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Thread: Thoughts on various obscure Saturn imports as they come

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    Default Thoughts on various obscure Saturn imports as they come

    Hey guys, I have a slew of lesser known JP games in/coming in, thought I'd jam all my thoughts on these games in this one thread here over the next month or two or so. Maybe you'll find something new you might be interested in. Here we go.

    ---

    KERIOTOSSE!

    Keriotosse! is like Poy Poy. 4 characters in an arena (sorry no 2 story arenas) where the goal is to be the last person remaining. You eliminate your foes by kicking them out of the playing field, or you can use your designated special move to help knock them out.

    Yes, the game is 1-4 players. If you love Saturn Bomberman or "party games" -- it's a safe bet you'll enjoy Keriotosse!

    The game's 3D graphics were more than adequate I felt. The characters look OK, but the stages are well done graphically. The sound and music are catchy, especially the bop bop tunes of stage 1. They're not TOO memorable though. But serviceable enough.

    There are a total of 21 characters to select and 8 stages with which to do battle. You start out with 5 characters to pick from, to unlock the others you gotta beat the 1P mode. Some characters are anime-esque and range from humans (i.e. girl wearing bunny costume, nurse, businessman, sword carrying Guardian Hero wannabe) to robots to even, a ghost and a baby panda.

    "A" does a special move according to your character
    (everyone has a different one, and can only be used once per round)
    Each character's special move is unique and fits the character's personality.

    For example, "BirdBoy" flies in the air and here you can move around for a bit flapping your wings trying to shove the opponent off the field.
    The little girl who wants to be a nurse can grab people and inject them to make their characters all goofy. It all adds to the quirky fun. It also makes sure that each character is different and that you want to try each one.

    Saturn Bomberman is awesome and my top fave, but having characters stand out with abilities does add some depth to a game. I mean, there's NO difference (other than visually) between white bomberman and Bonk. In Keriotosse! each character is different thanks to their special move.

    "B" kicks

    "C" jumps

    3 wins equals the conquering of that stage. Like Saturn Bomberman you can do any combination of Human-CPU players.

    There are also beach balls that drop down on the playing field... and they work like the green shells from Mario Kart fame. i.e. you kick them and they go in a straight line in the direction you kicked it.

    In the story mode you play thru the 8 stages as status quo and in stage 9 you battle this huge dragon. I doubt he's unlockable but I duno since I never could beat him.

    Some other notes...

    -Intro is well done; kinda looks like a high-end PS1 game

    -The stages all have their own names, I totally forgot about this. Here they are:

    1. Welcome to Keriotosse
    Playground complete with swings you can interact on and see-saws. Beachballs at your disposal here.

    2. Signing in a Rain
    Stage is raining and the water on the ground looks convincing. Get on the water and your character will slide. Big green leaves scatter the stage, one on top kinda skews the playing view if your character decides to try and hide there.

    3. What a Wonderful World
    This is where the bomb debuts. Once kicked, they'll flash red. After a while BOOM! It's similar to Bomberman Fight's big blasts, but looks more "oomphful." If the blast hits you you fly a good ways.

    4. Malfunction
    Bombs and beachballs. You battle it out on top of some demonic totem looking creature's head, he'll flip the field to and 'fro every once in a while. Fitting name!

    5. Into the Storm
    The misty wind pushes everyone depending on the direction it's blowing. There are pillars and they're scattered at the edges of the screen. Might save ya, like it did me once!

    6. Winter Wonderland
    I like this stage a lot. There's crack marks in the ice just for details and graphic variety, rather than looking at a boring blue playing field. The ice looks thick and convincing. Very colorful! Screenshots don't do this stage justice. The background here is great with picture-esque ice caps in the distance.

    7. Volcanoes
    Red. Lava on the scene which pulsates. Volcano in the middle of the screen that periodically chucks out molten rocks in four directions. Get hit by the rocks and watch your poor character get pushed toward the edge. Can connect up to 2 times. Since the molten rocks are hazardous enough, there are no beachballs or bombs found here.

    8. The Meteor
    The battle in outer space. You fight on a clear see-thru circle, in the background meteors are busy descending.

    As stated earlier, every character has a distinct special move.

    The girl with bunny ears grabs her victim, makes them drink some sort of beverage, and then they are temporary stunned. Ideal for nabbing them when they're close to the edge... easy pickings then.

    One guy's special sees him increase in size by about 20 times! It's impressive to see this HUGE polygon running around without the game slowing down.

    The ghost becomes invisible except for his shadow.

    You can't kill yourself, per se. Like if you go all the way to the edge of a scene, your character will do the whole "whooooa!" thing for about 2 seconds, then from here you can control him/her back to safety. You can, however, jump off the stage and kill yourself instantly. You can change direction in mid-air but it's not that much. But other than that, it's up to the others to eliminate you. So that makes the Ghost's special even better since you don't have to worry about wandering off the scene.

    One girl throws out Hadokens. One guy chucks out a red airplane model that chases after you knocking you about. etc.

    Keriotosse! likely won't cost you more than 20 bucks, and at that price it's definitely worth a look. Some special moves are definitely more "advantageous" than others, but there's a 1 limit per round.

    http://www.markinjapan.com/detail.php?selected=603

    Recommended.

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    Shingata Kururin-PA! is a puzzle game you might have heard of before. If you were like me, I heard of Kururin before, but never played it. All I knew from the one or two pics I happened to run across was that it was a puzzle game where you try to connect pieces of rope, attach them to bombs, and use flame blocks to light the wicks and blow up the bombs.

    There are two Kururin games on Saturn. Kururin-PA! and Shingata Kururin-PA! I only own and have played the latter. It's the "sequel."

    I'll say it now: it's a wonderful puzzle game. Absolutely fun and addicting. It probably wouldn't run you more than $15 as well, and is well worth it. I paid $10 for mine from Yamatoku a while back.

    Game pieces include:

    -Various pieces of rope

    -Bomb

    -Fire

    -Character item

    -Snow faces (this is the 'debris' in SKP!)

    The pieces of rope are shaped as:

    L

    l

    S (like how a 5 appears on a calculator)

    [

    I might have missed one.

    The bombs work like such. Say you line up your rope and place a bomb on it. Nothing will happen. You need a flame block to ignite it, and then bam the fire goes all the way through the rope AS LONG AS it's connected.

    You don't need a bomb though. You can just place a fire at the end of a rope and it'll also do its thing.

    What's the use of the bomb then? Let's see...

    [] []

    Say you got that there with 1 space inbetween. A flame CANNOT ignite either of those two as it has NO opening. However, you place a bomb on top of the first one and BAM!

    EVEN BETTER, place the bomb at the BOTTOM IN-BETWEEN the two, then place a flame block on top of the bomb, and guess what happens? Correct-o-mundo, everything explodes.

    Pretty cool puzzle system eh? Once you get the hang of it, it's very addicting.

    Another intriguing kink to the gameplay system. Say you do put a flame block on a rope that it can't light ... what happens? Well, the flame gets enclosed in this circle. Now if you place more rope on top and burn those pieces of rope, eventually the reaction will free the flame, and if there's a rope opening around it, that now free flame will attack it. This causes for some "WOW YEAH I MEANT TO DO THAT!" chain combo's.

    If there's nothing there for the free'd flame to attack, it simply disappears. Ace eh?

    There are 10 bizzare characters to select from in SKP! Each one has a distinct item that will occasionally drop in the playing field. It suits each character to a tee and each item has its own individual uses, so no two are alike. This increases the game depth and strategy TEN FOLD.

    The characters range from a 16 year old school girl to a 16 year old kid with a bomb as a face (!) to a 12 year old boy in a dragon's costume. Heh, it's out there as Japanese gets. But there are old characters too. A 42 year old dark-skinned evil looking guy, a 256 year old fairy, and what appears to be a disturbing 35 year old transvesite. Uhhh, no comment there.

    My favorite character so far is the cute 7 year old girl who rides a dolphin. Her item is a dolphin and what this sucker does is he eats. If there is snow debris on your playing field, dropping a dolphin on it causes the creature to swallow the snow in that row.

    Say:

    snow
    snow
    snow
    rope

    it'll become just rope.

    snow
    rope
    snow

    becomes

    rope
    snow

    As long as there's straight snow, the dolphin will plow its way through. Pretty useful little thing. Basic, though. Other characters' items, get very complex and really crazy. Blowing up all sorts of matter.

    Although there are 10 different characters to pick from, no one has a "block pattern." It's really only the Character Item that separates each character, not to mention the myriad of voice samples. I look forward to trying out all the characters.

    The game's sound and music is great. It doesn't distract you from the action but adds to the frenzy. The game is very user-friendly, all menu's are in English! Only game endings are in JP text. Heck, in the option mode there is a "How to Play" video for each of the 10 characters that explains how to use their individual Item icon. Awesome.

    There's 3 modes:

    Story Mode
    Versus Mode
    Practice

    Story Mode you pick your character and go through all ten. 5 Difficulty levels. Then you're challenged by two bosses who may or may not be unlockable. 1st one is some old man who reminds me of Cap N Crunch. The 2nd boss is some weird JigglyPuff wannabe sporting a jester cap. Yeah, that's your typical end boss all right.

    Each character has their own ending. The girl with the dolphin, they're riding along in the ocean when the dolphin comes upon its homeland where all its other dolphin playmates are. The little kawaii girl goes through all sorts of exaggerated facial expressions those crazy Japanese anime shows are famous for.

