The Clayfighter series has always been a mixture of cleverness, creativity, and absolute frustration. The latter comes from the fact that in the first two games in the series, the AI is an absolute son of a bitch. It actually almost makes the Mortal Kombat 3 AI seem somewhat fair, by comparison (not quite, but you get the point).
The original version of this game, Clayfighter 63 1/3 (an homage to the titles of the Naked Gun movie sequels), was perfectly fine, and overall still played better, in my view, than Clayfighter 1 and 2. But, it was also a bit stripped, because they "had" to cut certain characters, etc. This "Blockbuster Exclusive" (which I later came to own, and VERY sadly last year had to sell) version, was an overall improvement, and added in most of the characters they "had" to leave out.
The game most closely mimics/mocks the Killer Instinct series this time around, as they added a very KI-like combo system, complete with funny versions of all the different combo "type" announcements KI has. For instance, doing a simple 3-hit combo in this game, the announcer will cry out "Little Girly Combo!". The characters are also pretty hilarious, and while the animation could/should have been better, the claymation sprites still look pretty great. Much like KI Gold, the backgrounds are polygonal 3D, instead of drawn 2D like the older games, something I'm not sure was a great decision. But it doesn't really effect the overall game.
The cast of characters is very diverse and colorful, even including Interplay stalwarts Boogerman and Earthworm Jim. I wish they would have added back in some (or all) of the characters they left out from CF1 and CF2, but the cast you get here is still pretty great, with hilarious characters like Sumo Santa, Houngan the Voodoo witch doctor, and Kung Pow. The gameplay isn't top tier, but its fun, and the AI isn't NEARLY as much of a dick as the earlier games in the series. It's one of the better fighters on N64, and if you can manage to find a copy these days that costs less than a million dollars, congratulations!
The original version of this game, Clayfighter 63 1/3 (an homage to the titles of the Naked Gun movie sequels), was perfectly fine, and overall still played better, in my view, than Clayfighter 1 and 2. But, it was also a bit stripped, because they "had" to cut certain characters, etc. This "Blockbuster Exclusive" (which I later came to own, and VERY sadly last year had to sell) version, was an overall improvement, and added in most of the characters they "had" to leave out.
The game most closely mimics/mocks the Killer Instinct series this time around, as they added a very KI-like combo system, complete with funny versions of all the different combo "type" announcements KI has. For instance, doing a simple 3-hit combo in this game, the announcer will cry out "Little Girly Combo!". The characters are also pretty hilarious, and while the animation could/should have been better, the claymation sprites still look pretty great. Much like KI Gold, the backgrounds are polygonal 3D, instead of drawn 2D like the older games, something I'm not sure was a great decision. But it doesn't really effect the overall game.
The cast of characters is very diverse and colorful, even including Interplay stalwarts Boogerman and Earthworm Jim. I wish they would have added back in some (or all) of the characters they left out from CF1 and CF2, but the cast you get here is still pretty great, with hilarious characters like Sumo Santa, Houngan the Voodoo witch doctor, and Kung Pow. The gameplay isn't top tier, but its fun, and the AI isn't NEARLY as much of a dick as the earlier games in the series. It's one of the better fighters on N64, and if you can manage to find a copy these days that costs less than a million dollars, congratulations!