KwonHo

KwonHo: The Fist of Heroes was a Korean online fighting game developed by Radio Games (which later became Vertigo Games). KwonHo has now been removed from Hangame. It was in the process of being translated and serviced for North America by their American counterpart ijji (Both of them owned by NHN) before being canceled on November 14, 2007. In Kwonho, the player has the role of creating his own character, choosing a fighting style and buying (or acquiring) clothing and/or items (such as tattoos, guitars, teddy bears and other miscellaneous items). A player's goal is to gain experience by fighting other players in a variety of game modes, or by fighting computer-controlled opponents in the Mission Mode. By winning these fights, a player acquires credits, which he can use to buy new techniques or items, and train to become higher ranking than other players.
Fighting styles
When creating a character, the player may choose among five fighting styles in KwonHo: The Fist of Heroes. Once determined, the style stays fixed to the character.
As fighters level up, they gain points that they can use to enhance their attack power, defense power, counter-hit power or counter-defense power. They also gain skill points, which they can spend on a skill in their list to upgrade its damage capabilities. Finally, they can purchase new moves with the credits they receive from winning fights.
The list of fighting styles are as follows:
Tae Kwon Do
The fastest style in the game, Tae Kwon Do excels in long-range attacks and well-rounded defense. Tae Kwon Do has long strings of combos that can easily devastate opponents, as well as quick keep-away moves that can cover a retreat. Tae Kwon Do also has the Flamingo stance, which allows users to stand in a defensive posture to deal out tricky attacks. This style has a large arsenal of pokes and relies on punishing mistakes or mix-ups to get past the opponent's guard.
Muay Thai
Muay Thai, the traditional Southeast Asian form of kickboxing, is the national sport of Thailand. This is a well-rounded offensive fighting style in Kwonho that excels in powerful, average reach attacks and combos. This style can easily back an opponent into a corner because all of the attacks and throws tend to aggressively do so. Muay Thai is exceptionally good at using smart rush-down tactics to quickly overwhelm the opponent's defense.
Taijiquan
Taijiquan is the most defensive style in KwonHo. It specializes in confusing movements, stance changes, and counters. Taijiquan can take incoming attacks and reverse them for massive damage or positional advantage (ringing out a Taijiquan is always risky because they can actually reverse it to do the same). This style excels in confusing the opponent and punishing their mistakes.
Ba Ji Quan
Loosely translated as "eight extreme fists", Ba Ji Quan is the most powerful style in Kwonho. While successful attacks do large amounts of damage, it leaves them wide open if it misses. This is one of the more difficult styles to master in Kwonho, due to its slow speed and lack of horizontal attacks (effective against sidestepping opponents). This means that careless players will be unable to hit their opponent and often receive counterattacks. The slowest but strongest style, Ba Ji Quan can deliver the biggest payoffs in the hands of a shrewd player.
Judo
Judo is a powerful grappling style in Kwonho. Judo users can grab while running, on the ground, in the air, while the opponent is crouching, and even after a successful throw. While Judo has the least number of attacks, they are actually powerful and can be used effectively to shift the opponent's attention away from their impressive throwing power. As such, Judo completely dominates the close-range, and often struggles to close the distance. In Kwonho, it is possible to escape a throw, so Judo users must utilize smart mix-ups to confuse the opponent into guarding attacks and throws incorrectly.
Jeet Kune Do
This style has only been available in a separate Korean server. Though not much is known about it, Jeet Kune Do is a rather balanced style in Kwonho. Specializing not only in quick jabs but powerful flying kicks, this style has much potential. Many of its quick moves are backsteps, which helps dodge incoming attacks. This style is still in a beta phase. Many videos have been posted on the Ijji forums, and it seems as if this will be well received, as many players have asked for a new fighting style.
Release dates
The Closed Beta stage of the English edition ended on 10 December 2006.
On 8 May 2007, Ijji announced the Second Closed Beta open on 9 May at 5:00 PM (EST), and was to end on 23 May.
On 30 May 2007, Ijji announced that live service would begin on the next day: May 31. The public beta has since opened and is playable to all.
On 6 November 2007, Ijji decides to close its Kwonho game after much difficult discussion. It is not the first game that they decide to drop in such way.
On 14 November 2007, Ijji removed KwonHo from their servers.

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See Also

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