#guardian heroes

[posthumanwanderings]

Guardian Heroes (Treasure - Sega Saturn - 1996)

[quirky-vg]

[blazehedgehog]

Playing Penny's Big Breakaway has made me think a lot about Treasure's games lately. How do you feel about Treasure as a studio and do you have any favorites from them?

I kind of have always appreciated Treasure more from a distance. They were made up of former Konami people, and one thing I feel like classic 16-bit Konami is known for is REALLY, REALLY difficult games. Gradius 3 and Contra 3 and Castlevania 3. Three for three. And also giving you difficulty options but then punishing you if you played on anything less than the hardest setting.

And Treasure carries some of that sensibility forward. So generally I play a lot of Treasure games, admiring the scenery and the ideas, until I get frustrated and then I go play something else.

So, like, I've only ever seen a couple levels of Dynamite Headdy. A couple levels of Gunstar Heroes. One level of Alien Soldier. And when it comes to something, like, say, Silhouette Mirage, I've never even tried touching it because Working Designs localized it and apparently made it even harder. (Thanks, Vic)

I appreciate how they pushed the hardware and they have cool sense of aesthetics, but I cannot actually say I've loved any of their games. Not in the way they deserved. They're just right on that edge of being a little too aggressive for me to click with. I liked what they did, I'm glad they got to do it, it enriched a lot of gaming culture, but... it's just not for me. They carry a little too much of that bullet hell shooter soul.

And once you get past a certain point, like post-Dreamcast Treasure, it starts feeling like a completely different beast. Their games start feeling really toothless and boring (the opposite problem).

Like, the only Treasure games I've finished are Gunstar Super Heroes and Advanced Guardian Heroes on the Gameboy Advance, and it does not make me proud to say that. Those aren't bad games, don't get me wrong, but I don't think they're great games. I guess Astro Boy: The Omega Factor was them, too. All of them have this problem where it feels like they're just, like, missing something, you know?

A special little spark, or a certain game mechanic to anchor the gameplay around, or just... something. Otherwise, they have half of a good idea and a lot of nostalgia.

So I can't really say I have any Treasure favorites. But there are also a lot of Treasure games I've never really played -- haven't touched Radiant Silvergun, I own the original Guardian Heroes on XBLA and never booted it up, never played Bangai-O, or Sin & Punishment, and so on. Maybe there would be something in there that would click with me.

[dashawns-world]

Advance Guardian Heroes

Ah, here it is. Advance Guardian Heroes. Despite its numerous faults, this is in my top 3 GBA games, alongside Sonic Advance 2 and Pokemon Emerald. Seriously, this game had a massive impact on me. I’m talking about staying up all night trying to draw like this. To this day, I struggle to capture the magical essence of Tetsuhiko Kikuchi’s (aka HAN’s) art style, but a LOT of his design philosophies bled into my own growing up. And while I believe we’re in a beat-em-up game renaissance now, I remember this being the only “modern” one I f*cked with for a while. Thanks primarily in part to being made by the legendary game developers Treasure. Seriously, when it comes to making fun games, they don’t miss. I’m basically gonna spend my time gushing about it. I will also point out its very glaring flaws, haha. I started this blog to dive deep into why I like the things I like, after all. I’m hoping to have a better understanding by the end of this!

PRESENTATION

I’m really particular when it comes to art style. I’m not elitist about what others should like or dislike, but I have written things off because I dislike how they look. Everyone has their tastes; that’s not groundbreaking info. AGH is absolutely in the realm of what I love, though. The art direction has this late 80s/90s anime look that I really adore. I don’t draw like that at all, but when I look at it, it reminds me of when anime was an extremely new thing to me. Some faces skew toward that How-to-Draw-Manga territory, but I love it. It has… an identity.

The game itself translates this very well with the sprites. I think part of Treasure’s game’s strength wasn’t just in their mechanics but their animation and design sense. It’s one thing to have a heavy punch attack, but when the sprites accurately convey that, you really feel it, even through your little game boy.

