Ranma 1/2 Battle Renaissance

[areaseven]

Ranma 1/2 Battle Renaissance ( ‚ç‚ñ‚Ü‚P^‚Q )

For the Sony PlayStation console

Rumic Soft, 1996

Not Available in the U.S.

Not Rated (Suggested T). Contains animated violence.

After three successful fighting games on the Super Famicom (with the second one seeing a domestic release as Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle), Rumic Soft ventured off to PlayStation territory with their first (and only) 3D game Ranma 1/2 Battle Renaissance. But how does it compare to its 16-bit counterparts?

Gameplay: F

Much like Dragon Ball Z, the Ranma 1/2 franchise attempted to capitalize on the PlayStation bandwagon in the mid-1990s, only to fail miserably in all aspects. Much like every other 3D fighting game, you can move and attack in different directions. The major twist of the game happens if you choose any of the cursed characters (namely Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Ryoga and Mousse). During the match, the words "Geyser" or "Squall" will flash on the screen. Depending on which comes out, your character will change to his/her alter ego. While it's beneficial for characters who play Ranma (female version is more agile) or Genma (panda version is stronger), the other cursed characters are completely defenseless. (For those unfamiliar with the story, Ryoga turns into a black piglet, Shampoo turns into a pink cat, and Mousse turns into a duck.)

The game controls are probably the worst for any fighting game on the PS One. Response times between pressing the buttons and executing the moves are completely off sync, making special attacks almost impossible to execute. The only easy moves you can do with this game are ejecting the disc and throwing it in the garbage.

Graphics: D-

None of the characters were properly rendered in the game. As a result, they look nothing like Rumiko Takahashi's original art or Atsuko Nakajima's (You're Under Arrest, GetBackers) anime character designs. Character movement is completely pathetic, lacking any real body movement seen in better games like Tekken or Soul Edge.

Sound: D

While the show's voices reprise their roles for this game, Ranma 1/2 Battle Renaissance's soundtrack suffers from poor audio output and extremely tedious MIDI music.

The Bottom Line

Thank goodness this game never saw a domestic release. If I had this game right now, I'd send it to Noriko Takaya right now. Besides, he'd probably want some more stuff for target practice.