Preposterous battles with potentially hilarious results. Superfight provides a laissez-faire framework for unlimited “choose your own adventure” style scenarios. The mileage you get out of this game very much depends on who you play with. Best enjoyed with a group of at least 3 people who love to argue.
Superfight
Publisher: Skybound Games
Price: $15 – $30
MonsterVine was provided with a copy of the game for review
Do you want to argue over the outcome of a fight between Limp Bizkit armed with a blunderbuss, flying the Wright Brothers’ first plane, and Julius Caesar armed with a Bronze Era weapon of your choice, leading the Proletariat Revolution during The Great Depression at Disneyland? Well, that is definitely a possibility with Superfight! The core action of this game consists of the players creating fighters from a hand of cards, then arguing about who would win with plenty of hilarity (hopefully) ensuing. Your objective is to convince the neutral referee player that your fighter is the best equipped to seize the day. According to the sparse rules, there isn’t a set ending to the game, so whoever won the most battles when everyone is finished playing is considered the winner.
Superfight is a very lightweight game consisting of a deck of cards. From cellophane to playing your first hand takes about 10 minutes. There are four types of cards in a standard set; blue setting cards, purple scenario cards, white character cards, and black equipment/ability cards. The referee starts off by creating an opponent. This is the enemy the players must design their fighters to defeat. Players then draw their hands, set down the scenario/setting cards (if you feel like it), then start creating their fighter by choosing a character and an ability/weapon. Not all weapons/abilities are good and after players have built their fighters their opponents will give out one additional, potentially detrimental, black card that must be used. Once this is complete it’s off to arguing over who would reign supreme and that’s about all you need to know to get started. The game can be modified as you see fit, adding or removing expansion modules as desired. Superfight offers a dearth of expansions, allowing you to tailor the experience to your personal proclivities, or even add in different types of colored cards to increase your options for customization.
While Superfight is super easy to learn and set up, I can see its un-opinionated design being a source of contention for some gamers. While playing a game there were several occasions where a player would go uncontested because they had drawn an overpowered hand. The match-ups were so one-sided that any need for arguing the outcome was irrelevant. For instance, do we really need to consider the outcome of a fight between Duke Nukem riding on Falcor from The Neverending Story, armed with the Noisy Cricket from Men in Black versus Joan of Arc armed with the Spear of Destiny, and suffering from Trench Foot? This can completely negate the crux of the game’s action and lead to some pretty dull arguments. Even so, disputatious individuals will always find a way to challenge any outcome, which is why I can see this game being very appealing to certain kinds of gamers. The game sort of provides a quick, one-size-fits-all fix for this and any other problems you might encounter by suggesting you simply “remove any cards you don’t want to play with from the deck”. Personally, I would rather see some kind of balancing mechanic added to the game, but stuffy old rules seem to be against the spirit of Superfight.
The Final Word:
Quick to learn, quick to play, and easy to set up this game is great for casual game sessions. While balance issues may rear their ugly heads, the fast and loose attitude toward the rules allow you to change them on the fly and play however you want. The belligerent nature of this game will be best enjoyed by people that can have a good time while arguing. Get mad at your friends and argue for several hilarious hours or get mad at your friends and flip the table in fifteen minutes, you decide!
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
