Jared Rea

Seeing as how I don’t have either an arcade or thousands of dollars to throw at Aksys Games for their latest and greatest in 2D fighting, I did my civic duty and instead tracked down the recently released Battle Fantasia instead. This was no easy task as it seems as though Battle Fantasia, ARC’s 2D-3D hybrid fighter, didn’t get a push to retail stores. I asked my local Gamestop jockey for it and it wasn’t in their computers. Checking the websites of the larger retailers turned up nothing. It seemed as though the only option was to order it online or direct from Aksys, but I had another plan, even if my equally hardcore friends advised otherwise.

Scott: Fuck Battle Fantasia. Its not a good game.

Jared: bubububu
Scott: yes
Jared: I want it for my “What is this doing in America” 360 collection
Jared: It’ll go great with Senko no Ronde, Earth Defense Force, Project Sylpheed and Blue Dragon
Jared: And coming next year, Oneechanbara :D
Scott: blue dragon has as much relevance to be here as dragon quest
Jared: If not less
Scott: senko not so much
Scott: but as for battle fantasia, you could wait til it drops to $30
Scott: Scott Tsai: or $10
Jared: Im afraid then I’d never be able to find it
Jared: It didn’t get a retail release
Jared: Frys is really the only hope for that since they get everything
Scott: still think its not worth it

As it turns out, I was right. I found a whopping two copies of Battle Fantasia at the Palo Alto Fry’s and they weren’t even given shelf space either. They just crammed them between a few stacks of left over Bioshocks. To jump through all these hoops and drive 25 miles for a fighter I’ve only played twice seems a bit ridiculous, but like I said … civic duty.

My initial impression is that it definitely doesn’t feel like anything previously made by Arc Sys and not only because the graphics are in 3D. The combat in Battle Fantasia has a much heavier emphasis on zoning and poking for damage than chains and various combos unlike say, the Guilty Gear series or Hokuto no Ken. In this respect, Battle Fantasia almost feels like earlier entries of the King of Fighters series, where basic poking was the key to victory and any big damage was like an added bonus.

Scott: there was a game like that
Scott: it was called teenage mutant ninja turtles

But what does make it in ARC game is the roster. You can draw parallels between the characters in Battle Fantasia to other fighters, but for the most part they’re all fairly unique and require a lot of thinking outside the box to understand. The main characters, Urs and Marco, may play a lot like your standard Ken and Ryu shoto clones, but after that it’s all over the place. I’ve found myself drawn to two characters: Freed, who is essentially Captain Falcon masquerading as a pirate and Koyomi, who plays a lot like Guilty Gear’s Jam. After playing online a bit, the massive grappler, Donvalve, seems to be a favorite and I can see why. His standard attacks are huge and have great priority. What’s better is that most of his specials have some form of super armor that make just stopping him troublesome.

This isn’t to say that I’ve had a ton of experience online. Seeing as how the game is super niche and has been out in Japan for ages now, the online community for it is fairly nonexistent. Still, in the dozen or so matches I’ve played the netcode held up pretty well, which is more than I can say for most online fighters on the consoles. Still, I expected to see more people playing this on the weekend, especially considering that I can still find a match of Senko no Ronde whenever I turn it on … even if I’m one of two people online playing it.

So what’s my final verdict? None yet I’m afraid. I’m still fooling around with a lot of different elements, but still, I’m enjoying it a lot more than my friend Scott would appreciate. While I do wish it were faster and a bit looser, it’s definitely something different at the moment. My time would probably be better spent at SFSU playing some Street Fighter IV, or getting back Melty Blood shape for the release of Actress Again, but a little exploration never hurt anyone.

Besides, it’s that kind of exploration that makes me totally awesome at Primal Rage.