The anticipation, line of action, OOF. It feels so good when you pull this off, and your enemy goes flying. 

This game had neat ideas, too. My favorite, FAVORITE one they have is the stage where debris is falling, and you get to fight while trying not to fall out of bounds. It could be a hassle, but the game has a mechanic where you air dash to get onto the nearest platform. You can get back to one, even if you’ve exhausted all your animations from attacking. It takes all the frustration/difficulty away from you and leaves you with a unique stage hazard.

I love a LOT of the stages in this game, and they all have such cool gimmicks for a beat-em-up. One stage starts with you riding a damn missile (you’re in control btw. You have to hop from missile to missile.) to get to the enemy airship you’re about to destroy. Another stage has you surfing on your ship down a river, where you fend off goblin riders and then an actual ninja. I’m telling you, if there’s a rule of cool, Treasure defined it. 

Only an ancient hero can make an entrance like that. Honestly, the game’s a treat for the eyes. In my opinion, it’s one of the best-looking games for the GBA. And you can trust me, I’ve played less than a quarter of the GBA library. 

GAMEPLAY

Here’s where we run into some of the game’s faults. I’ll start by saying the game isn’t broken. It’s functional where it counts. The problem is the immense slow-down when you’re playing. :( I’ll always be a little sad that this got stuck on a Gameboy and not, like, the Gamecube. The original Guardian Heroes was on the Sega Saturn, ran smooth, AND looked good. The little GBA struggled so hard with this gem. But otherwise, I really enjoy the mechanics. I still play the game to this day, and I believe it’s because they nailed the fighting. I’m not going to talk specifics about the gameplay because I’m not a game critic, but I will talk a little bit about how it feels.

This game scratched an itch I had at the time for a good DBZ beat-em-up. Your character can shoot out all types of magic attacks, has a hyper mode that flashes golden (super saiyan), and can even parry attacks if you’re good at timing your blocks. This helped the combat feel a lot more in-depth. They used a currency to level up your character’s stats in the single-player mode. Leftover points could be used for unlocking characters. And that’s another thing; From the nameless soldiers to the little goblins with clubs, to the giant robots with city-ending lasers, to every damn boss except the final one, They ALL can be selected. And not just in VS mode. (Yes, it had a vs mode. No, I never played it. Nobody but me owned this game.) But in STORY MODE as well (except for the city-ending robot, I think they said no to that one for obvious reasons.) That leads to a ridiculous amount of replayability for a kid with 3 GBA games. I love games that let you do this. My favorite character to play was Dylan, because he had the coolest moveset. 

This is the face of a guy that knows he’s the best character in the game.

There was also a mechanic I thought was interesting, even if it was kind of useless lol. If your character ever died, the devil (that’s what I called it, but it’s just the big bad) would ask you if you wanted to come back to life and fight. You’d only get six minutes of immunity before they’d take your soul, and you’d get an instant game over. It’s a neat idea but really impractical, haha. I wonder if it could be used better today with roguelike games…? If I were given this deal and thought I could complete a run in 6 minutes, that’d be cool. It would be even more cool if I got a different ending this way. I think in AGH, even if you did make it to the end within six minutes, the Big Bad would kill you on the spot. Fact-check me on that, tho.

STORY

Man… this is where the game really falls short. The biggest issue was the poor translation. The story continued where the original left off; was it the bad ending? 

Here’s what Wikipedia says (lol I'm sorry, It’s easier to paste than rewrite it.)

“The story follows the events of Guardian Heroes. After the Undead Hero was returned to his rest, the heroes were given the option of becoming the Sky Spirit's perfect warriors. The group was divided, with Nicole, Serena, and Valgar joining the Sky Spirit, and Han and Genjiro refusing. Randy escaped back to earth on his own, leaving Han and Genjiro to fight a losing battle against their former comrades.

Years later, Zur returns. He resurrects Kanon and uses the power of the Guardian Heroes to take over the world. The few remaining resistance forces call upon the power of the Undead Hero once again, with one young soldier giving up his body to serve as its vessel.

