Guardian Heroes (SAT, 1996)
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5 Control-6.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-6
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5/ Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5?
+
Up to 6-player co-op or vs (heavy slowdown though)
Multiple paths between segments (choose what to do next during dialogue like in Contra HC - 2-3 choices between each level, 30+ segments in total)
5 different playable characters (Serena is unlockable, can also unlock 4 other chars but you have to be playing on Hard mode)
CPU ally (an invincible undead warrior) which you can order around (defend, attack/aggressive, stay back, do nothing, breakout/super attack move)
Air combos (toss enemies upwards and hit them in mid-air)
Level up system (manually allocate stat points in-between game levels - strength, vitality, intelligence, mental (MP), agility, luck - affects attack and defense)
Multiple endings (5 different final levels plus light and dark versions of endings 3 and 5)
Difficulty options (easy-hard)
Block move (can also do a backwards hop move while blocking)
Weak and strong attacks - SF2
Air dive move
Pretty good intro (animé style)
Animated character portraits during dialogue
Can choose to respawn on the spot or right before the current segment (which lets you re-allocate stat points) after dying
+/-
Throwing isn't explained? (heavy attack+forward near enemy - doesn't seem to work consistently against later enemies unless they're stunned or facing the other way)
Three different planes instead of free movement like in most beat 'em ups (see Fatal Fury)
Jumping between the different planes isn't very useful most of the time - can't attack before landing so the enemy usually hits you when trying to use it aggressively
A lot of dialogue early on (interrupts gameplay but can be sped up or skipped on a per paragraph/text box basis)
The music doesn't quite fit at times (mostly upbeat and happy sounding late '80s jazz fusion/jazz rock/synth rokc with '90s drums in a medieval fantasy setting with sci-fi elements)
No health restoratives during levels (it's partially restored between each segment)
Unskippable in-game cutscenes (generally short though)
Can't follow up a forward+attack move with a regular combo (extending the reach of the first attack since it has to connect to start the combo)
Some barrels and boxes are placed in-between planes and can't be hit besides by certain explosions and AoE spells
Enemies being knocked into you by the undead warrior or your spells will hurt you
Limited continues (9 on normal) - can load an unfinished run like a temporary quick save via the main menu
The final boss is basically golden silver from gunstar heroes
Blocking protects from attacks from both directions - goes for enemies as well
Can't tell the undead warrior to only toss enemies upwards (might've been OP)
Some recoil when blocking or using a forward+attack move near an enemy
-
Plenty of slowdown at times even in 1-player mode
No in-game tutorial of moves (just a list based on default control settings in the main menu that you have to memorize)
Various control issues (no invincibility time after taking a hit that knocks you over meaning enemies can hit you over and over - get surrounded and they can juggle you between them (there's no traditional breakout move to help with this though the air dive can help if you're being juggled and blocking helps against most attacks once you've been knocked down and are standing up again - otherwise you have to have ordered the cpu ally to help you or you'll take a ton of damage), can't do a running jump, have to be standing on the ground to issue a command to the undead warrior and the game doesn't pause while doing it plus the command menu doesn't wrap around, can't map running to a single button (double tap), can't just keep running until you run into something by holding forward - can only run a few steps at a time (you can do a longer dash with a heavy dash combo but this move can't be canceled so it can be dangerous), your character does an annoying victory pose after performing a combo leaving him/her vulnerable to attack, can't cancel a combo once you've started it - some enemies can hit you in-between blows, you have to be attacked first to perform a back attack, delay after pressing forward and attacking and after each combo attack+somewhat slow plane switching - breaks flow, can't turn around in mid-air when jumping or doing an upward jump attack)
The undead warrior is seriously overpowered and steals your exp
Uneven difficulty at times (all of a sudden you enter a gladiator fight on your own when in the forest on one path and it's extremely tough (can't escape until after the first battle), mage attack after one boss fight around mid-way and group of mages near the end)
Some trial & error (some enemies explode after death, shots from off screen, some bosses)
Mostly ugly characters (faces look like fan art at times, no anti-aliasing, somewhat rough shading)
Kind of ugly scaling (characters look pixelated and messy when on farther planes)
Basic font & text box
The endings are pretty lame (short with panned artwork stills (except for one with some parallax) and some text)
Unskippable staff roll
Repetitive (not much in the way of level design - only a few destructible barrels here and there and there are no pits/platforms/slopes, repeats some enemy types a lot)
Unbalanced characters?
