Buriki One

Buriki One (武力 ONE, Buriki One: World Grapple Tournament '99 in Tokyo) is a 3D arcade versus fighting game. It is an offshoot of the Art of Fighting series of video games created by SNK. In the brief time-frame of the Hyper Neo-Geo 64's popularity, it was characterized for its superb graphics that processed at a smooth 60 frames per second and a unique fighting system.

So far, it has only been released in one iteration, with no sequels, although the main character Gai Tendo has appeared in later SNK games, via cameos or as a playable character (in The King of Fighters XI) while the final boss Silber appeared as a potential mid-boss/playable character in KOF XI. A manhua was also made surrounding the game's events.

The main ilustrations were done for Hiroaki.

History
It's Spring 1999... Fighters from across the world gather at the Tokyo Dome to compete in the World Grapple Tournament. Each contender has their own fighting discipline, ranging from the popular styles of Boxing, Karate and Professional wrestling, to the lesser known arts of Aikido, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Finally, they have the chance to prove which martial art conquers all!

Gameplay
Buriki One is the fourth and final three-dimensional fighting game released for the Hyper Neo-Geo 64 system. Buriki One's control system uses two buttons for movement, keeping the player on a 2-D axis, despite the 3D arena. Pressing the left button moves the character in the left direction, pressing the right moves in that respective direction. Double tapping each button produces a dash in each corresponding direction for evasion and closing distance. Pressing both buttons makes the character block.

By using the joystick, the player can execute attacks of varying damage levels. By pressing in the forward direction, the player executes a medium attack, up forward a stronger attack, and down, forward is the weakest, but fastest attack. By combining various combinations of the movement of the stick, a special attack is performed for increased damage. Unlike the 2-D iterations, however, no ranged attacks are present, keeping the preferred fighting distance between players at close quarters.

Characters

 * Note: The character designs of the Player 1 and Player 2 versions are quite different, in a manner similar to Bandai Namco's Tekken series (i.e. in P2 Seo's hair is combed down, while Saionji wears a headband).

Official Roster
The character designs of the Player 1 and Player 2 versions are quite different, in a manner similar to Bandai Namco's Tekken (i.e. in P2 Seo's hair is combed down, while Saionji wears a headband).

NPC Characters
In Japan, people were asked to vote for their top 5 "Fight Round girls". The winner of the vote would appear after a 2-Player battle.

Critical Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Buriki One on their June 15, 1999 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month.

Trivia
This game has a few similarites with the Slam Masters series from Capcom:
 * Slam Masters is a fighting game involving professional wrestling, whereas this game is named the "World Grapple Tournament".
 * In both games, a recurring fighter already starred another fighting game at the same universe. Ryo Sakazaki from Art of Fighting adopted the alias Mr. Karate II upon joining Buriki One, whereas Mike Haggar took part in Slam Masters prior to the events of Final Fight.

Related Games

 * Art of Fighting - The series from which Ryo Sakazaki originated.
 * The King of Fighters - Gai Tendo has appeared in the console versions of The King of Fighters '99, as well as in The King of Fighters 2000 as an alternate "Striker" (a character who assists the player in combat). Gai and Silber later appeared as secret opponents in The King of Fighters XI. Ryo becomes the current Mr. Karate as New Age Saga which first depicted in The King of Fighters XIV, yet during the tournaments he still goes by his real name.
 * Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition - The PlayStation version features the older Ryo Sakazaki from Buriki One under the name of Mr. Karate.
 * Neo Geo Battle Coliseum - Ryo Sakazaki appears as his Buriki One incarnation under the name of Mr. Karate.