Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle

""Sorry about all of this...""

Let’s face it, anime is big freaking business these days. You can’t go anywhere without either seeing a yellow rat with an annoying voice, a card gaming geek with weird hair, or some guy in an orange gi with a bad haircut. But in the early to mid 90s, anime was still very much fringe material, and there was no way anything like, say, Outlaw Star would be considered a name brand, let alone get onto television. With this backdrop, DTMC released the second Ranma ½ game to the U.S. without any alterations to it whatsoever, as opposed to becoming the next Street Combat game. Ranma ½: Hard Battle, based on the exploits of the boy who becomes a girl when doused with cold water (and turns back when doused with hot water), was thus either a case of bad timing, or it was ahead of its time.

The set-up is that Principal Kuno of Furinken High School is setting up a tournament, promising all of it’s participants something different. Ranma Saotome (playable in both male and female versions) is promised exemption from exams, Genma Saotome is given a chance to prove his parental worth, Shampoo is offered a shot at winning Ranma’s heart, and Mousse is tricked into believing that beating the others will lead to true happiness! Add to that Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kounji, Ryoga Hibiki, the Gambler King and the long-suffering Gosunkugi, and you’ve got a lot a cast that typifies the strangeness of any given Ramna ½ episode. Strangely absent are the Kuno siblings, however. Maybe they didn’t want to get involved in Dad’s business?

The game plays like the average 2D fighter, except for the fact that the control scheme isn’t quite cut from the Street Fighter mold. There are only 3 buttons used: one for a strong attack, one for a weak attack, and one for jumping. Ranma-Chan (girl version, that is) and Shampoo both have double jumps, giving them an extra option. Either way, it’s the same best of 3 slugfest that anyone who has ever played a fighting game is by now as familiar with as they are with their own smell. Now, this control scheme isn’t that bad, but the execution isn’t perfect. Frankly, the action is kind of off-kilter. Though many moves from the manga and anime are present, they are sometimes awkward to use. Trying to connect with Ranma’s Mouku Takabisha, for example, is tricky, and the computer AI seems to be prone to block way over half of what you throw at it even at the easiest difficulty level. Combo freaks will also be very turned off by the fairly limited selection of moves, and the slow pace of gameplay.

The graphics are a big part of the attraction here. All the characters look like they stepped right out of the anime, and are very well drawn. Animation is decent for the 16 bit era, with a few nicely done attacks like Ranma’s Hiryuu Shoten Ha. The backgrounds are unobtrusive, and a couple, particularly Gambler King’s neon-filled casino and Ukyo’s ring filled with okonomiyaki (either a type of Japanese pizza or type of Japanese pancake, depending on who you ask) ingredients, are fairly memorable.

Sound-wise, the game isn’t as great. Voices are basic samples, that while fairly clear and recognizable, aren’t very numerous (there’s probably as many as 5 total voice effects for any given character) or anything that hasn’t been done better on the platform. Other effects are reasonably standard whaps, whomps and bangs. The music for the game has probably one classic to it, namely Ranma’s stage, but otherwise it’s pedestrian and neither adds nor detracts from the game.

And that’s probably the worst thing going for the game in general. In a world of Street Fighters, Fatal Furies and Mortal Kombats, the biggest thing going for this game is a name property that means little to people who aren’t into anime that’s not on broadcast television, and meant even less when it was released. Ranma ½: Hard Battle is exactly the sum of its parts, and if you like the anime, the game is a worthwhile distraction. It's neither that great, nor that offensive. But if you're not a fan, pass on it.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/03, Updated 04/19/03