Tattoo Assassins
| Tattoo Assassins | |
|---|---|
 Tattoo Assassins arcade flyer. | |
| Developer(s) | Data East |
| Publisher(s) | Data East |
| Director(s) | Bob Gale |
| Producer(s) | Mike Marvin |
| Designer(s) | Joe Kaminkow Eddi Wilde (stunt coordinator) John Carpenter (programmer) |
| Artist(s) | Paul Faris Bob Short (make-up artist) |
| Writer(s) | Bob Gale |
| Composer(s) | Brian Schmidt |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release | 1994 (prototype) |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Arcade system | Data East DECO32 |
Tattoo Assassins is a 1994 fighting game by Data East. Spearheaded by Bob Gale (screenwriter for Back to the Future) and Joe Kaminkow (leader of Data East Pinball, now known as Stern Pinball), Tattoo Assassins was designed to be Data East's answer to Mortal Kombat. Even though the game was never released, several prototype models were produced for testing in arcades. Nearly two dozen machines were produced for the AMOA show in San Antonio in 1994, but most were later destroyed. Two machines reside at the PAPA headquarters, and a few others may exist in the wild. MAME emulation is also available. After Data East filed for bankruptcy and became defunct in 2003, G-Mode bought the rights to Tattoo Assassins along with most of Data East's other titles.[1]
Overview
Tattoo Assassins was a fighting game developed to compete with the popular Midway franchise Mortal Kombat. Developed by Data East, Tattoo Assassins combined the talents of Joe Kaminkow (leader of Data East Pinball, a subsidiary of Data East Japan) and Bob Gale (screenwriter for Back to the Future). Using the same style of digitized graphics as Mortal Kombat, Tattoo Assassins featured real life actors fighting each other with violent moves and combos. Most notable is that the game featured 2196 finishing moves, including some nudity-based finishers (only a rumor in Mortal Kombat) and animal-based finishers (before they were featured in Mortal Kombat 3 as "Animalities"). Some included dropping a DeLorean car onto the opponent (a Back to the Future reference), turning the opponent into a hamburger (a reference to an earlier Data East game, BurgerTime), and massive diarrhea.
Each of the characters had magical tattoos, which came to life when they performed special attacks and finishing moves. Even though the game was never completely finished, EGM posted an in-depth article with moves and information about all of the characters.
Internal development strife, management problems, deadline woes, and negative feedback from testers contributed to the game's troubled development and eventual downfall. With similar games like Killer Instinct and Primal Rage performing well, Tattoo Assassins competing chances were slim and it was never put into production.
Characters
Here is a list of the characters that appeared in this game:
- A.C. Current - A cyber mercenary. Wanted by his former employers after an industrial espionage double cross.
- Billy Two Moons - Stereotypical Native American character who is a fugitive from the U.S. government. Surprisingly, Billy Two Moon's character has been accused of being a copy of Mortal Kombat character Night Wolf (another Native American) even though his character predates that of Night Wolf.
- Deke Kay - A fighting zombie. Sub-boss in the game.
- Derek O'Toole - A rock star. Developed fighting skills after being falsely accused of terrorist activities.
- Hannah Hart - A stripper. Out to avenge her murdered friend.
- Karla Keller - An ice skater. Spoof of Nancy Kerrigan, from appearance to backstory.
- Koldan The Conqueror - A large man with a gloved hand with giant hypodermic needles in the fingers out to create an army of mutants and enslave the human race. The final boss of the game.
- Luke Cord - Former Navy SEAL. Wanted by the CIA due to his knowledge after a compromised operation against the Soviets.
- Maya - Tribal amazon-like character. She is fighting land developers to keep them off of her people's land.
- Prizm - Light-based crystal monster. Sub-boss in the game.
- Rhina - Creepy looking half-woman, half-rhino creature. Sub-boss in the game.
- Takara "Tak" Hata - Former Yakuza assassin. Wanted by the Yakuza and Japanese police after being framed for murder.
- Truck Davis - Member of a biker gang. Out to avenge the death of the other members.
Two other non-fighter characters that appear in the game's story are Mullah Abba, the spiritual leader of the Order of Colors who discovered the mysterious ink used by the fighters, and Lyla Blue, a woman who is used as a channel by Mullah Abba to allow the player to control one of the assassins in combat.
Cast
(as credited)
- Eddi Wilde - Billy Two Moons
- Kevin Knotts - Truck Davis / Koldan
- Charlie Rice - Luke Cord
- Melanie Baer - Maya
- Rick Mali - Takara Hata
- Gretchen Stockdale - Hannah Hart
- Maurice Travis - A.C. Current
- Cristine Dupree - Karla Keller
- Nicolas Andrews - Derek O'Toole
- Joanna Lee - Rhina
- William Zipp - Deke Kay / Prizm
- Mark Urgello - Mullah Abba
- Marushka Wilde - ??? (young girl, model for angel/devil finishing moves)
- Rene Hudson - Lyla Blue
References
- ^ Official G-Mode webpage of Tattoo Assassins. Retrieved on 2009-10-04.