SNES

Clay Fighter

Clay Fighter's a great game for beginners, anyone with a sense of humour and all of you stressed-out street fighters who could stand gettin' the clay kicked out of you now and then.

The title's self explanatory, really. Play dough fighters take on formidable combat. Its quirky characters and settings work in its favors - and another player can jump in at any time with the "join-in" button.

I will give Clayfighter credit for being imaginative. The well-rendered but unlikeable clay characters include an Elvis impersonator, a scarecrow, a blob, a fat opera woman, and an evil snowman. These are not exactly your usual suspects when it comes to fighting games. They perform some humorous animations and sound bites, including Elvis saying "thank you very much" after winning a bout. When executing their bizarre attacks the fighters will sometimes transform into oversized weapons like hammers and buzz saws. While amusing at first, you can expect a lot of cheap hits and minimal technique. Although the characters are nicely rendered, they lack smooth animation, making it hard to tell what's going on in the heat of battle. You can adjust the game speed, difficulty, and controller configurations. Clayfighter is amusing for the short term, but in the long term it's more irritating than anything else.