So I picked up the fancy edition of the English Egret II Mini which came with a book full of tips and interviews on all the games. It seems what happened at the Dan-Ku-Ga location test was simply that no one played it. Kaiser Knuckle had an absolutely packed location test but did poorly in the arcades because the difficulty was too high. Apparently the game cost a lot to make so to recoup costs they tried to make an easier version called Kaiser Knuckle EX but no one played that so they made more drastic changes with Dan-Ku-Ga and while the people who played it liked what they saw, people were so burned by how annoying Kaiser Knuckle was to play that they didn't even try it. Though as a fun side note, the interview with Hiroshi Aoki in the book, he mentiones that if you search Dankuga on KZfaq you can find Western players playing very competitively. So he is watching, apparently!

General was so powerful he even killed its sequel.

"Forgotten by the general public" Don't think I didn't hear that pun lmao

This video cleared my skin. Fighting games are beautiful and you'll never run of new things to explore. The discovery and gradual build of Dan-Ku-Ga as a game means a lot to me, and I hope it becomes more popular on Fightcade!

"Big Body Dhalsim" I've read Marco's page on Mizuumi and your 3-word description of him somehow sold me way harder on him (and the game). Excellent job as usual.

I'm wondering how much the negative location tests were due to "wrong place at the wrong time" and how much of it was due to being tested by people outside of the intended audience (like has happened so many times with movie test screenings and comic book surveys).

my pet theory on Gonzalez is that he was a blend of Brazilian grappler named Ivan Gomes who worked with pro wrestler/promoter Antonio Inoki and had actual beef with Dutch judoka Wim Ruska (who he kind of favors, looks-wise.) They were briefly big deals in the '70s and there would have probably been at least one member of the crew who remembered at least reading magazines about them. No idea about the coonskin cap, tho.

What an incredible piece of 90's ephemera. It's downright tragic that a full release was canned after whatever disaster befell the location test. Maybe someone who knows what the hell happened there will come forward with the uptick in interest, I mean it must have been something truly traumatizing to have outright killed this amazing game.

Back in the past, my favorite FAQ creator for fighting games was Chris MacDonald a.k.a. Kao Megura (R.I.P.), and, as a fighting game passionate, I was very well informated with his FAQs. But, when it cames from obscure games, we didn't had such rich information source as in Kao's FAQs. I got very frustrated to see incomplete movelists, or even the lack of them (without telling miss in the translations or lack of official names for the moves) for some fighting games, like Cyberbots, Gekitou Power Modeller, Warzard, Grove on Fight, the Asuka 120% series, Real Bout Special: Dominated Mind, and many many others. Because of it, I was determinated to build a database of movelists, searching all around japanese sites. It's very complicated to check everything because many sites put the moves names with diferent kanjis, and I need to look for some official source to check who is correct. Because of it, I could say I have the most complete movelist for some games, like Cyberbots, Dominated Mind, and Wild Ambition. Dan Ku Ga was one of those games I found a movelist on japanese sites on that time, but I never had a chance to clean the things up and check for every detail. I hope I can make it in the future...

Those Barts combos are GNARLY, it's always fun to see these alternative takes on now classic fighting game archetypes, just the small things like Kazuya punching his fireballs out or J-McCoy's sick ass uppercut

Love this game

Honestly, I'm just glad that the Egret II Mini has Dan-Ku-Ga for preservation purposes and to be more accessible to more gamers, heck, I considered buying one just for that reason alone. I actually found out about Dan-Ku-Ga due to a TAS someone did with Linhua, and even the TAS had a hard time with the General, but I'm glad you've given it more exposure. You're the definitely the family man with the plan, Guile! I salute you for what you have done for the FGC!

Between this and Chaos Breaker, l legit believe Taito was just cursed when it comes to fighting games.

6:00 this game sounds amazing!! I never get why 2D fighters didn't have wall stage breaks. But having it when this game out is even more cool!

Blessed be the GuileWinQuote video

This is the sort of fighting game content I long to see. Keep doing what you're doing, king.

ZUNTATA is amazing there is no WONDER the soundtrack goes as hard as it does!

