0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Battle Arena Toshinden 3

      

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 is a weapons based 3D fighting game, and is the third entry in the Toshinden fighting game series, as with previous entries in the series Tamsoft would develop the game, while Takara would publish the game in Japan.

Outside of Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe would handle the games European release while Playmates Interactive Entertainment would published the game in North America. As with previous games in the series a Japanese release was first coming in late December of 1996. The North American and European releases of the game would be in the following year in late March.

Battle Arena Toshinden 3 was the first entry in the series not to be ported to other systems, with the game being a PlayStation exclusive release. The games also features several differences from the Japanese version to the European and North American versions of the game (these will be covered in the gameplay section)

Notable people who worked on this game, Shintarō Nakaoka who worked as Director on Battle Arena Toshinden has had a long an productive career that is still going strong in 2017, with Nakaoka working on Senran Kagura Estival Versus as a Technical Producer and Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online as Producer. The Neptunia series and the Senran Kagura series have been a regular appearance on his resume since Battle Arena Toshinden 2 released in 1995.

Toshiaki Ōta who worked as executive producer on the game and like Director Shintarō Nakaoka Worked heavily on the Neptunia and Senran Kagura series of games from 2011 onwards. With most recent credits being for Executive Producer on Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash, Senran Kagura Estival Versus and Cyberdimension Neptunia 4 Goddesses Online in 2017

Kō Ogura who worked as a Character Designer on the game, like his counterparts above he has worked on the Senran Kagura series working as a Production Director on Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus, Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. Ogura was also involved in Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online, working as a Producer

Mizuki Muramatsu who also was a Character Designer on the game moved to the ICO development following her time working on the Toshinden series, she worked as a Character Animator on the game. She had a role in all three of the Final Fantasy XIII games, working as a Simulation and Rigging Designer on the first before moving on to be a Cloth and Hair Animator on the second and third games.

The third entry in the Toshinden series has several major chances over its predecessor, the first and major notable chance is the much increased roster of fighters, which In previous games has been 10 and 15 fighters to choose from.

The formatting for the game has resulted in an even split between the forces of good the initial characters that are available, which are mostly returning cast members with a few new additions, against the 14 strong line up of fighters for the forces of evil, the Organization.

Each time the player completes the single player mode with one of the starting characters, one of the locked characters will be unlocked, in addition to the 28 characters from either side there are an additional 4 bosses that you will fight in the game.

The games arenas have now been redesigned, with the arena now more enclosed allowing the player or AI to send opponents into the walls or ceiling, this however will not be a guarantee as the player being thrown into the wall or celings can recover and perform a counter, if they fail to perform a counter a new juggling mechanic can be used.

Combos in the game have been reworked where as before the combo system was pretty basic with moves like, light attack, light attack, hard attack and finishing with a special attack. This is no longer the case with each character having their own preset range of combo moves.

This also plays into the juggle mechanic with multiple combos and special moves now combinable into multiple hit attacks, the opponent however like when they are thrown into the walls or ceiling can recover and counter your combo.

The arcade mode has undergone some major changes, with the games roster divided into good vs evil the sub boss that you will face with be character specific with each of the starting roster having a corresponding unlockable character from the Organizations roster. Two additional bosses will follow before the final showdown against the leader of the Organization.

The game also features several differences between the western releases and the original Japanese release of the game, firstly the blocking the game which is done by pressing back and either up or down to block high or low, the western release however blocking is done automatically for low and high just by pressing back without any additional inputs.

Additional modes were included in the western release of the game, a Practice mode and Survival mode. Another change is when being hit by a reversal attack, the Japanese version of the game dictates how for a character will travel when thrown using their weight and height,  the western release however does away with this in favour of throwing the character the full length of the arena.

The Secret Society the dark and shadowy organisation behind the Toshinden fighting tournaments has finally been defeated and destroyed. The victors over the society however do not have long to celebrate their victory, as another shadowy group have been watching events unfold from the shadows.

The Organization, the main rival to the Secret Society was watching from the shadows as their rival was dismantled by the heroes of the first two Toshinden tournaments. But now they sense their chance has come, and the blood sacrifice that is needed to summon their dark god Toshin has taken one step closer to fruition.

Abel the leader of the Organization, requires only the strongest of sacrifices, and what better way to do that than lure out the fighters of the previous Toshinden tournament. Abel organizes a third Toshinden Tournament to lure them out and pit them against the Organizations own fighters.

Each of the Organizations fighters have been specially chosen and trained to take down their respective targets, having learned their targets move set prior to the tournament. Eiji Shinjo along with the regulars return to face off against the Organisation at the third Toshinden tournament along with new some new faces with Bayou, David, Shizuku and Nagisa joining the roster for the tournament.

Critically the game was a downturn compared to the previous two entries in the series, with reviews for the game peaking at an 80. While the game did receive plenty of scores in the 70 range there was certainly a decent chunk of reviews that fell well below that, with the game even earning a 0 from one review outlet.

