Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds (PC)

Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds is a sprite-based 2D Beat ‘Em Up for the PC (and PS Vita, PS3 and XBLA) that relies on cute, super-deformed magical girls as the main characters. The game is a spin-off of the Phantom Breaker fighting game, but it was a Japan-only title so it’s most likely unfamiliar to many readers of this blog.

The combat in Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds is a mix of button mashing and strategic combo play consisting of light attacks, hard attacks, blocks, parries, and supers. This means the game is accessible to beginners yet still appealing to hardcore players who wish to explore every nook and cranny of the combat mechanics. The stages are strictly sidescrolling 2D, but have 2 planes that you can switch between with a simple press of a button. In a way, the game is more like a side-scrolling Fatal Fury than a Double Dragon successor, but it could go either way as far as genre conventions are concerned.

Far from being a simple beat em up, the game lets you pick between 4 different characters/classes (5 if you have the DLC) each with its own strengths and weaknesses. There’s also a light RPG system under the hood that allow players to level up and upgrade their characters’ abilities and stats.

The visuals in Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds are cute and fun to look at, even though they are low definition by choice. The graphics are pixilated, but still extremely detailed and complex. The stages are a little bit constricted, but they provide ample space to run around and beat stuff up. The setting is varied, with locations based on iconic Japanese locales such as Akihabara.

Replayability is what you’d expect from any beat em up – it’s fun to go through once, but after that you’d make do with short bursts. Ideally, you should have a friend over (or online) so you can enjoy the game as a co-op brawler. In this context, the game is a must have especially if you’re a fan of retro-inspired games and the magical girl genre.

Dragonball Z Supersonic Warriors

Dragonball Z: Supersonic Warriors gives you control of one of the many Z warriors or the series’ villains (from Vegeta to Buu) and lets you duke it out with another fighter on a wide open area. Unlike traditional fighting games where you can walk, dash, and jump, this game lets you float and dash in any direction. Mobility may be limited at first due to the floatyness of the controls, but you’ll be able to fight much better once you learn how to use the ki dash in order to speed up your moves.

When it comes to fighting, you have a light and heavy attack. The R button charges your ki, and pressing any of the attack buttons while charging will let you do either a heavy or light ki blast, depending on which attack button you pressed. Pressing both attack buttons while holding the R button will let you do a super, the type and direction of which will depend on where you are relative to the opponent.

Bleach: Soul Carnival 2 (PSP)

Bleach: Soul Carnival 2 is an enjoyable – if somewhat relatively short – sidescrolling action RPG for the PSP, based on Tite Kubo’s Bleach franchise. The game looks visually appealing and goes for a “cute” look by using chibi versions of the characters. Despite the simplistic visuals, there’s depth in the gameplay and you’ll be amazed at the kind of fights that you’ll take part in as a bobble head-like version of Ichigo hacks, slashes, busts out getsuga tenshous, and even transforms into hollow mode while mowing down armies of hollows and the occasional Arrancar.

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.

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.

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.

Mitsume Ga Tooru/The Three Eyed One (NES/Famicom)

Mitsume ga Tooru is based on the same-titled manga and anime franchise from Osamu Tezuka. You play the role of the bald, three-eyed Hosuke Sharaku, who is supposed to be the last of his kind. The intro shows that another three eyed man named Prince Godaru invaded Sharaku’s city while riding on the ancient tank Gomorrah, Godaru then destroys a large part of the city and kidnaps Sharaku’s friend, Wato Chiyoko. From thereon, you play a sidescrolling/platforming action game similar to Mega Man, using Sharaku’s ability to shoot energy from his third eye and his ability to summon an ancient spear called the Akai Condor, which not only serves as a powerful offensive projectile, but also as an additional platform if you need to jump higher. There’s also a store that you can access at the beginning of each stage where you can buy upgrades for your health, weapons, etc.

Basically, if you enjoy Mega Man, you’ll enjoy Mitsume Ga Tooru. Especially because Mitsume ga Tooru isn’t punishingly difficult. There are a number of things that make it easier than even the least difficult Mega Man game, the most notable being the presence of a health bar, which means you don’t die from one hit. There’s room for mistakes in this game. The controls are fairly responsive and there’s no floatiness so it’s not difficult to do precision jumps despite Sharaku’s limited mobility. Besides, the Akai Condor will help you reach places beyond Sharaku’s jumping ability.

Lupin Sansei - Densetsu no Hihou o Oe! (Super Famicom)

Don’t let the title and the intro fool you into thinking that this game requires you to understand Japanese - Lupin Sansei - Densetsu no Hihou o Oe! can be enjoyed by people who don’t speak a single word of Japanese. In fact, it can even be played by people who don’t speak a single word of any language. It’s an action platforming game akin to Rolling Thunder.

In Lupin Sansei - Densetsu no Hihou o Oe! you control the infamous thief and womanizer, Lupin. And while the story is lost on someone who can’t understand the pre-level cutscenes, the goal is still fairly obvious – either sneak or fight your way through a level using his ability to punch and kick, jump, crawl, and use a wide variety of tools that include a pistol, a flash bang, a whip, and probably more as the game progresses.

