Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle

"Not enough of the good, and WAY too much of the bad!"

I am a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi, and especially of Ranma ½.. So, when I first heard about this game, I was more than willing to rush out to my favorite game store and drop $25 for the cart. That was quite possibly one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made as a gamer. This was an obvious attempt to hurriedly rush out a licence title, with little regard for actual quality. Even as a devout fan of both the anime series and manga, I can find very few redeeming qualities in this game. However, I f you're still interested, read on before you let go of your hard earned cash.

Plot 6/10
Okay, so this part isn't that bad. Basically, Principal Kuno sets up a tournament, where each player has to compete for something different. This may seem a bit lame, but If you are familiar with the series, it somehow fits into their screwed up, backwards world. Each player has a different story line that fits the character well, and the quirky, stylized Ranma humor is here in full force. Quite possibly, the only truly redeeming factor of the whole game is that it is absolutely hilarious.

Gameplay 2/10
With a whole slew of 2-D Street Fighter clones made for the SNES, it takes a pretty innovative game to provide good competition. This, however, is not one of those games. The controls are simple . . . WAY TOO simple. Y is a weak attack, B is a strong attack, L and R block, and X jumps. Each character has ONE special attack, executed by pressing Y and B simultaneously. That's it. That's all there is to it! On top of shallow gameplay, the reaction time is jerky and inconsistent, which means that luck, rather than timing, is the deciding factor in whether or not your blow connects or not. The only thing preventing this category from being a complete bust is that each character at least has his or her own unique special attack

Graphics 6/10
This Game actually looks pretty nice. It retains the feel and appearance of the Manga and animated series very well. The sprites are colorful and well rendered, and the backgrounds look hand drawn, which as one of the game's nicer features. Many of the visual effects are very funny, but there's just not enough here to raise the score above a six. The graphics are good, but very minimal, which is a very bad thing, when you consider that they may be the game's only true strong point.

Sound 3/10
The voice work here is good and translated especially well in the North American version, and it is surprisingly crisp and clear, considering the limitations of the SNES sound system. Unfortunately, the good qualities end there. The music is lifted straight from the anime series, but there simply isn't enough variety to make a difference either way. The sound effects are horrid though. They go beyond merely generic and into the realm of just plain lazy.

Replay Value 3/10
If you do decide to play this game, it is short enough that it is worthwhile to play through each of the scenarios, but I really don't see anyone wanting to go beyond that. There just isn't enough salvageable content here to make it rewarding.

Overall Rating 3/10
I would score this quite a bit higher for fans of the series, but for the average fighting game junkie, I can think of about a dozen better titles right off the top of my head. Maybe if the few good aspects were brought to the forefront of the mix just a little bit more, it might have been a decent game, but, as it stands, this is generally one to miss

Buy/Rent/Ignore?
If you are an American fan of the series, this will definitely be a worthwhile collector's item, since it is the only SNES Ranma ½ title to reach North American shores as a non-import, but for anyone else, pass this one up. Spend your time and money on . . . Well, on any game but this one.

Bottom Line
An OKAY game for fans . . . A HORRID game for anyone else.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06