Virtua Fighter is the title that popularized 3D fighting games. Sony was launching their PlayStation console up against Sega’s Saturn system, and they needed an answer to this arcade phenomenon and quick. This was of course back when it looked like there might be some actual competition between the two companies. Sony’s answer was a third party title called Battle Arena Toshinden. This was designed by a company called Tamsoft, and thanks to the less realistic route they took (which was more akin to your typical genre entries at the time) it made some big waves. This was a launch title for the original PlayStation and is one of the early titles you still hear a lot of gamers talking about. It managed to make most players forget about Virtua Fighter for a few minutes. Sony’s marketing did the trick, but the main reason the franchise has long been retired is because the more popular Tekken was hot on its heels. Battle Arena Toshinden just couldn’t compete (despite having numerous sequels) but it still has its fair share of fans. I missed the bandwagon at the time of release, but decided to finally see what all the fuss was about. Unfortunately I have a hard time understanding why this was ever popular; it’s not a very good game.
Battle Arena Toshinden doesn’t have much of a storyline. We’re told of a tournament with eight participants who gather from around the world fighting for their old causes. There’s very little exposition and honestly the scenario is tired and uninspired. Nonetheless this isn’t a big deal considering it’s a mere fighter. Unfortunately the art team did a terrible job with the character designs. There’s no real theme here with just a mish mash of generic combatants to choose from. I don’t understand why we have a ninja and a medieval knight in the same game. There’s also a weird Russian gal who has a whip, and your typical hulking strong man that seems to be in every fighting game since Street Fighter II. The roster isn’t offensively bad, but it’s so typical you’ll be hard pressed to remember face or name mere minutes after turning it off. Battle Arena Toshinden was one of the early fighting games, and therefore the gameplay is quite derivative. Gameplay occurs on a two dimensional plain where you move left, right, and can jump or duck. What set this one apart at the time of release is that it introduced the sidestep mechanic to the 3D fighting genre. I can understand how this was a big deal, and it paved the way for just about every other similar game that was released following it. Unfortunately that’s just about the only thing the developers did right here.
The gameplay engine is clunky to say the least. Battle Arena Toshinden looks like fun when you’re watching videos of it because it seems to move at a brisk pace, but it’s very deceptive. Despite the animations being fast it is far too difficult to hit your opponent here. This is the curse of the sidestep (it’s more of a roll actually); it’s used far too often by computer opponents and the characters are invincible during this animation. Furthermore the attacks don’t reach as far as they should. This is a weapons based fighter and you would think that you wouldn’t need to be close up to damage your opponent but most of the time that’s not the case. Matches last far too long, and the combo system is far too difficult to take advantage of. It’s tough enough connecting even one hit, and therefore subsequent strikes happen almost by accident. Maybe it’s simply that I’m not very good at the game, but I put in hours and it was still a struggle to wrestle with the mechanics. What I found disappointing is that your characters only have four different basic attacks. You can only strike with your weapon or a kick, and the only ratings for these are light and heavy. The developers designated all four of the shoulder buttons to the roll which is a bit excessive. The six button set up was standard at the time, and it’s disappointing that the developers didn’t make use of it.
The major thing that made Battle Arena Toshinden so popular at the time was that other similar titles were going for a more realistic approach to the special moves. This release was more similar to Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat with projectile attacks and others that are far from realistic. It must have been a nice novelty at the time, but it’s nothing special now. Each character has four of these special attacks that they can perform via inputting a combination of directions on the d-pad and following it with either a weapon strike or kick. These are generally sweeps on the directional pad ala just about every other fighting game out there, and when I first jumped in I was able to figure out most of the special moves just by going with the classic inputs. Additionally each character has their own specific throw, but generally I found myself having trouble pulling these off due to rolling opponents and having to get up so close. Furthermore each character comes equipped with a desperation move (which can only be performed when the energy gauge is flashing) as well as one secret attack that can be devastating but requires a complicated chain of inputs.
While the gameplay has aged quite a bit the graphics are even more outdated. I have to cut this one some slack in this department considering the fact that it was a launch title for the PlayStation, but that doesn’t totally excuse it for being so ugly. The character models are clunky and unappealing. This actually looks almost like it could have been a game on the Super Nintendo using the FX chip. It’s that bad. Their animations are stiff and awkward. This would be a bit more forgivable except that it actually causes gameplay problems. You need to be able to tell what the enemy is going to do based on the animations so that you can properly counter or dodge. Unfortunately I found myself struggling with this aspect, and it made fighting computer opponents significantly more difficult. The main campaign is quite difficult even on very easy because of this. Textures are grainy, the art style is embarrassingly bad (just look at the portraits on the select screen) and overall it’s pretty uneven. The soundtrack on the other hand is pretty good. It’s full of that classic high energy techno music that fits the genre well, and I found the best part of playing was listening to each stage theme. I recommend seeking out the soundtrack because then you’ll get the best part of this game without actually having to play it which is a big plus in my opinion.
Battle Arena Toshinden has its place in history, but it’s severely outdated in modern times. There’s literally nothing it offers that wasn’t shortly following the launch. Still, you have to hand it to Sony for securing an ‘exclusive’ (I use quotes only because it was later ported to the Sega Saturn) fighting game for their launch. I can see why it made waves back then, but Battle Arena Toshinden is best left in the past and forgotten. It’s rare that a Game Boy downport is the better game than its PlayStation counterpart, but that’s the situation we’re looking at here. Battle Arena Toshinden is best kept only as a collector’s item.
