This game is nothing new by now -it's a little bit over a year old- but since a new version of it is being worked on as I speak (unless it was an April Fools' joke that they'll be showing it at some con), and I have taken to playing it again, and I'd really like for Keira-Jo (and, hopefully, some of my other followers who like My Little Pony) to see it, well, I see nothing wrong with a belated English review.

Let me be brief about the pony issue: I love "Friendship is Magic", but I hate the bronies. With a few exceptions I'm proud to call my friends, I believe the majority (and screw it, I said "majority") of them are arrogant, self-righteous jerks who think their very presence is doing the world a favor. I will never understand why a group of people united around a television series about being friendly has its collective head shoved so far up its own ass, unless I believe (and it seems likely, frankly) that they were unlikable jackasses already, before the show came along.

If you're not familiar with the original "Fighting is Magic" game, it was a fan-made video game project by a development team called Mane6. It was going to be a 1-on-1 fighting game starring characters from the series. Two things brought its development to a halt: one, a pre-release build was leaked into the Internet; and two, Hasbro (owners of My Little Pony) threatened to sue Mane6 if the project wasn't stopped at once. I think the latter happened in March or April of 2013. With the project completely dead, Mane6 started work on a different fighting game starring fighting animals (no anthro), with character designs by Lauren Faust herself.

But, as it turns out, Fighting is Magic wasn't completely dead at all; a third party group of developers called SquirrelNET modified the leaked pre-release build into the more or less complete Tribute Edition, which adds a 1-player mode and two extra characters. Tribute Edition was officially acknowledged by Equestria Daily on February 28, 2014.

So, after such a troubled development, is the game any good? Let me put it this way: it was recommended to me by someone who hates bronies even more than I do. If someone like that can enjoy it, then yes, it's good. But what about my opinion, as opposed to his? In short, it's the best fan game I've ever played.

The one player mode is called "Story", but there is no actual story; you just pick a pony and beat the living snot out of the rest (including a clone of yourself, the first opponent) with no explanation. Not that there would be one; even Lauren Faust noted the "irony" of good friends fighting each other. There is also a "Versus" mode for two players to fight locally, and with a special program (separate download) you may play online.

If you've played or at least seen any Street Fighter game, you have a general idea of how to play: the characters face each other in 1-on-1, two rounds out of three, martial arts matches. The objective is to employ all of your fighting skills and special moves to completely drain the opponent's life bar before they do the same to you. Do this twice and you'll be declared the match's winner. Special moves are activated with combinations of direction keys and attack buttons in specific sequences. Each pony (out of the show's six main characters) has her own fighting style and special moves. Twilight Sparkle the unicorn, for example, whacks her foes with a book she's magically levitating, Fluttershy the pegasus is able to summon various woodland animals to her aid, and Applejack the earth pony has a lasso.

The controls are a directional input and four buttons marked A, B, C and D. A, B and C are weak, medium and strong attacks respectively, and D is "magic", a special attack that, depending on the pony, requires to be combined with directional inputs or not. It spends shards from a hexagon-shaped "magic meter" located on the bottom of the screen next to the Super Gauge. Each pony usually has a way of refilling her magic meter; Rarity the unicorn and Rainbow Dash the pegasus do it by standing still, but Pinkie Pie the earth pony must wait until the round is over.

The ponies also possess "super moves" which drain the Super Gauge on the bottom. There are three levels to this gauge, and the stronger a Super Move is the more of the gauge it will drain. The gauge is refilled as you take or give damage. Super Moves are devastatingly powerful, but they can be blocked.

You block by holding the directional input away from the enemy, and may also "tech" your way out of a combo. Now, I'm not an avid fighting game player, so it's grateful for me to know that this game considers a combo to be just "hitting the opponent several times in a row", which is usually sufficient (but not optimal). A "tech" is done by holding the directional input up as you're knocked into the air, or down as you hit the ground (you may also hold D as you ground-tech, to safely roll away). But this can only be done when your pony is flashing blue; if she's flashing red, you can't tech.

The game's only notable flaws are its difficulty and brevity. The AI is insanely hard, and the fights will get pretty tight from the beginning. You will be forced to practice hard just to beat the first match, and when you're good enough, you'll beat the whole thing in less than a day. But it's not unreasonably hard once you get the hang of it, and then it becomes fun and exciting. Be careful of online play, though. You know how competitive gamers are to people who don't play as good as them (and if you don't, here's a hint; not nice).

How about the audiovisual department? I can't speak for the sound, as I'm told it has brony remixes and English voices for the ponies (played by impersonators), two things I cannot stand in the least. But the graphics and animations, of both the characters and backgrounds, are so true to the show's look it almost seems like you're watching an episode of it. The characters are large, full of facial expressions, and can be played in a variety of color schemes based on other characters from the show, and even from past incarnations of the My Little Pony universe. It does lack some flashy effects usually found in other fighting games such as brightly colored, anime-style, exploding cinetic lines when you finish a round with a Super Move, for example.

For a 1.0 version, MLP: Fighting is Magic: Tribute Edition is impressively solid. Perhaps it could use more content such as unlockable bonuses, secret characters, a better options menu (the one that's there is pretty bare bones) and, if the developers are feeling generous -and I hope they are-, a difficulty setting option for less experienced players.

As it is, it's a must-play for any fan of ponies, fighting games, fan games, or all three. Highly recommended!