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Profile
General:
Arcana Heart is a 2D arcade fighting game featuring an original
all-female cast (each a variation of the moe Anime-Girl archetype). After
choosing a character the player chooses an "elemental alignment" which
determines the character's extra special moves. In mid-April of
2007, a patch was released for Arcana Heart called "Arcana Heart FULL".
The patch fixed a variety of issues, toning-down overly-powerful characters
and "buffing up" weaker characters.
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Graphically,
Arcana Heart is a very good looking game. The "anime-like" animation isn't
the smoothest we've seen in a 2D fighting game, but it's smooth where it
counts for the most part. Some of the girls' stances look awkward at times,
and have some sort of strange "shrinking" effect in certain places; but
the sprites, while in action, look awesome most of the time! And
to re-iterate, only "some" of the stances look awkward; others (most) look
great! Stages are really huge (for 2D) and have really "open" feel to them.
Backgrounds are nicely detailed and even have alternate appearances during
certain special moves, a nice touch. The sound effects are satisfying for
the most part, and a lot of the music is quite catchy, honestly.
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As far as
gameplay goes; there's a bit of a learning curve; but overall, it's a simply
and solid combat system... and it's fun too. I certainly haven't "mastered"
the system like I have in other games, but I do see potential. Characters
have your basic weak, medium, and strong attacks; and one button is used
for dashing in various directions; to start an air combo; or use
"extra" special moves... It's actually not as complicated as it sounds. 
There are of course, alternate priority attacks, tons of special moves;
and flashy super moves! Arcana Heart does seem to borrow a few elements
from the Guilty Gear X series, and at times, feels
very much like Sammy's 2D fighting series, due to the fact that anyone
can air dash back and forward. Personally, I prefer Arcana Heart's air
combo system over Guilty Gear's... A lot of the moves also seem to hurt
more than the Guilty Gear series... To me at least. As far as character
designs though, Guilty Gear takes the cake... but I have come to enjoy
a few of Arcana Hearts designs.
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It's bad enough
that this is an ALL FEMALE fighting game... Hey, don't get me wrong,
there's nothing wrong with girl fighters; but male characters actually
would have been welcomed here. Then again, it might be "wrong" to see male
characters beating up on teenage/pre-teen girls... 
Yup, all the girls of Arcana Heart are indeed "underage"... With the exception
of maybe Mei-Fang (doesn't state her age), none of them are even close
to 18. It's hilarious, and at the same time; a bit wrong. I actually
think Arcana Heart may be directed more toward the female fighting
gamers out there, or towards those who enjoy hentai... It's pretty
obvious actually. The art of this game definitely has a "hentai tone."
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It might be
hard to find someone to play Arcana Heart with if you're a "cool
guy" like me. Your friends might think you're a bit weird (or perverted)
for playing it, but overall; it's not a bad 2D fighting game by any means.
Great animation & graphics, fun & solid gameplay, and yet another
fine example that 2D fighting games are far from dead. Arcana
Heart 2 released in Japanese arcades in early 2008!
Manufacturer:
Examu, AQ/Atlus
Platforms:
Arcade, Playstation 2
Release:
2006 (Japan), 2007 (Japan PS2), April 8th 2008 (US PS2)
Characters:
Heart
Aino, Saki Tsuzura, Kamui
Tokinomiya,
Konoha, Maori
Kasuga, Mei-Fang, Lilica
Felchenerow, Lieselotte Achenbach,
Yoriko
Yasuzumi, Kira Daidohji, Fiona
Mayfield, Mildred Avalon
Related
Games: Arcana Heart 2
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Closing
Comment: An all female character roster for a fighting game is quite
bold for a fighting game in this day & age. At first glance I pretty
much had no interest in this game due to the "cutesy anime girls
theme," but I had to try it out (buy it), low expectations and all.
Well, it does remind me a lot of the Guilty Gear X series, and surprisingly,
I actually like the gameplay better than the Guilty Gear X series! There
are a few things, however, that I don't like about the gameplay; the first
one being that I "suddenly" cant use certain attacks, and I also don't
like how easy it is to break out of an air combo. Ohh and what a crappy
and cheap boss... 
This
"crappy/cheap boss syndrome" in new fighting games really needs to stop.
I've been
playing the game on and off, of course I haven't come close to mastering
the system yet; or even mastering a single character... but I'm learning,
on my own. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone to play this game with. Jet3000
tried it for 5 minutes and said "He's done with this game." *sigh* I guess
when compared to other "favorite" 2D fighters, of course I'd still
prefer playing my Street Fighter III: Third
Strike or Marvel VS Capcom 2... Arcana Heart
is likely not a fighting game I'll ever get "serious" about,
but there's definitely something I like about this game. I do see
potential for the series to grow. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG