Overall 8.8 Graphics 8 Sound 8 Addictive 5.5 Story 4 Depth 5.5 Difficulty 5
6.9
A fighter that pays homage to the manga and doesn't take itself too seriously endings
This looks to be french version of Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle, although the game is in english, the names of some of your opponents (namely, Mousse and Shampoo) are the french versions of their name. This is a fighting game, and a bit bare bones, with one weak attack, one strong attack, and a jump button unless you reassign it. Not a lot of variety but at least the moves look different between light and hard attack. Each character comes with special moves, most follow a charge-up effect of holding the button down.
The show Ranma 1/2 spanned many books/seasons and had a large cast, nearly all of them martial artists in their own right. So how is the
selection of fighters in this game from the source? Its decent, considering Ranma had years to develop and this is just a single game. The main characters are here, and a few oddballs to round it out.
Ranma- You get your Street Fighter style KEN/RYU right off the bat with Ranma. Since he is cursed to turn into a girl if he gets cold water on him, you can play as either version right at the start, you won't change into the other sex, which is a bit of a disappointment as this element is worked quite often to cause turmoil or comedy in the story.
Akane- She's the tomboy fiancé of Ranma. Not a bad fighter, but nothing too special. Although this gets her character quite right, as she often fought traditional and left the crazy moves and unusual attacks to the others.
Shampoo/Bambou - She is the purple haired amazon from China. She is a pretty good opponent and often the easiest to win the game with. She gets a double jump, a couple of fast moves. But that double jump can be abused to victory very easily.
Mousse/Mathias - The man with the glasses is known from the manga as the master of hidden weapons. Virtually anything can come out of his sleeves! Since Ranma is a comedy show, many of his attacks are unorthodox weapons, and knowing what surprise will come out is a key to using him.
Ukyo- Spatula girl. She's a chef, and has probably the weirdest home stage, as you fight on a giant Japanese pancake. Her best asset is her reach with the spatula, which with one simple button press, you can extend even further. Outside of her reach, she has a missile attack as well.
Genma - The panda. This is actually Ranma's dad, who also got cursed. He communicates with hastily drawn wooden signs, and these make up some of his attacks. He's a big target, but his jump doesn't suffer and he has one of the most punishing moves in the game.
Gosunkugi- The creepy boy with the candles on his head. He's into voodoo, and attacks using straw dolls. Not a great pick for a beginner, as his attacks are slow or lack range.
Gambling King- The guy looks like he came from a playing card! He's got some unique attacks, using cards and dice. So he has a bit of a surprise for people not expecting it. But he doesn't have much defense when someone gets in close.
Ryoga - The lost boy with the headband. This is a strong character. He has a lot of moves.
There are a few others but they are hidden, I'll let you find them.
9 - Graphics: They did a good job here. The character models all look very relevant to the source, no off colors or odd faces. Fun animations as well. The backgrounds are nicely detailed and some use smoke effect.
7 - Sound: The sound is good and bad. The stage music variety and quality is actually quite good, some of it takes me back to the anime, although all are original pieces. The voices however, are not even close. Boy Ranma sounds like a 30 year old man. The sound effects for attacks are plain, some sounds a bit off, but not a big deal. If you excuse the fail on matching the anime voices, the stage music is fun and engaging.
6 - Addictiveness AND Depth: Its a Ranma game, so knowing the material will make you want to play more. But each character has a totally different story and ending, and there are several hidden characters, so there is replay in that and depth. Although depth couldn't be given higher due to the limited move set of only two attack buttons.
5 - Story: You get a beginning, and an end to it. There are cut scenes when you beat up your opponent, much like Street Fighter, but these are not all done really in the style of the original characters. Some (Ryogas) are better than others. For what they are, none of the stories really has a satisfying ending, but they are told with humor in mind, so at least it matches the tone of the show.
6 -Difficulty: Apart from some characters (Shampoo) seeming more aggressive, this is not a difficult game. You get as many continues as you want. There are not a lot of moves, so you will hit on what works for you and what doesn't, and that's all there is to it.