    VS. Mode is what you think it is. There's also an option to play VS. CPU so you can just try out various characters in a fast manner as in Story Mode if you continue you keep going as the same character.

    Practice mode is just basically "stand alone mode."

    So mode-wise, SKP's got the bases covered.

    Opinions I've read on the net of Kururin have all been favorable. There haven't been too many comments on it, but the few there are everyone seems to really enjoy it. Here's one guy I found who had this to say about SKP!

    ---

    During this trip, it seems like i finally lucked into some of the games i'd been searching for, for a long time. i've had my eye on harmful park for years now. the reason, which is different than most people's, is that it was developed and published by sky think system. who's sky think system, you ask? they happen to be the publisher behind one of my favorite 32-bit games, the next-to-completely-unknown puzzle game, kururin pa! i lucked into kururin pa! on a saturn demo disc i bought from NCS back in the day, and i was instantly hooked -- in fact, most of my friends were too. i eventually ended up buying shingata kururin pa!, which was the sequel, and played the heck out of that too. kururin pa! (and shingata kururin pa!) both came out for the PS1, too. (i eventually nabbed the PS1 version of kururin pa! for around $10 at the short-lived US wanpaku.) i highly recommend them

    ---

    Well that about sums it up. The game has good graphics and sound for a puzzle game, good replay value, and very nice presentation. The title screen is very cool. You got the title in Japanese above some sort of kingdom in the background and in the foreground inbetween the kingdom are two huge trees that look like they come outta some Enchanted Forest.

    Recommended!

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    Alright let's get back with the flow. Like the sound of Keriotosse! did you? Like offbeat 4 player games?

    Well then!

    Hansha de Spark! is as off beat as off beat 4 player games get. It comes to us from the fine folks at SIEG (who? This was the sole game they ever made) It opens with a 3D intro introducing us to our "Fantasic 4" team of heroes. The 4 heroes are the only characters selectable from the get-go. More may be unlockable as there are other characters but since I can't beat the rock-hard 1P mode this is unconfirmed. The four Heroes are as such:

    1. Hansha (blue guy)
    The typical all-around leader type. Has one bar in four categories, but I can only make out one category as "speed." Looks like MegaMan a bit.

    2. Chammy (girl)
    Sports, you got it, pink and even has the bunny ears down. Fast like a rabbit too.

    3. Hayate (black and purple guy)
    Sort of the "cool looking non-leader rebel type"

    4. Wappaa (big guy)
    The typical big guy... this one wears sheepskin (?) and has a mask complete with tusks. SLOW

    So what is the premise of the game?

    Do you drop bombs like in Bomberman and run away?

    Is it like Grid Runner where you play virtual tag?

    Is it like hide n seek?

    OK, enough with the suspense.

    Bascially, each character shoots a circular shot. If you hit your opponent head on with it, it doesn't kill or harm them -- it merely pushes them back a few steps. The only way to eliminate them is to bounce your shot off of a lever, which in each of the 10 stages, multiple levers are positioned.

    Once the shot hits a lever and bounces off, it becomes a spark which if it hits an opponent, he is then eliminated. You have to rely on the multiple levers to richochet your shots off of.

    The levers come in these directions:

    1. |

    2. /

    3. \

    4. _

    And reverse for a total of 8 positions.

    Basically, if you're facing to the right of _ and you fire a shot at it, it will go through.

    However, if you're facing North or South of _ and fire, it will bounce back at you.

    Stand to the left of "/" and fire means it'll go up.

    Stand to the right of "/" and fire means it'll go down.

    Same principle with \ (only reverse them)

    And yes, your own shot, much like your own bomb in Bomberman, can kill you.

    Sometimes there will be four, five sparks flying around the playing field! Watch your step...

    Thankfully in HDS! the levers can be switched with the press of Button Y in any of the 8 directions. So you're not just a sitting duck based on predetermined factors.

    But just like the cardinal rule in baseball and basketball, remember that a pass or a fastball ALWAYS travels faster than a guy running. In other words, the sparks come off the levers pretty fast. If you're in the direction of an incoming spark you better change the lever real quick. You literally have to anticipate and see the play happening before it happens. Otherwise you stand no chance.

    There are also red levers, these levers cannot be altered.

    This game has strategy and technique thanks to the ability to switch up levers.

    The more times a spark bounces off a lever, the faster it travels and the bigger it gets. Also, it gets louder too. Nice.

    Each field has blocks to clear too, much like Bomberman. Sometimes these blocks hold powerups.

    With the exception of a double shot powerup, only one shot from your character can be in play. It needs to either dissipate or destroy something before you can fire another. If the shot has been bounced into a spark, that spark will keep bouncing along the path set by the levers until it hits something. There are the usual power ups like speed, shield, life extenders, etc. There are no cheap dinosaurs or kangeroos here to save your butt though!

    The graphics are a notch below Saturn Bomberman, but still pretty decent. The music is pretty good, my friend describes it as "the music, which sounds like Kraftwerk if they OD'd on happy pills" lol.

    There is some technique such as switching the levers in one of 8 directions as pointed out. It definitely has a learning curve too. Whereas in Bomberman you could just pick it up and play, this one you can't just hand the controller over to your 8 year old nephew and expect him to get it.

    The 3 game modes are:

    1. Free play 1-4 player battles
    There are 10 mazes with each having its own gimmicks and design, a la Bomberman. Though some stages aren't really THAT much different and only sort of aesthetically come off different. You can do any combo of 1-4 player Human or CPU. You can do a 1-on-1 human vs. CPU battle or even watch 4 CPU's battle it out on any one of the 10 stages. There might be 2 hidden stages as the select screen shows 6 on top and 4 on bottom with room for two.

    The game is very customable a la Saturn Bomberman. Also an unique concept is that you can pick from 1 through 10 rounds, NOT wins. So say you pick 2 rounds and 2 players each won 1. What happens next is those two are placed in a smaller version of the stage you picked... death match style. If you play 1 round and everyone dies, the next match pits all four in a VERY small version of the arena you had chosen.

    2. 1 Player Quest
    Kinda like Bomberman's 1 player quest. This mode was fun as it is more of a brainteaser than Bomberman as you don't just lay bombs and run about. You gotta watch those levers... enemies range from zombie skeletons to headless knights to dragons to pumpkin-headed demons.

    I was able to beat the first 2 bosses. (each stage has 3 rounds then you face a boss) First boss was a cool looking giant brown castle that emits bats from its forthold. Not hard at all.

    2nd boss was this flower-looking monster. He spits out a circle of white spears. Use your MAD SHMUP DODGING SKILLS! After you kill him he splits into 3 smaller forms. Blasphemy! No rest for the wicked eh?

    You got to use the levers to flip the sparks off of to hurt the bosses. Shooting the spark directly at them does no good.

    Based on the manual here are some of the other bosses:

    -A towering blue bipedal Hammerhead Shark.. his head glows yellow

    -A giant white Kirby

    -Three enormous yellow Aliens (fun...)

    -A fire monster

    -Some sort of white Creature from the Lagoon...

    Looks like good stuff.

    3. Pre-arranged scenarios where you gotta get to the exit
    There are 36 total. Kinda reminds me of the one found in N64's Pokemon Puzzle League or those Side Pocket games where you have specific things to unlock and they get increasingly harder. You start off here and the exit door is there. Use your spark and levers to get to the exit.

    Here are some brief notes on the 10 stages:

    1. Green shrubbery surrounds the outside playing field. Looks like a castle surrounds the play area (which makes sense as you fight a giant castle in the 1P mode in this level). Spikes pop outta the ground after a while. Touch and you die

    2. Green shrubs are the blocks here. Fire errupts outside the arena. There are a couple red levers in this stage (red levers cannot be changed)

    3. Bigger playing field than the previous two, colorful stage with water.

    4. Carnival theme as carnival-esque lights light up the top of the screen. Very small field... things get up close and personal here. Better think on your feet!

    5. Destroy box-like blocks as fog sweeps through this brown-hued stage.. cool affect!

    6. Gearworks stage, gears rotate outside the arena. Big stage. Nice and simple.

    7. Another watery stage, only this time the water moves and looks very lovely indeed. It's slippery... the water sways you to the left.

    8. Same design as stage 3 only in lava. The characters must have some special shoes. The lava bubbles and glistens.

    9. Dinosaur bones litter the arena. Every once in a while a giant dust storm clouds the entire screen. Some purple levers are present -- bouncing a shot off a purple lever results in the Mega, Ultimate Speeding Spark of Disaster!

    10. Houses surround you and fog comes in and out. Done differently than the fog found in stage 5. Great affect.

    Due to waiting factor for the spark... this game is more of a "thinking man's" survival of the fittest. You can't go "super crazy" like you can in Bomberman, Bomberman Fight!! or Keriotosse! I like this aspect of the game. It's not really a "chaotic" title like the other 3 mentioned... rather more of a thinking man's 4 player game.

    I got this game for $14 a month ago. When I first played it I was HORRIBLY disappointed. But the more I played it the more I understood the little intracies of this little game and it warmed up to me.

    It's safe to say HDS! is a hit or a miss title, for me it was a (small) hit. Not a great game, and it will definitely NEVER replace Saturn Bomberman, but it's decent and can prove to be a nifty little diversion of a game. Whereas I highly recommended Keriotosse! and Shingata Kururin Pa!... for this obscure exclamation Saturn title I will say "buyer cautioned." It's def. not for everyone. Only buy it if you *really* feel you might like it.

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    Today we look at two late '97 3D action/adventure titles I think have some close similarities with each other. Ironically, I got both off the same US seller sometime last year. Not the greatest games in the world, but they are niche games that may have a place in your collection...


    NINPEN MANMARU

    You control a penguin in a 3D world. It reminds me a lot of Croc, I guess this is due to the insane kiddy feel. But the graphic engine is a lot worse than Croc's. The controls are a little iffy. Sometimes you'll get a little ticked off as you're trying to move Ninpen one way but the camera angle contorts and he goes the other way. You can control the camera angle with the L and R buttons, but the thing is, Ninpen will move too. It's really odd. But you get used to it.

    The game has a bizarre cast of characters. There are a few enemies scattered throughout each level, but I would call them more "obstacles." You see, Ninpen, being the innocent little goober he is, has no forms of attacks. The enemies are really easy to avoid though. It's basically a game of racing, or waddling, to the exit before the designated 10:00 runs up.

    The first few levels were very 'meh' to me. Then came a new looking level that peaked my interest. This was where the game picked up for me. One part of this level had you jumping high, way high in the sky on these tiny circular platforms suspended magically in the air. This part is certainly not for those scared of heights!

    The one really cool moment though, I was standing there inbetween two brown hillsides. The sky overhead was cast with grey shadows. I zoomed and looked up from 1st person view. There I saw the upper parts of the hillsides, and the now looming... ENORMOUS thunderclouds all moving in succession... this was a great moment. Then I unzoomed and proceeded to play out the rest of the level.

    Overall it's not a bad game. Not the greatest game but I liked it. It is pretty hard to find though, but it seems to not command a high dollar. For $10-$15 it's not bad.

    http://www.sega-saturn.com/saturn/ninjapenguin.htm


    NINJA JAJA MARUKUN

    I came into this one with high hopes. It's a 3D action adventure title with some platforming thrown in. It feels a bit like a Mario 64 meets Tomb Raider... then thrown up and tossed into the ground and stepped on. Unlike Ninpen Manmaru, our little Ninja friend definitely can hurt the enemies. At his disposal are his trusty ninja stars and sword slashes.

    The enemies are quite bizarre. i.e. an umbrella with one leg. a green one-eyed basketball player who throws "basketball bombs." There are boss battles but these boss battles are too quick, easy and generally poorly done. They're sloppy.

    There's no arguing this game is "one of a kind" on Saturn, but something is just not clicking on all cylinders. It feels a little hollow. The levels are short, and all you have to do is get to the finish spot. You don't have to kill the enemies. It's up to you if you wanna go through the stages Terminator style or "Ninpen Manmaru" style.

    I came into this game expecting one of those "great Saturn smash surprises" but sadly it's not all that great. It's still worth a look though, but it's purely for the diehards. The screen shots make it look a lot better than the gameplay experience IMHO. The gameplay isn't as smooth as I would have liked it. Just feels a little herky jerky, if you know what I mean. But who knows, you might like it a lot more than I did.

    Like Ninpen, Jaja is very uncommon and doesn't seem to command too high a dollar.

    http://www.markinjapan.com/detail.php?selected=1468

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    *cue movie trailer voice*

    There is a HOUSE...

    That is hardly ever spoken of

    There is a HOUSE...

    Where evil laughter lurks in the winding hallways

    There is a HOUSE...

    That is unlike any other

    Resident Evil mansion, Amityville Horror house, the crib in the film Darkness... these places have NOTHING on this HOUSE...

    Taking place on a most malevolent Holiday...

    You will enter the longest day of your life.

    Once inside THERE'S NO WAY OUT.

    Welcome to this House of Pain.

    Welcome to...

    WELCOME HOUSE

    So is this game as good as the "teaser intro"? Carry on...

    The story goes something like this: Keaton is in Miami to visit his crazy Uncle Parkinson. For what wacky reason is unbeknownst to us. Beknownst to us however, is that inexplicably Keaton's car completely breaks down in front of his Uncle's huge 2 story house. The doors to the house are open, Keaton walks in and as soon as he does they slam shut bolted. As Keaton looks frantically around, the windows downstairs all clamp down as well. He is stuck.

    And his Uncle has a little game... essentially "Survive my house of tricks and traps!" Why is his uncle like this? Well, if he wasn't, there wouldn't be much of a game eh?

    The game takes place on April Fools' Day... and Uncle Parkinson sure has some gags on hand for Keaton!

    Welcome House is a 3D adventure (I think the manual dubbed it a "Cartoon Adventure" which is fitting) where you guide Keaton around a big house looking for a way to escape the house. You pick up items, figure out where to use what items and the like. Some doors are readily openable, others are locked and required finding the proper key. Sounds like Resident Evil for kids? In a way, the premise very much so is.

    It controls like RE too. Left and right to spin our man Keaton around, up and down gets him walking. Sadly, Keaton can't run, and his walking pace ain't gonna set the world on fire. Controlling Keaton is a bit clunky due to his walking pace and the click-clat turning style. A surveys whatever Keaton is facing. C brings up any items you are carrying. Pressing C again uses item if applicable in that spot. To open a door, face any door and press Up.

    There are some open windows in the house. If you press A at a window Keaton goes to touch it but then the window slams down on his fingers while somewhere in the house mysteriously Uncle Parkinson laughs devilishy.

    Graphically the polygons are a little rough though certainly manageable. I guess if you're not spoiled by today's graphics by now, Welcome House won't look THAT rough, but it ain't winning any beauty contests either. I dunno, I kinda enjoyed the tacky polygon graphics in that B-Movie way. Keaton is a likeable chap, I just wish he moved faster. Game speed is slowly paced somewhat, but I guess that's the nature of the game the makers were shooting for.

    The house is somewhat reminiscent to the Resident Evil mansion. The controls are similar as are the Camera angles. They have the same kind of fixed view point where when Keaton moves to a certain spot the camera angle changes to a new and different viewpoint. Overall it works well, especially without the troubling zombies coming after you that makes you curse at the control system.

    The game has a chill, mellow pace/feel.

    But here's the downside: the game on the whole is mediocre at best IMHO. Once you beat it (I haven't yet, but I know you can save your progress), I don't see a reason why you'd want to beat it again... thus replay value is lacking. The gameplay is simple with the hardest part being mixing and matching which items do what and go where (i.e. the puzzle element)

    As for Japanese text, there isn't too much. Sure whatever Keaton observes is in Japanese so you miss out on that, but logically speaking you can figure things out. Though I haven't beaten this game, so I can't say for sure how much a lack of the knowledge of JP might hinder one later on, but early in the game you can get by without hassle. But if you're like me though, you'll quip at not being able to read the little details that Keaton observes. Ah well.

    You REALLY have to be into this kind of game style or else you'll be bored off your keyster wondering why you bought this game to begin with (heh... don't look at me). It took me about two years to find a copy of this game though, and I haven't seen it once since I bought the 1 copy I finally spotted several months back. It's safe to assume this game is pretty rare.

    My copy came with a sticker card. Ahh those cool little extra's the Japanese give you.

    My copy ran me $10 and if you can locate a copy going for that much, and you want to give it a shot, it's worth it.

    It also came out on PS1 as an import and Welcome House 2 (which GameFan previewed moons ago) is exclusive to PS1. From the sceenshots I saw in the preview, WH2 (not World Heroes 2 haha) graphically is much enhanced and looks like a more involving title based on GameFan's description of improvements made.

    So... don't expect a whole lot from Welcome House. I know two others who have played it. One thought it was a dud (see link) and the other played it through, calling it a "decent game for what it was."

    For me I fall much closer to the latter. If you're into different, unique quirky games, this one may appeal to you. But again, know what you'd be getting. I suppose the search in itself would be half the fun. (took me close to 2 years...)

    http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn2/welcomehouse.htm

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    Key (Level 9) fishsandwich's Avatar
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    You know...

    this post is neat. I'm a big Saturn fan, yet I have never heard of any of these games and some of them appear to be pretty darn interesting. I didn't know the Saturn had more 3-D platformers. I'm going to be on the lookout for some of these games.

    Thanks!

    Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    You're welcome, Fish.

    Well time for a break from the norm... at this time I'll be presenting to you guys THE CAPCOM INTERVIEW (part 1 of 3) conducted by SSM in their 2nd to last issue, # 36, October 1998. Parts 2 and 3 to come at a later time. I will also add other various SSM pieces before I finish this thread. Still a TON left to go! I will also have Hansha De Spark! pictures up within the coming weeks, so until next time... you know where to find me... same bat time, same bat channel...

    Have a nice day.


    The CAPCOM Interview

    Possibly the greatest videogame developer in the world, Capcom rarely opens its doors to western journalists. This month, we're proud to have an EXCLUSIVE interview with Mr. Noritaka Funamizu, General Producer of Capcom's Development Division, as he reveals future plans, Dreamcast development and Biohazard secrets. WARREN HARROD reports.



    SSM: Can you tell us what Capcom's plans for the Sega market now that Dreamcast has been announced?

    NF: We'll continue producing Saturn games for the rest of this year. Our line-up consists of Capcom Generations, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter in October, Dungeons and Dragons Collection in November and Street Fighter Zero 3 in spring next year. That will probably be our final Saturn game. SFZ3, MSH vs. SF and D&D part 2 will all use the 4 MB RAM cart.





    {my note: Final Fight Revenge turned out to be their final Saturn game}



    SSM: Do you think the Saturn market will collapse after the Dreamcast release?

    NF: No, there are still over two million Saturn owners out there. Of course, I don't expect that they will all continue to purchase Saturn games, but I think many of them will still be active users that we can target with our titles.



    SSM: Will you continue to port all of your CP-System II arcade games to Saturn?

    NF: We're not considering releasing any games after April '99 because we can't be sure that there will be anyone out there still buying Saturn games. Sega has stopped all development on new Saturn titles and will only release a collection of budget games from now on. Most shops will remove their Saturn section of games and replace it with something else.

    SSM: Will there ever be another Biohazard game on the Saturn?



    NF: No, there won't. We've already announced this in Japan but we haven't officially stated this overseas yet. We did consider doing Biohazard 2 and we had started it, but we cancelled the project because of Dreamcast.

    SSM: Is the Saturn capable of handling Biohazard 2 or would you have needed to use the 4 MB RAM cart?

    NF: It wouldn't have been impossible to do a Saturn Biohazard 2. We don't really need any more RAM, the real problem is that the CPU is too slow and it doesn't have the power to handle the graphics calculations. Maybe Sega's own development teams could push the CPU closer to its top performance, but we couldn't.

    SSM: What was your first impression on Dreamcast?

    NF: It was completely different to what I thought it was going to be. I was surprised to see that it was even more powerful than Model 3. The hardware looks very interesting indeed.

    SSM: Did Capcom give any advice to Sega about what it would like to see from the Dreamcast hardware?

    NF: We did ask Sega to make sure that it supported 2D titles as well as 3D. However, at the moment the Dreamcast's 2D tools aren't as good as we would like them to be. We're hoping, that before the final version is released, Sega will be able to improve our expectations.

    SSM: So will your 2D programming teams be able to produce perfect conversions of CP-System III games on Dreamcast?

    NF: That really depends on whether Sega has listened to us or not. If it makes the amendments we've asked for then it should be possible.


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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Next we look at WONDER 3

    I had very high hopes for Wonder 3. For a while I loved it but then I came down to earth with it after realizing its limitations and getting off that initial early 90's high.

    Wonder 3 (W3) features three arcade games on one disc. These games all originated from the early 90s. Roosters (AKA Midnight Wanderers), Don't Pull, and Chariot. The action, puzzle and shooting genre is represented here respectively.

    So why do I feel it comes up short? Well, it is fun for a while... when I played it the first couple times my reaction was: This is a high quality Saturn title.

    After six hours of game play or so, I was left wanting much more, and for a disc that has 3 games in 1, I found the replay value to be surprisingly limited.

    ~ MIDNIGHT WANDERERS ~ (you gotta love that name)

    My favorite of the lot, MW is like a Metal Slug Junior set in a fantasy world. This is a basic side-scroller where you play the role of an elf who must return peace to his land.
    The game play here is very simple. The damage system is like Ghosts N Goblins, one hit causes our good elf to lose his clothes, and two hits total will kill him.

    The enemies consist of elf foot-soldiers (who pop out of the ground) and other strange beings. There are 5 stages total and each stage has 2 areas that are respectively guarded by a boss (2 bosses per stage). Your elf's standard shot is an arrow. He can upgrade it by breaking open treasure chests and collecting certain colored orbs. The shot can turn into sort of a boomerang projectile, or a big blue-ish blast.
    There is a 2 Player mode that works as you might expect, very well. Me and my brother have enjoyed romping through this one together.

    Overall this is a nice little vintage-esque platform blaster but it's very basic and you got to be a fan of these type of simple games to enjoy this one. The bosses are pretty cool (especially Stage 1 Area 2 Boss 2 BALGOSS) and the graphics are a delightful splash of vibrancy, although the animation on our elf friends is a bit lacking.
    Goofy sense of humor.
    A is shoot, B is jump. Very simple.





    ~ CHARIOT ~

    Chariot is my least favorite. Our elf friends are back at it. With hang gliders equipped, they take off toward the unfriendly skies to battle the evil-doers. There are 7 stages total and all bosses in this game are of the Zodiac. Cancer (giant crab), Sagga-what's-his-name, etc. The enemies here are the same baddies found from Midnight Wanderers. It's like a continuation except in the form of a SHMUP. With the exception being new bosses. A is shoot, B is to unleash your bomb shot. On paper a great concept.

    But like the ole sport saying goes, "On paper means just that... you gotta play the game to see what is real."

    Chariot at times just dragged on -- at least until you reach the bosses. I just couldn't get into it because I found it very plain and bland. And unlike Midnight Wanderers, it just didn't have that charm value. To be brutally honest, I see no reason to play Chariot more than just a few times, because AT BEST it's average and why play an average ho-hum shooter when you got the likes of Soukyugurentai, Battle Garegga, and Galactic Attack on Saturn? You know what I'm saying? I mean, for God's sake just take a glander at this:












    This over Saturn's smash hit library of SHMUPS? Ya gotta be damn crazy


    Now conversely we could make the same argument between Midnight Wanderers and Saturn platform blasters like Metal Slug, Elevator Action Returns and Mega Man X4, but *at least* Midnight Wanderers is unique enough to bring something different and worth playing to the table. Chariot, sadly, in my book, does not.









    Even in a tough and crowded genre well covered on Saturn, Midnight Wanderers manages to stand out with its charm and unique look.


    ~ DON'T PULL ~

    It reminds me a bit of a souped up version of Rodent's Revenge. Perhaps Pengo is a better comparison, yes. The elf guys are nowhere to be found here; you control a rabbit in a square area containing blocks and bad guys (green blobs, dinosaurs, etc.) Control is a bit stiff, I assume it's because of the alignment you must make with a block so you can push it up, down, left or right. The instruction booklet says there are 32 levels, and so far I have yet to beat this game. It's not too bad but just don't expect a ''traditional'' puzzle game because it's no Tetris clone. It's an action puzzle game. No falling blocks to be found here. The playing field looks like a Bomberman scene kinda.

    Your goal is to eliminate all the enemies within each stage. By kicking the blocks into them which crushes them. Sound easy? On paper, maybe, but in-game you will have to be quick on your feet. There is a 2 player mode and it can make for some good times... teamwork or lack thereof, can make things real interesting real quick. Sometimes you want a block to be there, but if your partner kicks it blindly elsewhere, you might be sorry outta luck! Keeping an open line of communication is crucial.

    But overall, I only found Don't Pull to be barely above average.




    I expected a lot out of Wonder 3, maybe unrealistically so, but I really thought going in to this one, that this could have been one of the Saturn's sleeper gem hits.

    As stated previously, W3's replay value for me is surprisingly limited. I have no desire to return to CHARIOT, I see little desire to return to DON'T PULL, and MIDNIGHT WANDERERS is one of those ''couple times a year'' types. I played W3 for about four days straight and really liked it. Then time passed and I am left with an empty feeling. It is really truly Midnight Wanderers that "saves" this comp for me. Otherwise, this would be on the trade list.

    Bottom Line:

    A decent compilation; the likes of which only the craziest gamers will want to hunt down. In the end, I just came out disappointed. But again, I was expecting probably TOO much.

    If I had to rate each title independently:

    Midnight Wanderers- 7.5
    Pretty fun, a decent ''kiddie'' version of fantasy Metal Slug if you will. A little goofy, colorful and very whimsical

    Don't Pull- 6.0
    Strictly slightly above average. Decent fun with 2 players; trying to plot out the mazes. If you have a girlfriend this might be a good game to play. If not, Don't Pull is almost Don't Play. OK that's a little harsh... Don't Pull feels like an old game that you played on a very old computer many moons ago. I guess there's some charm in that.

    Chariot- 4.5
    Just not all that fun or appealing. Very ho-hum, very *yawn*

    Overall, I score Wonder 3 a 7.0

    Please note that it's no cheap game. I believe it commands at least a solid $45. To buy or not to buy, that is the question. If you enjoy these games, I say hell yeah go for it. If you always were a non-fan, skip.

    For more pics go here:

    http://www.markinjapan.com/detail.php?selected=349

    note: the funny square graphical thing you'll see is NOT in the game (dunno what happened there)

  9. #9
    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the comments. Keep 'em coming.

    Let's continue on with the Capcom Interview Part II.

    SSM: The Biohazard franchise seems ideally suited to the Dreamcast hardware. Can you let us in on any of you plans for bringing the world of survival horror to the 128-bit generation?

    NF: On October 6th, Sega will hold its New Challenge Conference: Part 2. Capcom will be there to make a joint announcement with Sega about Biohazard on Dreamcast.

    SSM: Who from Capcom will be at the Sega New Challenge Conference?

    NF: Probably myself, Mr. Yoshiki Okamoto (President of Flagship, Managing Director of Capcom's R&D Division) and Mr. Shinji Mikami (a Biohazard Producer). There might be more staff present because we will be announcing several titles, not just Biohazard.



    SSM: What are your thoughts on the non-release of Grade A quality titles like X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Vampire Savior in the US and Europe?



    NF: Of course we are very disappointed with this. The problem is that overseas sales companies were really opposed to the use of the 4MB RAM cart because of the additional expense involved. The European and American markets are very hard, so they didn't want the extra risk. Personally, I think that they should have been able to support these titles, but instead consumers have to pay very expensive import prices instead.



    SSM: Dreamcast will appear in an arcade form as the Naomi board. Since Capcom supported the PlayStation System 11 and 12 hardware, are you at all tempted to switch to the far greater 3D power of this new Sega machine?

    NF: We will make an official announcement about this at the JAMMA Show in Mid-September, but I think that we will eventually stop using the PlayStation board for arcade games sometime soon. We've pretty much pushed that hardware as far as we can.

    SSM: You didn't port any of your PlayStation board games to the Saturn. Does this mean that Naomi board games will all become Dreamcast exclusive games?

