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Post by Sarge on Mar 26, 2021 12:57:45 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, forgot about that one. Will give it a look.
EDIT: And Fighter's History is done. Interesting take on the genre - it's more like the karate tournament games of yesteryear in that you get awarded points for certain actions. One point for ring outs, two for a throw, three for knocking to the mat, etc. First to seven wins the match. I like how this was implemented, and there does seem to be a good amount of depth here. The flow isn't quite there, but I suspect this is more meant to be one of those technically-demanding fighters (again, like some of the older karate tournament games). I'll give this... at least a 6/10, maybe a 6.5.
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Post by Ex on Mar 26, 2021 23:48:09 GMT -5
That's the original Japanese box art. The lame European box art is here. Fighting Angels is a 3D fighter for PS2, developed by Tamsoft, and published by D3Publisher (2004 Japan) and 505 Game Street (2005 Europe). The Japanese release is entitled Simple 2000 Series Vol. 55: The Catfight: Joneko Densetsu. Fighting Angels is an arena fighter with an all-female roster. Fights are 1-on-1 and kind of like a hybrid fighting/wrestling thing. Players freely move around in a ring with ropes surrounding the area. The ropes can can be used for rebound attacks, and there is ground-based grappling as well. In addition, each character has four attacks, weak and strong punches and kicks with three variations each. Besides normal attacks, there are so-called "Sexy Attacks", which are weaker than normal attacks, but are much flashier and will build the character's "Sexy Gauge". There are also "Plain Attacks", which are more traditional but drain the Sexy Gauge. If a character's Sexy Gauge is full, they'll have a chance to use a super-powerful Sexy Combo Attack, which is often powerful enough to completely drain the opponent's health. It is also possible to block and use a basic grab move, as well as pick up objects around the arena to use as weapons, such as chairs or katanas. The game includes a number of different modes. The main single-player mode is tournament mode (kind of like arcade), in which the player chooses a character and tries to defeat each computer opponent in order. There is also a standard versus mode for one or two players, a survival mode, and a practice mode. +The girls are cute.
+Has a whimsical atmosphere. +Mixing wrestling with fighting adds some variety.
+Each character comes with a personal bio. +Beat 'em down with a folding chair.
-All the girls look the same just different heads and skin tints.
-You have to unlock outfits (everybody starts with just a bikini).
-Each fighter plays the same.
-No variety or replayability to speak of. -It's a budget game and still seems like a rip-off.
I didn't expect much out of Fighting Angels, because I've been here before. I remember playing this back in 2007 for about five minutes. This time I put twenty minutes into it, just to "beat it". You'll get the same amount of fun from five minutes as you would twenty, so don't bother. The singular draw for this game is its attractive female fighters, and that's it. The rest of the experience is utterly banal, shallow, and gets boring very quickly. There's just no variety to speak of. Every match looks and feels the same, and the girls don't even have unique 3D models outside their heads. If you want a fun all-girl fighter on PS2, go with Arcana Heart. If you want a fun all-girl wrestler on PS2, go with Rumble Roses. If you want to play a lame boring waste of your life on PS2, Fighting Angels has got you covered. Hard to believe the same company that produced the Battle Arena Toshinden series made this crap. Ex's time to beat: 20 minutes (finished tournament mode) Ex's rating: 4/10- I plan to play one more 3D fighter for this theme. I'll be surprised if anyone's heard of it, let alone played it.
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Post by toei on Mar 26, 2021 23:57:48 GMT -5
How is it hard to believe? The Toshinden games suck.
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Post by Ex on Mar 27, 2021 0:32:02 GMT -5
How is it hard to believe? The Toshinden games suck. Well, they aren't top tier, but they are compared to this dreck.
