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You know, I had a thought the other day – what if someone made a “Guilty Gear” slot machine? I mean, sure, the thought seems kind of unlikely, considering the fact that “Guilty Gear” is a very Japanese franchise that is not only developed in the land of the rising sun (where most forms of gambling are illegal), but it’s also got a very traditionally Japanese style inspired by anime and manga of the 90s, as we’ve already discussed in some of my previous posts related to the series. Still, after some thought, I don’t personally think that this is THAT big of a problem, because after all we’ve seen a couple of Japanese products, like “Neon Genesis Evangelion” or the all too famous “Ghost in the Shell” receive their own Western slot adaptations. And that actually got me thinking – what if more fighting games, Western OR Japanese, got the slot treatment? How would that work? Which franchises have the potential for that? So today I’m going to be talking about 3 fighting game franchises (besides “Guilty Gear”) that I think could make great slots!

1. Mortal Kombat

Come on, how can this NOT be number 1? It’s the biggest fighting game franchise in the West, having spawned two movies, a TV show, a webseries, an animated series, an animated movie, a picture book (maybe) and who knows what else! While the series plateaued a bit during the 2000s, it picked up quite a lot of steam with 2011’s reboot, which introduced new audiences to what the old ones loved so much about “Mortal Kombat” – tight 2D combat and gory fatalities! Its sheer popularity, combined with the fact that it’s aiming for an adult audience by default (which, shockingly enough, is the same exact audience that’s also playing online slots), could potentially make it a very successful slots franchise, and it certainly helps that it’s got a TON of very distinct and recognizable characters and settings that a potential slot developer can draw inspiration from.

2. King of Fighters

Okay, I do have to admit that a big part of the reason why “King of Fighters” makes it on here over “Street Fighter” is because, well, for a little while it actually seemed like the developer was perfectly content with letting the fighting game franchise die and resume it in the world of gambling. And sure, that could be a bit drastic, but I think they were on the right track – a slot addition to the main series (which is now going into its 15th entry, damn!) could greatly benefit both franchises. Fans of “King of Fighters” will go and check out the slot, while people who like slots might later decide to play “King of Fighters”, with the characters they’ve gotten to know through the slot. And hey, while I do admit that I’m not the biggest fan of this franchise, it’s pretty bright and colorful and has AWESOME character designs, which, at the end of the day, is exactly what a slot machine needs.

3. Primal Rage

Come on, we both know that’d make an amazing slot. For those of you who don’t know, “Primal Rage” was a series of arcade classics notable for pitting giant beasts against each other, mostly dinosaurs and apes. It’s literally like being a kid and playing with your action figures, except in a fighting game. It’s a fantastic series, and it definitely needs to make a comeback on today’s hardware, but we’re not here to talk about that. Instead, I’d like to take a minute to explain just brilliant a slot based around the concepts of dinosaurs fighting giant apes actually is. Let me put it this way – nobody expects slots to give us the meaning of life. We expect them to entertain, to provide us with a dumb spectacle and to maybe reward our luck from time to time. That’s it. And honestly, I can’t think of anything better to watch on the reels of a slot than a dinosaur fighting a giant ape.

Hello, friends and fans! This site has been buzzing with activity recently, from both me and from you all, which is absolutely amazing! Quite a lot of you have actually contacted me through the big “Contact” button at the top of the page and have sent me messages, which I always appreciate, so keep doing it! I’ve pretty much received two types of messages, overall. One of them asks why, in a site called “Guilty GearDS”, I actually haven’t written anything about Guilty Gear, the DS or Guilty Gear on the DS. The other asks for more articles of the “How To” variety, such as my previous ones on finding a good online casino or finding a good online roulette. I’m happy to say that I’m responding to both requests – I’ve recently written an article about the origins of “Guilty Gear”, and now I’m writing another “How To” article! Aren’t I precious?

Anyway, today I wanted to touch a bit on the various parts which make a slot good. Slots seem to be the most popular casino games, especially online, so I figured they were a good enough place to touch. Naturally, I don’t need to tell you that there’s several things you need to be looking out for when playing slots, but there’s only a few which are the most important ones, and that all depends on whether you want to play a slot for fun or for money. Sadly, I have yet to find a slot offers both in vast quantities – the slots that offer huge payouts and wins rarely have awesome bonus games, and vice versa.

Playing for Money

If you want to play for money, then there are two things you need to look out for – jackpots and RTP. First and foremost, you want to find the slot with the biggest RTP percentage possible. If you don’t know what RTP is, this article gives a very good explanation, so I won’t waste much time here on it. You’re looking for anything above 97%, preferably 98%. Most slots are set to 95% or 96%, so you may have some work ahead of you, but don’t give up! The other thing you need to be looking for is a jackpot, and a huge one at that. We’re looking for a grand jackpot of at least a couple hundred thousand. A great example of a slot you can play for money is “Mega Moolah”, which I believe is currently the slot with the highest jackpot ever (don’t quote me on this, though – values change all the time).