    NF: It would be very difficult to convert Naomi games to the PS. However, we'll be able to port all our PS board games to the DC.

    SSM: Will you improve your PS board games to make more use of the DC?

    NF: No, we won't. We won't alter the game to make it look better on the DC hardware. However, if we have a PS board gae that we can't port to the PS then it will only be ported to the DC. We won't let the quality of games suffer.

    SSM: Are there any other plans to convert your CP-System III titles to the home market?

    NF: As far as DC conversions go, we will make an announcement about that as the New Challenge Conference in October, but it's not possible to port them to the PS. Even CP-System II titles have been very difficult to do. Even Street Fighter Zero was pushing the PS to its limits.

    SSM: Apart from WarZard and SF III, do you have plans to release any more titles for your CP-System III board?

    NF: Yes, there's a title called JoJo's Adventure. That's going to be a fighting game based on a Manga story which we plan to release in December. We'll show some video footage of it at the JAMMA Show.

    SSM: Why has it taken so long for a new CP-System III game to appear in arcades?

    NF: It's similar to the problem that Sony has with the PS and PS2. We have so many CP-System II boards out there, that it's difficult for us to introduce a new board into the market place. Many arcades don't have a CP-System III board at all, but they still have their CP-System II boards, so we can't give up on it just yet.

    SSM: Would you prefer everyone to change over to CP-System III?

    NF: Not really. We're thinking of giving up on the CP-System III. To be honest, it wasn't very good. Many companies didn't like it because it had a lot of hardware faults.

    SSM: Will you only use other manufacturers boards from now on or will you create a CP-System IV?

    NF: A CP-System IV board does exist, but we haven't decided whether or not to market it yet.

    SSM: Can you say when we might see the first real 3D Street Fighter game from Capcom?

    NF: The year 2000 (laughs)! We have an in-house joke where we say that it'll be called Street Fighter 2000. From a creative point of view our designers are always asking why they have to create a 3D Street Fighter game. They originally wanted to create a new world of characters, like Star Gladiator. That's what they all strongly felt and they didn't want to think simply about the sales aspects. However, none of our new 3D characters have been very successful, so they're slowly coming round to the idea that it would actually be OK to create a 3D Street Fighter.



    SSM: Will Arika continue to make all the 3D versions of the SF series?

    NF: No, they won't be. The last 3D game they developed for us was SF EX2.

    SSM: What are are your plans for the SF III series?

    NF: In spring of next year, we are planning to release SF III: 3rd Impact. At the moment there are too many fighting games in the arcade, so we can't release a sequel any faster than one every six months. We've only just released SF Zero 3, so we don't really want to launch anything just yet.



    SSM: Will 'Impact' become the official sub-name for the SF III series?

    NF: We want to make SF III: 3rd Impact the very best version of this series and possibly the last. After that, we will think about a new Street Fighter series. SF Zero 3 will probably be the last in that series as well. SF III: 3rd Impact wil keep all the old characters, but we'll add some new ones as well. Although it'll be a major change over the 2nd Impact game system, it won't be a major departure from the first two games in the series.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Tonight we examine the first of 3 import beat em ups.


    CROWS: THE BATTLE ACTION FOR SEGA SATURN


    Back in 2002 this game was VERY unknown to all except a select few handful. Today it's not really an obscure game any more, especially if you're talking about the diehard Saturn community. Everyone by now has heard of it. I don't mean to toot my own horn but I remember when I first posted on several different websites about Crows in 2003, a lot of people commented "WOW it looks like River City Ransom on steroids!" Interest peaked, and through word of mouth knowledge of Crows shot through the roof, and it's thanks to bastards like me.


    Graphics
    --
    Really good, particularly on paper. Big ass sprites, a semi Super Deformed-esque look, quite a bright colorful looking game, though the backgrounds sometimes look bland. You will trek across streets with stores (even one store called River... a little secret homage to River City Ransom by the folks at Athena? Perhaps, and how devious...), bars, parks, a bathroom, and even a high school! In fact, a high school is where the final fight (no pun intended) takes place. Animation is just average, don't expect Capcom quality.


    Music/sound
    --
    Eh, your typical beat em up fair. You won't remember the music, and your standard whacks and cracks.


    Control
    --
    Responsive.
    A=punch
    B=kick
    C=jump
    X=retreat
    Y=taunt (your Crow spews some Japanese bad words I'm told)
    Z=block
    L and R are your combo buttons... you can adjust your combos in the combo maker screen... double tap to dash in desired direction


    Gameplay
    --
    Nothing new. Very basic. Punch, kick, grapple into 2 headbutts and throw, you seen it all before. Kick bums while they're down, etc. You can pick up knives and such. Stages aren't long. If you played Combatribes before, think THAT short... and EVEN shorter are the "stages" (more like segments) in Crows. Some levels you just battle goons til the end while other stages have an end boss waiting for you. You start out with a choice of 2 characters but later on 2 more is added on once you beat them (the 2 bosses then become playable).

    I gotta say, the bosses disappointed me. They're not big or ugly or any of the "traditional" qualities you find in most Beat Em Up bosses.
    The gameplay has some flaws though, like when you carry a box of bottles you can't move. It's pretty useless as it's hard to time. Also, the hit detection and collision is off a little bit. You'll get used to it but it's not as smooth as it should have been.


    Replay
    --
    Not something you'll pull out every Saturday morning but... every now and then I can see how this game would be enticing to play. You gotta be in the mood.


    Overall:

    It's really nothing special but... there's a charm to this game that diehard Saturn gamers would enjoy adding it to their collection.
    Very Japanese-y in some spots.

    I must admit, I enjoyed Crows more the 2nd time around, after I got over my initial disappointment. I was hoping for a great beat em up, but once you accept Crows for what it is, you might just come to enjoy its zaniness. For a little-known company like Athena, this ain't half-bad. A nice little game for them rainy days... it could have been a lot better, yes, but not shabby nonetheless. It's pretty rare and goes for about $85-$100+

    Crows' best thing it got going for itself is its quirkiness, presentation and charm. Hey, any game where you can punch an innocent street sweeper, cop and pound on drunks... c'mon how bad can it be?

    Overall: 6.5/10

    http://www.markinjapan.com/detail.php?selected=2066
    ignore the funny line breaks... the game doesn't have those lines.

    Tomorrow we look at another 2D beat em up... and the day after we'll look at a 3D beat em up... haha just kidding. All 2D flavor here...

  11. #11
    Key (Level 9) fishsandwich's Avatar
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    That Crows is one silly-looking game, but I'd really like to try it. Is this a rare game? I see it on Ebay now... one is at about $40 with 7 days to go, the other two are $120 and bloody *$250* for a sealed copy! I can't see paying any of those prices for what seems to be a simply beat-em-up.

    More info and the next games, please!!!





    .
    Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~

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    Dear god, this thread is awesome. Somehow I completely missed it. Thanks for the reviews Steven and keep up the great commentary!

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    Default Re: !

    Quote Originally Posted by fishsandwich
    That Crows is one silly-looking game, but I'd really like to try it. Is this a rare game? I see it on Ebay now... one is at about $40 with 7 days to go, the other two are $120 and bloody *$250* for a sealed copy! I can't see paying any of those prices for what seems to be a simply beat-em-up.

    More info and the next games, please!!!





    .
    Yes it is quite rare. It's been debated how many copies of Crows have been published... some believe it's less than Taromaru, which had about 7,500 copies. Crows goes for $75+ consistently.

    Ah thanks Trevor.

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    NEKKETSU OYAKO


    Good ole N.O. I still remember sniping this eBay auction on November 15, 2002. It was this game and Tetris S that got me interested in buying and playing the lesser known Saturn games. I realized there was more on offering than the Radiant Silverguns, NiGHTS and Guardian Heroes of our world.

    This 2D brawler has a lot of trademark features that harkens back to classics like the Streets of Rage games. For example, when you fight enemies, their energy bar will pop up under yours. Also, along the journey will be food to consume and weapons to take advantage of.

    The weapons include bombs, bazookas (only big Rando can use the bazooka), rifles, machine guns, daggers, and my personal favorite: the sharp disc. It works like a boomerang and gives new meaning to the phrase, ''It slices! It dices!!''

    Sometimes weapons will be lying down in the open. Other times you'll have to destroy barrels, crates, or colorful vending machines to unveil them.

    There's a punch, jump, and ''super special move'' button. The super special move will automatically damage all onscreen enemies, even kill some of them, but it will also take away some of your own health.

    You get three characters to choose from: Haggar-clone Rando, the all-around Tora, or the girl Rio.

    The enemies and bosses in this game are OK. Some designs are decent; others are borderline laughable. There are 5 stages total. Loading times are good and slowdown only occurs in a few sections of the game. Nothing too bad though.

    What really disappointed me was that there was no real "Andore" or "Abobo" clone. The closest is "VanDamme" -- a tall (but not towering) bald freak weilding a spiked chainball.

    Low-end enemies consist of weird looking foot soldiers wearing masks, orange pants and sporting the boxing gloves. There's one pretty cool enemy named "Freddy." He is a cross between Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, and boogeyman Michael Myers. He has Myers' hair and clothes, Jason's mask, and Freddy's claws. Tough bastard.

    The bosses are a little disappointing as well. Stage 1 and 2 bosses were like, "..." Stage 3 had a cool "throwback" boss though -- big, tough looking, and just a bully of a man. I wished the bosses were more like him.