Throughout the game, the character fights the previous heroes and earns their power. Ultimately, it is revealed this is another attempt by the heavens to create the ultimate warrior. In the final battle against the ruler of the heavens, all heroes gather to defeat it and subsequently leave for the Other World.”

I don’t hate this!! But it’s told very poorly. We’re not given cutscenes to flesh out anything or anyone. Some characters are only portraits. For example, the player is the young soldier, but once their body gets taken by the hero, they don’t talk again. I didn’t know anything about them. We also don’t really see the resistance fighting Zur and Kanon. It’s basically just us, with some casual assists via dialogue boxes. Honestly, it’s not really worth talking about much more, haha. I always thought it had potential if it was fleshed out. That’s why I would make up my own story as I played. I would fill in the blanks and re-imagine the scenarios.

For example, the game starts with the young soldier getting into a fight before receiving the power of the undead hero. They show how weak you are, having you die in one hit by random goons before the princess pulls the undead hero’s soul into your lifeless body. (Like, wow, this soldier sucked. RIP tho.) If you choose Enn as your starting character, he gets recolored, and you’re strong enough to fight. Yipee! 

My made-up story was that something went wrong with the princess’ spell, and instead of being a fabulous, powered-up man, you turned into a goblin. (Because remember, you can play as almost every damn character in the game.) I imagined the princess’s bewilderment as a little chubby goblin said, “Hey! Undead hero, here! Let’s do this.” before single-handedly destroying the entire evil empire. It was funny to me!

And I think that’s ultimately what I got from reminiscing about this game’s poor plot. Games used to be a lot simpler. And translation wasn’t always top-notch like it is now. When I was younger, maybe out of necessity, I used my imagination to fill in the blanks. When I played Pokemon, I’d pretend I was truly on a journey with my little guys. And when I fought Red in Gold and Silver, I imagined how epic that was. I drew moments from Sonic games. Playing outside, I’d pretend I was Link on an adventure. My sister and I would play Super Bomberman 1P mode together, and since she was new to it, I’d call her rookie. That dynamic ultimately bled into my Brothers Boom comic. (This is a revelation I had pretty recently, and I’m surprised I buried it so deep into my mind.) Now, as an adult, where my imagination is a bit harder to conjure up because my head isn’t as empty, I reminisce about the times when everything inspired me. I’m not miserable, though, lol. Instead, I think fondly about those times. I really gotta hand it to Treasure because they live up to their namesake. Playing Advance Guardian Heroes was a significant source of inspiration for me, and I’m glad I found it.

Thanks for reading!

[mushroom32x]

The other day it was Treasure’s 30th anniversary. 🥳

The game’s I enjoy most from them are represented in this drawing. Have you played any of the games these characters are from?

[annon-guy2]

Treasure Games Remake Question

[ganbarimaster]

2, 17, and 18!

Thank you! You also asked for 22, so I'll put that in here too!

2. What is an especially nostalgic piece for you?

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past -- "Staff Roll"

Listening to this takes me back to sitting in my pyjamas in a dark room with my brother (much later than we should be awake), watching the credits roll on a tiny CRT TV in the early 90s. Such a beautiful song too. "Dreams Dreams" from NiGHTS Into Dreams was a strong contender, as was "The Street of Rage" from the first Streets of Rage game.

17. Favorite boss theme?

Suikoden II -- "Gothic Neclord"

Having already been so deeply in love with the first Suikoden, and this character in particular, only to meet them again and for them to have this epic rendition of their music from the original game was mind-blowing. It also slaps very hard--especially when played by an orchestra! The Final Fantasy series has a lot of very strong contenders for this one too, especially the version of "Force Your Way" from FFXIV.

18. What’s your favorite battle theme?

Guardian Heroes -- "Rough and Ready"

The music from this game in general is excellent, but I don't know if there is a track better than this one. Criminally, the tracks are all very short, but they pack a hell of a punch. Liberal lashings of saxophone only elevate the soundtrack to new heights! Such a cool song!

