| paleface [sys=PS1; cat=Fighting; reg=JPN] |
| | | 2D fighter based on the Gatchaman cartoon show. Solid, basic four-button fighting, each character having only two or three special moves and one super. While you have only five heroes from which to choose initially, I think you can unlock others, maybe even some of the crazy villains you fight in Story mode, 'cause the manual shows their move lists. The static backgrounds look nice enough and the characters, though somewhat tiny and not amazingly animated, move with good speed and some nice effects, with supers being particularly impressive and colorful.
What really makes the game in my book however are the music and videos from decades of seasons of the show, ranging from psychodelic wa-wa guitar to jazz pop to flashy modern anime and electric guitar. The really old stuff in particular is great to see, back in the days when a guy could wear colorful leotards without having to worry about people questioning his manhood. These video clips pop up at the beginning and end of Story mode, and between a few of the fights. You can replay them in the video Gallery, too, and see how many more you have left to unlock.
Aside from the usual Story, Training, and Vs. modes, there's a "Team Battle Vs" mode, which I haven't had a chance to try, and a "Free Battle" mode where you just go fight after fight against random (I think) opponents.
Surprisingly well done for a licensed game. |
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| | | In Team Battle you pick three characters, and they battle against three CPU characters one by one, like a KOF game--and it's like Free Battle, in that you just go up against a seemingly random order of opponents.
I'm going to go back a bit on my earlier praise; having tried this game again now, it really fell flat to me. The character animation is very limited, and just screams "this game was made to fulfill the requirements of a license." The art style *is* very clean, and looks nice, and the supers do full-screen graphical effects, but they feel cookie-cutter, the characters are pretty small on-screen, and just don't really do all that much; it feels like a game of limited possibilities. Now, it might not be--I mean, I didn't look at a FAQ or anything like a smart person would do--but that's how it *feels*. |
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