Blue Breaker Burst: Bishou o Anata to is a 3D fighting game developed and published by Human Entertainment in 1998, in Japan only. This game is part of the "Blue Breaker" franchise, which began with a series of JRPGs on Saturn and PlayStation. I'm not sure why fighting games were introduced into the series, but apparently these fighting games use characters from the JRPGs. As I've never played the (untranslated) JRPGs, I'm not familiar with the plot or characters. There's a robuts story mode in this game, but it's untranslated. So I played the "Original" mode, which is arcade mode. According to MobyGames about the story mode:
"The main story focuses on a new character named Chimena, though much of the first title's cast also return. The player moves Chimena around the world map to different locations, where visual novel-style events may occur with other characters, furthering the story and often leading to a fight. "
That sounds interesting, but again it's untranslated into English.
+Cute female protagonists are always appreciated.
+Has that energetic uplifting "feel" that Japanese games often had in the '90s.
+Character skeletal animation is pretty good.
+Nice animated CG intro.
+I liked the OST.
-The graphics aren't much.
-Default difficulty is abysmally easy.
-No innovation to speak of in the fighting mechanics.
-Not sure why they even bothered including token male fighters.
-Sure wish I could play this in English.
Blue Breaker Burst: Bishou o Anata to is an incredibly easy game on default difficulty. I get the feeling that the developers figured the demographic would be JRPG hounds who enjoyed the original series entries. So the developers assumed that JRPG players would have no skills when it came to 3D fighting games. Anyway, this was a mildly interesting if unambitious 3D fighter, with cute magic girls slashing each other with bladed weapons and spells. I have no problem with that. I'd play this again if I could do the story mode in English.
Ex's time to beat: 10 minutes (arcade mode)
Ex's rating: 6/10
Blue Breaker Burst: Egao no Asu ni is the sequel to Blue Breaker Burst: Bishou o Anata to. It was also developed and published by Human Entertainment, in 1998, in Japan only. And this game also remains Japanese only. There is once more a robust story mode, with a few extra additions like new playable characters, a Team Battle mode, and there is also an optional prologue that recaps the story of the previous title.
+The default difficulty actually has teeth now.
+More cute girls being vicious to each other.
+The OST is still good stuff.
+Team Battle is interesting (and a trendsetter?).
+The story mode looks cool.
-Feels more like DLC than a sequel.
-Maybe this was an expanded re-release?
-Graphics are much the same.
-AI seems to be able to ignore your blocking at times.
-Seriously, why bother with the dudes at all.
Blue Breaker Burst: Egao no Asu ni right off the bat addresses what must have been players' primary complaint with the first fighting game; The lack of challenge. Well, on default difficulty this sequel immediately puts up its dukes. I can appreciate that, as I actually had to try to win this time. I still wish I could play this in English, the story mode looks legit fun. Oh well, in Japanese only the arcade mode is worth playing. (If you enjoy magic girls being violent anyway.) This is no contender against any serious technical 3D fighter, the mechanics just aren't that deep. But that's fine, because the target demographic here wasn't hardcore tournament players. Hopefully we'll see English patches for this game and its predecessor someday.
Ex's time to beat: 20 minutes (arcade mode)
Ex's rating: 7/10