22. Favorite theme from a fighting game?

Virtua Fighter 2 -- "Ride the Tiger"

While it's tough to beat a lot of the Street Fighter classics, especially Balrog, Zangief, and Cammy, I've been re-enjoying a lot of Sega Saturn content in recent years, and have been listening to this track a lot. It has a lot of emotion packed into it for a character with not so much charisma!

[euphonyanimescreens]

Isekai Ojisan - Uncle from Another World - 2022

異世界おじさん  

- Episode 02

[gealga]

[lastenline]

Painted a skeleton knight. The color scheme is inspired by the undead warrior in the game Guardian Heroes.

I decided to see what it would look like with a black ink wash. I kind of like the darker look.

[alexandriaisburning]

017: Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds

CANON FIRE is made possible by the generous contributions of readers like you. Support more writing like this on Patreon. Thank you!

Footnotes for this entry can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/68910341

A beat-em-up spin off of Mages Inc's niche fighter series, Phantom Breaker, Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds was initially intended to release alongside an enhanced console version of the fighting game. Talks fell through and Battlegrounds ended up releasing alone in English territories alone.

Mages is mostly known for for adventure games like Steins:Gate, or the Corpse Party remake, with many of their other titles being Japan exclusive. So a niche spin off of an already niche fighter-- from a company not known for either--seemed like a hard sell. Despite that, Battlegrounds ended up being a moderate success despite that, thanks to its Xbox Live Arcade release and subsequent ports. Phantom Breaker, the fighter it was based off, remained Japan exclusive until this year, with the release of Phantom Breaker: Omnia.

Given the mechanical overlap, Battlegrounds is often presented as a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes, but those familiar with programmer Masotoshi Imaizumi's work will recognize a lot of similarities to Playstation brawler Panzer Bandit. Given the shared heritage, it's a subtle, but important difference. (1) (2)

If Panzer Bandit built a brawler out of Asuka 120%'s foundation, then Phantom Breaker likewise takes that, and builds the scaffolding for Battlegrounds. The clash and guard cancel systems return, augmented with mechanics like EX Specials, Slip Shift, which allow you to dodge past attacks at the last second, and Emergency Mode, a burst to get you out of combos. Part of Phantom Breaker's aim was to provide a simpler starting point for fighting game beginners, so specials are performed exclusively with a special attack button, alongside several autocombo options.

All of these transfer directly to Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds,with the familiar two line system, and the Outrage Attack, a direct analog to Panzer Bandit's homing energy supers. Paired with layers and layers of aesthetic polish Panzer Bandit was missing, it should easily provide a deeper and more complete experience.

Instead a huge chunk of Phantom Breaker Battleground's runtime is spent in a miserable grind. Contemporary game design has caught up with Imaizumi and Ukyo's formula, and a scaffolding of RPG systems has been added into it to build a more extravagant structure. If Panzer Bandit equipped you with a fighting game moveset and pushed you to grind until you understood it, then Battlegrounds is a game that begins with a complete moveset, then makes you spend several hours grinding to earn parts of it back.

Stages take you across well known areas of Japan, from Akihabara, to temple grounds and even the underground, giving you plenty of visual variety, but providing the same featureless terrain of Panzer Bandit. The flat stage design is exasperbated by the absurd number of enemies it immediately throws at you, assaulting you with wave after wave until they begin to smear together.

The enemy count is clearly balanced for multiplayer, and until you grind stat upgrades you simply can't put out enough damage to keep the pace from dragging, even on easy. Without abilities like Guard Cancels or EX Attacks, you'll end up either forever in hitstun or constantly blowing meter to perform emergency escapes or Outrage Attacks. The slow pace had me thinking more about what the most efficient way to end battles was, rather than how to approach them or what combos I could construct with the battle system.

The slow level curve is made worse by the shared skill points system, where the same points are used to increase stats and gain new moves. It forces a choice between more options and variety in combat, or the damage, health and responsiveness of your character.