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (Super Famicom)

New Mobile Report: Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is a 1 on 1 Fighting Game based on the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing anime series. The game has never been released outside of Japan but it’s a fighting game so story isn’t really that important and the menus can be navigated easily. Endless Duel uses the same game engine as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition, with a number of improvements that make it stand out as the significantly better game.

Gameplay

Basically, it’s the SNES’ version of Capcom’s Marvel Superheroes arcade fighter, with Mobile Suits as fighters instead of spandex-clad heroes; The stages are slightly narrower than your average fighting game, but the mobile suits can use their verniers to “fly” (basically a super jump) upward or dash forward.

The usage of the verniers are a big part of the game, because the suits – as expected of hulking pieces of metal – move a little bit slower compared to your average shotokan practitioner. The controls are responsive, mind you, there’s no lag or floatiness involved, but they walk and jump a little bit slow so if you want to get from one place to another, you use the vernier. Additionally, the ability to block while in the air makes the game more dynamic fast paced.

Kishin Douji Zenki: Batoru Raiden (Super Famicom)

Kishin Douji Zenki: Batoru Raiden (Demon Child Zenki: Battle Raiden) is a sidescrolling action platformer for the Super Famicom, based on the manga/anime series that ran from 1992 to 1996, which focuses on a demon guardian spirit who’s been sealed away by a powerful monk and later revived by the monk’s descendant in the form of a bratty demon child.

The game is in Japanese and there have been no English ports, but it’s hardly a point of contention because the game can be played without any need to understand the story - just go from point A to point B while killing every monster that blocks your path. But in case the story is important for you and you’re a big fan of the series, it is worth pointing out that the game diverts a lot from the source, presenting a simpler version of events (many important characters won’t be making an appearance, for instance.)

Soul Eater Battle Resonance (PS2, PSP)

Atsushi Okubo’s Soul Eater manga and anime franchise is very popular. Not on the same level as the current big WSJ trinity (One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach), but one of the many franchises that shared the distant second or third spot. One of the possible reasons cited for this is that the story’s unique blend of comedy, fan-service, action, and goofy art style takes some getting used to and requires patience before it starts to pick up. The same can be said of Soul Eater Battle Resonance, which was released for the PS2 and its little brother, the PSP.

A little backgrounder first: Soul Eater is set at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, a school and training facility for humans with the ability to transform into weapons and humans who are training to wield said weapons, called meisters or technicians. The franchise focuses on a group of students, faculty members, and the head of the academy itself, the actual Grim Reaper, Death.

Soul Eater Battle Resonance does a good job of adapting the content and aesthetics of the early parts of the manga. The characters and their weapons look exactly like their manga counterparts, the attacks on the game are based on their attacks in the story, and the stages are straight out of the locations in the story. There’s nothing to complain about with the visuals. Graphics are sharp and mimic cel shading, the animation is fluid, and the use of framebuffer effects lead to bright, beautiful, and devastating-looking special attacks. The PS2, for its part, runs at a smooth buttery 60 frames per second (the PSP version runs at 30 fps, like many PSP games. It still looks fluid, though, thanks to the small screen.)

Yuu Yuu Hakusho Sunset Fighters (Sega Megadrive)

Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters is a 2D Fighting Game for the Sega Megadrive that was based on Yoshihiro Togashi’s hit manga/anime franchise about a teenage delinquent who finds himself recruited as the spirit world’s detective, and the human world’s first and last line of defense against evil spirits from the yokai world.

Many gamers unfairly described the game when it first came out in 1994 as a Street Fighter clone. While it’s true that many 2D fighters at the time were created to cash in on Street Fighter II’s success, Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters successfully added so many features to the tried and true 2D Fighting formula that it’s not an exaggeration to say that it has transcended the status of a clone, and can be considered a completely different – and maybe even better – game.

With famed developer Treasure at the driver’s seat, it won’t be a surprise to say that Sunset Fighters is a visually stunning game for its time, taking advantage of the Megadrive’s hardware capabilities. The console wasn’t capable of producing anime-like visuals, but for what it’s worth, anybody familiar with the Yuu Yuu Hakusho franchise will find the graphics in Sunset Fighters as a decent 16-bit representation of their favorite characters and setting. Even the digitized voices and songs do a great job at reproducing the sounds from the show, from the opening theme song’s distinctive synth pop to the respective characters’ trademark catchphrases.

The visuals do have a flaw, in the sense that the sprites are a little bit on the tiny side, especially when compared to other fighting games from the same generation. But this is not out of ineptitude on the developers’ part, as it actually has a logical tradeoff – the stages are expansive; the stages are very wide and come with two planes, similar to the Fatal Fury series. Coupled with the small sprites and the engine’s addition of a running/dashing mechanic, the matches can be fast and hectic without the fighters being cramped against each other – even if there are four players on the screen at once. And yes, there’s support for four-way matches, either free for alls or 2 vs 2. It’s a feature that was very rare at the time.