As usual though we will start with the best of them which comes from Coming Soon Magazine who scored the game at it’s highest of 80, with the reviewer praising the game especially for fighting enthusiasts, and those avid Battle Arena Toshinden fans.

German publication Video Games were the second highest rated review with a highly respectable 79 score, the review calling the game a very light, effective and fun. The review also praised the large roster of fighters on offer, as well as the easy comboing you can do in the game.

Gamezilla were close behind with a 77 score for the game, the reviewer still having a special place in their heart for the Toshinden series, with the first in the series being the first game for the PSX they owned. The reviewer says you will have fun with Toshinden 3, especially if you are a fan of the series, they continued though by saying, the game is not without a few disappointing aspects and features that should have been toned down or left out. They concluded by saying on the whole though it fits the series.

GameSpot next up with a 76 for the game, with the review commenting on the game having all the upgraded that the series needed to get back on its feet, with the game adding plenty of intriguing new features, without losing the better aspects of the previous games.

A new outlet up next with VicioJuegos.com, the Spanish publication giving the game a 75 rating, with the reviewer calling the game a frantic 3D fighting game, with lots of magic and spectacular hits. The review also praised the wide range of characters with manga aesthetics and simple game system.

The review concluded by saying, fans of the series will enjoy the improvements, with it offering enough new content to be considered the best of the series. However lovers of the Tekken and Dead or Alive series will find the game much too simple and unbalanced, as well as being much too easy.

Switching to the other end of the review scale now, we find The Video Game Critic in their usual habitat of abysmal review scores, they set a new record though here giving the game a big fat 0. With the reviewer finding that matches can be painfully long, with cheap hits being the order of the day.

The review then continued by talking about their playthrough with Tracy, a playthrough in which they were able to cheese their way through all the fights by using just shin kicks. They were also critical of the games graphics which they called mediocre. 

Another issue for the reviewer was the games voice samples, in which the review said it sounds like they are taking from the other end of a long sewer pipe. Concluding the review had the following to say, Mercifully, this third edition spelled the end of the Toshinden franchise. (Clearly the halfwit forgot about Toshinden 4)

Game Revolution gave the game a poor 33 review score, the reviewer saying Battle Arena Toshinden 3 just isn’t a very good game, the viewer continued by saying it. It would be fine for small kids (it’s rated teen) who just want to hit buttons and see impressive moves, but no real gamer should even consider purchasing it.

French publication Joypad were the next lowest review score with a below average 48 rating for the game, the reviewer calling the game complete behind the current level of fighting games, of little interest and seems to be aiming for aesthetics rather than gameplay. (google translate may not be entire accurate)

Edge were up next their 60 rated their review conclusion being just one sentence which read, Toshinden 3 is subtitled ‘The Final Battle’. It is safe to assume it will be. They scored the game slightly lower than IGN who are next up with a 63.

The reviewer became nostalgic for the first Toshinden game and just had to dig it out, the reviewer continued by saying that Toshinden 1 started so many great ideas, concluding the review found it painful that the popular fighting series has taken such a downward spiral to crapville.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who will give you $10 if you are looking to trade in your copy of Battle Arena Toshinden 3. If on the other hand you are in the market for a copy of the game, you will be looking at an outlay of $19.

Moving over the pond to Retrogames.co.uk we find that they have one copy of the game available, the copy on the market is the PAL version of the game, which they comment as being hard to find. This copy is in excellent condition and has a disc quality rating of 8/10, if you are interested in this copy then It can be picked up for £30.

Next up we have eStarland.com where we find two versions of the game listed, the first is the Japanese imported version which is currently out of stock, this usually has a price of between $5.98 and $11.95 depending on completeness and condition.

The second version of the game on offer is the North American release, which is in stock with one copy currently available. This used copy which is complete can be picked up for $27.95. eStarland also offer a trade in for this game with a complete copy worth up to $15 at trade in.

Lastly we have Amazon.com where again we find two versions of the game available, the first is the Japanese imported version, where we find a decent supply available. With four either good or very good quality copies of the game available for between $10.24 and $10.28, all four of these copies also come with free shipping.

Plenty of good or better quality used copies from from the $10.24 mark up to around the $20 mark, if on the other hand you are wanting a new copy of the Japanese version, you will have to stump up considerably more cash, with prices starting at $47.05, with the majority of new copies peaking at $59.84.

The second version on offer is the North American release, with the first thing you notice the lesser quality and the much more expensive prices. With the entire first page mostly mode up of acceptable quality copies of the game, the only complete copy on this first page of listings is a good quality copy priced at $34.69.

On the next page of listings we find two copies listed as collectable in good and very good condition. The first of these two the very good copy is priced at $36.96, this copy is the Black Label original release. The second copy is the good quality one and is priced at $39.99 and comes with free shipping.

From here used priced for the game continue to rise and quite sharply as well with used priced reaching around the $78 mark. New copies of the game are also available with priced however starting at $107.99. Of the three new copies on the market the price for these rises sharply as well, with the next new copy priced at $133.98, while the final copy will set you back $193.96.

Written by

P J Gibbon