When DreamFactory released Tobal No. 1, many North American gamers likely bought it for the Final Fantasy VII sampler CD included with this strange-looking 3D fighter. Why the hell was Square putting out a fighting game, and who the hell was DreamFactory? Well, let’s get into it. It’s a pretty cool story. With some real major players.

DreamFactory was established as a subsidiary of Square with the exact goal of producing Square’s first 3D fighter. They weren’t going to do this with their current in-house developers, so they went out looking for the best. What they ended up with was 17 staff members who came from other companies who were unhappy with the current state of 3D fighting games. The company was led by Seiichi Ishii, who was also the director of Tobal No. 1, and had an excellent resume, including work on Virtua Fighter and the first two Tekken games. The main programmer and co-designer was Toru Ikebuchi, another Virtua Fighter alum who programmed the first two games and would later return to Sega to direct Virtua Fighter 4. Hitoshi Matsuda did the motion design, coming over from Namco, having previously done motion design work on Tekken 1 and 2. Clearly, the team was built with talent to get the job done.

DreamFactory wanted to achieve full 360-degree movement to create a dynamic fighting game. Players weren’t locked into 2D planes like they were in other 3D fighters of the time. Sure, those games allowed you to side-step around, but the Tekken games had “infinite” stages, and Virtua Fighter stages were simple and small. In Tobal No. 1, players could move around the stage, omit blocking and step around their opponent to counter their moves, and jump over low attacks. Players still needed to mind their step, as ring outs would end their round instantly.  It ran smoothly at 60 frames per second and felt solid to control. Visually, the characters looked a bit dated without fully textured polygons, but overall, Akira Toriyama’s character designs looked great. That’s right, Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest fame helped design the plot and the original characters in this game.

The thing Tobal No. 1 did that was truly unique was the Quest Mode. In this mode, the camera pulled back, and you controlled your chosen fighter through a multi-floor dungeon filled with potions, items, traps, enemies, and other surprises. You could improve your strength and defense to increase your chances of making it through to the end alive. This was a full-on RPG-inspired quest that was really cool to see. There were drawbacks in some of the controls with the platforming sections, but with unlockable characters and multiple stages, there was quite a lot here, and it was quite unexpected.   

Overall, there was a lot of promise, but it didn’t fully deliver and execute on making the greatest 3D fighter of the era. There was a strong foundation here, and with some retooling and refinement, there could be a really rad game with this focus on freedom of movement and quest modes.

After Tobal No. 1, DreamFactory went straight to work on Tobal 2. The goal was to refine and expand the game to address the first game's issues. Visually, the characters’ polygons had more shading and detail, though this was more of a technical trick and not fully texture-mapped models. The game engine uses the same freedom-of-movement controls, with players still locked facing each other but able to move in 3D to find the right position in battle. Players had access to the same three attack buttons for specialized combos, and each character also had an unblockable projectile or fireball attack. There was a return of the standard tournament mode, where you fought stage by stage until you reached the end boss battle, which is a pretty standard mode for a game like this. There was also a training mode on the main menu, rather than buried in the options menu like it was in the original. But there was one mode that returning Tobal fans likely bought the game for—Quest Mode.

Tobal 2’s Quest Mode abandoned the straight dungeon hub and instead offered a map and a complete world. There were NPCs, text boxes, dialogue, and a plot, as simple as it still was. You began your quest in a home and are introduced to indoor environments, doors, NPCs, and exploration. Outside, in a town, you have the freedom of choice to explore a number of areas. Some locations are destination dungeons that play out like the Quest Mode dungeon of Tobal No. 1. There are far more items, stats, and locations here, plus you have full-on equipment menus and much more depth to gaining stats and growing your character. There are items you can use to capture the Quest Mode enemies and use them in the other modes of the game, as well. This is a nice way to pad out the number of playable characters for the completionists out there. This Quest Mode was far deeper, and a full investment into solidifying itself here in this unique space.