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Post by Ex on Mar 29, 2021 23:34:26 GMT -5
Okay so I experienced Heavy Metal Thunder today. This is a Japanese exclusive 3D fighter developed by Media.Vision and published by Square Enix in 2005. The game itself is based off a Japanese TV show that was about heavy metal (best I can tell). Players control miniature robots that fight each other using a real-time-yet-turn-based combat system. The player has to react very quickly in choosing their next attack, so overall the fighting feels more real time. There is a strong plot through an involved single player story mode. The theme of heavy metal music is infused throughout the entire affair, from the menus to the OST. There are loads of cutscenes with hand-drawn anime and 3D CG animation aplomb. Really I can't even begin to describe how crazy and awesome this game is.
Lots more information:
So here's what sucks. This game is in Japanese, and I mean hardcore Japanese. None of the menus are in English at all, and there are a lot of menus. I eventually sussed out what was what, and managed to play through a few fights in story mode. I beat the first three opponents, then hit a wall against the fourth. The wall being, my robot isn't configured right. The player is expected to carefully build their personal fighting robot using a complex configuration system, via funds won in battle. Unfortunately, I cannot read the specs of any of the parts, and I don't understand how the parts correlate with each other. There is a robust tutorial system built into the game, and it's entirely in Japanese, so that didn't help. So my robot keeps overheating, and getting demolished, and I know it's because it's not configured correctly. I can't even find an English walkthrough on the net for this obscure beast, so no help their either.
I'm used to being disappointed when games don't get English localizations, but Heavy Metal Thunder particularly stings. It really sucks rotten donkey ass SQEX didn't bring this over. I think it would have been a strong cult classic in the USA. What I played of this game was amazing, just a pile of wild creativity and amusing energy. (Its gusto reminded me of God Hand.) This is the kind of Japanese design that makes me love Japanese gaming beyond all else. Unfortunately, I can't understand 99% of the text or audio in this game, so it's all for naught. Oh well, I'm glad I got to play such an idiosyncratic bucket of insanity as Heavy Metal Thunder, even if just briefly. I sure hope it gets an English fan translation some decade.
Ex's time invested: 1 hour Ex's (tentative) rating: 8/10
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And that wraps up this theme for me folks. I played 10 games, beat 9 of them:
All-Star Fighters (PS2) 6/10 Blue Breaker Burst: Bishou o Anata (PS1) 6/10 Blue Breaker Burst: Egao no Asu ni (PS1) 7/10
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition (PS1) 5/10 Fighting Angels (PS2) 4/10
FIST (PS1) 3/10
Heavy Metal Thunder (PS2) 8/10
My-Otome: Otome ButÅshi!! (PS2) 6/10 Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage (PS1) 6/10 Soul Blade (PS1) 9/10
See you all next month in whatever anayo decides.
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Post by toei on Mar 30, 2021 20:57:13 GMT -5
So, all throughout this month I've focused on PSX 3d fighters, in part because the Saturn has no Duckstation, and I've already played its 3d fighters a lot. I did want to get to certain Dreamcast games, and a few arcade releases (Sonic Championship aka Sonic the Fighter, Toy Fighter, and Jingi Storm), but I just didn't have time. Anyway, my intention was to post a tier list of PSX 3D fighters. I still want to spend a little more time with BR2 since I got distracted lately, and I won't have time to really dive into Dead or Alive PSX and decide if the reversal button is as overpowered as it seems, but I think I'll post it in a day or two.
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Post by Sarge on Mar 30, 2021 21:04:51 GMT -5
Isn't Mednafen considered pretty good for Saturn? Also, I believe byuu/near is about to move to Saturn emulation. He just finished up work on 32X, and the primary reason he was doing that was to emulate the SH2 for work on Saturn next.
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Post by toei on Mar 30, 2021 22:42:33 GMT -5
Isn't Mednafen considered pretty good for Saturn? Also, I believe byuu/near is about to move to Saturn emulation. He just finished up work on 32X, and the primary reason he was doing that was to emulate the SH2 for work on Saturn next. Sounds promising. Mednafen is pretty good, but it sucks to configure and use generally, and there's a few hard-to-emulate 3d fighters that get this weird afterimage bug.
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