Guilty Gear Petit 2

"An average figher. Not the best, but not the worst."

For months after I bought it, this game gathered dust. After playing the game off and on for a time, I quickly found myself playing my other fighting games on SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color. It wasn't that the game was horrible, or that it looked bad, or that the controls were horrid.

The game simply lacked something.

Months passed, and time went on, dust settling on the plastic case housing the cartridge. Finally, after sliding the thin cart into the Swan Crystal, I replayed the game, to see whether or not I could play the game again, whether I could enjoy it after playing Gals Fighters on the NGPC.

Well, I did. And I did not.

In truth, there were many great parts of the game, and an equal ammount of not-so great parts. But these strengths and weaknesses are best left to specific discussion. For now, a bit of back history, or as well as I can present it.

I know about as much on the Guilty Gear series as I do on the opposite sex. That is, I know very little. What I do know is that there were at least two Playstation games, maybe one or two Playstation 2 games, a Game Boy Advance game, and Guilty Gear Petite 1 and 2. There may have been a Dreamcast version, but if so, I do not know if the rumors are true.

This is the only version that I have played of any Guilty Gear game, and due to the kanji, I cannot comprehend the story. However, given a dozen or so images from the Game Boy Advance version, I do have reason to theorize that both the Guilty Gear X: Advance Edition and Guilty Gear Petite 2 are very simmilar, save for the super deformed cast in the Swan Crystal. Presumably, the GBA and Swan Crystal versions are based on the "big" console versions, though the truth behind this is beyond me.

And now, to the game itself.

Graphically, the game is able to perform some nifty backgrounds, easily surpasing most NGPC fighters (only a couple surpase, and that is only due to animations) and on par with most GBA fighers. Very detailed, though animations are quite sparse, if any at all. Sprites, on the other hand, are both good and bad. The sprites LOOK fantastic, proving that the Swan can churn out some great stills. However, animations are blatently 8-bit, and have a sort of choppyness to them. While this does not hinder the game play, it is obvious at a casual glance. The character artwork and images in the gallery are excellent, easily up there with the GBA in terms of graphical power.

Sound, well... The Swan Crystal (or either Wonder Swan, for that matter) is not known for its sound processors and speakers, and this game is an example of how bad the sounds can get. While easily above most Game Boy/Color and some early 16-bit games, the music and sounds pale in comparison to the NGPC and GBA. Sound effects are pretty good, but there are only a few sounds, like slash, hit, jump, and punch. These sounds could be plugged into about ten dozen other games and not be noticed, as none of them are new or memorable. Also, none of the musical scores are really memorable. Of course, fighting games are not known for music.

Control is only as good as you are skilled with the Swan's control pad. If you cannot handle it well, you are in trouble. If you have no problems, you are in good shape, and should be able to do rather well in the game. The "Y" buttons (the "upper" D-pad) have two types of taunts, and one meter changing tool. I don't know if this meter change is significant on gameplay, as I have neither figured it out or tried to mess with it, prefering to go on what I already knew in terms of combat. The command buttons (A and B) are punch and kick, though I do believe you can change this.

Combat moves are kin to the Capcom/SNK format (quarter circle forward and punch/kick) and Namco style (direction and button), which should allow any gamer to step in and do rather well. If the moves are too hard to pull off, an option is available to turn on a special "novice"-like mode where you press a direction and a button, attacking with specials without working for them.

Game play wise, there is no denying the utter lack of speed with which the Swan Crystal lacks. The jumps are far too short, and the characters move too slowly for most players. What amazes me is that despite this, the graphics are rarely sacrified during combat, meaning that the only real distraction you should have in combat outside any noises is your light source. Unlockables are found all over the game, including characters and artworks. Sadly, most are only availabe in other games, many of which are not available in the US. I ended up using the GameFaqs cheat page for the game to get most of the characters, and while it was nice to have a few other characters, there was nothing else to do in the game once they were unlocked.

Speaking of characters, Guilty Gear's cast is a hoot. While I do not know their backgrounds, I do know that seeing a shady man fight with a cane and a paper bag over his head with only one eye hole is worth the price of admission alone. Other odd and warped characters are around, from (the Russian?) Potempkin to the automated Ky, This game (or any in the series) is worth playing alone to see a nurse use a giant sirenge in combat.

Story wise, I have no clue. The special moves, plot, story, and dialog is exclusively in kanji, while the options and mode selection screnes are in English. This allows the game to be played by almost anyone, but I did miss having a story to follow, especially with the characters being as warped as they are.

Replay value is pretty much the same as other fighting games - dependent on whether or not you have another to play. I only have one Swan Crystal and one Guilty Gear Petite 2, and I don't know anyone in this state that has a copy of either, so my replay time is very limited. By yourself, the game gets old after a time, even with the time trial and survival modes. Two players should have a good time, but I cannot comment on this.

Overal, there is nothing really wrong with the game, but there are better fighters out there. Of the four portables I own (NGPC, GBA, Game Gear, and Swan Crystal), I usually choose the NGPC for fighters, but Guilty Gear Petite 2 is far superior in terms of options and gameplay than most GBA fighters I have played, and is gold against Game Gear fighters. The only real reason to try this game is for the goofy characters and a game to pick up and play for five minutes. There are better Swan games out there (Final Fantasy II) and better fighters on other systems (Gals Fighters is just as warped and a bit better in game play), but there are worse options you could take.

Word of caution - disable the sound as soon as you can, as it tends to get annoying after a time.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/04