Mazin Saga / Mazin Wars

Here's a game I only knew about after browsing game FAQs. I was unaware that I was somewhat familiar with the Manga which Mazin Saga was based upon. In the late 70's and Early 80's, various animes were licensed with often trimmed down story lines for countries outside of Japan with re dubbed voices. One of which was broadcast on a local UHF channel in the mid 80's as Tranzor Z.  

Before that, Boston station 25 had run 2 weekly series entitled Starblazers, ( Space Battleship Yamato ), and Force Five. This was a showcase of five different shows that were shown once a week. Danguard Ace on Mondays, Starvengers on Tuesday, Space Keteers on Wednesday, Grandizer on Thursdays, and Gai King on Friday. Very few stations across the U.S. picked these series up. As far as I know, Only New England and Virginia area's ran them. Tranzor Z was an earlier series, but ran later in New England. Oddly enough, Tranzor Z and Grandizer were part of the same storyline but you'd never know it as a kid watching these after American censors and translations butchered up the story lines good and proper.

      Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, as it was titled in Japan and the U.S. or Mazin Wars in Europe is a side scrolling beat 'em up with a 2D fighting twist. The story takes place in 1999, ( as so many games from that time period predicted the end of mankind )  where the Earth is apparently turned into a toxic wasteland by weapons used  by the Bio-Beast Force led by Kaiser Hell....Okay sure, I'll buy that.

  You fight your way rightward for five stages around the world against a very good selection of enemies, all with unique attacks and characteristics from wielding swords, throwing grenades, lasers, flame throwers to giant insects. As Mazinger you have at your disposal a sword and a variety of attacks to dispatch your mutant foes from simple sword slashes, to jumping kicks, rapid blade swings, dashes, and mid air 360 sword spins. Also at your disposal is a special move that is very effective at clearing away nearby enemies, however it drains away a portion of your life bar. 

    Power ups are far and few between. There are a large and small health restore, invincibility, 1 ups, and a jewel and gold that do nothing other than add points to your score. You can change the difficulty from 3 settings but the hardest will begin to test your patience.

      Control is responsive and hit detection is some of the best for the 16 bit machine. The graphics are well done as well with amazingly detailed sprites. The first couple of minutes in, it's obvious care was put into this title. Most licensed games are not that fortunate. Backgrounds and settings are well done and sound effects are on par with what the game is trying to put across. The only gripe one may have is the music, as for what it tries for, a drum heavy anthemic atmosphere, they sound distorted. Minor gripe at best though.

    The Beat 'em Up sections are fun, but fairly short. Each are broken up into 3 sections that nicely vary so one stage isn't the same backgrounds for the entire stage. Some sections require more running and making platform jumps but these sections aren't too difficult and help to vary up the experience. After those you have a smaller Boss battle that leads into the 2D fighting aspect of the game, the true Boss for that level. This is why there is no co op mode and this is also where the game falls apart for most people.

     The first thing you'll notice about the Boss round, is how gorgeous and fluid the sprites are. As I mentioned earlier, care was obviously put into this cart. There's not too many games on the Genesis /  Mega Drive that can boast this. It looks so good for the system, it might take your head out of the game for a few brief moments.

The fluids graphics in these sections may feel as if they've drained away at the game play as here controls become a little stiff. Your battery of moves are few compared to the scrolling stages and all enemies have a longer attack range and projectile weapons while you are only given your sword and the ability to block. These battles can become frustrating until you develop a strategy for each boss, but nothing that should make you throw the game pad across the room.

One you've completed all five stages, you then have to complete a Boss Run, facing off against all five bosses again one after another in a row until you've finally reached the end of the game. To keep some of the repetitive nature away from the Boss Run, newer backgrounds are used and is a nice touch.

