Estrela Preta

What Estrela Preta is

Estrela Preta (Portuguese for Black Star) is a one-on-one fighting game in the style of the arcade fighters of the 1990s. Two fighters face off across a scrolling stage, each with a health bar and a clock counting down, and the first to win two rounds takes the match.

Every fighter is our own, with the hit boxes worked out frame by frame the way the arcade games did it. Curinga, Saci and Mestre Morcego are painted in an anime style and rigged like cut-out puppets. Curinga is a street acrobat from Washington, DC who walks on his hands, flips backwards into a kick and throws a ball of lightning off his foot. Saci is a bouncy capoeirista. Watch out for those long legs! He is slower than Curinga, but he has a huge jump, a sweep along the floor, a hip toss and a side kick that sends people flying. Mestre Morcego, from Jamaica, runs the academy. He is the strongest and fastest fighter in the tournament, and his Galo punch drives straight through a guard. The main stage is Academia Estrela Preta, the capoeira school that hosts the tournament, painted by the club.

Each fighter has a forward special (a ball of lightning, a side kick or a lunging punch), a rising attack that beats jump-ins, a rushing attack and a super move. Specials are done with stick motions, like down, down-forward, forward and punch, and normal attacks can be cancelled into specials for combos. Landing hits fills the star meter at the bottom of the screen; when it says MAX, punch and kick together throws the Estrela Preta, a spinning black star.

Arcade mode is a ladder against the computer on easy, normal or hard. Two players can fight each other on one keyboard or with game controllers, and training mode gives you a partner who stands still, heals and lets you practise with a full meter.

Screenshots

How to play

1. Pick Arcade, 2 Players or Training on the title screen, then choose your fighter.
2. Walk with left and right, jump with up and crouch with down. Hold away from your opponent to block.
3. Block high attacks standing and low sweeps crouching. Jumping attacks have to be blocked standing.
4. Use the special moves: down, down-forward, forward and punch for the forward special (Saci uses kick); forward, down, down-forward and punch for the rising attack; down, down-back, back and kick for the rush.
5. Fill the star meter by fighting, then press punch and kick together for the super.
6. Stand right next to your opponent and press forward or back with punch to throw them.
7. Knock out your opponent or have more health when the clock runs out to win the round. Two rounds win the match.

Controls

On a phone or tablet: On a phone or tablet a stick and punch, kick and super buttons appear under the game. Drag the stick for moves and special motions. Tap menu items and fighters to pick them.

Tips

• The rising attack is invincible as it starts, which makes it the answer to an opponent jumping at you.
• Projectiles cancel each other out, so a well-timed one of your own stops theirs. The black star beats everything.
• A standing punch can be cancelled into a special if it connects: punch, then quickly do the projectile motion.
• Crouching kick is a sweep that knocks down, but it is slow to recover if blocked.
• Curinga is fast and light. His backflip kick stops jump-ins and his lightning kicks push opponents into the corner.
• Saci has no projectile, so close the distance with his huge jump, then mix up his sweeping Rasteira, which must be blocked low, with a throw.
• Throws cannot be blocked, which makes them the answer to an opponent who just holds back.

Questions

More games

• Fleeced! — Run a prison bakery staffed by sheep, and find out who the business really pays.
• ROC City — Shake down Rochester, open the rackets and take the city from the East Side crew.
• Hell's Kitchen — Eight chefs, one kitchen, and only one of them is walking out.
• See all games