Game:

Battle Monsters (1995)

Duration: 10:11

1,721 views

33

I knew that I would run into this game someday... for those who haven't heard, "Battle Monsters" is one of the most polarizing fighting games on the Sega Saturn... at one point, it was considered one of the worst fighting games ever made, but history has been a little more forgiving of its many faults through the discovery of games that are even worse than it that lurk in the shadows (and they exist... games like FIST, Fighting Eyes, my "next video", etc.) My exposure to this "series" first came from its successor, Killing Zone, for the Sony Playstation, which I uploaded more than nine years ago and it had the dubious honor of taking an already flawed game (by flawed, I mean significantly flawed) and made it 3D, threw in bad camera angles, more unpolished character movesets, longer load times, and a dull and unappealing GUI. The one thing of any real merit was the game's soundtrack, which was mediocre at worst and pretty neat at best.

Its theme was also serviceable with monsters from folklore going head-to-head, but the game was a hot mess, ruining any chances we had to see follow-ups to Medusa slapping Frankenstein's monster in the face. What does any of this have to do with Battle Monsters? It's the exact same thing, but the flaws aren't quite as pronounced... everything is a little better. The plot involves one of 12 characters fighting their way through the other monsters to claim the Dark Throne in order to become the ruler of the Dark Domain.

Battle Monsters was originally released in Japan in 1995 by Scarab and Naxat Soft, and released a little later in Europe and the U.S. Naxat's portfolio is very diverse, but they've always had a bit of a thing for the occult and macabre ever since their Crush/Crash series initially put them on the radar, so when someone basically takes that and turns it into a fighter, why not? Battle Monsters takes elements from "Way of the Warrior", "Mortal Kombat", "Survival Arts", "Street Fighter" and a few others (As far as presentation and execution of the gameplay is concerned), but it's not as ambitious.

There are no real fatalities in the game, though stages have different elements that can be exploited which is neat, including a ring out here and there. The visuals have the same digitized aesthetic of the first three aforementioned titles (even using the MK font for certain quips), just not as clean or polished, though the game does run at a pretty good framerate (though there is slowdown) which makes things a little less noticeable. The music stands on its own with a few reasonable compositions and the sound effects are surprisingly meaty (or pack a punch), though they aren't always appropriate.

The gameplay features stage elements with special jump buttons to access destructible objects that can sometimes hurt the opponent, basic combos with a fairly unforgiving juggle system, and a motley crew of monsters who are not balanced at all: Frankenstein's monster (Deathmask, who looks like Michael Myers from Halloween) can grapple the heck out of people from a variety of frames due to almost non-existent hitstun or broken frames, some attacks take almost no damage while others shave unrealistic amounts of health in one hit, some attacks have really off hitboxes and will go right through the opponent, and then the jumping aspect isn't as great as it sounds; some characters have moves to offset this, but the ones who don't have to try and reach them, or use the special jump button to go after them, leaving them completely vulnerable with no air block. Each character has one special move that can be executed when their Mana gauge is full (by taunting when appropriate) and the game has a decent sized starting roster (with four boss characters), especially for a new IP.

Even is spite of all this, the game works out at least some of the time and it's admittedly easier to play than "Way of the Warrior". Moves are executed in both the MK style and the SF style and are responsive most of the time, but I can't help but feel like the game was just another thrown together title to capitalize on the success of Mortal Kombat... it just feels disjointed in every way; some levels are reasonably cool while others are a blurry mess. Some characters have decent animation while others barely animate at all. Some characters have diverse movesets while others have a bunch of moves that serve the same general purpose. Things of that nature... if this game spent more time in the oven, it could've been a pretty good or even great game. The pieces are there, they just don't fit right.

This is a video of the game in action on Normal difficulty. Enjoy.

- ADDITION -

Like Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegamingsan...

Follow Us On Twitter: https://twitter.com/GS_Vyse_and_Bel

Visit Us At: http://www.gamingsanctuary.com