SEGA Saturn

Battle Arena Toshinden Remix

What's peculiar about the addition is that the quality of the new stage is head and shoulders above the rest of the game. It's tempting to believe, therefore, that a BAT Remix created from scratch would have been far more satisfying than this respectable, but unpolished, port of the original.

In Toshinden S' defense, the graphics have not been downgraded as badly as a lot of people have been saying. They're not as good as in the PSX, of course, but they're still pretty good by current 3-D standards. My main problem with Toshinden is that they did not revamp the play mechanics, as promised, and the control and balance are as screwed up as they were in the original. They didn't even fix the hideous AI! Neat intro, but there are only about ten thousand better fighting games out there.

Don't buy this game unless you have someone to play it with. In 1-player or story mode it is ridiculously simple to beat. Even the bosses, Gaia and Sho, are only moderately more difficult. This is a good two-player fighting game though. The control is good, the characters have lots of moves (including some secret ones), and you need a little bit of strategy to be a really good fighter. Just hitting buttons, or learning one good move won't cut it.

While the story mode is interesting, it was cheaply done with static animations. If you liked the beat-em-up feel of this game on the Playstation, you'll probably like it here as well. Overall, however, this is a poor conversion.

I was very disappointed in Toshinden Remix for the Saturn. First, let me rip on the voices of the characters. They're far too overdone to be even funny. Sofia's voice is almost as deep as Rungo's! I know she's a strong fighter, but come on! Plus, during the fights they're all screaming and grunting in loud, exaggerated ways. More important than this, there really weren't any major enhancements. Sure, some cinemas and a Boss, but that's not enough to make me happy. The only thing that I like a lot was the art of the characters on the Selection Screen. That's not worth $60 though. The drawback to the new art is that when you select a character, there are no multi-colored ones to choose. This is a good one to rent.

Graphics are bad, the animation is ultra-stiff, and the control is unforgivable. With the existence of Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn, there is no reason to try Battle Arena Toshinden Remix as it does not come close in terms of playability.

Even the gameplay feels slow and laborious, and the control is far from responsive. Toshinden Remix offers neither the depth of a Virtua Fighter 2 nor the style of Fighting Vipers, and the computer AI is atrocious. Using Sophia, I was able to strike my opponent with the same attack about 25 times in a row to win a match. If this is the remixed version, I'm glad I missed out on the original.