Fans of Mazinger will want to check this out just for it's namesake, however fans of beat 'em ups should find Mazin Saga feeds their appetite even if it does lack any 2 player co op action. The 2D fighting action without a doubt could have used a bit more polish but it's far from being broken or the games' downfall that some other reviewers claim it to be. If this game were solely a beat 'em up or 2D fighter trying to stand on it's own, then this would be a forgettable title. Seeing that it does a competent job of combining a few elements alongside some very impressive graphics and a cool license, Mazin Saga carries more to it than an idle curiosity.

Baseball Blowout part 3

MLBPA Sports Talk Baseball / Super League '91

Continuing on with my baseball laden first few posts, I'll take a look at what many people consider a favorite for their Sega Genesis and Megadrive. 

Sports Talk Baseball was Segas' follow up to Tommy Lasorda Baseball, and Super League '91 was the follow up to Super League. Both initial offerings were the same game except for teams and language.

This second go around sees what is basically the same game but with many more differences than usual titles separated by country that has a multi-country release.

Sports Talk Baseball was the first home console baseball game to have running commentary. This was revolutionary back in 1992 and even after 20 years, it's still not that bad. Sure age has not been kind to the commentary, but it's very clear, and usually right on the money with the action on the field. Sometimes if you did too much too fast the announcer would lag behind due tot he fact that the game had to finish every line it had begun, but for the most part, not really a big deal.

Super League was released a year earlier in Japan, and did not have any commentary aside from calling Balls, Strikes, Outs, and field position of a ball in play. Not as much of a draw, however it did come out a year earlier. The sports talk must have taken much longer to get into the game. Aside from that however, there are other differences that are quite noticeable.

For starters, the batter sprites have been changed. Sports Talk batters look bulkier while the Super League batters are thinner. There is more variation in batting stances in Sports Talk as well. Pitcher and fielders are exactly the same. My only gripe with Sports Talk is some of the color choices for teams. I know 1992 was 2 decades ago but I don't remember the Cubs wearing purple. This however was common then among sports games of the time.

Sonic cameo at White Sky Dome

Both games feature the same three stadiums.

White Sky Dome is your standard artificial turf indoor venue

Blue Moon Stadium is an outdoor field played at night

And finally Red Sun Stadium features real grass and played at daytime.

None are anything special, but the detail of the outfield and beyond seen after a homerun is done very nicely.

Left: Sports Talk Baseball / Right: Super League '91

 The only other major difference is the music. Sports Talk has standard American Baseball tunes,..."Take Me Out to the Ballgame" for example, while Super League has more varied music that sounds like you're at a college game.

Neither game is better or worse than the other since they play exactly the same. Batter sprites, music and love or hate of the play by play commentary are the deciding factors but both offer the exact same game play experience. Steals, sacrifices, squeezes, jumping and diving catches,... it's all here and done extremely well. The computer is very aggressive on the base paths, sometimes to it's detriment but it does keep you alert.

Gameplay is what you'd expect. Players perform as their attributes dictate. Attempting to steal a base with a middle of the line up slugger is a horrible idea and even though it can happen, don't bet the farm on your lead off hitter winning the game with a 3 run walk off.

Batting is time based, and pitching is the standard button with D pad combination for movement and speed.

Edgar Martinez can't run, but he sure can hit.

Batters and pitchers are assessed by a clever graph next to their names on the roster screen. Four categories from hitting, running, fielding, and arm are displayed with a diamond like chart that stretches further outwards towards and attribute the better the player is in that category. Pitchers tire and need to be replaced, but there's no need to warm them up, just slide them right in.

Notable of course is the save feature that keeps track of your season win and loss records without using a password. There are no season stats saved however, and you can only save your season once you've played a complete series against a team on your schedule. If you have to play four games against Oakland, you have to play all of them in order to save your progress. This oddly enough isn't a big deal as games go by fairly briskly than some other baseball titles. I've commonly played a 3 game series in about an hour.

Overall, Sports Talk Baseball and Super League are an enjoyable 16 bit baseball experience that take the logical next step from their predecessors. Expanding at least visually an already winning formula. 

Either game is recession proof priced online for around $10.00 complete.

