The ClayFighter series is one that has become a cult classic by this point. While they aren’t the most polished or competitive fighting games ever made, ClayFighter is a franchise that a lot of us grew up on, which makes it extremely nostalgic.
If you’ve been following us for a while now here at EventHubs, you might know that I’m a big fan of ClayFighter, and I’m excited to share this particular video with you all today! An animator by the name of Lorenzo Volpintesta has recreated the intro for ClayFighter Sculptor’s Cut in real life with actual claymation, portraying some of our favorite clay fighters the way they’ve always been intended — and it looks awesome.
The recreated intro was shot using actual clay models that Volpintesta designed. It follows the source very closely, but since the original intro for the Nintendo 64 game wasn’t all that elaborate, Volpintesta does take a few liberties to make it flow better and feel more like an actual fighting game opening cinematic.
ClayFighter Sculptor’s Cut was originally released on May 15, 1998, and launched as a unique title on the Nintendo 64. Like only a handful of other N64 games, Sculptor’s Cut never actually received a standard retail release and instead was a rental-only game.
There are an estimated 18,000 – 20,000 copies of Sculptor’s Cut ever made, and because most people couldn’t outright buy it, it has become one of the rarest and most expensive games you can find on the platform. As far as what the game actually is, it is essentially an updated version of ClayFighter 63 1/3 that adds some of the content that originally got cut due to memory limitations on the cartridge.
Volpintesta’s claymation intro begins with a meteor crashing into Klaymodo island. We then cut to the inside of Dr. Kiln’s laboratory as he creates a batch of sinister clay fighters to do his bidding.
Several series mainstays make an appearance here in this epic intro. We see Ickybod Clay, Houngan, Blob, Lockjaw, Bonker the clown, and Taffy as they get into all kinds of antics here. There are also a ton of references to other ClayFighter and Interplay (the company who made ClayFighter) games such as the Claymates making an appearance.
This recreated intro is obviously made by a fan, for the fans, and overall it came out great. Be sure to check out Lorenzo Volpintesta’s recreated ClayFighter Sculptor’s Cut intro below. You can find the original N64 intro beneath it too for comparison’s sake.