Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle

"I never really liked Fighting games, but this is crazy.."

Introduction: I've never been a big fan of fighting games, but this has to be one of the worse I've ever played. From what I gather, Ranma is a game based on an Anime show, and there are other Ranma games too. I don't know if the others are as bad this one, though. I'm pretty sure, Ranma was the, or one of, the first to come to the Super Nintendo. The rest I assume, were all released in Japan. Now, on to the Review.

Graphics: One of the only, good aspects, of this game, the graphics arent bad at all. You can tell, there Anime-style. If only the rest of the game, was half way good...

Play Control: Yow! This is where the game really fails. Its not just, your basic play control thats bad, the control Set Up, is poor as well. For one, theres only Two attacks. Thats right, a ''Weak / normal'' attack, and a ''Strong'' attack. Hm, not much depth there.. And, it gets worse. to Jump, you don't press Up on the control pad, you press one of the buttons. Sure, you can change that around on the options menu, but why should you have to do that, everytime you play the game, due to bad play control set up? And of course, due to all this, this game gets a bad rating. ((And theres a few other reasons, too. ))

Music: Another, ok aspect of the game. The music is nice, and theres also a Music sound test for you to try out.

Sound Effects: Not Great, not bad, just normal. Nothing to remember really. Theres also, a Sound test, along with the music test, where you can even sample what the Fighter's yell, or say.

Story: One of the worse I've seen. Each fighter has his own story. For an example, I'll use the main fighter Ranma. Ranma don't like school tests. Some guy, comes and tells him he won't have to take them, if he can fight the fighters he throws at him. Ranma agrees. Yep, thats it. Each fighter has his or her own story, but there all just about as bad. The ending, is just plain Bad. In every since of the word. Its so bad its funny. This story is so bad, it could even be worse then the bad play control.

Gameplay: Think of a basic fighting game. A one screen, fighting game, two fighters, and two life meters. Attack, untill you've killed your foe. In the story mode, you'll find the really bad story, I talked about, and a cast of fighters to pick from. You go from level to level, Fight to fight, untill the end, you fight the boss's see the Really bad ending, and pick another fighter to beat it with, I suppose. Theres a 2-player mode, as well. The game wouldn't have been all that bad, at all, with good play control. Sure, the story is bad, but thats most likely like that for a reason, a joke of sorts, witch would fit in to the games wacky since of humor. But, bad play control makes it hard to even enjoy the game.

Challenge: Not that hard. You can continue Either a long while / or for ever and theres different difficulty levels, too.

Replay Value: Not much. Fighting games, never really do, unless they have a good multi player mode. You might want to come back, and see the other fighter's and there story, but thats about it.

Score Chart:
Graphics: 7 / 10
Play Control: 4 / 10
Music: 8 / 10
Sound Effects: 7 / 10
Story: 3 / 10
Gameplay: 5 / 10
Challenge: 5 / 10
Replay value: 4 / 10
Overall: 3 / 10

Final Word: Buying this game, should give you at least fifteen minuets, of enjoyment, if its just at laughing at the ending. But if you find it for more then ten dollars, and you don't have money to waste, I would not buy it. I'm glad I have Ranma, because it is a rare game, but I still wouldn't buy it for for ten or over.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/28/01, Updated 11/28/01