Power Instinct 2 [ARCADE, 1994]: Kurara [Clara] Hananokouji Playthrough (Normal diff. - 1st take)

Описание: Footage taken from the Final Burn Neo emulator.

These old Goketsuji women are like the anti-Mishimas or something...

On the heels of Power Instinct 1's video, Power Instinct 2 (Gōketsuji Ichizoku 2 in Japan) is the game where the series' unique humor really kicks it in a notch. The newcomers to the roster compared to PI1's roster are a LOT more wacky in design (Kurara herself is a witch, Sahad is a magical Arabian genie, and don't get me started on the Kokuin duo... Kintaro in particular is a KINDERGARDENER barely in an apron for pete's sake), as well as this being the game that introduced the series' iconic "loser face doodling" portraits after matches. For gameplay: the core mechanics are the same as the 1st one, mainly adding in a super meter in the form of the Stress mechanic (it only increases when getting damaged or having your attacks blocked. When full, your character is briefly immobile but has a protective ki aura that makes you invincible and deals damage to the opponent.) Bonus stages were completely removed from the game, however.

For this video, I take Kurara (or Clara if you're familiar with Matrimelee) out through the running. She's one of the series most recognizable characters, appearing in a few other titles and as a secret crossover fighter in Yasha: Heaven's Gate (which I've played here in the past. I've even got a mod of her over Marie Rose in Dead or Alive 5 Last Round lol). You may notice that the title says "1st take" and that's because I did this whole playthrough without a movelist at the helm (internet was down during recording), so I TRULY had to do the old school way of guestimating the movelist for Kurara on the fly. Ironically I managed to figure out all her moves.... EXCEPT how to transform (which is an awkward command that requires a projectile to connect: F, rQCB + PP). This video was me initially trying these older PI games in the first place so I didn't wanna get rid of the '1st struggle' video, so I'll be doing a "2nd take" that actually actively has me trying to use Super Kurara. Also I wasn't kidding about the difficulty of the game: it was QUITE the struggle. PI2 has similar-ish AI to PI1, but I feel it ramps up a lot quicker and a lot higher here. By the THIRD opponent it's reading and countering your inputs and spazzing out whenever it can, so beating this took some time. Certainly a challenge to do this with zero insight ahead of time, but hey, what are fighters for?

0:00 Boot-up & Game Intro
0:50 Character Select
1:11 STAGE 1: Kanji Kokuin
3:14 STAGE 2: Kurara [Clara] Hananokouji (mirror match)
6:50 STAGE 3: Thin Nen
18:56 "CRIMINAL'S PLAN 1" (Intermission 1: "You're pretty good, but can you defeat...")
19:09 STAGE 4: Oume Goketsuji [SUB-BOSS]
33:49 STAGE 5: Saizo Hattori
35:48 STAGE 6: Kintaro [Kinta] Kokuin
44:57 STAGE 7: Keith Wayne
53:33 STAGE 8: White Buffalo
1:04:15 "CRIMINAL'S PLAN 2" (Intermission 2: "Can it possibly be...?")
1:04:32 STAGE 9: Annie [Anny] Hamilton
1:08:14 STAGE 10: Sahad Asran Ryuto
1:14:57 STAGE 11: Reiji Oyama
1:27:05 STAGE 12: Angela Belti
1:36:05 "CRIMINAL'S PLAN 3" (Intermission 3: "Well done. I am the twins' mother, Goketsuji Oshima. I'm counting on this final match to win the final seat as clan leader..."
1:36:30 STAGE 13: Oshima Goketsuji [FINAL BOSS]
1:42:27 Oshima Defeated/Kurara's Endi--
1:42:47 "HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!"
1:42:52 STAGE 14: Otane Gokutsuji [TRUE FINAL BOSS]
1:47:37 Otane Defeated/Kurara''s Ending
1:48:45 Staff Roll/Name Entry