IRON CIRCUIT

A HANDHELD GAME THAT KEEPS GETTING INTERRUPTED

Iron Circuit is a free online fighting game that runs in your browser. It has an overworld you walk, fifteen towns to reach, and a full side-on fight — with a ground game underneath it — every time somebody squares up.

The road between towns is four shades of green, the way a handheld screen used to be. You walk it, knock on doors, talk to people who are not going anywhere, and take the flatbed when the walking gets long.

Then somebody squares up, and the whole thing changes colour.

YOU LEARN A MOVE BY LOSING TO IT FIRST

You do not start with a moveset. You start with hands. Sweeps, dashes, throws, armour, counters, the surge arts — every one of them is locked until you meet the fighter who built their whole game around it and take it off them. Your list of moves is a list of people you have beaten.

AND IT GOES TO THE FLOOR

Most browser fighters stop at punch and kick. This one takes it down: position matters, being underneath is its own problem, and there is a clock on how long you are stuck there. Hammerfist, ground elbow, kimura, armbar, choke — and a scramble back to your feet if you can earn it.

CONTROLS

A controller works too — plug one in and press A, or pick it on the first screen. The game tells you every button it has on the panel under the screen, including the ones you have not unlocked yet.

ON A PHONE

Touch controls appear on their own, and change with what you are doing: a stick and talk out on the road, the full striking set in a fight, and the submissions when it goes to the floor. Turn the phone sideways and the picture fills the screen.

ABOUT IRON CIRCUIT