    In stage 5 you go through all four bosses again before meeting the final boss. Stage 5 is very cool. Watch the battle with Hammer. If the owner doesn't kill the cow... the saws will!


    Graphics: 5.5
    They resemble the Final Fight games more than Streets of Rage. It has a cartoony look, not a gritty one. Some of the animation is quite lackluster. This game just doesn't have trademark A-Class animation. Especially Rando's moves; the animation on them is quite awkward-looking at first. The throws are also lacking animation. However, attention to detail is very nice in some areas. Knocked down poles will break into segmented pieces. Statues broken will shatter apart and cars demolished will flip wildly in the air with tires flying every which way. The flames look pretty nice. More cool details -- on the second stage, you'll see some sort of fish swimming in the water beneath you, nice touch. Although the artwork could have been better.
    Overall, the graphics could be improved, but they're not a complete eye sore and the details are there. The backgrounds are your typical beat em up fare, though with some strange spices thrown in, like the battle on the roller coaster or the battle inside the whale's stomach.
    All in all, the graphics just scream 16-bit. The Saturn's 2D graphic powerhorse probably didn't even break a sweat here.

    Sound/Music: 6
    Sound is a mixed bag. Some great sound effects are present, like Rando's explosive and loud super special, but then you have areas where the game doesn't register any sound effects at all, which is very disappointing and uncalled for in a 32-bit game. (e.g. the sharp disc attack, I wish it made some sort of slicing sound as it juggles its victims. But no, there's just silence as it cuts through enemies, what a shame)
    The music was fairly adequate. Maybe a little too relaxed sounding at times, but nonetheless there are some nice beats in the soundtrack. I noticed that when you pause the game and unpause it back, the soundtrack restarts.
    Enemies have decent ''death cries.''
    But nothing that you will really remember.

    Control: 9
    I do not have any major complaints. These type of games usually have simple controls anyhow. Only thing is the item/icon issue. Sometimes there are too many icons lying near one another and in the heat of battle, as I press attack with intention to whack the enemy, my character will bend down to pick up the item/icon and get nailed in the process. Too bad they didn't make use of the extra buttons on the Saturn controller. Perhaps this lies in the gameplay issue more than the controls, however.

    Gameplay: 7
    Nothing special. You've seen it before. The various weapons scattered about help keep the action somewhat fresh but it can get a little repetitive. On the higher difficulties, the CPU AI can be a pain.
    The ability to juggle the enemies and also to hit them while they're lying down breathes some fresh air in. The boss fights were a little too easy. In the instruction manual there's quite a few combinations of moves possible for the 3 characters.
    Is it a shallow game? Yes. Is it linear? Of course.
    You pretty much should know what to expect coming in. People either like these games or don't. I fall in the former category and I think Nekketsu Oyako's gameplay is decent enough, but nothing really worth writing home about.

    Replay Value: 6
    Like many others in this genre, this is not a game I plan to play 10 hours every week. It's best in small doses. Although there's only 5 levels, the game is long, taking you about 50 minutes to beat. It's something you might pull out every now and then. Then again, you might not, after beating the game 4 or 5 times.

    Fun Factor: 7
    Sometimes it's just fun to beat up anything that moves. What I enjoy most about this game is that it doesn't always take itself seriously (look no further than the squid enemies with boxing gloves). Nekketsu Oyako doesn't set out to be the genre defining game.

    Bottom Line:

    I feel that Nekketsu Oyako had a lot of potential. Some areas were filled in adequately while others left a small to large gap. Better graphics, better sound, and night time battles would have been great. Also I must say this game doesn't feel very impactful. The punches you deliver to enemies don't feel very crisp or have that ''OOMPH!'' impact. That disappointed me.
    But personally, seeing as these types of games are sparse on the Saturn, I'm not going to complain all that much. Nekketsu Oyako lived up to my expectations as a semi-competent 2D beat 'em up that doesn't do the genre disgrace. If you're a fan of this old genre and find a copy for $20 or under, it's worth picking up.

    Just don't expect too much.

    My overall feeling with it is that it's a cross -- a Final Fight clone with a touch of "Parodius bastardization" to it.

    Overall: 6.0

    http://www.markinjapan.com/detail.php?selected=1446

    TENCHI WO KURAU II


    I'm slightly disappointed with TWK II. But I was expecting far too much.

    The game is long. I think there are 9 stages total, and the first time I was playing I got to level 8, which took me over an hour.

    You get to pick from 1 of 5 warriors. They're all pretty slow in speed, and there is no dash button -- this irked me quite a bits. Gameplay felt slow.



    The game itself is what you expect. It does get repetitive, especially if you play alone. I haven't played it 2 player yet but I can see where having a friend take out the goons with you be some good fun.

    The enemy AI is quite annoying. They like to putz around, meaning, staying off the screen a bit and then attacking you. I despise the enemies who jump right at you with their knives. But hey you gotta have a challenge...

    The game can throw up to 15-20 enemies at you at once. It can feel very overwhelming at times. It does have a cool "1 man versus an army of 20" atmosphere.


    it gets much more crowded than this

    The bosses are great because they are exaggerated to gigantic proportions, are beefy as hell and their energy bars are very intimidating. All boss fights come equipped with many foot soldiers. Tough love eh?


    Damn that's just not right...

    Loading times were good, except when you lost a continue they take you to this black continue screen instead of just staying on the screen where you died... there is a 1.5 second or so pause and it's minor but still manages to break up the rhythm of the action.

    You can pick up giant swords and other ancient weaponry along the way and can slice an enemy (or boss even) in two. Not easy to do though, as enemies swarm you from every which direction.
    You can also ride horseback, but I found fighting on foot to be better.



    The graphics are not great. Choppy animation, and coming from Capcom this caught me as a disappointment. Yeah I know it's a 1992 game at heart but still, I guess I've been spoiled.

    Overall, a good game, for sure, but worth the 45-50 bucks it usually goes for?

    Overall: 7.5


    So basically, IMO:

    TWK II > CROWS > NO

    If you love beat em ups and Saturn, you'll want to get all three. Not bad rainy day titles... not bad at all.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    I'm still alive... just busy around FINALS time. I've been tackling this game lately... it's really grown on me. It might grow on you too, if you give it a chance.


    PD ULTRAMAN LINK


    No matter what I do this game will forever be linked to me, no pun intended. This is a game that I've been after for two years. It's a hard bugger to come by. But the real interesting thing here is, my ex-girlfriend gave me this game as part of my Christmas gift set last year.

    Now there's your common 2004 Christmas gift -- an outdated, out of circulation obscure Saturn puzzle game. =P

    Yes PD Ultraman Link is a puzzle game. There are a couple UM games on Saturn, I have never played the rest, but me being the puzzle fanatic, was always after this one. Two years, man. Two bloody years. It just doesn't pop up on eBay very much. Or elsewhere on the net.

    So how is it? What's it like? And is it worth hunting down? Let's examine PD Xiga Link... uh, excuse me I meant PD Ultraman Link

    There are 5 blocks:

    _l (red)

    l_ (blue)

    [ (green)

    l (yellow)

    l
    - (purple, hard to show, but they're connected)

    I know, the pieces may seem slightly reminiscent of Shingata Kururin Pa! (boy was that game covered a long time ago...) The basic concept of PD Link is to link together 3... doesn't matter what color.

    Say a green drops down

    [

    And then another green

    ]

    You combine them to be

    []

    They will all disappear (because you connected four links together)

    Each piece has two links already. (The purple one is unique because they're not linked together)

    So you can easily go for the link 3 here and there and keep your field clean, which won't damage your opponent much.
    The key here is, like all puzzle games, to work on a big chain.

    The purple block is unique because it usually leaves one piece behind. This part is hard to explain because you really need a visual to see how it works.

    Debris comes in the form of light black link pieces. Once you connect 2 or more to a black debris piece, it turns gray... repeat again and it disappears for good.

    You can turn around and do some crazy stuff with the debris if you strategize well. One time I nailed an 8 chainer that just made the screen go crazy (pop pop pop pop pop .... good feeling for sure) Killed my enemy easily after that.

    Yeah, when I first played this game I was like "What the hell... this puzzle game is weird."

    But over the past week or so it's really grown on me after I learned more about the kinks in the gameplay.

    There are 10 characters to select from. 5 versions of UltraMan and 5 of his monster foes. The game has a different look. It's not really colorful or bright or "sugary" looking so to speak. The character models are funky looking and of the SD mode more than anything else.

    During gameplay you can press 'X' to change the way the pieces look.

    A. One mode makes them all lines. Here it REALLY looks like Kururin. The lines are colored appropriately.

    B. Your standard mode, where you get capsule-like pieces. Only, when you link them together you can see the individual breaks.

    C. Like above, except they link together... and start to look like a box of MIKE AND IKE'S after not too long.

    You have a story mode (it's hard), 2P mode, VS. CPU mode, and a "see if you can clear me all" puzzle mode.

    I'll give you an example of a nice little 4 hit combo

    note. the 'X' you will see indicates to leave it blank here

    First you set up four blues on your bottom left hand corner as such:

    BBBB

    Then you drop a couple reds on top of them blue suckers:

    XRRR
    BBBB

    Finally get a green piece and stick it next to the blue.

    XRRR
    BBBBG

    What happens?

    Blue meets green. They link and disappear:

    l_ <---> ]

    The red on top of the blue that just cancelled drops down to greet blue

    l_ <----> _l

    And then after they disappear the other reds drop down in succession.

    There are more advanced crazy combo's but I'll let your imaginations work it out.

