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Story: The Toushindaibukai, the ultimate tournament held once a year by the mysterious organization Himitsu Kessha. It is here that the greatest fighters in the world gather year after year to pit their abilities against one another. This tournament is no mere competition. To the winner goes unimaginable rewards, and to the losers...death. It is here that these fighters will decide their own futures, in the Battle Arena Toshinden.
General: Battle Arena Toshinden was, I believe, "the first" 3D weapon based fighting game, and also one of the first fighting games to fully incorporate the "side-step" which is a key element in today's 3D fighting games. It was a sleeper hit, and the premier fighting game for the PS1. Toshinden wasn't a "bad" fighting game for back then, considering the alternatives... That's overlooking the shabby graphics. The visuals lack polish and was probably the games biggest flaw. Simply put, the character models are really blocky and disproportional! The bland backgrounds didn't help the game's appearance either, which are filled with flat and laughable textures, even for the time.
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Toshinden's strong point comes in the character's special and super moves. Many of which were pretty flashy, and had some decent awe and "ouch" factor for back then. The controls overall weren't bad, but still a bit clunky when compared to some of the other 3D fighting games of the time... and especially those that came out shortly after. One of the biggest flaws of the gameplay engine is that you can't damage your opponent while they're on the ground! The sidestep game also needed work.
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Character designs are a mixed bag in Toshinden, a few of them are cool, namely the hero, rival, and the secret character "Sho." Then you've got a few oddballs, and some blocky girls trying their best to look hot, and well... the rest of the designs aren't anything special, but they do a somewhat decent job at balancing out the roster. The intro of this game is quite lame, since it's just text; therefore, the presentation wasn't really all there. The artwork for the game was also lackluster.
Manufacturer: Tamsoft
Platforms: Playstation,
PC
Release: 1994
Characters: Eiji,
Kayin, Mondo,
Sofia, Rungo,
Fo, Duke
B. Rambert, Ellis, Uanus, Gaia,
Sho
Related Games:
Battle
Arena Toshinden 2, Battle Arena
Toshinden 3, Battle Arena Toshinden
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Closing Comment:
Toshinden was a shot in the dark for the launch of the Sony Playstation,
and they at least hit the mark with the general gameplay... If you gave
the game a chance and didn't judge it by the crappy box art. Character
designs are of the most important things about a fighting game... And back
then, I remember only hoping that the characters in this game might be
as cool as Street Fighter characters and the like... But what I saw was
an army of blocks fighting against a pile of blocks... And blocks aren't
so cool anymore when you're 12. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG