PlayStation

Battle Arena Toshinden

If you buy only one title for your Playstation, make sure it's this one. It's the kind of game that not only 'wows' your friends, but it'll also hold up over time.

All in all, Toh Shin Den is a great fighting game. The texture-mapped polygon look is amazing, and the sidestepping feature brings something new to defense. With a little tweaking of the controls and fighting angles, this fighter could have been a perfect contender.

Battle Arena Toshinden will forever change the way you look at fighting games (at least until you see Tekken in a few months). It's exciting to see where the next level of gaming platforms is taking us. Just think, this game is being released in the early months of Playstation's existence. What will be seeing two years from now?

The Japanese version of Toshinden is one of my favorite fighting games ever and is quite obviously on the the most groundbreaking home games of all time. This is still true of the American version, but the "minor" changes inflicted on a near-perfect game by SCEA caused TSD to slip slightly on the Nick Rox Joy Chart. Although still a fantastic game, the new voices and broke L and R buttons caused me much heartbreak.

Toshinden is the most visually impressive fighting game I have ever seen. The game plays well and the characters are all pretty cool. Unfortunately, once you've seen all it has to offer, it loses it's appeal. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy Toshinden, but it gets tiresome. The American version as changed voices and music. Most of you won't really care, but if you've played the import game, it is rather annoying. Toshinden is cool. Show it off to your friends.

With it's stunning visuals, Battle Arena Toshinden is as fun to watch as it is to play. Had there been more technique involved, this arena could have been a real contender. It's a formidable effort, but fighting buffs may pick this game clean too quickly.

Toh Shin Den by Takara is the ultimate fight of the underground world. This fight, which has not been held for a long time, is called the Techo-Rage and has brought together eight of the world's best travelling fighters. Some of them have come for personal glory while others have come for their loved ones. They are prepared to do their utmost to gain victory. Will you be strong enough to help bring one of them to glory?

The graphics are also equally impressive. In fact, one might even say they were gorgeous. The backgrounds are nice, and the detail in the characters' faces is exceptional. The game also makes good use of light shading. Not as impressive as, say, Tekken 2, but then again, BAT was part of the PlayStation's initial launch group. The game makes good use of the basic fighter preset - kick, punch, etc.- and throws in a few cool projectiles to boot. Unfortunately, Toshinden does tend to respond a little slowly. And in fighters, that can mean everything.

Despite its gameplay flaws, I still view Toshinden as somewhat of a breakthrough game on the PlayStation. It introduced the wonders of 3D fighting to the console gaming world and that in itself is something I look back fondly on. But, as a fighting game compared to the many great brawlers available today it just doesn’t have the gameplay depth to compete. Go out and pick up a used copy of Battle Arena Toshinden if you want to experience a little piece of videogaming history, but don’t expect much more than that or you’re bound to be disappointed.

The characters are a bit blocky with visible polygon seams, and the stages do a lousy job of blending photo-realistic backgrounds with chunky polygon foregrounds. While not as deep as Tekken, Toshinden is still a respectable game, and unlike many other fighters, its matches don't run very long. Its age is clearly showing, but Toshinden is an interesting game to look back on.