Tongue of the Fatman

Tongue of the Fatman is one of those games that seems to have escaped from a particularly strange corner of an arcade designer's imagination. It is a fighting game, but instead of polished martial artists, you get grotesque characters, bizarre arenas, and a generous helping of deliberately silly humor. Combat revolves around learning opponents' patterns, exploiting weaknesses, and trying not to get flattened by something that looks like it should probably be in a monster movie. The presentation is crude by modern standards, yet that almost works in its favor, because the game never takes itself remotely seriously. There is a wonderfully odd sense of experimentation throughout, with strange creatures and eccentric ideas constantly competing for attention. It is not a conventional fighter, nor does it pretend to be. Think of it as a midnight arcade discovery after everyone sensible has gone home.