Differences between game and other media.
The story of everyone going to the principal for the contest is OK, but many elements of the story are out of character. Shampoo loves ancient proverbs? Since when? But its not the worst they could have done. The character designs, animations and moves closely match the show however, I was very impressed. So other than the background for each person entering, a good job was done. One thing that stood out a lot about this game is the cpu AI kind of match the skill level of their character in the manga/anime. Ranma and Shampoo are very strong, and Gosunkugi and Gambling King have less moves and tend to be easier to beat AI wise.
This is a silly fighter that doesn't do a disservice to matching the look of Ranma 1/2. But it could add a lot more.
Graphics 9 Sound 7 Addictive 6 Story 5 Depth 6 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 3.7/5
Submitted: 07-16-14
Review Replies: 2
7.6
Story Mode Game-Play Review maidenluva47
This review is based off of my opinion of the Americanized version of the Japanese game series, I am also making it clear that I am a huge fan of the original Japanese spoken anime series. So please excuse me if I go off on a tangent when talking about the show at any point, as it may not actually relate to the game-play itself, and rather my opinion of how the game seems to reflect the original integrity of the show.
An additional note: This review is very brief in the sense that I am trying to stick within the boundaries of a game-play based review, this will mean that you are more informed on notes that refer to aspects of the game itself.
Okay, to start with, I wish to 'briefly' make notes in relation to the anime: The plot context is out of place in accordance to the anime, the story doesn't seem to relate to how the characters would act in the show and the English speaking voices sound awful. However as of several aspects I actually liked, all the characters costumes are the same as in the show, as well as certain moves which the characters perform, which makes reference to particular episodes of the show. But sticking with my guns, I'd say they could have done a bit of a better job, if not game-play factors, then at least having the games story mode have a decent plot. However I can see that there are not a great deal of characters, and due to the show mainly consisting of random stories, it was potentially was hard to find a specific story, so I'll at least let them off with that.
Now finally moving on to game-play related topics: The moves in the game are minimized in comparison to the Japanese released games, in the sense that you are only given 'two' buttons to hit with, making the ability to attack your opponent awkward and somewhat boring, unless you are capable of performing other moves through trying different button combinations. Although this doesn't come off as the most awkward system to use, on the basis that you can make moves based on pressing different directions, although in several of the Japanese versions of the games series, you are capable of making three to four moves, that being said the game where you could make attacks on all four buttons wasn't released till 1994, but nonetheless one more button wouldn't have hurt them, would it?
Now moving onto graphic based factors, the way the characters move looks kind of bad, however outside of a movement based comment the game-play is actually pretty fast although I would say this only refers to jump attacks and some special moves as well as when you get hit, although as a personal note I would say this does not affect the games play-ability and the game still plays quite well.
Now, as for final comments in relation to how the game actually plays out, it seems to be relatively easy from the beginning, (however only playing on Beginner mode) however once getting to Shampoo's character it seems easy the first time you fight her, from then on she seems to punish you greatly, and from there each character develops to be even harder. In all honesty I like this system of each character getting harder with each round, but there is somewhat of a jump from that area at the beginning.
Other than that the only other comments I can make about that game is that I liked it enough to see myself playing it through one or two times and maybe on trying out the two player mode, other than that I don't see myself plying it that much. Also a factor I skipped out on earlier was the music, however having no particular reason to do so, all I can say is that the music for that game is awesome, and to re-relate what I have said to the first comment I made at the very beginning of the review, it really has a feel for the show, although not specifically directly from the show, but in its own sense is just a really good soundtrack.
And thus concludes...
My overall opinion?
Not a bad game, some flaws, but generally plays well, somewhat relates to the original show which its based off, and makes me want to play it at least once more.
Written by maidenluva47
Graphics 7 Sound 9 Addictive 5 Story 3 Depth 5 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 10-30-12
Updated: 10-30-12
Review Replies: 0
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