Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Battle Assault (Gameboy Advance)

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Battle Assault is a 2D fighting game that pits various Gundams and pilots against each other in 1 on 1 bouts. The game is technically a handheld installment of the Battle Assault series of games from the Playstation, with the main difference being that the available Gundams are limited to the ones found on the Gundam Seed franchise. Basically, it’s more of a spiritual successor to the Super Famicom’s Gundam Wing: Endless Duel, with a number of improvements.

For starters, there’s more play modes available: there’s a story mode, a VS. mode, an Arcade mode, a survival mode, a time trial mode, and even a practice mode. The combat is also faster and more novice-friendly due to the presence of an auto mode (where the input commands for specials and supers are simplified.) However, the biggest change is in the mechanics – first is that Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Battle Assault now allows you to customize your gundam before the start of a fight, allowing you to balance the distribution of energy in order to prioritize HP, thrusters, or PS armor. Speaking of PS armor, the second change is that the mobile suits now have breakable armors. If you sustain enough hits, the armor breaks and you are left weaker (not to mention less fun to look at.)

If you are a big fan of Gundam Seed and you liked Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on the Super Famicom, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Battle Assault should be right up your alley. It’s not as deep a fighter and the visuals aren’t that polished (it looks washed out and pixilated even on the Gameboy Advance’s small screen,) but it’s still a good handheld fighter and it occupies a specific genre niche on the GBA. Should be good for short bursts of mecha fighting action.

Shonen Jump’s One Piece (Gameboy Advance)

Shonen Jump’s One Piece is a sidescrolling beat ‘em up for the Gameboy Advance, based on Eiichiro Oda’s long-running pirate themed manga/anime series. The game is exclusive to the North American market, which is kind of odd considering that most anime-based games are released in Japan first and localized later (if at all.)

Shonen Jump’s One Piece is basically One Piece’s answer to Dragon Ball’s Advanced Adventure. Both games are from Dimps Corporation and it shows in the amount of work that went into the games. Shonen Jump’s One Piece didn’t have as much content nor depth as Advanced Adventure, but you can see the same amount of polish in both visuals and gameplay.

Yuu Yuu Hakusho Gaiden (Sega Megadrive)

I pity the individual who mistakenly bought this game when they are actually looking for Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters. Unlike the fighting game that is Sunset Fighters, Yuu Yuu Hakusho Gaiden is an RPG with active time combat, and unlike Sunset Fighters, it isn’t worth the cartridge that it’s on.

Assuming that you can understand Japanese (and if you don’t, you can stop reading now because you won’t really get much out of this game) enough to wade through the dialogue, and finally get to choose characters (you can choose between all four main characters) you’ll be met with a battle screen that puts you in third person/behind the shoulders view against random demons. You have your HP and RP stats, but the battle is in real time: you can move from left to right to dodge enemy attacks, block, or launch an attack of your own. The enemy can do the same, by the way.

MS Saga: A New Dawn (Playstation 2)

MS Saga: A New Dawn is a 3D turn-based RPG that uses elements from the early Universal Century Gundam, Gundam Wing, and G Gundam series. It puts you in control of a young orphan boy named Tristan and his best friend Fritz, who are on a quest to find a mysterious group of Mobile Suits that laid siege on their orphanage and killed all of its inhabitants (including their matron.)

The game is your standard JRPG fare, with combat being completely turn based as your group of Gundam and enemies take turns launching various attacks at each other. If you’ve played any Final Fantasy game older than XI, you know what this is all about. The main draw of MS Saga: A New Dawn is the ability to mix and match different pilots with different mobile suits, while modifying and upgrading said suits outside of battle, including swapping parts (which changes not only their stats but their appearance.)

Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 2 (Gameboy Advance)

Back in 2002, Webfoot Technologies released Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku on the Gameboy Advance. It was an attempt to marry the Dragon Ball Z license with the action RPG genre. Unfortunately, the dialogue was awkward and the combat was clunky and unsatisfying. The game ended up being a disappointment for fans of the Dragon Ball franchise and fans of the action RPG genre.

Rather than give up, Webfoot technologies tried again after a year by releasing a sequel, Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 2 , and it’s a good thing they did because not only is it a significant improvement over Legacy of Goku, it also stands as one of the better examples of the action RPG genre on the Gameboy Advance.

Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku 2’s story picks up where the first one left off: at the start of the Cell Saga, putting you in control of a pre-teen Mirai Trunks as he watches his timeline’s Gohan die at the hands of the Androids. Then you gain control of young Gohan in the present timeline for the obligatory tutorial. Thankfully, the tutorial is short and you soon find yourself thrust into the story proper – with Cyborg Frieza and King Cold’s arrival and their defeat at the hands of a now adult Mirai Trunks. From thereon, you play through the game while being given control of various characters, all the way to the Cell Games story arc.

Ragnarok Tactics (PSP)

Ragnarok Tactics is a spin-off game from the popular South Korean MMORPG franchise, Ragnarok Online. As the name implies, Ragnarok Tactics is no longer a point-and-click online RPG but a tactical role playing game with a heavier emphasis on story (which is told through dialogue between static character portraits and the occasional animated cutscene.) Visually, Ragnarok Tactics looks more polished than the original MMO while retaining the original’s chibi anime art style. Think of it as a much-needed visual upgrade on Ragnarok Online.

