Sinful City

Sinful City is a Japanese fighting game developed by and published by  on June 8, 2008. The game was originally a exclusive, but due to good sales, it was later ported to PC and released on. The overwhelming and unexpected success of the series eventually spawned a series of games.

Gameplay
Like Arc System Works' other games, Sinful City is a 2D fighter. Fights are split into three timed rounds, with a "best two out of three" system placed in. In order to win a round, the player must either reduce their opponent's health to zero or have more health than them by the end of the round. Every character in the game has a very light, light, hard, and very hard attack, with light attacks being faster but doing less damage while hard attacks are slower but do more damage. Players can also block in-coming attacks, though if they are hit enough times then their block will break, stunning their character and allowing the opponent to attack them. By combining light and hard attacks in a certain order, characters will perform special moves which are unique to them. It is not possible to spam special attacks, as characters will always perform a "cool down" animation after performing a special attack, allowing the opponent a chance to attack them.

To further prevent spamming of attacks (special or otherwise), it is also possible to "perfect block" and opponent, which is performed when the player blocks at the exact moment an attack had landed. After a perfect block, the player character will grapple the opponent and toss them to the ground, stunning them for a moment in the process. With every successfully blocked attack, a bar in the bottom corner of the screen (referred to as the "Ultimate Bar") will slowly build up. If the player manages to get it full, they may then perform an Ultimate Attack by pressing another button that doesn't trigger the light or hard attacks. However, players are encouraged to save their Ultimates, as depending on how full the Ultimate Bar is the attack will last longer and do more damage against opponents. Ultimates take the form of short cutscenes that show the player character performing the attack.

Plot
The setting of Sinful City is based heavily on 1920s-40s America, though it is actually set in a dystopian future. In this future, the only city left in the United States is one whose name the citizens have forgotten, referring to it instead by the nickname "The Sinful City", due to its high crime rates, crippled economy, and horrifying government. All of these things can be linked to an event called "The Incident", where a mysterious bright light engulfed the entire US, destroying the cities and forcing the ruling body, a mysterious governor, to crack down on security in the city, building an army of robotic policemen that protect the city while also keeping himself and other influential people safe by creating a higher-class part of the city separated from the rest where "people of interest" are kept (CEOs, nobles, the rich in general, etc). However, the bizarre nature of the city combined with a mysterious energy emanating from it often draw forces to it, whether scientific, magical, or otherwise, for their own personal reasons. The game's various story modes follow both outsiders travelling to the city and city-goers uncovering the secrets of the place they call home.

Characters
Playable Non-Playable
 * U.S.A., the main protagonist of the game and the protagonist of most of its sequels. Uriah Samuel Armstrong is a travelling trucker from unknown parts who traveled to the Sinful City in search for his missing sister. While there, he uncovers the truth about his mysterious past.
 * Giovanni, the son of the biggest crime lord in the city and is constantly in his father's shadow. He and the rest of his family have the mystic ability to turn their own emotions into physical energy, with Giovanni specializing in manipulating his own malice.
 * Satsuki, the last person alive who trains in the "Path of the Open Palm" martial art technique. She has traveled to the Sinful City in search of a strong husband to have children and keep her art alive.
 * Akuma Kuma, a professional wrestler living in the Sinful City who always wears a cloak and mask designed to look like a bear. While attempting to entertain his fans, he is accidentally dragged into the greater secrets and conspiracies of the city.
 * Sammy & Yarum, a man and a demon who is stuck to him. Sammy is a feminine-looking man who forcibly had the demon Yarum attached to him when he was young. Now an adult, the two travel to the city in search of a way to separating from each other.
 * Justice, a mysterious vigilante in a completely black outfit who has made it his mission to battle the criminals of the Sinful City. However, he is also hunted by police for these actions.
 * Ashley, an android and the second in command of the Governor. She does her best to keep the city running, but things have gotten increasingly more chaotic under her watch. Now, under threat of destruction, she does her best to keep order in the city.
 * Scarlet Remy, a former mob enforcer working for the Baldini Mob who has developed a mysterious disease that is slowly mutating his body. Now, he spends his time burglarizing and murdering his way to a cure.
 * 5-Alive, an android created as a member of the "Coppers", a series of robotic police officers. After a failed case, he has begun questioning his role in the world, which has caused stress among his superiors and peers.
 * Specter, an amnesiac ghost woman who suddenly manifest in the slums of the Sinful City and is on a quest to find out who she was before her death and, eventually, to figure out who murdered her.
 * Wendy, the heiress of the Green Family, owners of several energy companies, who goes out into the wider city in search for her long lost father.
 * Enoch, an occultist obsessed with demonic rituals who traveled to the city in search of new forms of power, though this causes him to clash with many of the more lawful forces of the city.
 * Clergy Jed, a follower of the Vindication Church and a member of its "Clergy of Fists", who finds himself trapped in the middle of a war between his church and the supernatural forces of the city.
 * Dummy, a secret character. Originally a simple android the player beat up in Training Mode, Dummy realized how poorly his android brethren were being treated and set out on a quest to liberate his people.
 * Bobby Bluesky, a young, upcoming superstar in the game Blast Ball, which is similar to European football but played with a bomb in place of a ball. Just before a big game, his teammates suddenly disappear and he sets out to find them.
 * Doctor Khan, a scientist working for the company OverCorp who helped in the creation of Adam. After many years, he has decided to come forward about the truth, which has made him public enemy number one for the company.
 * Ingrid, an orphaned teenage girl whose father was murdered in front of her at a young age. Believing her father's killer to be located in the Sinful City, she travels to it on a quest for revenge.
 * Nobody, a bizarre Frankenstein-esque creation with a mix of human and animal parts across his body. After being released from a stasis pot, he sets out on a morally questionable quest to murder his own creator.
 * Adam (DLC), the central antagonist of the game. They are an artificial god created by the blending of magic and technology. They are also the one responsible for The Incident. In the base game, they are a non-playable boss character.
 * Ozymandias Kincaid (DLC), also called Ozzie, he is the secondary antagonist of the game and the CEO of the company OverCorp. His father was responsible for the creation of Adam and ever since witnessing it as a child, he has been driven mad with a want for power and influence. In the base game, he serves as a boss character, but he was later made playable via DLC.
 * The Governor, the main antagonist of the game and the final boss of the game's "Endgame" story. Most of the events of the game can be linked back to him, which makes him the primary target for many characters. He is also a cyborg with a skeleton of steel and oil instead of blood.

Reception
After its announcement, fighting game fans looked forward to the release due to Arc System Works' reputation in the community. However, outsiders were skeptical, claiming that the gameplay looked simplistic in comparison to its competitors. However, upon its release, it received overwhelming praise from critics, claiming that the fast paced nature of the game and its fun game modes and compelling story more than made up for what seemed like an overly simple combat system. However, the game did not sell very well in Japan, its native country, though it made up for it in the Western market, which kick-started a trend of the games being more favored by the west than the east.