Hippodrome / Fighting Fantasy video game

Published May 3, 2026
Contributed by Alex P.






Source: www.arcade-museum.com License: All Rights Reserved.

Japanese flyer. The Japanese fonts are unidentified.


Hippodrome, known as Fighting Fantasy in Japan, is an arcade fighting game by Data East. Per the game's flyer:

You are about to enter a different time, in a different world – a world where gladiators still fight in arenas of stone. And once a year, there is a worldwide competition to determine the best fighter on the planet, the creature with the strongest combination of power and skill.

The time for the competition has arrived. This is your chance to test your prowess against the mightiest warriors alive. Creatures are gathering from all over the planet to vie for the title of World Champion at the Hippodrome!

The titles on both the US and Japanese arcade flyers are based on Arnold Böcklin, to varying degrees of accuracy. The Japanese title is largely faithful, outside of the top left of the Y and a sword replacing the T in Fantasy. The American flyer on the other hand uses completely different glyphs for H and I. Interestingly, the pixelated version used on the title screen in-game has a much more accurate recreation of the original Arnold Böcklin font.



Source: www.arcade-museum.com License: All Rights Reserved.

American flyer with artwork by Frank Cirocco. Text is set in different styles from Eurostile which is also the typeface used for the Data East logo.




Source: retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com License: All Rights Reserved.

The American title screen for Hippodrome. Notice the more accurate depictions of H and I.




Source: retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.com License: All Rights Reserved.

The Japanese title screen



This post was originally published at Fonts In Use
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