SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors: Shin Mirisha Taisen

SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors: Shin Mirisha Taisen is an RPG action game for the Nintendo DS, which is based on the TV anime series BB Senshi Sangokuden: Brave Battle Warriors. As the SD prefix impies, the game depicts the Gundams in super deformed/comical style. Also, they’re living creatures instead of bipedal combat vehicles.

The closest comparison for SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors: Shin Mirisha Taisen (a mouthful, innit?) is Tecmo Koei’s Warriors Orochi series series. Imagine if it was ported properly to the DS (gameplay is retained but graphics have been downgraded to accommodate the hardware) and given an SD Gundam theme.

The game follows the story of the TV anime and comes with over 40 playable characters, giving you the option to play 3 characters that you will switch between on every stage. As implied above, combat is similar to Tecmo Koei’s Warriors series, where you have a light and heavy attack, a jump, and a super (musou, brah.) attack that can be launched when a certain bar is filled.

Dragon Ball Origins (Nintendo DS)

Dragon Ball Origins is a third person action adventure game in the same vein as Legend of Zelda, based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga and anime franchise. Note the absence of the “Z” prefix – this game is based on the early parts of the series, with a young Goku who exhibits powers and abilities above those of normal men, but not at the point where he shoots lasers that can level planets and move faster than the speed of light.

In a way, this is a good thing because this allows the game to focus more on exploration and challenging combat, because Goku doesn’t have the option to just Kamehame Wave every problem until it gets solved. As mentioned above – it’s a Zelda-like game so you’ll be fighting various cannon fodders, the occasional end level boss, and will be faced with various puzzles. There are a couple of frustrating parts in the game, as some levels that require backtracking, but the puzzles themselves aren’t too difficult and can be solved without the need for a FAQ.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Nintendo DS)

The Nintendo DS isn’t exactly the handheld of choice if you want games based on the Gundam franchise, so Mobile Suit Gundam 00 should at least get points for bringing the franchise to Nintendo’s dual screen handheld. To wit, it’s the best action Gundam game on the DS, but that isn’t saying much considering that it’s the only one on the system (the Gundam Seed-based one was cancelled for who knows what reason.)

The game is Japanese-only, and can be text-heavy. Thankfully, the game itself is an air-combat-based shooter, so it doesn’t require an understanding of the story. And the menus and dialogue scenes can be navigated easily. Personally, I just pressed A like spastic madman until the giant-robot-shooting action starts.

Gameplay-wise, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Kidou Senshi Gundam 00) uses an engine similar to the one on the PS2, where you’re basically piloting an airplane shaped like a Gundam. There’s no ground combat, and while you do have a melee attack, it’s not as useful as simply shooting down everything that crosses your path. The fact that you’ll end up destroying enemies before they get close enough to recognize makes the game kind of lonely – you’re a lone Gundam shooting down various dark-colored shapes.

Bleach: Dark Souls (Nintendo DS)

Technically, I’m supposed to review both Bleach: Blade of Fate and its sequel, Dark Souls. But after getting my hands on both, I realized that it’s essentially the same game, with Dark Souls getting minor upgrades such as a new story and additional characters. Unless you’re collecting every Bleach game in existence, there’s really no point in getting Blade of Fate when you can get Dark Souls instead.

As for the game itself, Bleach: Dark Souls is a 2D fighting game made by the same people behind Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters for the Sega Megadrive, and it shows not just in the level of polish but also in the game design. For instance, the 4-way free for all fights through the use of foreground and background stages (granted, this mechanic has been around before Sunset Fighters, and has been around in many fighters since then).

Bleach: Dark Souls is a little bit hard to objectively review due to the timing of its release. On its own merits, the game is well-designed and will give you hours of fun. It features a ton of fighters based on Tite Kubo’s hit shonen franchise, and the graphics do a good enough job of letting you know which character is which, as well as showing off some of the trademark attacks and moves you’ll see on the anime/manga. It uses 2D spritework, so the Nintendo DS’s limited 3D capabilities is not a factor. The 2D graphics are as good as you’re going to get on the handheld.

Naruto: Ninja Destiny (Nintendo DS)

Naruto: Ninja Destiny is a 3D fighting game for the Nintendo DS based on Masashi Kishimoto’s extremely popular shonen manga and anime franchise, Naruto. It tackles the first part of the series – with pre-timeskip characters – and uses an engine that is similar in principle to the Gamecube clash of Ninja games. The main difference is that aside from the button controls, players can also use the touchscreen to launch special moves and use power-up items.

Now that we’ve got the basic introduction out of the way, it’s safe to say that Naruto: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS doesn’t even warrant a full length review. It’s a really terrible game that has no redeeming value whatsoever. Or at least none that are worth the asking price for the game cart.

Bleach: the 3rd Phantom (Nintendo DS)

Bleach: the 3rd Phantom is odd in the sense that it’s both a side story for Bleach’s story during present time (right after the Soul Society arc, at the time of release) and a flashback to Soul Society’s past, back when Urahara Kisuke was still a captain and *SPOILERS* Aizen still hasn’t shown his true colors.

The flashback delves into the story of three characters that are made specifically for the game – a pair of twins, male and female, one of which will be controlled by the player (you can choose which one to play before starting a NEW GAME), and a shinigami captain. After the flashback, the story will skip straight to the series’ current timeline and follow Ichigo and crew at Kurakura town, where they will have to deal with the consequences of things that happened during the flashback.

If you’ve played any installment from the Super Robot Wars series of turn-based strategy role playing games (particularly the 32-bit ones), Bleach: the 3rd Phantom will be very familiar. In the interest of simplifying things, Bleach: the 3rd Phantom is basically Super Robot Wars, but instead of various mechas from a wide variety of anime and manga franchises, the game puts you in control of Bleach characters. Like most shonen animes, the power levels and fight scenes lend themselves well to turn based combat, because now you can use numbers, affinity, and a bunch of other stats to decide how powerful one character is compared to the other, while still making sense.

Dragon Ball Kai Ultimate Butouden (Nintendo DS)

When the Nintendo DS got Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, gamers were willing to cut it some slack even though the overall quality of the game was way below the PSP’s Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, citing the Nintendo DS’ underpowered hardware as the reason why a decent Dragon Ball fighting game wasn’t possible.

And then came Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butouden, which proved that it had nothing to do with the hardware - the Nintendo DS was perfectly capable of carrying a bonafide 3D fighting game that can at least come close to the PSP’s admittedly superior offerings.

Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butouden is the spiritual successor to the Super Butouden series on the Super Famicom back in the 90s. While not made by the same developers, majority of the gameplay mechanics from the original Butouden series found their way to the DS, with some minor tweaks and polish, of course.