Tech Romancer

"Tech romancer, robot fighting at its best"

Tech romancer, I wasted many a penny at the arcades on this marvel and when I heard it was being ported over to the dreamcast I started to have a spasm. When I recovered from my spasm I quickly pre-ordered the game from my local import store, it was $60 but I didn't care I wanted this game. During my wait I searched the net for every bit of info I could find on possible secret characters and stages and when it arrived weeks later on my doorstep I instantly slammed it into the dreamcast. After a few good hours of play I found out it was everything I had hoped for, arcade perfect with oodles of goodies to be unlocked.

Graphics (8/10): The robots do look very cool and anime fans will notice the similarities between many of the robots and such classic anime-robots like Evangelion, mazinger Z and Gundam. And there are very nice effects when performing special and finishing moves, buildings are a bit bland but it never really distract you because most the time you knocking them down.

Music/Sound (8/10): Nice music in the background that is once again borrowing from a lot of anime. Sound effect are great, theirs nothing better then hearing “Kikaioh kick” as you smash your opponent to the ground.

Gameplay/Control (9/10): Great stuff here, hulking around in a huge robot, stomping on buildings, and performing the final attack are all heaps of fun. Each character has a story mode with multiple paths, unfortunately I couldn't understand them because they're in Japanese but it's a good feature that is often left out in fighting games. Control is great, very simple, 2 buttons for attacking, 1 for jumping and one for guard, super moves are very easy to pull off, an amateur could pick up the control and become a pro within a day. The arcade stick isn't a necessity for tech romancer but it does help.

Replay value (high): With a heap of goodies, few characters to unlock (including jin from cyberbots and MvsC fame) and multiple endings for each character, it will take you a while to perfect this one.

Challenge (medium): Things may seem a bit easy at first, but the later levels and boss fights really tend to get quite hard and will have you screaming at the dreamcast.

Overall (8.5/10): Tech romancer is hands down the greatest robot fighting game ever and I hope capcom release a sequel for it because it truly does deserve one, and they better include the akuma robot from cyber bots next time.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/16/00, Updated 04/16/00