How have you not hooked up with Matt McMuscles yet to do something?!? I swear, that dude LOOOOOOOOVES Dino Rex, and I legit think Justin would love having you on Triple KO given taht he's jealous of you and your Buriki One setup.

DINO REX MENTIONED

Had I not already known about the infamous Kaiser Knuckle final boss General, I would have been expecting a fighting game adaptation of the 1985 mecha anime Dancougar.

Damn shame it never got a release, but sorta feels satisfying that the dev's efforts are finally getting recognition

One thing I wish you mentioned, and is my favorite fact about it (other than The General and his infamous 100% safe and invincible teleport). Was the fact that Kaiser Knuckle is technically a 10-button game. By pressing 2 punches/kicks at the same time you'd get a new "level" of button, not unlike Samurai Shodown's way of being a 6-button fighter on 4-button hardware. L+M would give you a "super", and M+H would be an "extreme". Kinda sucks that Don Kuga got rid of 'em, but a lot of those extra strengths of button were apparently a bit redundant, so it makes sense. Not to mention some 5-button conversion kits for KN got rid of them entirely Also, thanks for reminding me that this existed. I remember discovering this game a few years back, and one of the only places I could find that talked about it in any detail was some dude's comedy game review site. It was called gaming hell, and it looked like it was from the earliest days of the internet. Though it doesn't seem to be updated much, I'd still recommend checking it out

This was really well put together. I absolutely love learning about hidden gem fighting games like this. Kudos to you!

I’m really happy to see you talking about this. I remember seeing some cool TASes for the game as well looking for the soundtrack. I’ll definitely find the time to play this game.

Nice report. I was kind of fascinated by this one, as I'd never even heard of it until the General became a meme 10-ish years ago. But yeah, debuting THIS the same month DarkStalkers came out? Forget about it- it was doomed.

Saying I had a story with Kaiser Knuckle would be an understatement, this game has been my life for 2 years, or so it was beating the game without losing rounds, once I did what I wanted, I never even wanted to touch Kaiser Knuckle or another version ever again, it had become a trauma I struggled to forget, it left me with an undying hatred towards Taito's lowest moral point with the General and a statement on myself to never give up, yet the absolute stupidly hard and illogical difficulty of Kaiser Knuckle left me without any intentions to even touch Dan-Ku-Ga, even knowing how much better of a game it was, this video pushed me a bit more towards foriveness and to give this game a try, but I still cannot ever find it in my heart to forget the consecutive days I suffered with the original Kaiser Knuckle.

highly interested in seeing the rest of the games in that unreleased game tier list

I love the soundtrack and these characters. Thanks for making a video of this game!

I freakin' LOVE Dan-Ku-Ga. Didn't even know it existed until I found it on an emulator console I bought in _the past year,_ but when I fired it up, I instantly fell in love the with sprite art. It may be a "Street Fighter 2 clone" at first glance, but it is _bombastic,_ boy. The sprites are bigger, the stage breakthroughs are more exciting, the color palette is larger (with some of those more watercolor-y shades in the background that reminds me of Konami's excellent beat 'em up, Violent Storm)... if you're going to be (viewed as) a clone, then pumping up the presentation is at least doing the whole cloning thing right. The bouncing/jump canceling thing is super cool to know though; I didn't even _think to try that_ when I played it! I wasn't playing it right at all - I was treating it like... well, a Street Fighter 2 clone with stage breakthroughs and those Crush Meters. Definitely gonna be playing this more! God, I gotta play this more just to experience Gonzalez's _incredible_ desperation move, lmao. That's so amazing! I also didn't know about the connections between this and Psychic Force. I love this channel; your work is awesome!

I'm so glad that you've brought this video! I'm fascinated about unreleased games.

I'll never get tired of hearing you wax poetic about obscure fighting games. Have a comment for the algorithm.

Your videos are so good! Keep up the great work

Man, I like your channel! Thanks for that!

Great video, dude! And that Gonzales's special... gaaaaahd! it's fkn' awesome!

