| Martial Masters | |
| Developer: | IGS |
| Publisher: | IGS, Andamiro (USA) |
| Arcade System: | PolyGame Master |
| Genre: | Fighting |
| Modes: | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Platforms: | Arcade |
Martial Masters (Xíngyìqúan; Japanese name: シンイーケン, Shin-Ī Ken) is an arcade fighting game developed by IGS and released in 1999. Andamiro later released the game in the US in 2001. The setting and characters draw inspiration from Hong Kong martial arts films, specifically Once Upon a Time in China, Drunken Master and Operation Scorpio. The game is highly reminiscent of Capcom's fighting games of the mid to late 1990s for its impressive 2D visual and fluid animation with mechanics very similar to those of Street Fighter III. Martial Masters is IGS's third arcade 2D fighting game, with Alien Challenge being their first, The Killing Blade their second, and Spectral vs. Generation being their fourth (in collaboration with Idea Factory).
On April 13, 2023, IGS released the IGS Classic Arcade Collection on the Nintendo Switch, a compilation of eight games originally created for the IGS PolyGame Master. Included in the collection is Martial Masters.[1]
The game features 12 fighters, each with their own special moves and fighting styles. Moves include throws, air attacks, ground attacks, taunts, teleport, recovery, martial arts moves, special moves, and super special moves.
Like most of the newer fighting games that have been created, Martial Masters has a combo counter, has Pressure Moves which are performed by pressing the control stick in a certain direction with a button, Roll Recovery that will let you recovery from an attack that knocks your character down before you hit the ground, Flash Attack that will knock your opponent away from when they are attacking you, Shadow Attacks which there are 2 variations of, 1st being a juggle type attack that will knock your opponent up into the air, 2nd is a ground attack that can usually do anywhere between 4 and 13 hits.
At the end of the Qing dynasty, the government weakened by corruption was attacked by foreign influences. The people were flung into misery and became quite unsatisfied with the situation. They did not believe in the government anymore and turned their faith back to religion.
The White Lotus Sect saw this as an opportunity and took over. They claimed to help the government to defeat foreigners and bring peace to the world. Their Ideology was quickly adopted. Everything related with the Western world was killed or destroyed. Anyone against this principle was considered an enemy and accused of being bound with the devil. Dragon of Martial Master and Master Huang of Po Chi Lam could not accept these outrageous actions so they band together in order to prevent much bloodshed.
One day the leader of White Lotus Sect sent an invitation to Dragon and Master Huang but Dragon's disciples saw this as a trap and recommended that they wait for Master Huang, who was out of town collecting medicine. The Master did not want to miss this opportunity to make peace and went alone. Unfortunately, he was captured and put in prison. Both parties started confrontations and have struggled since then.
Now dangers are hidden all over the place. Who is capable of resolving the situation? Let's find out!