Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle Review

If you liked fighting games back in their heyday, such as "Street Fighter" or the subsequent "Street Fighter II" or any of the "Samurai Sho*Down" games, this might just be something you'd want to look into.

...IF you are a "Ranma 1/2" fan, that is.

I don't believe that it's entirely accessible to people who don't follow the series (but could possibly have the effect of getting someone who hasn't read the manga interested in it!). Someone commented on liking the choice between fighting as male or female Ranma, but personally, I would have really gotten more of a kick out of the game if you only had the option of playing Ranma and you had the option of knocking him into ponds or throwing him against barrels or buckets full of water and having him change right in front of you. And I also have no idea why on earth they found it prudent to include Gosunkugi and the Gambling King as possible opponents instead of either of the Kunos. Wouldn't the Kuno kids be a bit more authentic? Gosunkugi certainly can't fight worth a damn in the series, and the Gambling King isn't exactly known for that type of thing either; he's good at cheating little kids out of their money, not hand-to-hand combat.

Though it's still a pretty fun game. It's definitely challenging; each character has their own specific opponent who gives them more of a run for their money than the rest. They seem to be based off of real character relationships, as well: for example, I found that playing as Akane would produce the result of Shampoo being the hardest opponent to deal with. When playing as Ryouga, Ranma seemed the greatest challenge. When playing as male Ranma, I found (heh heh) that Akane was the most difficult to defeat. I could be imagining these subtle individual character skill levels, of course, but ... nah.

It's worth a look, anyway. It would have been much more fun had it been longer, but I'm willing to overlook that just to be able to have a bonafide "Ranma 1/2" game amongst my collection. Quite a charming title!

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