Weaponlord

Weaponlord (sometimes WeaponLord) is a 1- or 2-player fighting game originally designed for release on the Super Nintendo by Visual Concepts, and published by Namco. During the inception of the title, the development team also began work on a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version and both were released in October 1995. Weaponlord introduced many groundbreaking gameplay aspects that appear regularly today. Also, unlike other titles, Weaponlord was not intended to replicate an arcade fighter, but built from the ground up on home consoles. This was a reverse of the normal trend, which had arcade versions being developed first, then getting ported in home consoles.

On a battlefield a demon spirit enters the body of a dying mercenary. He is reborn and defeats the reigning war king in a duel. He goes on to found the reign of the Demon Lord Zarak. At the height of his power, his doom is foretold by a shaman: "When the night turns violent and the moon bleeds, gripped by the skeletal fingers of death... a child will rise to face the demon in combat... and the lord of demons will fall by the hand of... the WeaponLord."

Against the advice of his lieutenants to kill the children born that night, the Demon Lord waits to face his foretold killer in fair, one on one combat. 25 years later, sensing the prophecy is at hand, the Demon Lord holds a great tournament of champion warriors. The winner will face the demon in a final battle. The Demonlord prepares to meet his destiny head on and to destroy the WeaponLord.

Tropes used in Weaponlord include:

• Action Girl: Naturally, the female cast.
• All Webbed Up: A unique Finishing Move Zarak has lets him wrap his enemy up in webs. He can then rip this webbing apart with his spider-armor's legs.
• Amazonian Beauty: All three of the women, with their meager garments and fighting stances only serving to accentuate nearly every inch (and curve) of their heavily-muscled yet completely feminine builds.
• Ambiguously Brown: Talazia. The best guess would be somewhere akin to Africa or the Caribbean.
• An Axe to Grind: Zorn.
• Barbarian Hero: All the characters have a "barbarian" aesthetic, with many of the characters actually being barbarians to boot.
• Bare Your Midriff: Every female in the game, as well as Zorn.
• Blade on a Stick: Divada's weapon is a staff with two blades attached onto each end. There's also Zarak's guillotine-on-a-spear.
• Braids of Action: Talazia and Divada.
• Chainmail Bikini: Jen-Tai and Talazia's armor are essentially these.
• The Chosen Many: The six champions that seek to defeat the DemonLord in combat were all born on the night of the Bloodmoon. Then DemonLord Raith received word of a prophecy foretelling his demise at the hands of one of these children child. Choosing to ignore his counsel's advice and after waiting a quarter of a century for them to mature in body, mind and spirit, so he could fight them at their strongest.
• Clothing Damage: A very primitive form of this was present as hair-cutting, where the player could use a combo to cut the player's head (such as cutting off Korr or Divada's ponytails or one of Jen-Tai's horns).
• Counter Attack: Everyone has one, called Deflect moves.
• Death From Above: Going with her falcon theme, Talazia is able to swoop down from the air to attack, complete with the bird's cry accompanying her movement.
• Drop the Hammer: Bane has a crude stone hammer.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Divada, sans the brunette part (though she has an alternate color that rectifies this).
• Everything's Better with Spinning: Every character has at least one or two moves that involve having the player spin their weapon around.
• Evil Laugh: Divada lets out a haughty and triumphant laugh during her Rolling Attack and upon proving victorious over her foe.
• Evil Redhead: Divada, though she's more on the auburn side of things.
• Finishing Move: Weaponlord was the first game that allowed players to chain together finishing moves. This becomes more important in Story Mode, as killing certain people can affect the ending you get, as well as forcing you to fight everyone you spared right before facing Zarak.
• Haunted Castle: Divada lures unsuspecting passers-by into her castle so she can drain them of their vital energies.
• Heavy Mithril: The game's general aesthetic. Everything looks like it stepped off a fantasy-themed heavy metal album cover, and it is awesome.
• The Hedonist: For all the killing that Zorn does, he is noted to enjoy rare treasures and women a lot.
• Horn Attack: Jen-Tai can throw people around using her horned helmet.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Certain attacks known as Take Downs will floor opponents and flip them onto their backs, allowing the attacker to continue thumping the downed fighter.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Talazia, Jen-Tai and Zorn.
• Off with His Head!: When your opponent's health reaches zero it's possible to take their head off with an attack. Continuing to attack the severed head in mid-air can lead to the head bursting open and the brain falling out.
• One Head Taller: Jen-Tai is explicitly stated to be one hand shorter than Zarak (approximately 6'10"), making her also something of a Statuesque Stunner.
• Playing with Fire: Korr, Zorn and Zarak's "Inferno" move.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Korr, Jen-Tai and Zarak. Korr is the leader of his tribe of Tarok, Jen-Tai is an arena queen who fights any challengers, and Zarak is the DemonLord.
• Punch Parry: Seen with thrust blocking, a defensive tool that preceded the similarly-functioning Parry system of Street Fighter III and the repels found in The Last Blade, and supposedly inspired the Guard Impact system of its Spiritual Successor Soul Calibur, though the earlier World Heroes 2 had a form of this present in its gameplay.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The game isn't all that clear on how many words Weaponlord and Demon Lord should be. Expect to see WeaponLord and DemonLord thrown out there a lot.
• Spiders Are Scary: Zarak's armor is a literal spider. It could also qualify as a literal Demonic Spider.
• Spin Attack: Divada can torpedo through the air as a special move. Multiple characters also have the more traditional 360 degrees weapon spin in their movesets, while one of Talazia's specials combines this with Shoryuken.
• Sword Plant: Korr in both of his win poses.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Or axe, in Zorn and Zarak's cases.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: Employed by Zorn.
• Villain Teleportation: Favored by Divada as a special move. It's also how she leaves the battlefield after winning a round, a trait shared with Zarak.
• Wrecked Weapon: Similar to Clothing Damage above, there is also a certain combination that would break the opponent's weapon if they got caught in it. However, all this amounted to was a drastically reduced reach for all attacks.
• You Will Be Spared: A less villainous example: Jen-Tai rarely killed her foes in the arenas, preferring to let them learn so they can face her again. Doing this in Story Mode will force you to face everyone you spared before facing off with the Big Bad.