I played Gen'ei Tougi — Shadow Struggle, and I Don't Know What to Think

This is gonna be a short one, kind of like my experience with the game.

Gen'ei Tougi: Shadow Struggle is a fairly early 3D fighter (20 September 1996) for the PS1. Developed by Racjin (or Racdym at the time; they changed their name to make it easier to pronounce), it features a rocking soundtrack and several playable characters from different countries fighting in a tournament - standard fighting game stuff.

This comes at kind of an interesting point in time where most of the design language of 3D fighters was codified, seeing as Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter 3 were out. Your buttons are slow as to make animations be readable, and low attacks are few and far between. However, sidesteps were certainly not standard practice yet, so Gen'ei Tougi has none. The result is a game with a bit of a weird feel compounded by unique design choices, such as "tap" and "hold" directional normals; pressing Forward + Punch quickly gives you something different from holding Forward for a moment and then pressing Punch. No double-tap attacks, and no running.

Gen'ei Tougi is a four-button game, and blocking is not one of them. You block by holding back just like a 2D fighter, though it's certainly working in 3D, as certain moves will gladly turn you off-axis. Instead, the button layout is: Punch (Triangle), Kick (Circle), Special (Square), and Hyper Mode (X). This game has a Special move button (and special cancels!) but this actually requires you to do Mortal-Kombat-style motions like Back, Forward or Down, Forward + Special. In keeping with 3D design conventions, though, not one special is a projectile.

Finally, there's the Hyper Mode. You might've already guessed, but when you build up your meter, you can activate a custom-combo mode where attacks can be canceled into other attacks. However, using a Special during Hyper Mode will end the state early, albeit doing extra damage. That last bit is the kicker, giving characters access to practical Touch of Death combos that consist of looping one or two buttons (often a 6P or 4K) into a special cancel as late as you can manage. For example, the main character, Kei, can cancel 2K into 4K loops and cancel into 2,6+S, his Rapid Uppercuts, for a kill.

it really is like this

[image or embed]

— PolarBair (@polarbair.neocities.org) Feb 23, 2026 at 10:38 p.m.

With no other ways to spend meter, and fairly fast meter build that applies for both players on hit, the defender on block, and extra for using a special move, you are inevitably going to find yourself with the threat of Hyper Mode in Round 2. And with no ways to play a proactive defense - nothing seems to be invincible, and you have no such Guard Cancel option - It really is just block and hope they waste their custom combo.

Except certain characters, namely Kei and the bosses Berserker, Marry, and Hagane have overheads which don't knock down, making their custom combo much scarier to deal with than everyone else's.

All in all, it's a genuinely cool game, but once you learn that custom combos boil down to looping your strongest button over and over, that's kind of it. That said, there is an extra Arena mode where you work your way up and unlock specials. And if you want to just appreciate the character designs and story, you can!

There's even an English translation patch provided by Hilltop Works on their Patreon. Download it here.