us all soaked.
That’s when it began.
I vowed to include a hidden character in any fighting game I create.
And while making Legend Fighter, that opportunity arose for me.
I secretly created a hidden character…
To be precise, only my Master knew about it.
The hidden character’s name is “Ren”.
She’s a teenage female elf character with white hair.
Her background story is that she’s a “masterful elf” who trained in the elven martial art “Yudra” for 500 years, coming out into the world to rescue it by teaming up with the protagonist Karuga.
As you can tell from her appearance, this character was inspired by my Master.
Her primary play pattern revolves around pulling opponents in with vine magic, a projectile move, and then unleashing a flurry of attacks.
The real skill of this character lies in the speed of her projectiles.
To such an extent that they’re 10 frames faster than Karuga, the character with the current fastest projectiles.
A new character concept where she pulls enemies in with rapid and sharp projectiles, then comboing them with a flurry of attacks while creating distance only to pull them back in again—she provided users with new gameplay excitement, being the hidden character “Ren” without overlapping concepts with existing Legend Fighter characters.
To save the beleaguered Legend Fighter, I decided to deploy this character and turned on the communication crystal ball.
*
In the large gaming hall of Zephia, groups of children had gathered.
Kids who loved games quickly formed groups, where they chatted, played games, and listened to crystal ball broadcasts, spending their evening together.
However, today brought some unusual news.
[Hello ♩ everyone! This is JYJ from the J Bard Guild ♫]
As usual, they tuned into JYJ’s broadcast, but at the beginning, a sound caught their attention.
[Before we start the broadcast, we have a fun piece of news to share with you all! A hot-off-the-press report just in! An anonymous informant has discovered something in the trending game, Legend Fighter.]
“Legend Fighter, huh?”
“What’s that about?”
Even those not currently playing the game focused intently on the broadcast, as JYJ relayed what the ‘anonymous’ tipster had revealed.
[If you enter the following command on the character selection screen, something amazing will appear. Let’s see…]
A brief rustling sound followed.
For a moment, the gaming hall fell silent.
[On the character selection screen, if you input ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → A B, you will see something astonishing. I’m curious what it is, too.]
What does that command mean?
At that moment, everyone in the arcade thought the same thing.
[If anyone knows what this command is, please contact me right away! Now, let’s start the broadcast!]
When JYJ’s broadcast began, it was clear no one was paying attention.
The kids urged the one sitting in front of Legend Fighter to quickly input the command.
“Hey! Hurry up and try entering it!”
“Okay! Let’s see, up up down down left right left right next is…”
“A button, then B button.”
The kid sitting in front of Legend Fighter carefully entered the command.
Once the last A and B buttons were pressed,
“OK! I entered it!”
The moment that secret command was inputted into Legend Fighter, she appeared.
“Wow!”
“What is this!?”
Below the existing characters, a new slot opened, and the white elf character revealed herself.
It was the first moment game players from another world experienced a hidden character.
“Wow! What is this!?”
“I think it’s a new character.”
Gamers gathered in the arcade displayed various expressions.
Curiosity, amazement, and fun—
The entire situation of a character they had never seen before appearing was itself entertaining.
“But she doesn’t look very strong, does she?”
“Still, let’s give her a try.”
Summoning their courage, the gamers selected the character.
The name “Ren” appeared, showcasing a cute little white elf on the screen.
“What!? She’s such a small character?”
“Ha ha, this character is cute.”
Some children were disappointed by the appearance of the cute white elf character.
Having grown accustomed to cool characters like Karuga, Ren seemed too weak.
“I am the one who has reached the peak of martial arts! I shall evaluate your skills!”
Dramatically, Ren extended both hands and delivered her cool line.
But no matter how strong her line was, the first impression appeared funny coming from a cute elf.
However, seeing Ren fighting against Karuga, who was currently the strongest character changed the gamers’ perspectives.
“What! What’s happening!”
“Karuga’s losing in the projectile battle!?”
Karuga’s hellish hell combo began with a projectile, the National Combo.
In a projectile duel, it was expected that Karuga would win, and upon jumping for an attack, Karuga’s anti-air move would come out.
This basic combo had made Karuga the ultimate character, yet Ren dominated the projectile duel with overwhelming speed.
“What the heck!”
“Karuga got pulled in!!”
Upon getting hit by a projectile, Karuga was forcibly drawn in by Ren.
In close range, the smaller hitbox of Ren meant even weak punches and anti-airs from Karuga could not hit.
And if Karuga attacks while sitting, then hit by a projectile in close range, he could be subjected to combo after combo due to his slow sitting punches and kicks being weaknesses.
“This is insane! Karuga was obliterated!”
“What a crazy broken character!”
Karuga caught by Ren was literally shredded to pieces.
For gamers who had feared the “mad electric soldier” Karuga, that scene was a monumental shock, leading to everyone wanting to try playing as Ren.
As gamers began to explore Ren, new insights began to dawn upon them.
“Hey? This character might actually work!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think Ren could be countered by Ryo!”
“No way, catching her with that trash character!”
Ryo and Kan were infamous for their weak character status from the original Street Fighter II, featuring various techniques like projectiles and anti-airs, but they were unable to utilize them since they were utterly dominated by Karuga.
However, it actually happened.
“Wow!!! Ryo just caught Ren!”
“Seriously! The broken character!?”
Ren’s fatal weakness was revealed: her slow movement and lack of a rushing move.
While strong against characters without rushing moves like Karuga, she became increasingly vulnerable to any characters with rushing attacks.
“Hey! Blanc managed to catch Ren too!”
“Blanc! Did she really catch her with that trash character!? Maybe it’s just that person couldn’t do it?”
With speed similar to a strong anti-air and high jump ability, the white cat Blanc began showing prowess against Ren.
Even Jiren, who had been a former Blanc user, returned as a Blanc user after defeating Karuga with her.
“Hahahaha! The era of Blanc has returned!”
While Karuga was strong against most characters, Ren successfully countered him.
Yet even Ren, being the same height as Ryo and Kan, began to struggle against shorter characters like Paul with similar hitboxes.
Rock, paper, scissors,
An ideal triangular balance was taking shape.
“What character should I pick…”
“Just go with Karuga.”
“Yeah, but what if I get wrecked by Ren! Well, whatever, I’ll just go for it and try Pull!”
As the character Ren became a definitive counter against Karuga, and in turn, Ren was also countered, players began exploring a third character to play.
In an arcade that had only featured Karuga, battles began to showcase various characters, including Ren, Ryo, Kan, Alicia, Curie, and Vail.
A rhythm of unpredictable battles emerged, each character engaging in the most fun fighting game interactions.
Thus began the second golden age of “Legend Fighter.”