DOOMSDAY WARRIOR
Doomsday Warrior (Japanese title: Taiketsu!! Brass Numbers) is a fighting game developed by Laser Soft, a subsidiary of Telenet Japan, released in Japan on November 20, 1992, and in North America in March 1993 published by Renovation Products. Producer was Masami Hanari, programmer Hiroshi Ono, and composer Junta. The game was added to the Nintendo Classics service in February 2021. Reception was mediocre-to-poor: AllGame gave it 3/5, Famitsu gave 24/40, and Power Unlimited scored it 75% while calling it "a boring beat-'em-up"; a Nintendo Life retrospective review characterized it as a Street Fighter II clone that falls short of its inspiration.
Availability: Nintendo Switch Online — Super Nintendo Entertainment System app (Nintendo Classics)
This is a systems/mechanics guide rather than a linear walkthrough — a fixed step-by-step route isn't the useful format for a versus-fighter title.
Controls
Controls are simplified relative to other fighting games of its era: there are dedicated punch and kick buttons, plus separate, dedicated jump and block buttons (rather than block/jump being achieved through directional input as in many contemporaries). All special techniques in the game are charge attacks (requiring the player to hold a direction or button before releasing to execute the move) rather than motion-input combos.
Story and Roster
The story follows the Doom Squad, a group of seven fighters brainwashed by the cloaked villain Main. The player-controlled character breaks free of Main's influence to protect Earth and must fight through former Doom Squad comrades before facing Main directly. The seven playable Doom Squad members are: Sledge (a hot-tempered betrayer figure), Layban (an ex-military soldier), Amon (a heavy-metal-styled punk fighter, reminiscent of Fist of the North Star character design), Daisy (the only female character, described as a half-woman, half-plant hybrid), P. Lump (an obese Chinese martial artist with fire-breathing attacks), Grimrock (an anthropomorphic/alien lizardman), and Nuform (a shapeshifter made of metallic liquid). Three additional characters appear only as unplayable bosses: Ashura, a four-armed warrior described as Main's strongest fighter; Shadow, who mimics the player's chosen character's moveset (similar to Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat); and Main himself, the final boss, who attacks with lightning, fire, and light.
Systems and Progression
Players earn Ability Points from victories, which are used to boost a character's stats across five categories: Arm Power, Leg Power, Defense, Vitality, and Soul Power. After each battle, the player can choose which opponent to face next, rather than following a strictly fixed fight order.
Modes
The game supports both single-player (story) play and multiplayer versus play.
Practical Strategy
Because all special moves are charge attacks rather than motion-based combos, and Ability Points let the player customize stat growth after each win, prioritizing whichever stat category compensates for a character's weakest matchup (e.g., boosting Defense before facing a hard-hitting opponent) is a reasonable strategic use of the Ability Point system, though no dedicated stat-optimization guide was found to confirm ideal point allocation. Since the player can choose their next opponent, tackling weaker Doom Squad members first to accumulate Ability Points before facing Ashura, Shadow, and Main is a plausible progression approach consistent with the stated "choose your opponent" system.
Still confirming
- Exact numeric effects of Ability Points on each of the five stat categories were not found in the sources reviewed.
- Specific charge-attack input notation (hold time, button combinations) for each character's special moves was not confirmed in detail.
- Whether there are multiple distinct endings depending on fight order or performance was not verified.