Ahhh yes Dan Ku Ga, I first played it on fightcade and now am a huge fan of it

great video man... ivebeen watching justin wong on twitch and learning about some fighing games i didnt know about ..this was one them. thank you

Beatiful description and explanation. Fei long seems so appropiate

DanKuGa is one of my favorite games! Playing in polar bair's tournaments was always a super good time. I hope they come back at some point. #PlayDanKuGa

You make the best Fighting Game videos!

Great video as always!

Its a good day when guile uploads

Dan-Ku-Ga is one of the examples that 90's fighting games go beyond the traditional ones.

Thanks for answering my question I always thought it was going to make one.

awesome video, I'm really interested in the game now. really wish Taito released it back then, fantastic cast, moves and mechanics that deserve a bigger spotlight for sure

Another W video GuileWinGOAT 😤

Never heard of this one. Thanks for sharing. A few months ago, I ordered The Eye of Typhoon from Limited Run. It stands out to me as one of those “Street Fighter clones”. However, the soundtrack isn’t too bad. Can’t wait to try it out! My order is supposed to include a tips ‘n tricks booklet too.

Taito weren't the only ones to fail, konami also flopped really hard to, that time period from 1992 to 1996 will never be replicated or beaten it was truly a real golden age, it's funny because you say sf clone and that is how a lot of people looked upon other 2d fighters at the time i think games like samurai shodown 2 really helped swing peoples opinions on other non sf games and capcoms stubbornness to shake things up between editions really started to push people away from sf, i think kaiser knuckle failed because while it is a great game you had to look at what was doing the rounds at the time, super and ST kof ss 2 and the biggest ones vf and tekken which saw people looking towards the new generation, i think if kaiser knuckle had come out in 1992 i think it could have had a bigger legacy

Great coverage! Would love to play it! I've got Lihua for Mugen.

Love your videos

Great video 👍

I've heard of the first Kaiser Knuckle, but I never knew that there had been an update planned! Let alone a sequel that got turned into the game "Psychic Force".

Well, if Breaker's Collection and Rumble Fish can get re-releases, here's to hoping this one can as well!

Really weird to see how Necro appears to have inspired Necro, his stage in SFIII and there’s even the same kinda Russian skyline stage from Third Strike

My favorite new game I picked up last year

I'm in love with the stage expansion mechanics!!!

Whoa this game seems interesting! Definitely gonna check it out

Love your videos! Probably missing some sounds like music but that's just my opinion.

cool video thanks for showing us this game 🕹

one of the many reasons why i like to point out we can be the reasons why games go way under the radar and only want to see what we want to see back then, it's sad to see this happen and still happens today. some games just don't come out but it kinda reminds me of how SFIII was back then and now everyone Loves it.

Annie Hamilton's Finisher From Power Instinct 10:01

This would be an instant smash .. I’m a 90s boy .. Looking at this in an arcade shop would have blown my mind. I was raised on SF 2

1:42 *THANK YOU!* I always wondered why Liza had such a mannish looking face! 12:20 You ain't kidding about the OST! *Barts Theme* is my absolute favorite!

Cant imagine a world where Fatal Fury failed due to being a Street Fighter cline, and Dan-Ku-Ga was an abosulte sucess with sequels nowadays. If people of the 90's tought this game was bad, then i must've been an arcade machine on a Redbeck town arcade.

I AM A PERFECT SOLDIER

Apparently Fighters History was recently made available on the Switch's SNES library

Damn, kinda wished you upload more frequently your content is S+!

a lot of the things mentioned in the system features secret sauce are similar to features found in strive, which is officially neat

If this was released back then, it would have rivalled street fighter with ease.

Ok now I want to know about every other game on that tierlist

Great vid

I didn't realize Psychic Force had a prequel, but I also didn't even realize there was a Psychic Force game before Psychic Force 2012. I loved that game, played it on Dreamcast practically nonstop.

Adding to the speculation of the failed location test, comparing both it and it’s predecessor to what on the market it might not have held up. KOF, Darkstalkers, pre-render games and most notably Virtua Fighter demonstrating 3D fighting (which IMO needs much more discussion in terms of impact to fighting games as a genre overall)- it had to have been a hard sell to expect returns on cabinets. Still tho glad it found its audience in the afterlife!

