Battle Fantasia

[Kogahazan]

I doubt much people here are into the fighting game scene, but this caught my attention... Battle Fantasia came out in March apparently, but I haven't been keeping up with fighters recently... If I didn't see a vid from Kubo (a Melty Blood player who I subscribe to on youtube), I probably would never have heard of this game.

It has a weird fantasy RPG theme. Life bars represent HP and you actually see numbers representing damage as it is dealt... special moves charge up via a MP bar at the bottom that fills as you attack. This is apparently the first fighting game made in HD. Looking at the graphical style and the characters (specifically a rabbit), I was immediately reminded of Odin Sphere.

It actually looks really really nice. The game is made by [Arc System Works] and it looks like they carried over The Rumble Fish's concept of having each part of the body as its own separate sprite. It still looks a bit awkward but they improved on it since RF.

Edit: Actually, it's not sprites... oops. It's 3D, but they tried for a 2.5D look having 3D but on a 2D fighting plane. Regardless of it being 3D, it's artistic style still looks real nice.

http://www.battlefantasia.jp/
Official site

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9vo7JGhXQIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6GciFG2fUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBeoEv3wz0
The match videos I saw.

http://insomnia.ac/japan/battle_fantasia/
A guy who went to a location test in Oct 2006 and details what he saw in English. Also has videos for download.

http://img106.imagevenue....2386_up7109_122_539lo.jpg
http://img12.imagevenue.c...2391_up7110_122_314lo.jpg
http://img107.imagevenue....2397_up7111_122_549lo.jpg
http://img22.imagevenue.c...2407_up7112_122_343lo.jpg
http://img127.imagevenue....2412_up7113_122_371lo.jpg
Some nice scans

[stahn]

looks ammm.... weird but cool sprites indeed

still I probably wont take it when guilty gear is still around 

it is still my best 2D fighter after street fighters zero 3 on psx - that was the best - wish to challenge ME

[bungiefan]

I've been aware of the development of the game from a fighting game forum I use. It's not actually made by Sammy, just published by them. It's made by Arc System Works, the company behind Guilty Gear, and it's getting a lot of blame, alongside Hokuto no Ken, for keeping Guilty Gear from getting just another update to XX instead of a new game with new story. Haven't heard any word of a console release of this game yet though, and as there aren't any remaining arcades of note in Alaska, an arcade release doesn't really mean anything on being able to play it.

[Panda_Samurai]

I hope they release it on the 360 or something.  That would be awesome.  I do need a new Guilty Gear game though.

[Kogahazan]

I've been aware of the development of the game from a fighting game forum I use. It's not actually made by Sammy, just published by them. It's made by Arc System Works, the company behind Guilty Gear, and it's getting a lot of blame, alongside Hokuto no Ken, for keeping Guilty Gear from getting just another update to XX instead of a new game with new story. Haven't heard any word of a console release of this game yet though, and as there aren't any remaining arcades of note in Alaska, an arcade release doesn't really mean anything on being able to play it.

Changed Sammy to Arc System Works... slipped up there too, my apologies.

Yeah, my friends and I joke about how Guilty Gear XX is getting whored out and turning into the next Street Fighter II. We joke and called GGSlash "Guilty Gear: Third Strike." It's good to see them making something other than Guilty Gear like HnK, The Rumble Fish a few years back, and now this. I personally haven't gotten around to learning how to play GG, so I can't really say much about it but I understand that there's little updates between versions other than balance and cosmetics.

Speaking of Guilty Gear and Street Fighter... it's a few months old too, but Capcom is making Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (yet another SF2!) for 360 and PS3 online. There's a picture showing the differences in resolution between the original sprites, GG sprites, a scaled up to HD version of the original sprites, and the new sprites.

[bungiefan]

Dimps made The Rumble Fish, not Arc Sys.

Every new GGXX game except Accent Core has added at least one new character, #R adding Robo-Ky as we know him now, and Slash adding A.B.A and Order Sol. Slash also added 1-2 new moves or variations of moves for almost every character. Other than that, it's usually adjustment of properties attached to moves that is tweaked to change balance, so instead of maybe 2-3 characters that are ranked near a god class, Accent Core has about 10 of the 25 characters that are able to easily vie for top position in a tournament. Accent Core is going the route of adding new moves and several new play mechanics instead of adding new characters. New characters, plus new play mechanics, would likely result in a game near as broken as the original GGXX or possibly even GGX.

As someone who has been playing the series since the original PS1 game, it's harder to go back to the older games and be able to play them well because of missing play mechanics, or combos that don't work as I've had to learn them for the newer move properties. Even going back from Slash to #R is hard on my Zappa because I lose my main air-to-ground attack, though my #R Dizzy is better because my fish are a more effective shield and counter in that one. Yes, the changes aren't that apparent to someone that's new to the series, but they are noticable if you get good with even one character and then try a different version. The changes are made for the Japanese tournament scene anyway, because that's where the arcades are thriving, and where it's easy to make the money back for developing a new version every year or so.

[Kogahazan]

Dimps made The Rumble Fish, not Arc Sys.

Wow, where's my brain lately... shows how out of it I've been when I can't remember which company did what...

Every new GGXX game except Accent Core has added at least one new character, #R adding Robo-Ky as we know him now, and Slash adding A.B.A and Order Sol. Slash also added 1-2 new moves or variations of moves for almost every character. Other than that, it's usually adjustment of properties attached to moves that is tweaked to change balance, so instead of maybe 2-3 characters that are ranked near a god class, Accent Core has about 10 of the 25 characters that are able to easily vie for top position in a tournament. Accent Core is going the route of adding new moves and several new play mechanics instead of adding new characters. New characters, plus new play mechanics, would likely result in a game near as broken as the original GGXX or possibly even GGX.

As someone who has been playing the series since the original PS1 game, it's harder to go back to the older games and be able to play them well because of missing play mechanics, or combos that don't work as I've had to learn them for the newer move properties. Even going back from Slash to #R is hard on my Zappa because I lose my main air-to-ground attack, though my #R Dizzy is better because my fish are a more effective shield and counter in that one. Yes, the changes aren't that apparent to someone that's new to the series, but they are noticable if you get good with even one character and then try a different version. The changes are made for the Japanese tournament scene anyway, because that's where the arcades are thriving, and where it's easy to make the money back for developing a new version every year or so.

Yeah, I know how changes in between versions can screw up people and characters. It's just that even with a few new characters, a few new moves, altered move properties and stuff... It just looks bad to me when a series has to release more than 2 revisions of the same game (especially with how Accent Core got announced so soon after Slash was released) without major differences, even if it is catering to the tournament scene.

[bungiefan]

Well, except for new characters, Accent Core is adding similar new stuff that a new game would, except for Story mode. It's like the change from GGX to GGXX, and GGX didn't have a story mode outside of the Japanese PS2 version, so it's not like we should even be used to having a Story mode on this side of the ocean. To me, Accent Core is a new game except in name, and the name doesn't really matter that much. GGXX just had four new characters, some new moves, and several new play mechanics (stagger, burst, force roman cancel) that weren't in GGX. Accent Core is adding sliding, wall stick, slashback, and force breaks. #R and Slash didn't add new play mechanics (excepting rakusho, which nobody seems to really notice being added in #R, which gives the opponent 50% tension to start the next round if you taunt them after KOing them). I would consider multiple new play mechanics a qualifying major difference. Yes, it's not as different as the jump from GG to GGX, but GG was so horribly broken in comparison, and GGX is nowadays considered quite broken.