Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
I was watching Charlie's Angels the other day (The "original" 2000s version, not the recent reboot, and this story is going somewhere I promise) when I got to my favorite scene in the entire movie. For plot reasons that are irrelevant to this, Drew Barrymore's character, Dylan, gets shot out of the window after being deceived by the character played by Sam Rockwell.
None of this matters but the scene leading up to this and the overall goofiness that Rockwell provides adds on to the whimsical charm of Charlie's Angels. There was a scene that followed this that will forever live on in gaming infamy. Naturally, Drew Barrymore survives the fatal crash by Tarzan swinging in the apartment below her and into some kids playing, uh, Final Fantasy 8 with TWO controllers.
While we continue to laugh (and groan) at this scene twenty-three years later, what was once a "meme" is explored with to an extent. I've talked about Final Fantasy 14 several times as a breakout massive multiplayer online RPG. So, yes, Final Fantasy 11 and 14 defied the norm in giving players the "RPG" experience via multiplayer co-op gameplay. However, even around the time this movie came out in the year 2000, there was one game that featured Final Fantasy characters that was intended for multiplayer. It even had its beginnings as an arcade game.
Original released in 1998, Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring or Ehrgeiz for short was a fighting game developed by DreamFactory, best known for the Tobal series. The director, Seiichi Ishii, was also the director and lead designer of Tekken 1 and Tekken 2 before Katsuhiro Harada took over as the series director beginning with Tekken 3. Because of Ishii's relationship with Namco and Square, Namco published the arcade version while Square ported the game to the PlayStation 1. This wouldn't be the first time Namco handled an "arcade version" of a game that would become more fleshed out over consoles, as stated in my Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 retrospection.
In both versions, Cloud and Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 were included as bonus characters which technically marked one of the first instances of a cross-promotion title. Not in the sense of DreamFactory using Final Fantasy 7 characters but said characters appearing on a Namco-published arcade game. The PlayStation 1 version had over three times the cameo characters, including almost every prominent Final Fantasy 7 character with the exception of Aerith. Even Zack Fair and Yuffie Kisaragi, the former of which was his first ever playable experience, were unlockable character in the console version.
While the Final Fantasy 7 characters are the main draw of Ehrgeiz, it was its presence as an arena fighter that drew me in. Ehrgeiz didn't play itself as a "traditional fighter" at all, instead feeling more like a 3D brawler and one of the first instances of an "arena" fighter. Players could jump, use platforms for advantages, handle stage transitions in real time, and other elements unique to Ehrgeiz. A lot of Tekken's influence can be seen in its characters. Godhand's design bears a striking resemblance to Kazuya Mishima from Tekken, both of whom are the central protagonists. If Kazuya had a pistol for a hand, anyway.
For a game centered around martial arts, there's a sizable number of representation here. Prince Doza, a Muay Thai fighter, has a rocket for an arm. Wolf Girl Jo has her arms chained so she's naturally gifted as a Capoeirista. She also transforms into a wolf. Han Daehan is a Tae Kwon Do movie star whose leg is somehow missing in the metaverse so he has an artificial rocket leg! We're not even getting into Yoyo Yoko and her Yo-Yo attacks. Unfortunately, the title of " first yo-yo wielding girl in a fighting game" did not belong to Bridget after all!
While Seiichi directed Tekken and helped make the series what it became today, Ehrgeiz is a different ball game altogether. A four button fighter, each character has a high and low attack, a guard button, and a "special" button that acts as a character's unique ability. The closest thing I can say is even remotely similar to how Ehrgeiz plays is, surprisingly, Bloody Roar. Each character has two attack buttons, a guard, and a special button that correlated to their "beastorize" mode. Instead of a "beast mode," each character just uses whatever they got that makes them unique.
Suddenly, having Final Fantasy characters make a lot of sense as Ehrgeiz is a weapons fighter, but also a hand-to-hand combat brawler as well. I'd say the best comparrison I can make is Power Stone as the original game felt like a fighting game but with the "whole world being your oyster" so to speak. Games like these are fun because there are many different variables that can make or break rounds and everything is entirely up to chance. You could be the most skilled Clair player but it doesn't matter if a Django can use his low profile to nip at your heels.
Ehrgeiz also had a quest mode that used the game's physics where it shines the most, as an actual dungeon crawler. The game has two stories, with the main game featuring the default roster in arcade mode. There's also a "behind-the-scenes" prologue story that takes place around the same time, centering around Clair Andrews and Koji Masuda, the latter being the father of Yoyo Yoko and the reigning champ of the King Of I---Ehrgeiz tournament. Clearing Quest mode unlocks these two as playable characters, with their own unique move list.
For a game released in 1999, there are a lot of content to explore in Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. It's fun for its single player replayability but it's also a wild game to play if you have guests over and want to play Sephiroth vs Vincent or something. Unfortunately, while Ehrgeiz itself never saw a sequel, DreamFactory and Square did release a "spiritual successor" of sorts called The Bouncer. Being more of a traditional single-player 3D beat-em-up with a bonus multiplayer mode, that will be a game that I'll love to eventually cover, especially when I explore its connection to Kingdom Hearts.
Isn't it funny how a directing error in having two kids play Final Fantasy 8 "via co-op" can lead to me reminiscing about an actual "multiplayer Final Fantasy game" from my childhood? Perhaps I should watch more cheesy action comedies if it spurs up nostalgia like this. Unfortunately Ehrgeiz remains in "preservation purgatory," having only been re-released on the Japanese PSN but I have hopes that we may see this title soon in some capacity. At least I hope so.