    Overall this is not a puzzle game that will appeal to every one. Puzzle fans may even be indifferent toward it as it has a bit of an acquired taste, much like Hansha de Spark! in my opinion. However, give it a shot, learn the kinks of the gameplay, and it just may grow on you like it did me.

    Keep in mind that it is a VERY hard to find video game. (look around, no one sells it)

    But it cost me $12... so it should be had cheap. Well, I should say it cost my ex GF 12 dollars, haha.

    Not bad... not bad at all. Where does it rank? It definitely is no Puzzle Fighter, Puyo Puyo or Bust A Move.... doesn't quite have the charm as those games... but it's got a unique puzzle system worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre. It's a different spin on the ole "connect 3" formula. I would say it's worth hunting down. But not a top priority.

    Oh yeah, hawk-eyed GameFan magazine readers may remember the small quarter of a page preview of this game in some 1997 (96?) GameFan issue (where I discovered this game)... other than that itty bitty preview, I haven't been able to find ANY info on this game anywhere. Glad to see that things will change now.

    See you guys next time.

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    STEAMGEAR MASH


    What a pleasant surprise this game turned out for me. An isometric adventure action game by Takara in 1995, it features a robot on a mission to rescue his friend Mina after she got kidnapped by aliens (hey, it could happen)

    Graphics are colorful and quite bold, especially for a '95 title; to me it still looks very strong today. From the second you turn on the game you can feel a special quality in the game. The intro has great tunes and is very well done. Our hero, Mash, is like MegaMan in some ways. He has a green buster that when you hold down can charge up for one big mega blast. SGM is like MegaMan meets Sonic 3D Blast.





    When enemies are killed, they explode to a nice sound effect and various hues explode in their place -- very cool. There are 6 stages total. Music in game is very good; very happy-sounding.





    Mash is a cool character to control. He can jump, he has his trusty green laser bullets, he has bombs, spread shuriken shot, boxing glove, etc. (the last 3 mentioned are specials and have a limited quantity while the green laser shot is infinite).

    Other functions in his arsenal includes: Roll, Lock, and Stop. There is also 3 more but I have yet to acquire them. What does roll do? First click L to activate it then hold R to use it. D-Pad to move Mash. Now you can move and spin his upper half in a circle shooting. Nifty! Lock is just that: Mash faces a certain direction and you can shoot and strafe to your heart's content. Stop has Mash stopping dead in his tracks and standing there spinning his upper half body around. Here you can blast away.





    Any complains about the game so far? Well, enemies will reappear if you leave a room and come back. However, it's not as bad as the MegaMan games where enemies respawn in that very annoying way that probably doesn't need to be explained. Since this is an isometric game, at first you'll be bugged by some aiming issues, but it gets better and more natural as you progress.

    The game seems easy. You take some damage but slain enemies often times leave behind a small or big heart (health, another MegaMan similarity).

    I easily recommend this game with high praise to any action/adventure fan. It is a nice little Saturn "hidden gem," though not nearly as obscure as other titles already discussed and titles that I will share with you later on as the weeks progress.

    BTW, Mina in the intro looks a lot like Capcom's Sakura. And the CD cover, like much of the game, is just so darn adorable. Did I just say that? That darn Mash... like MegaMan, he's cute yet rugged. A very good game... one that kids and adults alike should enjoy.



    should run you less than $15 shipped, and well worth it

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Today we look at a game that probably no Saturn gamer would define as "obscure," but it isn't a household name either, so let's give it a moment to bask in the sunshine shall we

    ---

    The Saturn is home to many shooters (AKA ''shmups''). The general consensus on Shienryu seems mixed. Many believe it's average and nothing special. Others will contest it's ''underrated, under appreciated and well, damn good.'' Where do I fall? Somewhere in the middle but more toward the latter than the former. Oh and, past the ladder over the hill down the stream and through the gate... sorry, I figure you might be so confused by now

    Graphics: 8.5
    Early on the graphics may not jump out at you much, but later on things get rather eye-catchy and impressive. In one of the later stages, there's this giant white ship that appears almost cel-shaded. My brother was playing with me and said, ''Whoa, check out the cel-shading power of Saturn! Albeit first generation...''
    The graphics are rock solid and well drawn. The bullets often times appear in the blue hue. Enemies are well animated. You can see damage on bigger enemies before they blow up... very neat.

    Sound/music: 7.5
    The sounds are nice and explosions are fairly loud with a nice oomph. Music however is too bland for my liking and sounds like generic guitar riffs. Nothing to write home about.

    Control: 9
    As in most shooter games, great. Controls are very basic (shoot, bomb). Ship speed feels about right which is something shooter fans should never take for granted.

    Gameplay: 8.5
    Solid. Just solid. Although you only have one ship (some other shmups give you a choice between 3 or 4 ships) the gameplay zips along at a nice pace; it never gets TOO frustrating (on the easier difficulty levels anyway) and yet always manages to keep the pressure on at all times, especially in the later levels. There are lots of bullets to dodge and lots of turrets to destroy. It's just well done and done in a very respectable way. One small gripe though. If you lose a life, the action stops and you either go back to a certain segment, or go forward (depending on how much damage you did to the enemy ship(s) before you died. Like, you're on stage 5 and there are increments... i.e. 5-2, 5-5. Say you're on 5-4 and badly damage a mini-boss but he ends up killing you. Instead of going back to face him, in this case the game automatically takes you to 5-5 even though you did not ''earn it.'')

    Replay Value: 7
    I know I'll come back to it someday. Not a game I'll play every week but I'll break it out every once in a while. It's not as replayable as other shooters in my book, but without a shadow of a doubt I'll come back to it more than just once because it's solid good challenging fun.

    Fun Factor: 8.5
    It's something I can get down for and just have a blast with. However, I never really feel like I'm ''locked in'' with the game... I just kinda go through the motions so to speak. Still, I enjoy playing it quite a bit and one thing about Shienryu that is extra special in my heart is that it has an incredible arcade feel to it. When I'm battling the stage 3 end boss -- that red rad robotic octopus -- I almost can smell the aroma of cheese in the air and hear the joyous laughter of children as they're scampering about downstairs...

    MISC:

    -Loading times are quick!
    -Yes, you have the all-mighty Bomb button in Shienryu
    -The bosses are all pretty cool
    -The last stage and last boss is very difficult
    -The CG intro is well done and puts you in a good mood to blast and save the universe
    -2 Player simultaneous play is a go!

    Bottom Line:

    Shienryu's a good shooter. Unfortunately, it finds itself in a crowded genre. Saturn's shooter library runs deep and rich. From the superb (Radiant Silvergun, Soukyugurentai) to the ho-hum (Gekirindan, Sol Divide) it's hard to be noticed in the crowd. You have to be REALLY good. And that Shienryu falls a bit short of being a superb shooter, but don't get me wrong. It's a solid shooter worth $35 (but not a penny more). I wouldn't classify Shienryu as a ''front-of-the-line'' shooter but I will stamp my seal of approval on it, and hope that once you finish buying and playing the likes of Soukyugurentai and Battle Garegga, that you give Shienryu a fighting (or should I say shooting) chance.




    Now if you would kindly excuse me, I would like to resume my rightful position as Shienryu scores champion... *turns back* ''Hey you -- drop that quarter! Yeah -- you in the big gray mouse suit!* Drop it buddy!''

    Overall: 8.0





    *Chuck E. Cheese's baby! :P

  18. #18
    Key (Level 9) fishsandwich's Avatar
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    Default !

    More, man, more!

    Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    haha fish. as you wish (hey just call me the new Dr. Seuss lol)

    "Hey man, you've spoke on a lot of games but are there any fighters I might have missed or not heard of? I'm a huge 2D fighting fan in particular, HOOK IT UP!"

    Alright.

    I recently discovered this game oh maybe at the turn of the new year. I had seen its name sparsely here and there over the years but never made the effort to figure out what genre it was. As soon as I learned it was a 2D fighter I immediately popped it on my want list.

    And here we are today.

    ADVANCED V.G.

    (The VG apparently stands for "Variable Geo")

    This is a 2D all-girl fighter, and what I dug up on it hasn't been very favorable... many saying skip this fighter.

    In truth, they are somewhat right. AVG is nothing to write home about, in fact it's a very ho-hum fighter that I can only recommend to fighting FREAKS. However, even though it's ho-hum on the whole, it doesn't play or control bad at all... not at all. It just misses that all important X-Factor.

    It does play a lot better than the tragically appalling Golden Axe: The Duel (remember that no combo system fighter? Yesh). It controls responsively. Hell, I'd recommend it if you are a HUGE fighter fan who must have every 2D fighter ever made. Because it's not a BAD game, per se.

    The graphics are Super Nintendo personafied. The music is kinda catchy and good in places. The sound, however, is horrible. When you crack someone with a hard punch or kick, out comes this weak low sound. Stages were decent. One stage takes place in front of old fashioned townshops and to the far left of the screen is this girl holding her skirt so the wind doesn't shoot it up. Comedic. Another stage pits you at battle at night in front of a mansion with well-lit windows a-plenty and a rose bed in the background. etc.

    Modes include 1P, Story Mode (you only can use Yuka), 2P mode, 1P vs. CPU mode, and COM vs. COM mode. In the VS. modes you can pick any stage, your handicap and a speed setting from 1-5 (5 is very very fast)

    There are 9 characters total. They are as follows:

    YUKA
    The main character and as predicted has a fireball, hurricane kick type move and a Dragon Punch.