While the praise is fully deserved for getting weird with the Quest Mode, the standard game and gameplay again felt… generic. This may be too tough a criticism, as the developers came from Virtua Fighter and Tekken backgrounds, so there are obvious reasons why it may feel similar to the competition. It just lacks a certain something to stand out in the area of the game that matters most. The characters were again Akira Toriyama's creations, while plot ideas were fleshed out by the team. With two attempts to realize the fusion of Akira Toriyama and the DreamFactory quest and movement ideas, there still wasn’t a surefire hit. The next game needed to mix something up.

With just a single year between releases, DreamFactory would mix things up after all. Their third title would drop Akira Toriyama and instead use the growing young talent in-house at Square, Tetsuya Nomura. Hot off Final Fantasy VII, Nomura’s original characters shared many of the same design qualities as those now fan favorite characters from FFVII. This new game would also partner with Namco and be developed on the PlayStation-focused System 12 arcade board. With a presence in the arcade to hype up the home conversion, DreamFactory had enough to give this new game the best chance of becoming a hit. This is how Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring was born. But Square had one more trick to entice players to give their latest fighting game a shot.

The arcade edition of the game launched with two guest characters, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, and Tifa Lockhart, from Final Fantasy VII, in addition to a larger roster of 10 original characters. The game had a simple, focused plot to drive players through it. The legendary Ehrgeiz sword has been sealed away, and the stone key used to unlock it would be the prize given to the winner of the fighting tournament you participate in. With a strong story, as simple as it is, this was already an improvement over both Tobal games, whose generic tournament isn’t as memorable.

The original characters are also a bit edgier and, as sad as it is to say, cooler than Toriyama’s Tobal characters. Godhand, whose right hand is cut off and replaced with a gun, is the bizarre cover guy, along with "Yoyo" Yoko Kishibojin, who is a cop and uses a ranged yo-yo as a weapon. With each character having a standout design and move set, the entire roster is worth exploring, though the urge to crack skulls with Tifa or swing that buster sword wildly with Cloud may be too hard to resist.

Gameplay would see a significant upgrade in 3D movement. Now, it wasn’t just a gimmick in technology. Stages now feature elevational changes, objects, and walls, creating unique spaces that take full advantage of ranged moves and the ability to run freely. This is the game that finally realizes the benefits of having a free movement control system for a fighting game. DreamFactory figured it out here, for sure.

Ehrgeiz would be ported to the PlayStation just a few months after the arcade game's release, bringing with it some amazing additions. First, more characters. Yuffie, Vincent Valentine, and Zack join the roster as additional Final Fantasy VII guests, bringing more of that draw to players who may have been on the fence about playing a Squaresoft fighting game. Of course, the biggest home console addition was the updated Quest Mode. Tobal fans knew this was coming, but for anyone new to Square fighting games, this was the thing to play.

Brand New Quest: The Forsaken Dungeon is the full title of the game’s Quest Mode, and it is a stand-alone experience you select from the main menu. This is a beat-em-up RPG in a fully realized world, much like the Quest Mode from Tobal 2. Instead of playing as any of the game’s fighters, there are two original characters to choose from at the start of the game: Clair Andrews and Koji Masuda. You can also swap between them during the game if you visit the Inn. The character growth system has been overhauled as you manage and improve your Attack, Magic, Dexterity, Speed, or Defense stats. Multiple weapons, items, and dungeons can be found, and this is the best version of these Quest Modes that DreamFactory has created by far. There is less wandering as the story shares a multifloor dungeon with randomized maps created each time you enter. The loop of progress and character growth resembles Diablo, and even with a more focused world, it has more depth than Tobal 2.

Seeing DreamFactory find ways to respond to and improve its ideas over the three PlayStation-era fighters was special. While Tobal No. 1 and 2 aren’t as easy to go back and play, Ehrgeiz is still a game worth playing today. Each game has its flaws. If you like dungeon-crawling games and fighting games, what other title attempts to fuse these two things together? Get weird and give it a try.