The General teleport>grabbed all of the cabs with Dan Kuga and smashed them in a preemptive strike so he could never be beaten in a sequel where he was nerfed. He really was a perfect soldier.

Awesome video, sure is better than the vanilla release

They really ibuffed Lihua in the sequel. Before, it you wanted to see those few white pixels, you had to play Lihua vs Lihua, get to the final round (that includes one double KO), wait until the timer is under 30 seconds, then use Shinkusen or Shinku nage. And even then it's only a 1/8 chance! In Dankuga, it's always a 1/4 chance whenever you use those moves. Quality of life improvements!

Taito was always great at sound, this looks awesome. Hopefully we get some kind of port.

Love the old school multi scrolling effects, especially when they're applied to the breakable walls. Watched a playthrough of the vanilla not long ago, would like to see some of this version. The world could use the charm of misc random fighter attempts like these again that dare to do something different, but also just take their genuine crack at things. Tired of seeing the same big names release sequels and little else other than occasional cash grabs.

Reminds me of fighters history. Glad I didn't play this back in the day cause it sounds like I would have broke my remote at the last boss.

babe wake up new guile

I love how now that Jojo's BA is more widely known here (aside from that Capcom fighter of the late 90s) we can all play the game of "spot the Jojo reference" retroactively in every japan fighting game that came out in the 90s and beyond. I do like how creative with their character concepts than to just make them obvious stand ins for SF characters (looking at you Fighters History). Like their Russian grappler is such an otaku that he uses Judo instead of spinning pile-drivers. You could argue Boggy is like their DeeJay but with his stage and break dancing animation he reminds me more of Duck King in Fatal Fury Special.

7:28 YOOOO... is that a Super Beast Machine God Dancouga reference?

I really like Kaiser Knuckle. I was tempted to get the Taito mini arcade just for that game alone.

2:21 - Boggy over here looking 2 legit 2 quit 😂

2:48 Frauds, that's Dankuga, not Kaiser Knuckle Great video as always

Full list of the unreleased gems, please? There are like 3 I can't recognize from the thumbnail 😎 Great video btw. Dan Ku Ga has a lot of heart, I feel like I should draw a poster with all the game's characters at some point

Hopefully you will cover the comical and underrated Blood Warrior at some point.

I remember playing these games at a rest stop on the way on greyhound bus to my aunts house in Texas.😁🎮

Taito's FG history is super interesting. I hope you eventually cover Psychic Force and Psychic Force 2012! ZUNTATA goes even harder on those soundtracks!

This look mad fun

Dropped a comment and got censored? 12:51 is my video there. Like I said, very underrated fighter and can be played on Fightcade

Heading out to Fightcade rn thanks for the new old games

damn that guys desperation move was the coolest

Dan-Ku-Ga would’ve made an amazing launch title for PS1 and Sega Saturn or even a later 1996 home conversion even if it never saw a release in the arcades back in the day.

Holy shit, this whole time I've only been using my Egret II Mini for Darius Gaiden and Raystorm - had no idea it had this game on it

Let's fucking gooooo, I love Dan-Ku-Ga, such a shame it never actually came out, it was so goated when I tried it on mame.

I really wanna give this a try

That throw that sends you to the Ionosphere is fun to watch

Wow Dan Ku Ga seems fun I can tell. I would’ve played a lot on this fighting game. Ripped up floors and destructible walls? It’s truly a shame this wasn’t released!

I looked up Kaiser Knuckle a bunch last year and found the cast of characters a unique mix of SFII rip-offs (a Guile, a Ryu, etc.), but mixed in some unique guys like a Frankenstein Dhalsim, a Russian Judo Davy Crockett, and more. I had heard if KK2 being cancelled, but not any of the unique attributes the game had had, so that's great info! Interesting how even things like this can create a minor "scene".

3:31 dang didnt expect to see MONSTER on there, I was thinking of contacting you to talk about that game and inviting you the discord server for it with the owner of the server has the current build of the unreleased arcade version.