Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Among all arcade games made by Semicon, we found this jewel. Semicom usually made quite decent clones (Diet family, Toy Land, Choky Choky, BC Story, Final Tetris [probably their most succeful game], etc...). What we have here is a pair of solid, but pretty simple fighting games.
The first game, SD Fighters, had only 9 characters, boss included. Many of the mechanics were inspired by old KOF games: charging the bar, dodge, hopping, sidestep attack and roll. All characters have only 1 super move. Otg attacks are possible just by doing low attacks to an opponent on the ground after a knockdown, and can be done in succession. Combo system is quite poor, but it is possible to do some weird advanced techniques invloving switching standing to crouching position and using the dodge. There are few cancelable normal attacks into specials, and whilst characters can't block on their early frames of recovery from hitstun state, they can actually dodge (the only way to beat dodges is by throwing, there are no recovery frames on them). That means combo potential of this game is reduced to very hard and specific links, in fact i was forced to make use of some macros for two of these combos (this is the second time i had to). Throws are quite powerful here, you can't jump out of a throw while standing from a knowckdown, you need to mash an attack instead.
This game was made in 1996, and you know what this means? This was released before Pocket Fighter (Super Gem Fighter) or Virtual FIghter Kids. So don't believe someone who says this is a rip-off. As Capcom later confirmed, this was a good idea.
The better one, Cute Fighters, was made in 1998, and this was the name they wanted first for SD Fighter at its early stage of development. There are 4 new characters. They took an idea from Capcom's game this time in the way characters can chain some normal moves. Kof's sidestep attack has been taken away and now you can only instantly charge you bar up to three meters once per match. Each character have plenty of special moves and also many super moves; they cost 2, 3, 4 or even 6 bars.
Combo mechanics are more complex now. There are many moves that can be linked from normal, special or super moves (some of them can only be done after specific moves). You can easily do juggles and delaunch/restand combos as well. Sometimes you'll notice that the combo counter stops counting the hits, and that's because toons can air recover now (the games can recognize very well when the combo is an invalid one, unlike other games like Asura Blade/Buster). Otgs are universal pursuits now and only one is allowed per knockdown.
However, they got nutz with one of the game mechanics. There aren't attacks that hit mid. Every single move in this game is either an overhead or a low attack, and all those overheads are unreactable. That means blocking is completely useless in this game, the best thing you can do on defense is one of these three things: reversal, dodge or parry. You have a low and a high parry, it is true that you'll be pretty vulnerable after an unsuccesful parry, but it is still better to have the chance of counter attack easily.
Here's my tier list for Cute Fighter (updated because Brillante has a broken throw):
SSS: Typhoon, Brillante
SS: Yoo Sung-Chan
S: Mepisto, Jonathan
A: Liger, Daiguchi
B: Tiger, Sho, Yoo Mi-Yeon, Tanya
C: Jin, Kiyone
Among all arcade games made by Semicon, we found this jewel. Semicom usually made quite decent clones (Diet family, Toy Land, Choky Choky, BC Story, Final Tetris [probably their most succeful game], etc...). What we have here is a pair of solid, but pretty simple fighting games.
The first game, SD Fighters, had only 9 characters, boss included. Many of the mechanics were inspired by old KOF games: charging the bar, dodge, hopping, sidestep attack and roll. All characters have only 1 super move. Otg attacks are possible just by doing low attacks to an opponent on the ground after a knockdown, and can be done in succession. Combo system is quite poor, but it is possible to do some weird advanced techniques invloving switching standing to crouching position and using the dodge. There are few cancelable normal attacks into specials, and whilst characters can't block on their early frames of recovery from hitstun state, they can actually dodge (the only way to beat dodges is by throwing, there are no recovery frames on them). That means combo potential of this game is reduced to very hard and specific links, in fact i was forced to make use of some macros for two of these combos (this is the second time i had to). Throws are quite powerful here, you can't jump out of a throw while standing from a knowckdown, you need to mash an attack instead.
This game was made in 1996, and you know what this means? This was released before Pocket Fighter (Super Gem Fighter) or Virtual FIghter Kids. So don't believe someone who says this is a rip-off. As Capcom later confirmed, this was a good idea.
The better one, Cute Fighters, was made in 1998, and this was the name they wanted first for SD Fighter at its early stage of development. There are 4 new characters. They took an idea from Capcom's game this time in the way characters can chain some normal moves. Kof's sidestep attack has been taken away and now you can only instantly charge you bar up to three meters once per match. Each character have plenty of special moves and also many super moves; they cost 2, 3, 4 or even 6 bars.
Combo mechanics are more complex now. There are many moves that can be linked from normal, special or super moves (some of them can only be done after specific moves). You can easily do juggles and delaunch/restand combos as well. Sometimes you'll notice that the combo counter stops counting the hits, and that's because toons can air recover now (the games can recognize very well when the combo is an invalid one, unlike other games like Asura Blade/Buster). Otgs are universal pursuits now and only one is allowed per knockdown.
However, they got nutz with one of the game mechanics. There aren't attacks that hit mid. Every single move in this game is either an overhead or a low attack, and all those overheads are unreactable. That means blocking is completely useless in this game, the best thing you can do on defense is one of these three things: reversal, dodge or parry. You have a low and a high parry, it is true that you'll be pretty vulnerable after an unsuccesful parry, but it is still better to have the chance of counter attack easily.
Here's my tier list for Cute Fighter (updated because Brillante has a broken throw):
SSS: Typhoon, Brillante
SS: Yoo Sung-Chan
S: Mepisto, Jonathan
A: Liger, Daiguchi
B: Tiger, Sho, Yoo Mi-Yeon, Tanya
C: Jin, Kiyone
