Rival Schools: United By Fate

This game brings me back. Rival Schools was a classic fighter on the Sony Playstation. The game was released during the same time period as other Capcom fighting classics such as Dark Stalkers 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Star Gladiator. It was certainly one of the better fighting games on the Playstation console and has had some of its characters ported over to other Capcom fighting releases such as Capcom vs. SNK and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

Rival Schools employed the same 3D sequences as Street Fighter EX@ and Street Fighter EX2. The levels and characters are all polygon based, which by todays standards are pretty jagged looking. During the height of this games time though, the graphics were very good.

There are a number of characters to choose from in the game and a lot of extra unlockable features. Rival Schools certainly does boast a larger character roster then we typically saw on many PSX games. An interesting feature of this series was the use of two separate game discs. There was an Arcade Disc which allowed players to unlock extra levels and characters. The second disk was called the Evolution Disc, allowing players to participate in mini games, view artwork, listen to soundtracks, and providing additional characters not found in the Arcade Disc. Another unique feature was the ability to swap the data back and forth between the two game discs from the save file on the memory card.

One of my favorite aspects from Rival Schools was the soundtrack. This game has an awesome music collection. As many of the Capcom fighters to tend to have pretty good music, the soundtrack from Rival Schools tends to stick out in my mind above many of the others.

The gameplay is a little different than the other Capcom vs. games in that it uses a 4-button instead of 6-button system. Hard and weak punch and hard and weak kick are the four main sets of buttons. The special attack system is very easy to utilize, often requiring the use of just one button. The tag team mode is also a very familiar feature to players of the other Capcom vs. games. With such a large roster to choose from, the team combinations are endless.

This game performs on a high level as a whole and was certainly at the top of its class back in the day. Even now, 10 years later, I still find myself popping this title into my original Sony Playstation and throwing down a few rounds with some of my favorite characters. For those who enjoy Capcom fighters, this game is definitely a must if you haven't already tried it.

Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix

Hoshigami Ruining Blue Earth: Remix is a remake of the Sony PSX classic for Nintendo DS. With the plethora of titles being re-released on a number of consoles, there hasn't been much to expect in the way of new features from these kind of games. Hoshigami is no exception. I remember getting the PSX version of this game a number of years ago when it came out. The only real improvement is that now I can take this game in my hands on the road rather than sit in my living room and playing it.

For those who haven't played this title before, it is a turn-based tactics game. Moves are determined by factors such as character speed, weight, number of attacks taken during a turn, and number of moves made. I know this sounds like a lot to take in. In a nutshell, the fewer spaces you move and the fewer attacks you take in a turn, the quicker your character can mount their next turn. With regards to weapons, the heavier weapons tend to have higher attack power, meaning that you can attack with them fewer times in a turn. Attacks can also be made using magic in the form of coin feigms (CF). You can upgrade the coins by merging them with elemental properties to increase their range, attack power, and reduce use cost.

Character selection in this game is very much like Final Fantasy Tactics. You hire mercenaries to join your team. There are different avatars for various to choose from and they have different religions that they follow. The religions determine which weapons have an optimized attack pattern. Each religion also allows the character to acquire skills to play on their strengths as they collect devotion points from each attack they launch. Along with the fully customizable mercenaries, there are also characters that join your party through the quests undertaken in the story. There characters do tend to be stronger when you acquire them than the mercenaries, so you may find yourself using more of them in your party than the recruitable characters.

The maps in the game are nothing special to cry about. They are very much in line with what you would see in pretty much any turn-based strategy game. The maps are all developed on a 3D framework with rotation angles to get the best movement pattern as you progress through the game.

The artwork in the game is also very much the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. The same character sprite design is implemented in Hoshigami Ruining Blue Earth: Remix. The music is also fairly bland in the game. The same songs just repeat over and over as you play through the maps.

Truth be told, this game didn't receive amazing reviews. Even though this is the case, I still found myself loving the DS version just as much as the PSX version. As of the time of this writing, the game has been discontinued on DS, and is pretty much only available second hand on eBay. Perhaps part of the appeal in having this game is the fact that it is now so rare. Although Hoshigami is not what I would consider the "best" of it's genre, it is still a very entertaining game to play and highly recommended.

Vanguard Bandits

I decided that it might be fun to jump into my time machine and dust off a few of my classic PSX titles. Having spent so much time playing the newer graphics rich next gen games, I found myself constantly in the mood for something with more substance. That's when the idea hit me, "When did I have the most fun playing games?", on my old consoles.

