One Must Fall: 2097

One Must Fall: 2097 was a sequel to a demo game called One Must Fall. Originally it was a Street Fighter style human on human fighting game. By the “2097” full game release the humans had been replaced by robots. This version was released in 1994 by Epic MegaGames Inc, who later changed their name to Epic Games (yes THAT Epic!).

The switch to mechs brought with it an awesome additional feature. Unlike other fighting games of the era, One Must Fall’s fighters could be upgraded. You would fight for fame and fortune and use the cash to buy better parts for your mech. As you leveled up your mech became faster, stronger, and so on. You could choose from a range of parts to upgrade. This gave you a wide range of combinations of parts that would alter how your mech performed. The robots also had pilots that varied in strength. This added a whole meta level to the layout of your mech. Different mechs had different capabilities. You chose your fighting style and leveled your chosen combination to dominate in the ring.

I played hours and hours of this game competing against my brother. It brings back fond memories writing about it now. If I remember correctly my favorite robots were the Jaguar and the Shadow. I gave the Jaguar extra springy legs for a leap attack that would shoot you across the whole ring. For the Shadow I favoured the fast punch combos. I did also play Thorn fairly regularly for it’s sweeping slashes.

The original game can be found here. There was a sequel released in 2003, One Must Fall: Battlegrounds. I haven’t tried it yet but it’s still available to buy here.

Let me know

If you’ve played either of these versions let me know. I’d love to hear your stories of the original, and I’d like to know if the sequel is worth me trying.