The Rumble Fish is one of those mythical games – the kind you may see namedropped online, but never exposed in full. No retrospectives, no re-releases, no internet memes. It simply exists as something few have heard of, and even fewer have played.
This 2D beat’em up series was developed by Dimps, a studio best known for the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush games, and perhaps Kirby & The Amazing Mirror too.
The 2004 original only made to the PlayStation 2 in Japan after appearing in arcades, while the 2005 sequel has never seen a home conversion.
Comparisons with Guilty Gear and Melty Blood aren’t too far off the mark, featuring similar visuals and mechanics.
Get ready to hear a lot more about The Rumble Fish in the coming months – publisher 3goo has revealed plans to release the duo on consoles this winter. As it’s early days, there’s no word on pricing on what kind of features we can expect.
“The Rumble Fish is a very memorable game for us at Dimps. We developed it as a 2D fighting game compatible with the Atomiswave arcade system board developed by Sammy Corporation. It may have a classic feel compared to current fighting games, but it was an ambitious project that employed a variety of visual expressions within the limitations of a system board that is now almost 20 years old. I’m proud of what we accomplished. And now, 3goo is once again shining the spotlight on The Rumble Fish series and I’m excited for the renewed potential for the series to grow,” said Dimps’ president Takashi Nishiyama.
3goo President Nicolas Di Costanzo: “This series lit arcades on fire with its mix of mechanics inspired by a variety of fighting games, and now we’re bringing it to consoles so everyone will have easy access to it. We hope you’re as excited to get it as we are to release it.”