The Rumble Fish 2 Review
Release Date: December 8th, 2022
Developer: Dimps (2005; 2012), 3goo (2022)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Price: $29.99
Arcade games have a tumultuous history of ups and downs that have come with the changing way in which people both consume and play games. We've reached a point now where physical media isn't necessary, nor is a trip outdoors with a couple of quarters in the pocket. As those games fade into obscurity, however, publishers have done much to preserve the history of the games that have otherwise been imprisoned in the cabinets by porting them into modern consoles and PC either as enhanced versions, remakes, or as part of a greater collection of similar titles. The Rumble Fish 2 is one of the newer arcade classics originally released by Dimps in 2005 before being re-released in 2012 to be released for the first time globally and out of arcades, marking its debut to the console space and a much larger audience to reintroduce itself to the fighting game community. The Rumble Fish 2 is a great artistic contender, and it's always great to have classics like this be reintroduced into the console space, especially the Switch which has found itself to be the home of nostalgia for games of yesteryear to play at home or on the go, but unfortunately, The Rumble Fish 2 has barely been touched to enhance its presence or even make it remotely a formidable opponent to compete with other classics and modern fighters on the system today.
The Rumble Fish 2 is an arcade fighter in the purest sense, meaning that’s all it's gameplay philosophy is designed around: short fights with a limited roster of characters that's meant to put players into the action right away. Though arcade classics like this can absolutely be filled with detail and tons to do and plenty have made a name for themselves within that space, The Rumble Fish 2 sees itself on the more shallow side of the arcade genre, clearly meant for a simple jump-in, jump-out gameplay session with limited arenas as well. On the surface, The Rumble Fish 2 has the workings of a title that can absolutely hold its own, so it's a shame that its age really shows here when so much could have been done to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of its re-release (17th if including the original release). On the Switch in particular, The Rumble Fish 2 is fluid but is clearly a product of its time with little that's actually been felt as an enhancement, even if its description and marketing material says otherwise. Its "enhancements" come from basic features you'd come to expect of a modern-day fighter such as: Online Multiplayer with Rollback Netcode, Training Mode, and now widescreen support. This is basically the extent of the "enhancements", otherwise it's clear upon bootup of The Rumble Fish 2 that despite being the IP being the first fighting game from Dimps, it was one that was forgotten about and continues to be disregarded. There's no music, no background other than a basic blue gradient, and generic font that scrolls left to right with the options available for the game (Arcade, Training, Settings, etc.). At best, it feels like a prototype menu with how incredibly basic it is.
The Rumble Fish 2's core foundation as an arcade fighter is fairly decent, though. Its cast of characters - thirteen in total - available for play is a humble yet strong one, with eclectic designs and fighting styles that should appease most that jump into it. The art has held strong over all these years, though a big drawback is that, much like the rest of the package, The Rumble Fish 2 doesn't seem to have been refined in the art department either. Models, illustrations, and animations all still look grainy, jagged, and low resolution (as if the retention of a 360p or 480i screen is still present but without the scanlines), and this translates to fights as well. I'm not entirely sure why, but even though The Rumble Fish 2 technically runs well on the Switch, there must be some issue with the frame pacing happening as it doesn’t feel as fluid to play to me. The controls are fine and there's no noticeable input lag or anything, but it can sometimes feel as if movements may or may not be happening either outside of your control or are all animated at different speeds as if the game is running at 60fps, but a punch and a kick may somehow be rendered at 25 and 40fps respectively - something like that. It just feels sort of loose, so it hindered my enjoyment a bit as I went through virtually the entire roster while training and battling. Though this may be a case-by-case basis and may not be in effect for everyone, I still feel as if it's worth mentioning as I haven't really encountered this with another fighting game before in this way. It's possible that it could be its old arcade background and coding showing itself alongside its age, but this remains to be seen.
The fighting system is both accessible and complex, making The Rumble Fish 2 a good game for audiences that are both in the casual and competitive camps looking for a piece of history to jump into for the first time as the rest of the world does. Unlike most other fighting games that have multiple gauges that can signify either an ultimate move, technique, mechanic, or the like, The Rumble Fish 2 interestingly has two separate gauges that both fill depending on a player's fighting style. This can contribute largely to the outcome of the match, benefitting both offensive and defensive techniques with both complementing the other, so abusing one isn't recommended. This adds a layer of strategy that differentiates itself from the typical fighting game that leaves those gauges strictly for specials that are raised through basic attacks or a power-up method where energy is raised. Every character has multiple unique specials in The Rumble Fish 2 that work for both offensive and defensive strategies, and though it can sometimes feel like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors when specials interact on top of each other in both offensive and defensive ways, they give a fair amount of personality on screen to the characters at play and is rather impressive to see for a game from that's technically from 2005. It's a shame that animations and new design methods that have been introduced since then weren't implemented in any way here, however, so ultimately at the end of the day what could - and should - be a spectacle is ultimately a bit of a letdown and simply adds to the barebone "touchups" the game has received (or not) for its first-time global release.
As a disclaimer, one issue worth mentioning that doesn't sit right with me, however, is the fact that this game, despite being a port has *lost content* through DLC characters that can be bought to grow the roster. What that means is that the DLC available is for characters that aren't exactly new. Hazama, Greed, and Beatrice are the three being sold as DLC characters despite their original involvement in The Rumble Fish 2, so, if anything, the game's been made increasingly more shallow than it already was but on purpose. It's disrespectful towards not only the consumer but this game's image and any standing it could have or do have as an arcade fighter. What the thought process was here for doing so is beyond me, but it's hard to recommend The Rumble Fish 2 when there are vastly more exceptional fighters on the system for the same price and even cheaper that come from a range of historical value and better communities.
For avid fans of the fighting genre - especially those that grew up with the arcades - there's a lot about The Rumble Fish 2 that will more or less leave that crowd content with the game, especially when being looked at as a piece of history. However, when compared to Switch's other offerings - and the industry as a whole - fighting games are at an all-time high with new, remastered, remade, and enhanced ports of intellectual properties currently, so there's a bit of an oversaturation that has vastly better offerings than what The Rumble Fish 2 can do. To give more of a fair comparison to The Rumble Fish 2 for its age, background, and style, I would highly recommend the likes of Phantom Breaker Omnia (A remaster of Phantom Breaker, also a formerly Japanese-only fighting game released in 2011), Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, and Under Night In-Birth that would likely give you more bang for your buck currently. Even getting behind more classics, it'd be better to check out the likes of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, The Last Blade, Samurai Shodown, and of course the various Capcom and SNK fighting collections available in packaged SKUs and single-purchase emulated ports. Dimps is a phenomenal developer that has created some of my personal favorites over the last few decades, and there's no denying their prowess in the fighting space, but it's clear with The Rumble Fish that these were humble beginnings that led to a greater future, and it just unfortunately suffers from not aging well on top of coming from a developer that, at the time, was just starting to find its footing.
PROS:
The art style for The Rumble Fish 2 is extremely well done as each character stands out from the next
The controls are rather intuitive, making it easy to pick up
Rollback netcode is always hugely appreciated for a fighting game to make online gameplay as fluid and accurate as possible.
CONS:
A shallow package comprised of a small roster of fighters and few selection of maps
Poor presentation and what feels like a native arcade resolution
Feels like a direct port from 2005 rather than a title to be celebrated
$30 USD is way too much for such little content
A great big thank you to 3goo for providing us a copy of The Rumble Fish 2 for the purposes of this review!