Notes:
-Beat it as Han (third ending) and tried Serena briefly
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5/ Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5?
+
Up to 6-player co-op or vs (heavy slowdown though)
Multiple paths between segments (choose what to do next during dialogue like in Contra HC - 2-3 choices between each level, 30+ segments in total)
5 different playable characters (Serena is unlockable, can also unlock 4 other chars but you have to be playing on Hard mode)
CPU ally (an invincible undead warrior) which you can order around (defend, attack/aggressive, stay back, do nothing, breakout/super attack move)
Air combos (toss enemies upwards and hit them in mid-air)
Level up system (manually allocate stat points in-between game levels - strength, vitality, intelligence, mental (MP), agility, luck - affects attack and defense)
Multiple endings (5 different final levels plus light and dark versions of endings 3 and 5)
Difficulty options (easy-hard)
Block move (can also do a backwards hop move while blocking)
Weak and strong attacks - SF2
Air dive move
Pretty good intro (animé style)
Animated character portraits during dialogue
Can choose to respawn on the spot or right before the current segment (which lets you re-allocate stat points) after dying
+/-
Throwing isn't explained? (heavy attack+forward near enemy - doesn't seem to work consistently against later enemies unless they're stunned or facing the other way)
Three different planes instead of free movement like in most beat 'em ups (see Fatal Fury)
Jumping between the different planes isn't very useful most of the time - can't attack before landing so the enemy usually hits you when trying to use it aggressively
A lot of dialogue early on (interrupts gameplay but can be sped up or skipped on a per paragraph/text box basis)
The music doesn't quite fit at times (mostly upbeat and happy sounding late '80s jazz fusion/jazz rock/synth rokc with '90s drums in a medieval fantasy setting with sci-fi elements)
No health restoratives during levels (it's partially restored between each segment)
Unskippable in-game cutscenes (generally short though)
Can't follow up a forward+attack move with a regular combo (extending the reach of the first attack since it has to connect to start the combo)
Some barrels and boxes are placed in-between planes and can't be hit besides by certain explosions and AoE spells
Enemies being knocked into you by the undead warrior or your spells will hurt you
Limited continues (9 on normal) - can load an unfinished run like a temporary quick save via the main menu
The final boss is basically golden silver from gunstar heroes
Blocking protects from attacks from both directions - goes for enemies as well
Can't tell the undead warrior to only toss enemies upwards (might've been OP)
Some recoil when blocking or using a forward+attack move near an enemy
-
Plenty of slowdown at times even in 1-player mode
No in-game tutorial of moves (just a list based on default control settings in the main menu that you have to memorize)
Various control issues (no invincibility time after taking a hit that knocks you over meaning enemies can hit you over and over - get surrounded and they can juggle you between them (there's no traditional breakout move to help with this though the air dive can help if you're being juggled and blocking helps against most attacks once you've been knocked down and are standing up again - otherwise you have to have ordered the cpu ally to help you or you'll take a ton of damage), can't do a running jump, have to be standing on the ground to issue a command to the undead warrior and the game doesn't pause while doing it plus the command menu doesn't wrap around, can't map running to a single button (double tap), can't just keep running until you run into something by holding forward - can only run a few steps at a time (you can do a longer dash with a heavy dash combo but this move can't be canceled so it can be dangerous), your character does an annoying victory pose after performing a combo leaving him/her vulnerable to attack, can't cancel a combo once you've started it - some enemies can hit you in-between blows, you have to be attacked first to perform a back attack, delay after pressing forward and attacking and after each combo attack+somewhat slow plane switching - breaks flow, can't turn around in mid-air when jumping or doing an upward jump attack)
The undead warrior is seriously overpowered and steals your exp
Uneven difficulty at times (all of a sudden you enter a gladiator fight on your own when in the forest on one path and it's extremely tough (can't escape until after the first battle), mage attack after one boss fight around mid-way and group of mages near the end)
Some trial & error (some enemies explode after death, shots from off screen, some bosses)
Mostly ugly characters (faces look like fan art at times, no anti-aliasing, somewhat rough shading)
Kind of ugly scaling (characters look pixelated and messy when on farther planes)
Basic font & text box
The endings are pretty lame (short with panned artwork stills (except for one with some parallax) and some text)
Unskippable staff roll
Repetitive (not much in the way of level design - only a few destructible barrels here and there and there are no pits/platforms/slopes, repeats some enemy types a lot)
Unbalanced characters?
Notes:
-Beat it as Han (third ending) and tried Serena briefly