DreamMix TV World Fighters

Everyone gathers on Dream Mix TV! Let’s compete!

JP release: 18th December 2003
EU release: N/A
NA release: N/A
Developer: Bitstep
Publisher: Hudson Soft
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

After the huge reception that Super Smash Bros Melee received, more fighting games in the same style were inevitable. This was one of the first, and was a joint venture between Konami, Hudson and the Takara toy company. This created an interesting mix of characters with Simon Belmont, Bomberman, the Japanese equivalent of Barbie, Twinbee, Beyblade dude (or “is that supposed to be Ash?” as my girlfriend asked), Optimus Prime and future Smash fighter Solid Snake.

Like Smash, DreamMix didn’t want to have a health bar, but it also couldn’t just copy Smash Bros completely, so it came up with its own system. At the start of a fight, heart tokens get spewn everywhere and everyone scrambles to collect them. When someone takes damage, they lose some of their tokens, which can be collected again. Once someone has lost all their tokens, a large heart will float out of them. If the player manages to collect it back, they can continue fighting, but if another player gets it, they’re eliminated. Although they can still control a miniature version of themselves to mess up the remaining fighters.

The fighting itself is similar to smash, with basic attacks on the A button and special attacks on the B button. It doesn’t seem quite as varied as Smash Bros does, though, but is fine for quick blasts. Some characters are very difficult to use, such as Snake, who lays mines that are more likely to harm himself while others, like Optimus Prime, can turn into a truck to hit anyone within reach.

There’s a few different modes, one where you fight everyone else (sometimes just one opponent, sometimes multiple) and then a final boss, a single match (where annoyingly you can’t pick who CPU players use) and a challenge mode with a fun minigame for each fighter. An interesting alternative to Smash, especially with the strange roster. I didn’t even mention the Moai head, Twinbee or the demon from the Electric Railway games I’ve reviewed.

Fun

If you’re a frequent party gamer and/or SSBM obsessive, then getting the hang of and enjoying World Fighters won’t be so difficult. Otherwise, the nonexistent single-player challenge and lack of variety leaves little more than a venue for cheap laughs; If you can’t stand going through life without seeing Snake and Optimus go at it, then you should hurry and get this. It’s not necessarily a broken game, or at least no more broken than Smash Bros., it’s just tragically empty.
Ray Barnholt, crunk games

Remake or remaster?

A re-release would be nice, but licensing would make it nearly impossible.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get DreamMix TV World Fighters.