LORD OF THE RINGS 3
Original Release: GlorySun, unknown release date , Sega Genesis
A fighting game bootleg that uses custom-edited Lord of the Rings characters
Lord of the Rings 3 (Genesis, GlorySun)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
This surprisingly high-effort "unlicensed" title is apparently a bootleg of a bootleg; it's a graphical hack of something called "Chinese Fighter III" which in turn appears to possibly be some sort of adaptation of assets from one of Capcom's "Tenchi wo Kurai" or "Dynasty Wars" games, changing it from a beat-em-up to a one-on-one fighter using a generic engine that was common to a lot of bootleg Genesis fighting games.
Whatever the case, it's noteworthy in sporting an unusual amount of effort for a bootleg. It didn't exactly worry about fidelity to the source material, with Aragorn looking like he may have started life in Knights of the Round or something, and a somewhat Asian-looking Mr. Frodo busting out a hearty "Hiiiyoooo!" as he pulls off a Shoryuken with his sword. But the characters do look good and are animated pretty well, and the gameplay is actually solid. It's not fantastic, but I'd put it ahead of probably like a third of the 16-bit era of commercial fighting games.
The only problem is that there isn't much to do but marvel at the relative level of effort the bootleggers put into it. The lone gameplay mode for solo players just keeps throwing you into matches against other random foes forever, which can include fighting the same one multiple times in a row. The "AI" just kind of fights in simple and somewhat random patterns and is easily defeated.
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