Power Stone

[Giza]

Power stone was a fully 3D fighting game series developed by Capcom for arcades, Sega Dreamcast and later for the Playstation portable. The games allowed the players to move freely in a variety of maps with the ability to use items and their surroundings to crush their opponent. A key component of the fights were the power stones. The power stones would appear on the maps and once a player picked up 3 that player's character would transform and become much powerful for a duration. When they used abilities or were damaged in this form they would lose some of the duration.

Though Power stone did become fairly popular and continues to have a cult following I do not think that many people have taken it seriously. There were 2 power stone games. The first was a typical 2 player fighting game but set in a 3D environment with a variety of items. The second had up to 4 players and a larger amount of items that stated out on the field for long and had more of an influence over the battles as they were low risk high reward. The first Power Stone game actually had quite a bit of character diversity and the gameplay is actually a lot deeper than at first glance. I have known people who played the game for years and never knew the game had a dizzy system.

I played the games since 2001 and instantly loved them. I would play it for hours with friends and never got bored. However, as time passed I stopped playing the games. I returned to them recently and found that I could not enjoy power stone 2 and I think a lot of people who do just like it due to nostalgia. However, when I started playing the original Power Stone again I realized it was much better than I remembered. I started up a group of fairly competitive minded players and got to work on trying to understand the mechanics better. Recently we had a get together and had a series of money matches. One of them was a first to 10 set, seen below;

Anyone else have any fond memories of this game?

Edited March 19, 2012 by Giza

[Scott]

My friend had this on his PSP and loved it and all over the web, I've seen quite a bit of demand for this on XBLA/PSN so it MUST be popular.

Not big on Fighting games beyond Mortal Kombat and Smash Bros though.

[MykonosFan]

Always had the Dreamcast Generator demo where you could play as two characters and fight in the London-esque environment, or in the Log House/Sawmill place..

And I played that demo to death. So much fun. I wish I could track down a copy without resorting to paying a pretty penny on eBay, but alas, I think I'm going to just have to bite the bullet someday.

[Giza]

I love that demo. Gunrock and Falcon were very good choices for a demo.

[Silverfang]

Oh man, powerstone was AWESOME! I remember me and my cousin playing the demo to death when we were little. We were always switching from sonic adventure to this back in the dreamcast days along with crazy taxi. One day my dad decided to buy the full game and me and my older cousin was on that game the entire day. I kinda wish they would make another PS with this generations technology, I'd love to see how that would turn out.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Silverfang

[Gregzilla]

Haven't played the first one, but I nabbed the second one off eBay about two years ago. Love it! It has a simple appeal similar to Super Smash Bros., in that the fighting is very easy to learn and makes for some crazy, weapon-wielding, stage-smashing fun. I always thought those kinds of fighting games were more enjoyable (and, dare I say, BETTER) than the typical "put this ridiculous combination in to do this move and then memorize 20 more characters' movesets" style of fighter. Those get way too complicated, and I'm not sure how others feel, but I think that it's actually a flaw, not a good design choice. I much prefer SSBB and Power Stone style fighters.

And out of all the Capcom franchises that I've become familiar with, I think this one is the most deserving of a comeback. Think about it, Power Stone with HD visuals, online multiplayer, more characters, a story mode for these characters, more boss fights, more stages, HNNNGH. Power Stone 3 HAS to happen. Capcom, give Street Fighter and Resident Evil a rest and make it so.

[OlenJimi]

I had them both at some point. I remember liking 2 better because it had 4 players at the same time. I could try them again.

[Tracker_TD]

Oh hey, I have this game on DC! T'is quite fun, with how it's set up, and how the gameplay sets it apart from other fighters.

[Eternal EX]

Power Stone 3 HAS to happen. Capcom, give Street Fighter and Resident Evil a rest and make it so.

[YoshiUnity]

Hey, Giza. Where you peeking in my thoughts today or something? Because I was JUST thinking about this game some hours back - watching videos on Youtube and wishing more people would talk about this game. - when all of a sudden, a topic is made! No complaint to be had here, mind you. Because I freaking LOVED this game.

I mean, what we had here was a XYZ-axis Super Smash Bros that used stamina. While not everyone will take that as a compliment - AND I DON'T GIVE A FU- I only mean that it was an awesome fighting that was so simple, yet insanely deep and fun at the same time. I can even begin to mention the hours I put into this series.

My favorite, without a doubt was Power Stone 2. Adding four player combat and the moveable stages only added to the choas. And what chaos it was. The items were plentiful from freaking toys to lethal aterillery, and all where effective in some safe or form. I use to go for the power pole (yeah, I'm calling it that) and the guns and turrets.

The evironments where great, but the mobile ones are what made the game more hectic. The Dark Castle, Icebreg and Bule Sky arenas were my favorites.

As for characters. My top 4 was Pete, Accel, Jack and Gourmand. Pete was my top dog, while not the strongest nor anywhere near a endurance character, he had speed and more specials to work with. Plus, I just like it that I was beating people up with a living non-threatening looking toy.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Judge Jury YoshiUnity

[Swiss]

I've never played either one, but have always wanted to! Would you say it's worth getting both for Dreamcast or just the second?

[Giza]

I would love there to be a Power Stone 3 with the amount of items as 2. I would also like there to be stages that are only available depending on the number of players except when you have special options.

I enjoyed the moving stages quite a bit in Power stone 2, but I still can't like the game better than Power stone 1. Power stone 2 is just way too slow for me to play. Beyond that the vast majority of the people I tried to introduce it to that never owned a dreamcast wouldn't stand the game. I've had a much easier time setting up a group of people to play Power stone 1 with. I liked the faster gameplay and tougher decision making that was involved in it. I felt that it had a lot more character diversity than Power stone 2 as well. Whenever I play Power stone 2 I feel like I am playing the same character because the fighting is so reliant on the stage and items. Though I guess the transformations make a huge difference in Power stone 2. Gourmand transformation was a little overpowered.

