Fate / Tiger Colosseum will be the subject of this article. If you don't know the franchise of Fate or the narrative universe in which it is set, the Nasuverse, we recommend retrieving previous articles.
The expansion of the Franchise of Fate
As already mentioned in the development of Fate / hollow ataraxia and Fate / Zero, Type-Moon wasted no time in expanding the Fate franchise in the widest and most varied way possible.
During the final stages of Visual Novel development, in 2003 Kinoko Nasu and friend and colleague Takashi Takeuchi had developed a passion for Gotcha Force, a small cult title developed by Capcom that mixed the collectible aspect of Pokémon together with the arena combat of Power Stone allowing the player to collect and fight against each other several gachapon (the typical toys inside capsules in vending machines very popular in Japan).
Inspired by the gameplay approach of this title for Gamecube, Takeuchi had the idea of translating the essential principles of Fate / stay night into a game of duels between players. Under Capcom's supervision, therefore, the then Cavia Inc. was entrusted with the development of a comic fighting game based on the Fate series, published in 2007 for PlayStation Portable with the title Fate / tiger colosseum.
Characteristics and peculiarities of Fate / Tiger Colosseum
The title is presented as a completely three-dimensional arena fighting game, in which up to 4 players clash in order to earn the highest number of points by the end of time, thus deciding a winner.
A particularity of the title lies in the presentation, in parodic form, of all the Chibi-style characters, creating a colorful and ridiculous tone in stark contrast to the dark and cynical tones typically associated with its franchise.
The cast of proposed characters involves most of the characters of Fate / Stay night and Hollow Ataraxia: therefore we find the possibility to play in the role of: Shiro; Rin; Sakura and Dark Sakura; Kirei; Illyasviel; Kuzuki; Shinji; Saber; Archer; Lancer; Rider; Caster; Berserker; Assassin; Gilgamesh and True Assassin; with the addition of Bazett and Caren; Saber Alter and comic characters such as Taiga Fujimura and the unpublished Saber Lion, proposed as an alternative Saber costume, which serves as the mascot of the tiger colosseum series representing Saber in a funny lion costume.
Reception of the public
The moderately positive reception and rather solid sales of the title allowed Type-Moon to produce a sequel with the same formula, Fate / tiger colosseum UPPER, which adds Kiritsugu, Irisviel and Avengers to the aforementioned cast and offers fun Majokko versions of Rin and Caren, respectively called Kaleido Ruby and Magical Caren, as well as hosting characters from Tsukihime and Melty Blood, specifically Neco-Arc, PhantasMoon and Magical Amber, Majokko versions of Arcueid and Kohaku.
Capcom was however using tiger colosseum as a distraction to plan an actual 3D fighting game, intended for arcades and PlayStation 2, fully supervised by Takeuchi himself.
Some problems in the initial design phase, in 2007, led to a change of team which slowed down their development without however leading to drastic changes in the final formula.
Fate / Unlimited Codes
The title also involved developers of the same Gocha Force that inspired him, bringing the game to be released in 2008, with a PSP version released for the first time globally in 2009, with the title Fate / unlimited codes.
The game traces, from the point of view of the individual characters, the events of the original Visual Novel, albeit in a more simplified and superficial way, written by Nasu to readapt the story to the game modes proposed. From the graphic point of view, 3D models are used with an artistic direction highly faithful to that of stay night, even proposing the same composer for the soundtrack.
Compared with giants of the caliber of Street Fighter IV, unlimited codes has a rather small roster, limited to the 7 Servants of the main story, Shirō, Rin, Sakura, Gilgamesh, Kirei, Luviagelita Edelfelt, Bazett, Saber Alter, Leysritt and the Servant of Lancer class of Fate / Zero, in addition to lacking particular or innovative mechanics.
The audience's response
Despite this, the critics' response tended to be positive, with most of the criticisms directed towards the low polygon models and the graphics of the title, considered inferior to titles such as Dissidia: Final Fantasy, however praising the use of the cel -shading for its ability to recall the spirit of the original series and the already acclaimed character design of Takeuchi, defined by the care and detail towards the characters' costumes.
Particularly positive was the evaluation of the combat system which, although not particularly original for the genre, had the ability to present itself as quite unique and high-level for its high basic accessibility without losing in depth at a high level.
Balanced gameplay
The game has also been recognized as very well balanced, successfully accentuating the strengths of the individual characters, making their weak points identifiable. The faithful matching of the characters' abilities to their counterparts in Visual Novel adds originality and requires a strategic approach by the player to use the right techniques against the right opponent.
Among the game modes, classic for the fighting game genre, the Missions stand out which, due to their content, are particularly suitable for learning the basics of the game and contribute to increasing the replayability of the title.
Overall Fate / unlimited code is considered a worthy representative of the fighting game genre as well as one of the best Anime-fighting games transposition of the time, being qualitatively raised above PSP titles of the same genre as Soulcalibur Broken Destiny.
Unfortunately, given the expiry of the distribution license, the title has not been distributed in digital stores since 2012.
Goodbye Fate / Stay Night
If Fate / Zero has concluded the narrative cycle of Fate / stay night, Unlimited Codes has concluded its videogame representation. It will be from these years, in fact, that the publication of material related to the original Visual Novel will cease until the Ufotable study takes over as regards the animation of Type-Moon products.
This, however, did not decree the end of a profitable franchise like that of Fate: in fact, moving away from the protagonist role of Shirō, Nasu and his collaborators will, starting from the end of the first decade of the 2000s, propose numerous parallel stories around the Saint Grail, going to accentuate more and more the "multiversal" nature of Nasuverse and offering readers many details regarding the functioning of its world.
