(LAST UPDATE: 6/26/09)
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Developer(s): Dream Factory
Publisher(s): Squaresoft (JP), SCE (NA)
Designer(s): Seiichi Ishii
Platforms: Playstation
Release: April 25th, 1997
Characters: Chuji Wu, Epon, Fei Pusu, Doctor V, Chako Yuya, Nork, Hom, Mufu, Gren Kutz, Oliems, Mary Ivonskaya, Ill Goga, Emperor Udan, Demon King Mark
Related Games: Tobal No. 1, Ehrgeiz
Review: Tobal 2 was planned for release in North America but was mysteriously cancelled all together. Rumor has it that third party companies wanted to release the game in the US, but Square refused to give them rights to the license for some reason. Square's official statement was that the game was never released because the PlayStation's limited memory prevented the English dialogue from fitting in the game's text boxes. Long story short, to play it here in the USA you'd either have to import it or use an emulator.
Tobal 2 is definitely an improvement over
Tobal
No. 1 in terms of graphics and gameplay, and features "over 200
characters," unlockable through the new quest mode. Many of
these characters are "monsters," with silly names to boot, and quite a
few are simply just "palette swaps." Basically, if you ever wanted to take all of
the monsters out of a classic RPG, and put them in a fighting game, Tobal 2 is
the fighting game for you... 
There are skeletons, wizards, ghosts, giant
floating squids, giant ferrets, giant monkeys, bears, a shit-load of different
robots, a chocobo from the Final Fantasy series (complete with theme music), plenty
of walking blocky things (wait, that's every character), and even a Mokujin
look-a-like! Crazyness.
The fight mechanics feel much more complete than Tobal No. 1, and the combo system is more open ended. The reworked grappling/counter system is also an improvement, and is probably the most unique feature about the gameplay... Characters can escape out of throws and flow right into their own throws/counters. Overall it's more fun to play, and thankfully the pace is a bit faster this time around, but it's still slow when compared to nearly all the other 3D fighting games out at the time.
The polygonal graphics are much sharper and smoother than before, and textures have
finally found their way into Tobal's graphics engine (welcome to 1993), but
character models are definitely still on the "blocky" side when compared to the top of the 3D
fighting game crop. The animation has also improved, but there are a handful of
awkward moments, especially during hit and falling animations. Attacks and
combos that connect just don't seem to "hurt" very much in this
game... And it doesn't help when a character gets knocked down after a brutal
hit or combo, just to jump or flip right back up like nothing happened. 
Throws
look more painful however, as they should.
The RPG-like quest mode was one of the things that made Tobal No. 1 stand out,
and it's return in Tobal 2 has the same effect. There's a whole town to explore,
complete with shops and dungeons. Your character must also eat and sleep to stay
alive. The dungeons themselves aren't much different from Tobal No. 1's, but
look a tad better with improved textures. The overall designs of the dungeons
are on the generic side though.
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7 / 10 |
Closing Comment: I was never a big
fan of the Tobal series due to the "oddball" character designs... For
me, a fighting game is really only worth as much as it's characters. And I'm
sorry... a chicken-man, obese wrestler lady, master roshi wannabe, and a fat
devil in Andre the giant's wrestling attire just doesn't do it for me. 
Sorry!
The new
quest mode is a worthy play-through, and there are a ton of
characters to meet and unlock. Gameplay-wise, it's solid, but still lacking in
some areas. Tobal 2's engine pretty much paved the road for Ehrgeiz:
God Bless The Ring... I personally liked Ehrgeiz better than Tobal 2 for the
characters alone, but I know there are a few of you out there who swear over
Tobal 2. I can respect Tobal 2 as a solid console fighting game. On that
note, there really wasn't a great selection of fighting games to play on home
consoles at the time, so Tobal 2 was a pretty good choice.
Square saw the void as well, so they set out to make a unique home console
fighting game, and that's just what they did... The only problem was, most of us in "The
Fighters Generation" were out at arcades getting our fighting game fix. 
Since Tobal 2 wasn't an arcade game, I'm sure a lot of the die hard fighting
gamers, like myself, would rather put their time into a fighting game where they
can test their skills against other human opponents. That factor may be the very
reason why this series seems to have "died"... ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG
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