Ohhhhh yessssss, this is a good one.
The Def Jam series debuted in 2003 with Vendetta, a pro-wrestling inspired brawler that incorporated actual rappers as playable characters. Its sequel, Fight for N.Y., expanded on and improved the format in a number of ways – in particular, it added more variety to the game’s fighting styles, added more characters, and included a large and ridiculous story mode. Like its predecessor, Fight for N.Y. includes a bunch of rappers, including Ludacris, Xzibit, and Method Man.
This game came out during the brief period in which I worked for GameStop – a time that also brought such classics as GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, and Burnout 3: Takedown. Ah, memories.
The game’s story mode begins with you creating a character by way of “describing” him to a police sketch artist. Naturally, I tried to make him as realistic as possible:
From there, I was introduced to the game’s characters, bought a fancy outfit, and – of course – got into a few fights.
Gameplay-wise, Def Jam borrows a lot from the AKI/“Fire Pro” wrestling series, which was also used in the better N64 wrestling titles like WWF No Mercy. Essentially, grappling and momentum each play a big part in your success – weakening an opponent opens them up for a finishing move, while failing to land successive hits can greatly help an opponent make his way back into a match. With enough hits and momentum, you can activate the rather “Blazin’” status:
From there, your abilities are enhanced about how you’d expect. If you’re used to more standard fighting games (like me), the mechanics can take some serious getting used to. It’s fun, though – after winning a few fights, you can start powering up your character with the help of your faithful trainer, Henry Freaking Rollins:
Cool. The game also incorporates some environmental effects – crowd members will occasionally hold a player down or provide them with a weapon of some type, all of which can help turn the tide of the match.
The game’s story is, as you’d expect, pretty ridiculous. In general, you largely just win fights, gain new allies and love interests, and work your way to the top of the underground fighitng word. Its main villain, Crow, is played by Snoop Dogg and has a group of henchmen that includes Magic (played by Busta Rhymes) and Danny Trejo (who just plays himself, because of course he does). The matches get increasingly wild and impactful, and culminates with a final showdown against Crow himself (the pic below is shamelessly unrelated to that).
Def Jam: Fight for N.Y. is likely the best in the series, and is a very unique take on the fighting/wrestling genre. If you’re a fan of wrestling games and/or hip hop, it’s likely a must-own. Even if not, it’s arguably worth a look as a modern cult classic. It’s available on all sixth-gen platforms (Xbox/PS2/GameCube), though it’s a bit pricier than a lot of other games from that era due to its cult-ish status. It’s especially expensive on the PS2 for some reason, with complete copies going for over $60. If you have a choice, the Xbox version is by far the cheapest.
Next week’s game is a remarkable and truly unique 32-bit classic. I’m really, really excited to be talking about it. See you then!