Baseball Blowout Part 2

     At the time of this writing, Opening day will officially begin at 6:AM Eastern time as the Seattle Mariners play the Oakland A's. Not much time to get in all the games I want to cover, but in the spirit of the season kicking off in the land of the rising sun, let's examine some baseball games from our eastern friends.

Kyuukai Douchuuki

Sorry, I have no idea how to pronounce it or even what it means, however...

This game was a port of an arcade game in japan. I can understand why Sega of America didn't release this stateside. It's got that oh so very cute look and sound to that is prevalent in Japanese titles.

Everything is in Japanese but the game play is the universal standard fare for a baseball title doing nothing that an 8 bit game can't perform. That said it's got some things going for it. For starters, it has representations of all Japanese and American pro teams. So a selection of 38 teams is pretty hefty and a nice touch. What really shines is the selections of ballparks. Two are based on Japanese stadiums, a third is obviously Yankee Stadium but the real fun are the last three.
 

The fourth is played on in the Arctic. The change of view is a pleasant surprise, but what is really fun is that the game physics are skewed just a bit. Fielders chasing down batted balls tend to slide a little before stopping and balls that hit the field scoot across the ice very quickly.

The fifth is played near pyramids and the sandy field plays opposite of the the ice stadium. Fielders are sluggish as they're running on sand and the baseballs respond to the field like a golf ball in a sand trap. An infield hit won't go past the pitcher's mound very often and a fly ball stops dead where it lands.

The sixth and final field is on a ship in the middle of the ocean. The physics are normal but the detail of hitting a home run into the ocean and having a group of whales pop up either celebrating or complaining is simply another in a series of nice touches. 

The player sprites are disappointing but that's the only real issue I have with it. The music is upbeat and wacky and fits the game like the glove. 

As usual, pitchers tire and need to be replaced during the game. They tire very quickly but there are plenty of arms in the bullpen. Also batters tend to tire as well. I found that interesting and it does add another element of strategy.

Both are represented by blue bars that decrease.

      As far as defense goes, a fielder can jump or dive. It feels clunky and loose at first, but after a few games it's no problem settling in. The fielders move very slowly, and without some sort of outfield radar, if you don't get a jump on the ball right off the bat, ( so to say ), lots of balls are going to find the outfield wall. Still, this is just a matter of getting used to.

     Batting of course is again, simple timing and pitching is standard. Up for a fast ball, Down for a change up or fork ball and left and right curves.

You can play an exhibition game, Two player or jump into a World Tour where you select a team and play a series of games versus different teams in different stadiums. I haven't gotten to the end of it so I can't say how long this option actually is.

 Options are sparse. Play with or without errors,

number of innings per game, and how many runs a team can be up by to end the game early via the "Mercy rule".

There is also a sound test.

 This is a unique game, a nice change of pace from the more serious offerings but perhaps not for everyone due to what could be considered a very kiddy image. I think it's great fun. It's also a very affordable title online. A complete copy can be found for around $10.00.

Japan Mega Drive Collection part 1

     One thing that stood out more than a white hood at a Black Panther meeting, ( Okay, that was a bit much but a point needed to be illustrated ), was the difference between Sega of America, and Sega of Japan during the run of their respective 16 bit consoles. Art, Art, ART!

     Art is of course a personal preference, and no one is correct or incorrect. It's an abstract. But one thing I believe anyone can agree on, is that full color instruction manuals is the preference to over 90% of human beings with an intact brain.

     If you're only familiar with American releases, then before 1993, nearly all Sega Genesis games came with a plastic clam shell case, which included a color covered instruction booklet. Once opened, your introduction to the game was a fun, yet grayscale adventure.

     Here are some games released in the U.S. that also saw a Japanese issue. You tell me.

Burning Force

Mazin Saga

Sonic 2

Arrow Flash

 

After Burner II

          I'm not sure how much Sega of America saved per unit by cutting back on color manuals, but not enough to hook up their fans with the best product they could offer. Sure, it's all about the game, but a nice touch is a nice touch.