Guardian Heroes (1996)

Preliminary: The intro and now the start of the gameplay, it feels quite literally like playing an anime. I prefer how it handles the usual issue of depth in brawlers by having set like linear lines you can fight within, but it's done quite goofily. This feels a lot like a cool indie game you could get for free, with a really neat Look and vibe but with indie-feeling HP bars and fonts/pop-ups etc. Looking like another honrary 3 star with this banger of a tune. And I like how jump works.

Well eventually the depth became an issue again, and when magic got more and more involved, things got quite chaotic. But 6 stages seem like the right amount for me. Good music, neat Look, unique gameplay. Just brawlers will never be a favorite for me, even one as unique as this.

Look: 8/10

Sound: 8.5/10 Good stuff. Excited for this next gen era

Play: 7.5/10

Feel: 7.5/10

Attachment: 7/10 I wish I could say I would paly this with my husband or brothers but most likely not. The brawlers themed on franchises they know would likely be the ones for that. But I like this!

Overall: 7.7/10

Guardian Heroes on Treasuren kulttipeli Sega Saturnille. Treasurelle tuttuun tapaan, meininki on räjähtävää ja pelimekaanisesti luovaa. Kyseessä on sivuttain scrollaava beat 'em up roolipelielementeillä, haarautuvalla tarinalla ja monella eri loppuratkaisulla. Grafiikat ovat tyylikästä 2,5D tykitystä ja toimintaa on ruudulla paljon. Taustalla pauhaa soppaan sopiva hypeänostattava synarock.

Pelattavuus on jossain 2D-tappelupelin ja beat 'em upin välimaastossa. On nopeaa iskua, hidasta iskua, blokkia ja komboja. Ylös ja alas ei voi kuitenkaan vapaasti liikkua, vaan kahinointi tapahtuu kolmella eri tasolla, joiden välillä voi hypellä. Päällisin puolin tämä toimii aika sulavasti, mutta ajoittain tasot tekevät meiningistä sekavaa. Samaten jotkut viholliset ovat harvinaisen raivostuttavia ja epäreiluja taistelukumppaneita, mutta useimmiten meno on varsin tyydyttävää. Pelissä on myös simppelisti käskyteltävä tekoälyapuri, jonka voi laittaa täyteen hyökkäykseen tai vaikka seisomaan syrjässä, jos itse haluaa ottaa kaiken kunnian.

Nopeasti läpipelattava haarautuva tarina ja roolipelielementit ovat oivia ideoita beat 'em up -pelin ehostamiseen ja uudelleenpeluuarvon lisäämiseen. Vihollisen mätkimisistä kerättävät levelit voi itse sijoittaa haluamiinsa statseihin. Pelissä on myös monta eri hahmoa, joista jokaisella on omat iskunsa ja painotuksensa. Täten esimerkiksi monia taikoja omaavalle hahmolle kannattaa statsit allokoida toisin kuin jäätävää miekkaa heiluttelevalle lihanpalalle. Hahmoilla on oletettavasti tarinassa myös hieman erilaiset dialogit, mikä lisää syvyyttä mukiinmenevässä tarinassa.

Guardian Heroes ansaitusti sai kulttipelin maineensa Sega Saturnilla, jonka pelejä on aika niukasti uudelleenjulkaistu. Onneksi pelin Xbox 360-porttaus on saatavilla nyky-Xboxeillakin, joten täysin saamattomissa se ei ole. Uudelleenjulkaisu lisää kaikenlaista krumeluuria, pelimoodia ja jopa uusia mekaniikkoja ja tasapainotuksia. Erittäin suositeltava retropläjäys.

While one “playthrough” of Guardian Heroes is a very short 40-60 minutes, you only see one slice of a larger game in that time. It offers nice replay value thanks to its distinct branching paths, lite RPG mechanics, and different characters to play as.

I don't like most old-school beat-em-up games I've tried, but gave this one a shot since I've been playing through Treasure's big games—and I will say this one plays pretty well. Definitely feels similar to classic fighting games, and different characters can feel relatively distinct. I enjoyed both a sword-based fighting style and one based more in casting spells, particularly the former.

Levels have three horizontal "lanes" from front to back, which I do like since it makes movement more straightforward (literally). Occasionally I did struggle to tell which lane an enemy was in and did find it annoying when an enemy repeatedly jumped back and forth. Aside from that, the levels are very quick and all pretty fun since they are so purely focused on fighting.

The game’s graphics and art style have not aged super well, and the remastered visual option in the Xbox 360 version doesn't look much better. It does have a decently colorful and fun vibe to it, though, and would be a good candidate for fully re-drawn visuals one day. The personality you get from the big cast of characters is definitely a selling point, and that does shine through even with the dated way it's presented.

While this is not one of my favorites from Treasure, it's a pretty nice classic game to just throw on for an hour here and there. I imagine it would be even better playing the co-op and competitive modes with multiple players. Just probably not one that's going to blow you away if you have similarly "okay" feelings on this type of game.