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Profile

Story: After returning from the last Battle Arena Toshinden with his dreams unfulfilled, Eiji continued to dream about fighting and beating his brother.  His dreams were very real.  No other opponent would satisfy him - it had to be his brother.  He is now facing the next Battle Arena Toshinden, believing that his brother will be there and the fight of his dreams will happen at last.

General: The sequel to Battle Arena Toshinden wasn't much of an improvement to an already mediocre 3D weapon based fighting game. The presentation and the graphics in the original Toshinden might even be better than the sequel. The gameplay is a bit faster and smoother in certain areas, but still on the clunky side. The animation is actually worse this time around, but maybe... just maybe... characters appear to be less "blocky."

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   Getting past the graphics, characters had a handful of new moves at least and can now pull off 2 different super moves, an "Overdrive" or a "Despiration" super move... and now at least you can now attack your opponents while they're on the ground. The new characters add some much needed variety into the series, and a few of which aren't half bad. Ohh and the box art was much better this time around, but still nothing to write home about.

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Manufacturer: Tamsoft
Platforms: Playstation
Release: March 1996
Characters: Eiji Shinjo, Kayin Amoh, Sofia, Rungo Iron, Fo Fai, Mondo, Duke B. Rambert, Ellis, Gaia, Tracy, Chaos, Uranus, Master, Vermillion, Sho Shinjo
Related Games: Battle Arena Toshinden, Battle Arena Toshinden 3, Battle Arena Toshinden 4
 

Gameplay Engine	6.5 / 10
Story / Theme	4.5 / 10
Overall Graphics	4.5 / 10
Animation	4 / 10
Music / Sound Effects	4 / 10
Innovation / Creativity	4.5 / 10
Customization / Options	2.5 / 10
Intro / Presentation	4.5 / 10
Replayability / Fun	5 / 10
"Ouch" Factor	4.5 / 10
Characters	5 / 10
Overall Score	4.5 / 10

Closing Comment: No doubt fans of the original expecting "a lot" were disappointed... And this game was supposed to compete with Tekken 2 and Soul Edge? There's no competition there... Even Star Gladiator shines in comparison. And if you're wondering why the title screen says "Capcom," it's because they agreed to "distribute" the game... But they sure didn't have any part in making it. ~F.Yagami, Webmaster of TFG