Way of the Warrior 3DO

Naughty Dog’s Renowned Franchises

Naughty Dog is renowned for creating bestselling game franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and the highly successful The Last of Us (now an acclaimed TV series). However, the studio’s journey began with a lesser-known title: Way of the Warrior.

Beginning Way of the Warrior

When Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin started on Way of the Warrior, Naughty Dog was facing financial difficulties. To save money, they enlisted family members and friends to play the characters. For example, Crimson Glory was portrayed by Jason Rubin’s ex-girlfriend. The preliminary demo’s fighting moves were shot in an employee’s home using a large grey screen backdrop instead of a proper chroma key setup. Their goal was to attract backing from a major 3DO publisher, which they achieved by spending the last of their savings to rent a booth at Winter CES.

Publisher Interest and Partnership Decisions

MCA, Crystal Dynamics, and Trip Hawkins himself showed significant interest in the concept of a fighting game for 3DO. Trip Hawkins tried to persuade Naughty Dog to become an exclusive 3DO publisher. Ultimately, they partnered with MCA/Universal after realizing Crystal Dynamics wanted them to use their panning/zooming fighting engine to port Samurai Shodown, which Crystal Dynamics had recently acquired. Had they gone exclusively with Trip Hawkins, the company might have faced the same fate as 3DO. Instead, Universal set them up in proper studios and offered a three-game deal.

Release and Reception

In 1994, Naughty Dog released Way of the Warrior as the first fighting game on the 3DO console, amidst the rising popularity of Mortal Kombat. The game, essentially a Mortal Kombat clone, stood out due to its over-the-top presentation and sometimes strangely funny handling and characteristics of its bizarre set of characters. The game’s absurdity made it highly entertaining.

Audio and Soundtrack

The audio is polarizing: instead of creating their own game soundtracks, they enlisted White Zombie—owned by Geffen, a parent company of MCA. The heavy rock tracks suit the nature of a fighting game but can become tiring after a while. Most tracks are from the excellent album La Sexorcisto, but there is an option to turn off the music if desired. The voiceovers were done by the developers themselves and sound odd at times.

Gameplay Mechanics and Controller Issues

The main issue with the game lies in the gameplay mechanics and the unsuitable 3DO controller. However, a joystick can be used if available. Each character has about 50 moves and a few fatalities, but the low number of frames used for each move results in a choppy experience. Characters sometimes seem to bunny hop across the arena, with movements that are sped up, jerky, and unrealistic. Despite these flaws, loading times are minimal, and players get to fight against cool-looking final bosses like the serpent-dinosaur High Abbot and the huge skeleton warrior Kull.

Final Thoughts and Legacy

Despite its flaws, the game has a certain charm, is unique to 3DO, and is worth playing and mastering. Naughty Dog intended to release the game in arcades and started development with American Laser Games, but it never came to fruition.