The history of fighting games is fundamentally divided into two camps: those in 2D and the others, in 3D.
On the one hand Street Fighter and Samurai Showdown lead the legion of two-dimensional heroes with their strategies that are seemingly simple to execute, but in reality deep, with a varied and satisfying range of ways to engage the opponent, the opposite camp sees Tekken and Virtua Fighter face off, bold polygonal proponents of 360-degree duels moving around the game arena practically everywhere.
Two philosophies, two ways of approaching the game, however, when it came to firing the starting shot into the sky as the progenitor of the 3D genre, it was not exactly Tekken, but another epoch-making title that remained in many hearts: I am talking about Battle Arena Toshinden, one of the first killer applications of the brand-new PlayStation back in that distant 1995!
When I first got my hands on the game on my gray console and fed it the CD, expectations were definitely high, and I won’t deny it: the chance to step into the shoes of fully armed warriors set in vaguely oriental atmospheres with fantasy touches that winked at me in every game environment was already worth the price of the game for me.
After the first few matches, I realized that the strong points of Battle Arena Toshinden only emerged after spending a few hours with it: the game lets you select a playable character from eight available, each with a different set of moves and abilities, though they can still be classified among the genre’s archetypal characters: the serious and mysterious warrior, the determined woman with a dark past, and the ever-present ninja, deadly and cold with an unshakeable heart of ice.
La graphics with rough-cut polygons is a child of its time, which over the decades has acquired a charm all its own, while the sound department holds up well and conveys Japanese-ness as if there were no tomorrow: the hitboxes during duels are in my opinion well made and even the surrounding visual effects, if we want to call them that, such as the dust raised during slides or certain moves, manage to instill that extra touch of realism, always bearing in mind the time period in which we have ventured, let’s remember that.
An aspect that has always struck me greatly and that I judge to be a huge plus for this title is the care that the developers poured into the characterization of the characters: all of them have a background that perhaps does not stand out for originality but outlines their personality and especially the motivations that lead them to take part in the tournament at the heart of the game; moreover, as you play, you will discover that some of them have unsuspected connections.
Not bad for a "simple" beat 'em up, right?
Curiosity: the game was developed by Tamsoft; perhaps this name will mean nothing to most people, but know that, besides handling the game’s sequels (Battle Arena Toshinden is a proud fighting game saga!), they also gave birth to small gems like Utawarerumono Zan and the more acclaimed Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions.
Battle Arena Toshinden is certainly a game to be recovered by all those who love video games and, in particular, fighting games in the Tekken style: Jin Kazama's gang and company owe a lot to the mechanics introduced by this title, and a jump back in time with the Tamsoft title is at the very least necessary: appreciating the past in order to face the future of video games, as I always say.
Smoother than it seems, gameplay that hasn’t aged all that badly
Fighters present were diverse from one another, with a fairly varied set of moves.
An archetypal title of a genre, in the end, a must for all enthusiasts
Despite the special attention given to a seminal title, the years are felt and seen in the long run
