"A Game That Needed More Development, But Good Nonetheless"

Yes, yes this game brings together probably the three most popular animes in Japan, Dragonball Z, One Piece and Naruto, hence it being named Battle Stadium D.O.N with each part of the acronym representing its respective animes.

To start, when you first play this game, there is a quite a resemblance to Super Smash Bros, thus if you're familiar with the game, the concept is clear.

Moving away from the percentage system that Smash uses, this game utilizes a struggle meter, meaning that there is one giant bar on the top and the more damage you inflict the more the struggle meter increases in your favor and decreases for the person taking beating.

This game also starts you off with 12 characters, 4 from each series and allows you to unlock a total of 20 characters, meaning only eight unlockable characters

Graphics: 8/10

This game uses very nice cell shaded graphics allowing for a bigger resemblance to the actual anime characters, this game is very colorful and the supers, well most of them, really produce large amounts of bright colors. The stages too are well animated based on popular sceneries from the three animes, such as The Hyperbolic Time Chamber from DBZ and the Forest of Death from Naruto.

Gameplay: 5/10

This is where the game faults, although the moves are cool and what not. Some characters were totally jibbed in this game, like Zoro from One Piece. Some characters are able to perform a barrage of combos by simply hitting the Square button while others can barely put together two hits. Also although others may not care, the DBZ characters seem to have been overpowered in this game, or well, rather they have seem to be given better moves. Another problem with this game is the certain stages that force you to constantly move, due to the shaky physics of the game sometimes one is unable to keep up with the moving stage and you end up dying. Elaborating more on the physics of the game, moving around seems a little shaky; you never get quite the direction you want to go, especially if you're in air, as the game doesn't seem responsive enough to commands.

Also one of the most annoying aspects of this game is the unlock system. During story mode, sometimes you are given little tasks to do in each match like, "Block 20 times" or "Jump 100 times", these tasks, if accomplished, earn you coins for a slot machine which can be used once the game has been beaten. I should stress this, the slot machines are totally rigged, and one cannot win in them until the game finally decides to let you. You'll notice all the other icons becoming a darker shade and only the big bonus items in the slot highlight and regardless of when you press the button to stop the slots, it'll give you the bonus. No no, no the actual bonus, the right to go to the BONUS SLOT where you must tediously wait until the game decides if you've earned the right to unlock a character. Sometimes you unlock nothing; it all depends on whether the game wants you to unlock a character. So to simplify you must first earn coins, go to the slots, get the jackpot in the first slots that allows you the right to play in the bonus slots, and then in the bonus slots, hit the jackpot again to unlock a the bonus, whether it be a new character or a stage, or certain settings for vs. mode. Also mentioning the items in the game, although I find most quite useful, some actually inhibit your ability to play, when you get the power up that lets you run fast you'll sometimes find yourself running so fast that you actually run off the stage.

Moving onto the positive aspects of the game, this game introduces the ability to spawn anywhere on the stage after you die. You'll see your character holding onto your TV screen and you move the little crosshair to where you want and you'll spawn there if you die. Another interesting aspect of the game is the gauge meter, which is like a little power meter, all your special moves, super moves and defensive moves drain from it. There is a little red line in there too and if your meter is beyond it, one can execute a super move by pressing R1; all these super moves can be charged as well. Burst mode is also something new in the game, when ones Struggle meter takes about 3/4 of the entire bar, one becomes powered up and all attacks do more damage. This burst mode however does not run out, the character in burst mode must be hit in order to stop it, this usually results in running and hiding from the person in burst and waiting for long range attacks.

To summarize this game play of this game needs a lot more depth, there's too much mashing and dashing, this game doesn't allow one to play smart or accurately as the physics and the moves of this game are either broken or unfinished, just ask Zoro, he can't put together a 3 hit combo without a super or special move.

Music/Sound: 7/10

Can't really complain about the music or the voices of this game as they are performed by the actors of the actual show, this adds a nice touch and gives a more homely feeling to the game.

Replayability: 4/10

Other than constantly playing through story mode to unlock the bonuses, this game has very little replayability, through single player that is, but then again this could be said about Super Smash Bros. I sometimes play this game with my brother and it is more enjoyable so if one has a multitap, this can sure be a good party game and you can shoot all the Rasengans and Kamaehamaeha's at your friends. One aspect that allows for more replayability are the special options you unlock in the slots that allows you to create your own battle, such as, items off or changing the Struggle bar into Health Gauges during vs. mode. With that said, if you don't got anyone to play this game with, the fun will die out very fast

Overall
(8+7+5+4)/4 = 6

Should you get it?

If you're a big fan of anime one will enjoy the clash of shows in the game, however importing is expensive so if one wants to actually get this game for the actual game play itself, its not worth it, if you want to spend the money on an import game and you own a ds, you should grab Jump Superstars, pretty much Nintendo DS's version of this game but with a boatload of more characters and much better game play

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/06