I would recommended getting both. If you can only get one of them I would recommend the original unless you have a bunch of mates to play with.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Giza

[Swiss]

My main reason for wanting to play is the 4-player brawling, but if there's a good single-player experience in both then I'll grab the two!

[Conando]

The arcade modes in each game are pretty neat, and have some unique bosses. In Power Stone 2, you can even co-op arcade with a friend. What I really liked about 2 was the item creation in the store, and the ability to set custom items to your VMU, and only you could open the VMU Item boxes that spawned.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Crow T. Robot

[Swiss]

Well, I just picked up the first one with Crazy Taxi and Soul Caliber for the bargain price of £16.99! The second one seems to be more expensive than all of these items put together, however. I'm guessing it's quite a rare DC game?

[Silencer226]

Awww... thought this topic was gonna be either:

A) A PSN/XBLA/Steam release

or

B ) Remake

I am sad, I had a blast playing that game with my cousin... now it's a distant memory.

Edit: Well boys, I'm off to find myself a Dreamcast.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Silencer(Tsundere Edition)

[Giza]

Geez I wish it was a remake or PSN/XBLA/Steam release. It is a shame that Capcom seems to have completely abandoned the series. They haven't even referenced it in any games recently like it used to be. I was hoping they would have a few of the characters appear in the background on a stage or character endings in MvC3 but I guess I was being too hopeful.

[expansivelovestories]

I had been considering a Power Stone Appreciation topic, but sensed there must be one already and here it is!!

As so much has already been written by everyone above i will just mention one of the main ideas that I wanted to mention in my topic:

There are combos in Power Stone (1) that are simply not listed in the manuals!!  There is a gamefaqs document from decades ago that mapped them all out but did not describe what each one was. 

This is it, it is not unbiased as a guide, some interpretations of the characters' viability in particular are puzzling, but it does provide what seems to be the complete list of combos for each character!!!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/dreamcast/198332-power-stone/faqs/7589

I think that eventually this topic will have a descriptive list of them!  For now it can be mentioned that, some of them do basically have special moves within them, a few of them are more visual in simply presenting a different movement of the character.   If you enjoy the game and have not used these before they will feel very literally game changing!!

In general, although a new Power Stone has not happened since the time that this topic was created, it feels more possible than ever before.  It could happen in a few years for the 20th anniversary of Power Stone 2!!  Hopefully it would bring back many of the attributes of the original Power Stone.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Never played Power Stone, mostly since I'm not a huge fan of fighting games, but I did watch the anime series. Totally dig the character designs, too. Would love to see this series get another entry.

[Cayenne]

Something interesting for Power Stone fans from this Devil May Cry 5 interview...

https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/23/devil-may-cry-5-hands-on-preview-and-interview-we-wanna-make-a-game-that-has-a-real-hard-focus-on-action-7873558/amp/

Quote

GC: [laughs] That is a great answer. I’m out of time now but I must ask you about one of my favourite games ever, that you were director on… Power Stone!

MW: Power Stone!

GC: Every single year I ask Capcom’s UK PR about it at E3, to see if there’s someone I can talk to about it.

PR woman: He does.

HI: I came to Power Stone 1 in the later part of development.

GC: But it never shows up in anything. I love the gameplay, I love the character designs. But it’s never in Marvel Vs. Capcom, it’s never in the Project X Zone games…

HI: I thought maybe it’s an IP thing, maybe there’s similar IP that’s older that has those characters? But nope, that’s not the case!

GC: It almost feels personal! Is there any chance of a remaster or a sequel?

HI: [laughs]

GC: [Itsuno-san begins to answer and we stop him when we hear the word ‘PSP’] The PSP was the worst format possible for that kind of game. No wonder it flopped on that!

Thank god, someone finally said it. Power Stone Collection is of the most disgusting ports I've ever played. The games have horrible, pixelated textures, terrible performance and resolution.

Quote

HI: [laughs] Yeah, we haven’t see anything since then, right?

GC: Does the topic ever come up at Capcom at all?

HI: I loved the anime too!

GC: When you go back to Japan just tell them that every Western journalist you spoke to was asking about more Power Stone, everyone!

All: [laughs]

MO: We’ll go back and we’ll tell people that, sure. You know what we should do, we should make like a massively online Power Stone!

GC: Oh, be still my beating heart!

All: [laughs]

GC: Okay, sorry I’m keeping you back. But thanks very much, it’s been great to talk to you.

MW: Thanks a lot, man.

HI: [in English] Thank you very much.

MO: [in English] Thank you.

While I don't like the Massively Online idea, I will cross my fingers for anything related to Power Stone.

[shdowhunt60]

I haven't played Power Stone for over a decade and I would absolutely be behind some sort of revival for the series. Its such a shame that a pair of fantastic games have never gotten the attention that they deserve.

[expansivelovestories]

!!  That is a very surprising and encouraging interview excerpt!  I think it says something that the publication was given the OK to include all of that!

Maybe CAPCOM has been observing both Overwatch as a phenomenon, and the continued enthusiasm for Smash Bros and realized that they have a chance to make a combination of both within their reach!

Perhaps they would allow the number of fighters per room to be set by the host.  If it somehow would be an open world; it could be very exciting to include new abilities from Power Fusion that would allow very fast travel over or through the landscapes! 

[expansivelovestories]

Here is a Power Stone tournament video from a Dreamcast 19th anniversary gathering!!

What I didn't realize coming back here to post this due to it initally already being a topic from before I joined the board, is, (I think at least, due to having the same name), Giza, the originator of this thread is featured very prominently within!!