    CHIHO
    This ninja-looking female sports a purple sparkball and Burning Knuckle-type 5 hit attack

    MANAMI
    Really weird little character in a maid's dress with tiger paws. She plays like Blanka -- has his Rolling Ball Attack and a variation of the Rolling Ball Attack. Also has a long-string attack.

    JUN
    This huge brown-ish skin Amazon predictably is like the Zangief of the cast. Has a powerful throw and a J.Carn like Mongolian Fire anti-air special.

    SATOMI
    The fire fighter. Has an anti-air fire move that screams KOF. Another move she jumps high in the air and lands down with a fire strike to the head.

    AYAKO
    She is the "Stacey Kiebler" of the group... i.e. extremely leggy. She uses those long legs to good use too (hey now). Sort of a rolling leg attack and then an anti-air break dance type leg kick.

    ELIRIN
    Bunny costume! Oh c'mon, you had to see this one coming! Has a gun blast Yoga Flame style (but lasts on-screen nowhere as long as even jab Yoga Flame). Has a "jump in with fist" attack and an E.Honda rapid punch attack

    KAORI
    Leg kick into fireball. Airtwisting attack (like Dhalsim)

    REIMI
    Huge projectile. Shoulder rush attack, and a Flash Kick variant.

    Everything about this game screams Super Nintendo. In this aspect it reminds me a lot of a fellow obscure Saturn 2D fighter "Sonic Council." I liked SC a lot better than this game, but don't get me wrong. It's a keeper for me. Typical 2-in-1 combo's. A basic combo system. It's like Street Fighter II but of course nowhere near as damn good.

    It's just old school. Heck, there isn't even a power bar! However, there are some awesome desperation moves to be discovered (there's a GREAT FAQ of it on GameFAQs). For instance Yuka the main character has two desperation attacks.

    DM 1: 3 fireballs in a row

    DM 2: Crazy. I've done this and it's keeer-azy. Hurricane Kick attack into Fireball into Dragon Punch... Ken style (twice!)

    Every character has two desperation attacks I believe, one girl throws out about a Dozen fireballs (a la Remy from SF III Third Strike fame).

    Some good stuff.

    So even though there's no Power Bar, when your energy widdles down to about a quarter left or so, you can pull out these devestating attacks and they're not too hard to pull off unlike some SNK fighters!

    Overall, AVG lived up to my not-high expectations. It's a basic fighter.... don't expect an overly technically deep fighter and you should be OK. There's only 2 or 3 special moves per character listed in the manual, but I have discovered extra moves on my own. But this ain't KOF '98 we're talking about here, folks.

    I got mine for just under $20. Overall I am satisfied with the game. It's not as bad as I have read some others ripped it waaaay back in the day (late 90's) but it's not (or should not) be a top priority purchase either. Something to get off to the side, know what I mean? There are a ton better fighters out there, but if you have a special place in your heart for these 16-bit-esque basic fighters, you will probably enjoy AVG.

  20. #20
    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    The last game we observed was an all-gal fighter in Advanced V.G. Now we look at another all-girl brawl-for-all... ASUKA 120% BURNING FESTIVAL LIMITED

    Marvel Super Heroes, MSH vs. SF, X-Men vs. SF, and Astra SuperStar... if you can match the intensity and combo juggling of these games, you're mighty impressive. And Asuka does just that. This is a COMBO FEST. It's juggle city. It's counters and super specials galore.

    I know a lot of games we've looked at so far have been given the "something to maybe get off to the side" well I'm glad to say that Asuka is definitely a game that may shoot right to the top of your list... for it is quality through and through.

    It's not going to be for everyone, however. The juggle factor may turn off "old school 2D fighting" fans, but if you like the crazier 2D fighters, you've come to the right place.

    It's amazing to me how Asuka goes unnoticed, for this is one of the coolest craziest games on Saturn! A lot of people are after Astra SuperStars and I can see why, but for a much cheaper bang for the buck, check out Asuka.

    It's like Street Fighter, but then it's not. (Moves/Commands)

    It's like some SNK fighters, but then it's not. (You get "Ippon!" for first match won like SS, it scales in and out in a similar manner to SS)

    It's like Darkstalkers, but then it's not. (Chaining weak into strong attacks)

    It's like the Capcom VS. games but then it's not (You get the down-up super jump from Capcom games starting with X-Men, and some later. You get "air combos" from MSH and later Capcom games)

    It's like SF III but then it's not (You can block an attack with a correctly timed attack of the same power... a bit like a SF3 parry I guess, but it's just a button press)

    It's like Mortal Kombat but then it's not (double tap commands)

    It's like Pocket Fighter but then it's not (zany cheery atmosphere)

    It's like Astra Superstars but then it's not (easy super specials and super specials a-plenty)

    Basically Asuka is like a ton of fighters, but manages to stand on its own two feet. You can do anything in this fighting game you've ever seen from other fighters (counters, air combos, juggling, cancel, etc.) except air-block. Everyone I've talked to in the past who has played Asuka has said nothing but great things about it.

    So what more do you need to know? Again, it's not going to appeal to everyone, but it's a quality game no doubt.

    AVG vs. Asuka -- no contest. Asuka wins hands down. It's much more "modernized" and it's much much crazier and overall just the better fighter.

    AVG uses four buttons of strength, while Asuka has just two (weak, strong). At first this may catch you a little off-guard but like Real Bout Special soon it becomes second nature.

    Every character has the same commands. There are no charge moves, and only one character who uses the Dragon Punch command. Every character has a Hadoken command (and a fireball as a result, except for the She-male character) and a double tap down command (which produces either an anti-air attack or a rushing attack). Some have Hurricane Kick command (which produces usually a Hurricane Kick type move)

    Super Specials are done by Hadoken, Hurricane Kick or double tap down commands with the button C (which configures to A+B).

    The bar works like this: when it flashes 100 you can use one SS, but then the bar depletes itself. If you get to 100, and connect a few more hits, or receive them -- the bar jumps to 120%.... what this does is... you can do multiple SS's. Sometimes up to four or five, depending on how fast you can get it off. As you can see, super specials are a crazy part of Asuka's gameplay. The screen just explodes into an impressive fireshow.

    When I first played this it took me back how much LITTLE energy is taken off when you're hit by a normal or special move. The energy bar looks kinda small compared to other fighters, but when you see the damage you might be shocked. But it all becomes 2nd nature before long.

    Not really sure what the story is but it's a bunch of High School looking girls battling. Many have a theme. i.e. baseball, tennis, chemical student, etc.

    Here are the characters:

    HONDA ASUKA
    Has a fireball that scorches her opponents and makes use of combusting chemical capsules. All of which can be done in the air. Her SS fireball connects 7 times

    TOYOTA KARINA
    A bizarre fighter who uses her pet friend Froggy in battle. Frog acts as a projectile, and her two SS's involves Froggy. One she launches a stampede of frogs at you and the other Froggy charges you, chucks you high in the sky and drops you down in one burning slam.

    OKUBO KUMI
    Leg jump attacks and has some crazy ribbon attacks, including a SS that makes her go ribbon-insane.

    OWADA NANA
    Fights with a fan.. tossing it and such.

    SUZUKI MEGUMI
    A most charming character, this cheerleader puts her pom pom's to good use. It acts like a boomerang so her opponent has to watch out it doesn't hit them on the way back! Has a 7 hit Pom Pom Punch that reminds me of Sagat's 7 hit Tiger Uppercut. Her SS is a wild 20 hit combo that finishes with the Pom Pom Punch.

    YAMASAKI RYUKO
    Sliding fist attack and a devastating backbreaker (OUCH!)

    CATHY WILD
    I swear she and Jeffrey McWild are perfect for each other. Only character to NOT possess a projectile. She's all throws and rushing knee/fist attacks. Her SS is a 10 hit screen-shaking wrestling headache.

    MITARI KIYOKO
    I like how her name rolls off the tongue, haha. A baseball player -- exactly -- OUCH! Has one mean giant baseball swing. Tosses wicked energy baseballs.

    SHINDO TAMAKI
    Sports the tennis racket. That's bad news if you're fighting her. Has a Racket Uppercut and lobs fire tennis balls at you. She's an INSANE character. Has also a charging racket attack that produces energy waves "V" on screen.

    HOJYO TORAMI
    Shoots out multi blue fireballs and possesses a variety of longing kicks. All of which can be done in air as well.

    KAWASAKI SHINOBU
    Sweet sweet Ryu-type character that has a mean energy fireball, a nice Sakura-like DP, and a Dan-like Hurricane Kick. Her DP and fireball SS's are simple beauties to behold.

    Other notes:

    -3 stars difficulty, sorry no typical SF 1-8 difficulty levels
    -Story (Arcade) mode
    -VS mode
    -VS. CPU mode
    -Ranking mode
    -Long intro that has anime-like quality, lots of JP voice in intro
    -Number of hits in combos flash on screen with the word RUSH in front (i.e. RUSH 21)
    -Decent loading times

    Overall Asuka is a flat-out wicked fighter, and it has appealed to fighting and non-fighting fans I've known over the years. When I first played it I never got into it. I shelfed it but recently picked it up again and learned the kinks... and it indeed is a very solid game.

    I would highly recommend it to fighting fans.

    Good graphics, control, sound/music, everything is better than AVG significantly. The PSX got 2 versions but the Saturn version is by far the best. They reupped the graphics for the Saturn version. Big sprites! Lovely sprites. Lots of color. It's only too bad there are static backgrounds, but the backgrounds are nice with lots of people. It doesn't really take much away from the game. The onscreen action in the foreground is crazy enough.



    Asuka -- a winner is you.

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