- JP release: 29th January 1999
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- Developer: Culture Brain
- Publisher: Culture Brain
- Original Name: SD Hiryū no Ken Densetsu
- N64 Magazine Score: N/A
The first Flying Dragon – the one that released worldwide – was a game with an identity crisis. Half of the game was an anime-style fighting game with items you could upgrade to boost your stats, but it also contained a more “realistic” fighting game with more regular (well, tall and lanky) humans. Both sides suffered as a result of trying to do both.
In their review of the PAL version of Flying Dragon, N64 Magazine said that the game had squandered potential. The thing is, by the time the PAL version came out, Japan already had the sequel, and it seems to be the game the N64 was wanting.
Legend of the Flying Dragon ditches the “realistic” mode in the first game and focuses entirely on the anime style fighting game, which were the strengths of the first. The fighting feels much more fluid and less like the game is about to fall apart, with moves being easy to pull off and a ton of options to cater the game to your liking.
The game features a lengthy (for a fighting game) story mode. The overall story is a retelling of the one from the NES game Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll: a child is found and raised by an old man, the old man gets killed by the villain then the main character is invited to a fighting tournament and ultimately needs to go up against the man that killed his mentor. Nothing ground-breaking, but some amusing dialogue throughout the course of the game, and makes it feel more than just a bunch of disconnected fights. One of your opponents even has a Pepsi mask for some reason.
More traditional modes exist alongside it and, as with the previous games, you equip and upgrade items to boost your stats. This feels much more rounded, and it’s a shame that this wasn’t localised instead of the very messy earlier title. I found it quite enjoyable.
Fun
Remake or Remaster?
A collection of the series would be great.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s no official way to play Legend of the Flying Dragon.
Europe
Japan
North America
N64 Games by Date
1997: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1998: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
1999: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2000: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
He asked for a Coke mask and they said “is Pepsi okay?” and it was.
I wasn’t expecting to see the origins of Pepsi Man here.
Great… That means I was wrong and Fire Emblem Engage is actually the third game in the series.
Sorry Glen… but this isn’t even the first fighting game to feature Pepsi Man… and as a playable character to boot!
The Japanese SEGA Saturn version of Fighting Vipers (not the western release, and not the arcade version, no; only this specific version) features none other than the man of Pepsi himself!
What is it with the obsession for Pepsi amongst 90s Japanese developers!? It’s not even a good drink! Pepsi is disgusting!