Who would think of such a thing?
We first learned of this game in the Fresh News section of the fantastic Komoda & Amiga Magazine that we recently reviewed. But the development story is even more interesting. The developer, TheRyk has been doing an amazing job in recent years developing a whole host of games and organizing events. TheRyk was out on a late-night karaoke tour after a scene party, found an IK+ disk in his computer the next day, so decided to write a tribute game. There is already an International Karaoke game, so TheRyk jokingly created FIST, the First International Singalong Tournament. FIST was released at Bunkerparty 2017.
Gameplay
The game opens with two Karate combatants engaged in competitive Karaoke singalong, ending with one combatant knocked out. Now that is competitive singing; Microphone Drop! From then on in, the graphics are purely utilitarian and a reminder that this is a singalong contest, not a graphics demo.
There is a menu system to select one of the 17 songs in the tournament. On first play, most people seem to start at the top and do each song in order. Then you go back and replay the best ones. The menu also has some nice melodies to keep you in the mood.
Importantly, the song selections are awesome. Instead of writing his own songs, TheRyk delved into the rich collection of SID music that already exists and appears to have picked the best of the best. Adding song lyrics to the singalong music rounds out this release. All you will need to bring is your air-microphone and a well lubricated larynx.
You will eventually have the desire to call an early exit to a song and lung for the escape key. Only you will not find it. TheRyk says that he simply forgot to add an escape key. We think that this is a tournament and competition rules count. You can't back out of a competition midway through. It is just not the done thing. Besides, the songs are simply too entertaining to give up on.
System Requirements
A standard Commodore C64 or decent emulation is all that is needed to work. Selection of the songs is done through a joystick. FIST plays well on TheC64 which is my usual daily driver. I recommend playing the music through a reasonably loud stereo system. TV speakers tend to be too screechy to enjoy karaoke to. We are dreaming of playing FIST on the SONY Muteki Karaoke party speaker.
Verdict
Overall I give this release 4x angry aliens for its playability and fun factor.
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