Playing for Fun

Now, this is where it gets, well, fun! The first thing that you should look into are licensed slots, or, in other words, slots based on certain properties. They rely on the appeal of their source material to attract players, so they usually replace the jackpots and high RTPs with awesome bonus games where you replicate things that you’ve seen your favorite characters do. Just pick the slot that you like and play that, and if you don’t like it move on to the next one. Remember that you’re playing for FUN, so the most important thing here is that you leave satisfied! “South Park” is one of my favorite slots, if you’re a fan of the show, but if you’re not then “The Avengers” is pretty solid as well.

“Guilty Gear”, as we all know, is a franchise of fighting games which currently has about 17 games in it, depending on what you count and what you don’t. Minus a 4 year pause between 2008 and 2012 (the reason for which is an entirely different story that I don’t have time to get into here) we’ve been treated to a brand new “Guilty Gear” game, in one form or another, almost every year since 1998! That makes it one of the most lasting, enduring franchises of all, though if you look at the original game you wouldn’t believe it had the potential to start a series! Fighting games were a dime a dozen back in the late 90s, with Capcom absolutely DOMINATING the market with “Marvel Vs. Capcom”, “Rival Schools” and, of course, “Street Fighter”, which at the time was seeing its “Alpha 3” version. Daisuke Ishiwatari and his studio Arc System Works, however, decided to try their hand at something a little bit different. At the time, fighting games were busy trying to imitate one of two games. Japanese developers imitated Capcom’s “Street Fighter” series by making their characters more cartoony, yet still with a realistic look and feel to them despite their aesthetic, while Western developers imitated “Mortal Kombat” and its hyper-realistic and gory visuals. Ishiwatari, on the other hand, decided to see what would happen if they combined these two styles and mixed it in with a heavy dose of shonen manga. The result was “Guilty Gear: The Missing Link”.

Following the tenets left by Capcom, each of the game’s ten selectable fighters were inspired by anime and manga and were appropriately cartoony, but had their own feel and weight to them – you could feel them being really there. Unlike “Capcom” games, though, a lot of them brandished sharp weapons and weren’t afraid to use them! The overall aesthetic was inspired by manga and anime from the time period, and the resemblance is pretty obvious when you compare “The Missing Link” to anime such as “Ghost in the Shell”, “Ninja Scroll” or “Berserk”. The storyline was similarly exaggerated and over the top, little more than an excuse for the fighting to happen, but still pretending to have some sort of message. To put it shortly, in the early 2000s humanity created slaves known as Gears which would do all their chores for them, until the Gears naturally rebelled (as AI tends to do) and fought the humans, resulting in a war where the leader of the Gears, Justice, was imprisoned within a multi-dimensional prison, however that works. A surviving Gear, Testament, decides to resurrect Justice, which is why a tournament is held to discover the strongest person in the world who would be worthy of fighting Testament and Justice. Why they don’t just take all contestants and send them off against Justice I’ll never know, but hey, most videogames of that era didn’t have a particularly good storyline (“Metal Gear Solid” was the exception, not the rule).

I suppose I don’t need to tell you that that the game was a resounding success, with a ranking of 8/10 across the board (which was better than your typical fighting game at the time) and with reviewers calling it the best fighting game on the PS1, which is saying something considering most of Capcom’s fighters were for the PS1! The rest, as they say, is history!

888 Holdings have recently been granted the gambling licenses to offer their casino, sport and poker products in Denmark and Romania.

The Danish and Romanian players now have the chance to enjoy the secure, licensed and regulated online gambling products offered by 888 Holdings Plc. The company’s recent press release in the beginning of the month announced the launch of 888Casino, 888Poker and 888Sport in the newly regulated Romanian market and that this will be followed by another launch of their products in Denmark.

Chief operating officer Itai Frieberger was cited by iGamingBusiness in saying: ‘Thanks to the hard work of our team and the regulators involved, we are excited to offer our entertaining, secure and trusted gaming brands to players from Romania and Denmark. Launching in two regulated markets concurrently is another testimony of our ability to leverage our regulated technology and know-how in delivering our market-leading products’. ‘We are proud to offer the 888 marquee brands in these markets, reaffirming our strategy to become a dominant operator in global gaming regulations’, he added.

888 is a leading online gaming destinations and solutions provider that now offers its services in 19 languages in over 150 countries. Although their casino product includes titles from numerous other providers, such as NetEnt and Evoltuion Gaming, their main collection of games are powered by their own proprietary, Dragonfish. Titles like Millionaire Genie and Crazy Blackjack are a trademark of 888’s commitment to their users to offer a unique gaming experience. The same thing can be said about their bingo product, which is currently one of the most popular, especially in the United Kingdom.

888 Holdings was founded almost 20 years ago, in 1997 and has continue to enrich its products, thus accumulating over 25 million users on their online casino platform alone. Moreover, 888 is listed on the London Stock Exchange and its share are currently at trading at 168.00p.