The difference between a complete and starting moveset is only highlighted more each time you start a new character. The prologue stage begins with all your abilities, before stripping them all away, making it clear how limited your actual starting moveset is. Another huge swing happens during boss fights, where a relatively managable stage can suddenly seem impossible--until you die and put your skill points into stats and moves that immediately make the boss fight a pushover.

Once the combat begins to break down, the initial excitement of Battleground's aesthetics break down too. The levels take place all across Japan, but the lack of specific level design around them makes each stage little more than the equivalent of a series of matte paintings you fight on. There isn't any real cohesion to the way rooms are connected, and you don't get the sense of any progression through the space.

The playable cast plays too close to the usual bishoujo anime archetypes, with few touches to separate them, which translates to overfamiliar playstyles. The reliance on stereotype continues into the enemy design, which ends up becoming weirdly loaded. Before it eventually gets to demons and drones, the enemy cast is made up caricatures of hosts, gyaru, salarymen and otaku. As lighthearted as it's presented, there's something ugly about casually beating up hordes of fat and dark skinned people.

Like a lot of aspects of Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds, this issue doesn't come out of malice, but a lack of consideration. Battlegrounds is by far the most cohesive and polished of the games in the Mad Stalker legacy, but it's afflicted with many small, ill-considered ideas that cause new problems that didn't previously exist.

Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds is available on Xbox 360, PS Vita, PS4, Switch and PC. The Overdrive version contains all the previously released DLC.

[z2z-gaming-and-random-art-ai]

Console Fighting Games of 1996 Compilation Part 1

Compilation of console fighting games released in 1996, this is part 1 of 3 and features games Art of Fighting 3 Path of The Warrior, Asuka 120% Special BURNING Fest, Battle Arena NiToshinden, Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Plus, Battle Arena Toshinden 3, Battle Arena Toshinden Ultimate Revenge Attack, Bishojo Senshshi Sailor Moon Super S Various Emotion, Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Super S Zenim Sanka!! Shuyaku Sodatsusen, Breakers, Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension, Dragon Ball Z Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu, Fight For Life, Fighters Megamix, Galaxy Fight Universal Warriors, Genei Togi Shadow Struggle, Geuk Cho Ho Kwon (The Eye of Typhoon) and Guardian Heroes. 

 0. Intro 00:00 

1. Art of Fighting 3 Path of The Warrior 00:15 

2. Asuka 120% Special BURNING Fest 03:10 

3. Battle Arena NiToshinden 06:27 

4. Battle Arena Toshinden 2 Plus 10:33 

5. Battle Arena Toshinden 3 13:06 

6. Battle Arena Toshinden Ultimate Revenge Attack 17:56 

7. Bishojo Senshshi Sailor Moon Super S Various Emotion 19:37 

8. Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon Super S Zenim Sanka!! Shuyaku Sodatsusen 22:39 

9. Breakers 25:24 

10. Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension 28:55 

11. Dragon Ball Z Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu 32:30 

12. Fight For Life 37:11 

13. Fighters Megamix 41:35 

14. Galaxy Fight Universal Warriors 44:52 

15. Genei Togi Shadow Struggle 48:29 

16. Geuk Cho Ho Kwon (The Eye of Typhoon) 52:22 

17. Guardian Heroes 56:21 

18. Outro 01:05:57

[nekozalenky]

[soldmoondoggie]

Guardian Heroes (Xbox 360 2011)

[mushroom32x]

It’s an appreciating Sega Saturn kind of night.

[operationrainfall]

oprainfall Week in Gaming: Sep 25 - Oct 1

oprainfall Week in Gaming: Sep 25 – Oct 1

While we here at Operation Rainfall love covering the latest in gaming news and sharing our reviews of titles new and classic, we also just enjoy playing games in our downtime. So with that, sit back, relax, and check out what the oprainfall gaming crew have been up to this week! I was a bit all over the place this week when it comes to gaming. I’m still playing trough Trails in the Sky and…