Vanguard Bandits was created by Working Designs, the same company that developed the Lunar series on Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn. The game itself is based around Bastion, who is a run of the mill kid that ends up finding out he's the prince of a kingdom. As the player, you get to decide the outcome of the story. There are a number of options available through the dialog that allow you to change relationships with characters, acquire new ATACs, and also determine which of the three kingdom story lines you complete.

Instead of fighting hand to hand, characters use giant mechs called ATACs. As you can probably tell from the box art that game looks very reminiscent of Escaflowne. At the time when it came out in North America, Escaflowne was a huge show, and me being ignorant to much of anything about anime, thought this was the Japanese PSX version of an Escaflowne game. Turns out the game shares some similarities to Escaflowne with respect to story and the design of the ATAcs. 

Vanguard Bandits is a turn-based tactics game. Characters can utilize various attacks by measuring a combination of an AP and FP gauge. Each attack has an AP and FP value and each ATAC has a limit to how much AP and FP it can use in a full turn. I should also clarify that a full turn constitutes the attack phase as well as the counter phase. The counter phase is essentially the characters reaction to an enemy attack. Moves are acquired by equipping certain types of stones with elemental properties and using acquisition points to boost stats. When stat reaches a certain level, the character can learn new moves. 

The game itself is fairly linear by today's standards. There is little ability to customize ATACs. Basically you can change their weapons, add an elemental stone, and change their additional item (such as attack boost, or agility increase). Players also have the ability to swap ATACs between certain characters. The story line lets you choose options for dialog as you progress through the game, which lead the player to one of three different endings (one for each kingdom). There is also the ability to use a secret ATAC by following one of the story lines.


Graphically, this game was decent for its time. The battle map is very similar in design as Final Fantasy Tactics. You move sprite based characters around on a grid style map. The battle sequences are all polygon 3D. This element adds some aesthetic appeal to the overall graphics element.

Vanguard Bandits Gameplay

As a whole this game is pretty good. Although it is short, only 20 missions per story line, the fact that it has to be replayed in order to achieve the various outcomes makes up for this. The graphics are well rounded, and even playing it on my PS3 with HDMI on plasma it still looks decent. Its a shame that games have moved away from placing focus on gameplay and geared more towards aesthetic appeal. I can't tell you how many newer games I have bought and been disappointed with even though they look amazing.


One small side fact, this game was actually released in Japan under the title Epica Stella. Upon North American release it was changed  to Detonator Gauntlet and then changed again to Vanguard Bandits.

Vanguard Bandits Intro Movie

ZETA

Saga Frontier

This was one of my favorite games growing up. Saga Frontier came out around the same time that Final Fantasy VII and VIII were dominating the Playstation. This was game was extremely underrated during its run on the PS1. I will be the first to admit that it did not have the stellar graphics like FF7 and FF8; the characters were all sprite based, like an enhanced SNES. What it lacked in graphics though was made up in gameplay.

Essentailly Saga Frontier followed 7 different story lines that a player could choose from when they began the game. When the system data is set up, it keeps a record of the players completion of each character. Once all of the characters are completed a special surprise comes up at the end of the game. The thing that made this game so interesting was the fact that players could choose their own party. There was no predefined character acquisition system. Rather, as you explore the various regions in the game you were able to recruit characters that either met your strengths or looked just plain cool (I always was a fan of the cool factor). There are a number of races ranging from humans-mystics-monsters. This left a diverse plate of characters to choose from.

There was also a very open ended story system in place. You could essentially build your own quest in this game. When a character is selected at the intro screen, the objective of their story is presented. It is up to the players to decide of to reach that objective.

There was a sequel made to this game, however, it did not follow the same open ended concept in the Fashion that Saga Frontier did. This game really was a one of a kind. I have been relentlessly searching to see if there is another game like this out there with the open ended stories and diverse character selection.

If you are into emulating PS1, then I would recommend giving this game a try. It is well worth your time.

Lunar The SIlverstar Story

This was one of my favorite games growing up on the Sony Playstation. If you are a fan of classic RPG games with nice anime cut scenes and that nostalgic old school gaming feel then this is definitely a game that you want to check out. Maybe its just me but I really liked the Playstation games from Working Designs (before they went defunct). I have yet to try out Lunar 2 Eternal Blue, but if it is anything like the first one, then I am sure that it will impress.

Since these games are no longer in circulation I would recommend running an emulator on the computer to play these classic titles. EPSXE is a very nice emulator that runs pretty clean when it comes to emulating Playstation. You can pretty much find the ROMs all over the internet. I'll post the links to some sites that are excellent for finding good emulators and a nudge ;) in the right direction where you can find ROMs.

http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/psx/

http://www.romulation.net/