The game plays very much like any Japanese tactical RPG (FF Tactics, Jeanne D’ Arc, etc) but retains elements from Ragnarok Online, including the job/class system, the moves and even the sitting/resting mechanic, which allows characters to replenish health while sitting.

Ragnarok Tactics looks and feels like a really good translation of the original MMO in your first few minutes of play. However, the novelty starts to wear off after an hour or so as you realize that the pacing of the fights is way too slow even when compared to other tactical RPGs. I mean, I love Tactics games and was obsessed with Ragnarok Online in its heyday, but Ragnarok Tactics tested my patience to its limits. I wouldn’t be surprised if people find it difficult to maintain interest past the first fight if they aren’t fans of the genre or the franchise. If you want a really good Tactical RPG, there are a ton of better games on the PSP, and if you just want a portable Ragnarok Online spin-off game, you’re much better off with Ragnarok DS on the Nintendo DS.

Initial D: Street Stage (PSP)

The Initial D series of driving games is very popular in Japan but is only a bit of a cult hit in the west (probably because most installments in the series are Japanese-exclusive and not as accessible as the average racing game. Initial D: Street Stage is no exception.

Instead of multiple cars racing on the same track, Street Stage is a series of one-on-one races between the player and a rival. This game will throw newcomers for a loop at first because it looks and feels deceptively easy: the first few tracks aren’t full of tight turns, the cars handle extremely well and the game doesn’t slow you down much when you hit the rails/edges.

But make no mistake about it: this game will punish mistakes. Slow down for a millisecond or fail to turn at the right angle and you’ll immediately see your rival shoot past and take the lead. You’re also racing against time here. If you fail to hit the checkpoint before the timer hits 0, it’s game over. You’re going to lose a lot in this game (particularly on the first few tries), but if you manage to get past the steep learning curve, you’re going to find Initial D: Street Stage a very rewarding and addicting driving game.

Go Games’ Bleach Online (PC, Browser-Based)

I’ve been seeing Bleach Online pop up in a lot of places these days (including my own site’s ads). Receiving a personal invite from a friend claiming that it’s “similar to Marvel Avengers Alliance, but with Bleach characters” was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back, as I have spent quite a bit of time mucking around with MAA. Bleach Online seems like something that I’d enjoy even if I don’t have enough free time to delve deep into what the game has to offer. I also figured I could post an entry about it given the theme of my site, maybe even help people who want to try the game but aren’t sure if it’s a real game or just a scam. If you're one of these people - it's not a scam. It's a real Bleach game that can be played on your browser.

First Things First: Legal Issues

Now, anybody who’s familiar with Bleach and the handful of anime games online knows that the characters, names, symbols and any other copyrighted IP in the games are being used without permission from the owners. Bleach Online is no different, and this one is particularly noticeable because it uses assets (namely from the audio) from other Bleach games – which is something that a big name developer will not give away freely (and something that is unnecessary for a legitimate online game developer because it’s easy to produce on their own.)

Basically, if you’re going to play this game, don’t expect too much and don’t get attached to your progress as it could disappear anytime, especially since Japan has started bolstering their online campaign against copyright infringement for manga and anime-related properties earlier this month.

Now, let’s get on with discussing the game itself.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 (Playstation 2)

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 is the second Gundam-themed crowd-brawling game on the Playstation 2, from the company that made the genre popular – KOEI. It’s basically Dynasty Warriors with the historical theme replaced by a mish-mash of all the Gundam licenses at that point – from the original Mobile Suit Gundam all the way to SEED, with each franchise lending two to four suits from its roster.

Visually, the game looks decent for a Playstation 2 game but pales in comparison to other Gundam games on the system (particularly Mobile Suit Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam,) as the suits look particularly tiny and the sparse environments do a poor job of providing a sense of scale. Additionally, many of the textures look muddy and the variety in environment design leave a lot to be desired.

Gameplay and combat is exactly what you’d expect from a Dynasty Warriors game – you pick a pilot, a mobile suit (you can mix and match, btw), and run around a map killing random enemy mobile suits along with the occasional boss suit. There’s a lot of stuff added to give the gameplay more depth - like the ability to boost dash and block, the ability to launch different types of attacks depending on button combinations and sequences, the gundam’s equivalent of a musou super attack, and for some suits – a transformation. However, the sum is less than its parts as they all result in combat that is clunky and imprecise.

The main trouble has to be with targeting. Pressing one of the shoulder buttons allows you to keep the camera steady so that it doesn’t rotate all over the place while you’re running around and wading through hundreds of enemies, but there’s no way to lock-on to a target. When you’re blasting and slashing your way through a ton of enemies, it shouldn’t be a problem, but when you’re trying to hit a specific mobile suit (particularly a boss), you’ll find yourself hitting thin air a lot of times as your enemy is thrown away from the path of your attack. The auto-combo feature further compounds this problem.