Two rare items related to the 1991 fighting game Pit-Fighter, which was originally developed by Atari and then later published by Tengen for use on home video game systems:
Rare NSTC region Sega Genesis prototype cartridge for Pit-Fighter, 4.25″ x 2.75″ x .5″, with typed label caption to front reading: “PIT-FIGHTERtm, GENESIS, tm Atari Games Corp., (c) 1991 Tengen Inc.” This cartridge has been sourced directly from the family of industry veteran, Jim Kurland, the first editor of Sega Visions magazine. This cartridge was an essential tool that would have been used for development, production, demo, and/or marketing purposes. The cartridge has been tested and confirmed to be working.
Sealed copy of Pit-Fighter for Sega Genesis, 5″ x 7″ x 1″, with the box front depicting four characters from the game, and the back featuring a game summary, four screen images of gameplay, and bold banner text: “Digitized Graphics of Live Action for Super Realistic Hand-to-Hand Combat!” Encapsulated in a Wata certification holder with a “9.2” grade and an “A” seal rating, with label details: “*Clamshell, Made in Japan, No Rating, No 8 Meg logo.” This offered Pit-Fighter video game is the first and only example present on Wata’s Sega Genesis population report.
Despite its subpar reviews, Pit-Fighter remains an influential creation in the long history of fighting games due to its innovative use of digitized actors, a design that inspired other popular fighting games, namely Mortal Kombat.
