Guardian Heroes (Saturn) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
452A playthrough of Sega's 1996 beat 'em up game for the Sega Saturn, Guardian Heroes.
Played through as Han on the normal difficulty level.
Guardian Heroes was a Sega Saturn exclusive that many people consider one of the classics of the system. It was developed by Treasure (of Gunstar Heroes/Dynamite Headdy/Alien Soldier fame), and it infuses the belt-scrolling brawler genre with some heavy RPG elements. The story has several paths with multiple level branches leading to one of five possible endings, and your characters gain stat bonuses with each level-up, allowing you to tailor their growth to your personal playing style. It feels like a mix of River City Ransom and Gunstar Heroes, which is never a bad thing.
In addition to its core mechanics, the presentation garnered Guardian Heroes quite a bit of recognition. It's not a standard 2.5D setup, but rather, the action area is carved into three separate horizontal planes, similar to the Fatal Fury games, Animaniacs on the SNES, and Code of Princess on the 3DS. The characters can jump back and forth between each of these planes freely, and have to do so regularly to take care of the huge number of enemies that can appear on-screen at once.
The whole game's aesthetic looks like it has been pulled from an anime - in addition to the animated FMV cutscenes, all of the characters are rendered with exaggerated proportions and super bright colors, and most of them fit into the "battle fantasy" genre nicely.
And then there's the one element that truly makes it stand out above all others, especially in 1996 - the game's heavy use of sprite-scaling. It allows each and every character to scale to the appropriate size as they jump between planes. It looks a bit chunky when things are on the plane nearest to the screen, but it's all surprisingly smooth and seamless. Each character has several moves - far more than the likes of Final Fight or Streets of Rage - that make full use of the eight-button Saturn pad, and their utility depends on how you've chosen to upgrade your fighter.
Being surrounded by a helper, six or seven standard enemies that are all being set on fire from a special attack, and a boss setting off screen-filling magical attacks all at the same time will absolutely make the game chug, but hey, let's be real. This is a game from 1996 - it's unbelievable that the game pulls it off at all. It's pretty easy to see why this is a Saturn-exclusive: even if Treasure had been willing to put it on the PlayStation, there's no way it would've survived the porting process intact. Guardian Heroes is a perfect example of the Saturn's 2D superiority on the 32-bit machines - maybe even more so than Capcom's amazing arcade ports.
It also has a fantastic soundtrack.
I played Guardian Heroes for the first time sometime back around 2000 or so. My friend Tim had this game, and he would occasionally bring over his Saturn and we'd play it. He had raved about it quite a bit, so I was excited to try it out. I mean, who doesn't love a well-made beat 'em up?
(And now here comes the part where the firing squad readies their guns).
But, try as I might, I haven't ever liked this game. I can't deny its quality, but I just can't hold it in the same regard as so many others seem to. The quality of the graphics is fantastic, sure, but I absolutely *hated* the look of it. I wouldn't just call the art style unattractive - it's flat-out ugly, and it's really not helped by how grainy the sprites become when scaled, especially in the back row. I also wasn't a big fan of the control scheme. It's well laid out for how many commands you have access too, but I've always found the general feel of the game a bit too clunky and unintuitive.
And so I find myself in that awkward position of disliking a game that obviously has a lot of merit. I know a lot of people love it, and it deserves the recognition it gets. It just rubs me the completely wrong way, but then again, since when were opinions ever objective? (In other words: Don't bother telling me my opinion is wrong. I don't care if you think so, though I'm happy to discuss the game with anyone.)
It is an important title on the Saturn, though, and I wanted to give it the recognition that it deserves. Treasure was always good at taking something tried-and-true, turning it on its head, and wowing everybody with the result, and Guardian Heroes did just that.
If you are interested in it, copies for the Saturn aren't too expensive (USD $50-60 range), and you can also grab it (with a few enhancements) on Xbox Live Arcade for $5. Pretty good deal right there.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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