Asuka 120% Maxima BURNING Fest

~ ASUKA 120% ~

Fill-in Cafe / NEC Avenue

Super CD-ROM

1995

This is far and away my favorite one-on-one fighting game. While technique and strategy are indeed required if you want to get really good at it, there's no need to burn the midnight oil studying move lists or practicing combos; you can jump right into the fray and reap immediate enjoyment. The controls are perfect; the game feels fast and fresh and truly stands apart from the many 16-bit Street Fighter II clones. The soundtrack is great, very energetic and exciting, and two-player mode is a blast.

I know many people will write Asuka off based on the assumption that a fighter featuring high-school girls can't possibly be a quality product, but they might find themselves surprised if they simply give the game a shot. It's not "naughty"; the character designs emphasize wackiness and distinctiveness over cuteness or sexiness, and all of the girls have neat techniques at their disposal. Even if you aren't into fighting games (I'm not a huge fan of them, myself), you should give this one a try.

These aren't your usual high-maintenance high-school girls.

My favorite is Karina, the biology student whose explosive pet frog aids her in battle.

Titular Asuka is Karina's main rival. I bet that if the two were to team up, they'd be able to take down Ryu and Ken, no problem.

There are plenty of crazy ways to dole out a beating.

Madou King Granzort

~ GRANZORT ~

Hudson Soft

HuCard (SuperGrafx)

1990

Madou King Granzort is a little reminiscent of Blood Gear's sidescrolling segments, which isn't all that surprising considering that Red had a hand in both. That doesn't mean you should expect MKG to match BG as far as action and depth go, but it does boast a cool gameplay feature absent from its aRPG cousin: the availability of three playable characters, each of whom has its own distinct techniques and weaponry and is selectable on the fly.

There's the fearless RED robot, who busts shit up with his earth-shaker ability and awesome energy blade.

There's the slick GREEN robot, who utilizes his handy hover-skills to reach faraway platforms while slaying adversaries with a neat beam bow.

And there's the rather wimpy BLUE robot, who wields a weak baton-like thing and cowers behind a defense barrier.

Switching at the right times will be necessary not only to destroy all of your enemies, of course, but also to make it through the vast, occasionally maze-like levels. Granzort isn't just about plodding along and smashing stuff. There's plenty of room for exploration here, and if you take the time to deviate from straight-ahead villain-crushing, you can find lots, and lots, and LOTS of extra lives.

Sadly, this brings us to a couple of gripes I imagine some people will have about the game. Aside from the occasional shield icon, there isn't really much to stumble upon while exploring except for the copious 1-ups. And once you collect dozens (literally) of those, the adventure might not seem very exciting or challenging. Boring background graphics in a number of stages won't help sustain interest.

Granzort gets off to a good start graphically with nice colors and parallax (though the bushes and ruins look paper-thin as they scroll by)...

...but later backdrops are drab. At least the action remains satisfying.

Regardless of how they look, the levels are pretty fun to explore, though you can search high and low without finding anything besides unnecessary 1-ups.

A few good whacks to the head will take care of this guy in Stage 1...

...but he wisens up for the return bout.

The blue robot is, for the most part, a throwaway character, but his defense barrier is essential during certain boss fights.

Head shots are in order here.

The last beast isn't very mobile, but it creates other creatures who can cause a lot of trouble. Deal with them quickly if they're of the troublesome sort; but when a foe who doesn't do much (like the red goober in the above shot) materializes on the right side of the screen, leave it alone and bust up the boss with ease.

Fighting Street

~ FIGHTING STREET ~

Hudson Soft / Capcom

CD-ROM

1989

Ah, good old Fighting Street, the first TG CD game. I didn't buy it back then. In fact, having never been too interested in it, I didn't buy it, period. But one day it showed up as a surprise freebie inside my Kabuki Den case. The PC Engine gods clearly wished to deliver misfortune upon my home that miserable day.

But first, the positives. Well, the voices are horrible enough to be somewhat amusing. And some of the backgrounds don't look all that bad. I like the British countryside in Eagle's stage.

Aside from that stuff, the game is awful. The fighters are large but look terrible...

...while the bonus rounds are jokes.

But the worst part would have to be the controls. No matter how many fighting games you've conquered and how many quarter-circle moves you've performed throughout your gaming career, you'll have a tough time getting Ryu to pull off his trademark techniques with any sort of consistency. What saves me is that the special moves, in the rare instances that the game actually lets me perform and connect with them, do lots of damage. Two or three suffice to put an opponent down for the count. So I just keep inputting the required button combinations and pray for a couple of successful attempts. No, this isn't much fun, but it's about the only way to get by in this game.

FS is easily the worst PCE fighting game. If you don't already own it, avoid it. If you receive it for free, ship it back to the sender.

Tengai Makyou Fuun Kabuki Den

~ TENGAI MAKYOU KABUKI DEN ~

Hudson Soft / Red

Super CD-ROM

1993

Kabuki Den is my favorite Tengai Makyou game and certainly ranks as one of the upper-echelon PC Engine RPGs. Contrary to chronology it may be, but I always recommend playing this part first if you're interested in the PCE TM games. While Ziria initially seems primitive and slow, and even Manji Maru needs a few hours to really hit its stride, Kabuki Den is crazy, colorful fun from the outset, sure to pull you in with its vibrant visuals, uproarious cinemas, and wacky main character.

The game revels in delivering the unexpected, making it one heck of an exciting and surprise-filled ride. You'll confront singing bosses, clown around at amusement parks, and even journey to London (and be treated to some amusing English dialogue). But the adventure isn't all about carrying on and being goofy, as you'll undoubtedly grow quite attached to the unique little band that Kabuki heads up and experience some traumatically tragic moments (one scene in particular is especially affecting and unforgettable).

And the final stretch features some of the craziest surprises you'll ever experience in a game. The string of money moments near the end drops like a fucking bomb; it's insane, like the Usual Suspects ending of games, but much wilder than that.

Of course, none of the show time stuff would mean much if the actual gaming elements didn't hold up their end of the deal; thankfully, Kabuki Den's in-game mechanics and superficials are perfectly fine. Battles are reminiscent of old Final Fantasy rumbles presentation-wise. Characters and monsters run back and forth to hit each other, and spell animations are tossed in, but the scuffles play out fairly quickly, and you get some nice (if simplistic) backdrops to boot. There's even a command that allows you to engage in battle whenever you want, so you don't need to run around in circles waiting to be attacked if you want to level up.

The music is good, although it probably isn't the type of stuff that'll stick with you forever. Among the best tracks are a somewhat-eerie temple tune surprisingly reminiscent of Super Castlevania IV music and a minor-boss number that features some fantastic bass parts.

Longtime Duomazov ally Justin Cheer wrote a very good walkthrough for the game, so you don't need to worry too much about the language barrier. The menus aren't covered in the guide, and they can be pretty daunting at first; but it should be smooth sailing after you've got the basics figured out, and you'll be all set to go with Manji Maru as well, since it plays in pretty much the same fashion.