Ultimate Fighter

Ultimate Fighter is a Super Nintendo title that functions primarily as a side-scrolling beat 'em up but incorporates several distinct fighting game modes. The central narrative follows Rick, who must enter a World Tournament to reclaim stolen sacred artifacts from the demon Dargon and his Tusk Soldiers.

Gameplay is structured around multiple modes. The Story mode involves navigating Rick through side-scrolling stages, encountering occasional one-on-one boss fights and healing items. A separate VS. Tournament mode supports up to eight human or computer combatants in a traditional fighting tournament, with a roster of twelve martial artists. Options here allow for adjustments to round time, a ring-out mechanic, and handicap settings.

Control schemes offer a significant variation. Players can choose between a standard fighting game control setup and an challenging Expert system that uses target circles on fighter bodies to dictate where to attack and defend. The overall challenge can be tuned across eight difficulty levels.

Additional modes include Battle, for single boss fights, and Animation, which follows the story but replaces real-time boss encounters with turn-based combat. A turbo speed setting, adjustable across several levels, affects the pace of combat throughout the experience.