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One of ye olde lost Doujin games, "Magical Monsters 2" is a significantly improved sequel to "Magical Monsters" and is a 2D fighting game made with the FM95 engine. Atsushi Takase designed the game and it is not your traditional versus fighter or more modern, combo-heavy fighter. Instead, the game is heavily reliant on zoning in conjunction with an abstract skill-upgrade system which depends on available MP or special stock and tight maneuverability. Each playable character has varying stats (HP, MP Recovery, Attack, Speed, etc.) as well as various forms of movement (dashing, improved jumping, teleporting, etc.).

The game utilizes a three-button attack scheme (light magic, heavy magic, special magic) and an MK-style input system (as in, no diagonals under ordinary circumstances). Certain attacks can only be used once you access a certain amount of special stock or when your HP hits a certain threshold, and most attacks are quite weak on their own, so the goal is to quickly build your gauges to access more powerful attacks. New to the sequel, magical attacks will be upgraded when the player has at least one special gauge and will revert to their base strength if you fall below one gauge of power, adding an extra element of strategy to knowing when and where to unleash your most powerful skills. As one of the first FM95 games, there's no denying that the game looks and sounds pretty good. The music is generally stock FM fare (heard throughout a variety of other FM projects such as Angel Star Road, Mai Girls Revolution, etc.) but still nice to hear and there are no character voices. The graphics are nice with each monster being large and expressive; most special attacks are grand and flashy as well and the stages are cool, though a few of the visual elements seem out of place. Visually, the game is more cohesive and a huge improvement from the first game.

The game also has a notably larger roster of characters, weighing in at ten (two of which are only playable in Versus Mode) and the most basic of Story Modes (basically congrats screens and the like). The game's fighting engine is a tad more flexible to allow basic combos beyond multi-hit attacks, but the game still prioritizes quick movement, zoning, and landing powerful special attacks (most standard attacks are still weak on an individual level). The game as a whole is more balanced than the original, creating more balance for existing characters, adding new play styles for the new characters, and nerfing characters like Magical Elemental (they still have access to their old attacks, but they've been adjusted to be slower and not as awful). Attacks that aren't of the two-input variety still seem less responsive than they should. Even so, the game is impressive in the sense that you get this amount of content from a zip less than 6MBs in size.

This is a video of the game in action. Matches are ordinarily one and done, but this video was edited to splice each fight in order. You can get the game at:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9vp13axkz047cxt/マジカルモンスターズ２.zip/file
http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f1761.html

Enjoy.

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