WeaponLord (1995)

A barbarian battleground. Seven different warriors, eached armed with a unique weapon set forth on a fighting game quest where they will clash and conflict with one another in this fighting game from Namco. Their ultimate foe is the mysterious Demonlord. An early relative of the popular Soul Calibur series, the main claim to fame of this game is the weapon play. Blocking and combos are present along with special "frenzies" of increased attack and death combos. The backgrounds are all hand drawn and meticulously detailed. Each character carries their own storyline with them between arenas, jungles and firey mountains on a quest to oppose the Demonlord. Note: Laid the groundwork for Soul Edge (1995)--the first of the Souls games. Visual Concepts (developers of WeaponLord) would send builds of the game to Namco (the publisher of WeaponLord) to playtest. Inturn, Mace: The Dark Age (1997 arcade)--developed by Atari--heavily "borrowed" from Soul Edge.

Storyline

On a battlefield a demon spirit enters the body of a dying mercenary. He is reborn and defeats twenty rulers in bloody combat. He goes on to found the reign of the Demonlord Raith. At the height of his power, his doom is foretold by a shaman: "When the night turns violent and the moon bleeds, gripped by the skeletal fingers of death...a child will rise to face the demon in combat...and the lord of demons will fall by the hand of...the WeaponLord." Against the advice of his lieutenants to kill the children born that night, the Demonlord waits to face his foretold killer in fair, one-on-one combat. Years later the Demon Zarak overthrows Raith and becomes the new Demonlord. Twenty-five years after the prophecy was made, Zarak holds a great tournament of champion warriors. The winner will face the demon in a final battle. The Demonlord prepares to meet his destiny head on and to destroy the Weaponlord.