0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Battle Arena Toshinden 2

       

Battle Arena Toshinden 2 is a weapons based 3D fighting game and is the sequel to Battle Arena Toshinden. The game was developed by Tamsoft. Unlike the first game in the series it would release first in Arcades in November 1995, the arcade version was published by Capcom.

After the Arcade release the game was released a month later in Japan for the Playstation, with a worldwide release coming in May of 1996. This year also saw the game release on Windows 95 as well as a release on the Sega Saturn.

Notable people who worked on the game, 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

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.

Tsukasa Kotobuki who worked as an illustrator and Original Character design for the game worked on a Toshinden series up until the final entry in the series Toshinden 4 in 1999. After that he worked on the 2006 gmae I/O as a Guest Illustrator, more recently he reprised his role as an illustrator on the 2017 released Fire Emblem Heroes.

Battle Arena Toshinden has three main game modes to choose from, the first is the verses mode which can be played as either one player against the computer or two human players facing off against each other. This mode is immediately available with all currently unlocked characters available to choose from.

The second mode is the first of two single player modes in the game, the first is the one player mode which throws the player into battle against 8 consecutive opponents, these opponents are controlled by the computer only no two player action sadly.

The final mode is the main mode of the game and is the Battle Arena Toshinden tournament, the player selects one of the available characters, three new additional characters are available in addition to the rest of the roster that appeared in the first game.

Gaia who was the first game antagonist and an unlockable character in the previous game is available, as well as Tracy a notorious New York Police officer, and Chaos who is an executive of the Secret Society who has be tasked with eliminating the traitorous Gaia.

Once chosen your character will then face off against opponents over the course of 10 matches, against other members of the roster, in addition to these 10 fights there are three bosses that the player will have to face, a hidden character has also been added to the games roster.

While the actual fighting largely remains the same there have been some changes, one major one is the character Gaia, who has a completely new move set over the first game, in addition all characters get an extra special attack.

The previous game did not allow the player or opponent to attack a downed enemy, this is no longer the case in Battle Arena Toshinden 2 with new ground attacks added. The combo system has also been reworked with the free form combo system of the first game replaced with a simple combo system. For example light attack, light attack, special attack or light attack, light attack, hard attack, special attack.

While similar to the original the gameplay has been changed slightly making it more of a tactical fight, the cheesing of light attacks and sidesteps without your opponents being able to counter has be rectified, with missed attacks allowing opponents to capitalise on them

  

The games story is a direct continuation from the first game, Gaia who has been exposed for his treachery in the first game, he has been branded a traitor by Uranus and Master, the two leaders of the secret society. In order to lure out Gaia, Uranus and Master decide to hold another Battle Arena Toshinden tournament so that Gaia can be swiftly dealt with by the forces loyal to the Society.

Gaia in desperation turns to the previous tournament fighters for assistance in overthrowing her former employers and allies. Gaia is however unaware the entire tournament is a trap orchestrated by her former employers for the sole purpose of dealing with her. 

Ambition however is a powerful motivator with Gaia ambitiously planning to overthrow Uranus and Master and assume control of the Society for herself. A mysterious third party however is watching the events of the tournament very closely

  

Critically the game was largely well received, not quite as well received as the first game in the series but recorded plenty of 80+ review scores, as well as a 92 rated review. This is the review we will start with which comes from French publication Consoles Plus, who said the game is really worth seeing.

German publication Mega Fun were next up, their review rating Battle Arena Toshinden 2 as an 85, the review praising the large roster of characters available, and the attention to detail of the character models. Visually they also praised the games shadow effect. In addition the review praised the games controls, saying they leave no wish unfulfilled, concluding the review said the game was one of the most beautiful beat’em ups which has come to them.

Game Players were next up with an 83 rated review, the review saying the game is a step in the right direction, however the sequel to one of the greatest fighting games of all time never generated the excitement of the original. The review main gripes with the game were the sometimes choppy animations and occasional sluggish controls. Concluding the review found the game to be more like the original, which is not a bad thing they said, but overall its not like to have the same impact.

GameFan Magazine scored the game just 1pt lower with an 82 rated review, their reviewer having had time to contemplate the original game came to the conclusion they really hate how the original Toshinden played, the review continues by saying they too were one of the fools blinded by Toshinden 1’s visuals, the review continued by apologising for this.

Concluding the reviewer had the following to say. If you're not a twisted, snapped, and thoroughly ruined fighting game fan like myself, you probably won't give a damn about how it plays...'cause does it ever look good.

Next we head to the other end of the review scale where we find the lowest review score for the game, this comes from The Video Game Critic, who scored the game at a very dismal 16. The reviewer finding that the character models were rougher looking that the original, and their animations even more choppy, the review also found the scenery to be generic and dull.

While the review did find the music for the game to be very good, they found the voice work on the game to be some of the worst ever recorded for a video game! With the repetitive screams irritating and Sophia’s laugh will make you cringe, in conclusion the review found that the game was a big step back from the original. 

IGN were the second lowest review score for the game, but were substantially more generous in their score with a 60 rating for their review. They were also critical of the character animations where they found to be not nearly as smooth as the original.

The reviewer also had major trouble with the games camera which they called wildly rotating which resulted in difficulty gauging attack and defence. In conclusion they had the following to say, Battle Arena Toshinden 2 is a solid fighter. It just doesn't seem as impressive anymore.

Entertainment Weekly rated the game at an above average 67, with the review praising the increased dodge and parry options available, they still found the punching and kicking lacked the precision of other similar games, concluding they found the game to be nothing  more than graphical eye candy for showing off the PlayStation's graphics.

Electric Playground’s review score saw a jump up in score with a respectable 75 rating for the game, with the review struggling not to think of Namco’s beaut while hacking and slashing though this game. They then went on to talk about the original and the lack of competition at the time, which is no longer the case, with other games like Soul Edge kicking Battle Arena Toshinden’s butt,

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, where if you are looking to trade in your copy of Battle Arena Toshinden 2, you will be looking at $8 from Gamedude for your copy. 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.

Gamedude also have the Long Box release of the game listed, this version of the game will get you $12 if you are looking to trade in your copy. If on the other hand you are looking to buy a copy of the Long Box version of Battle Arena Toshinden, you will be looking at around a $26 expenditure.

Next up we have Retrogames.co.uk who sadly don’t have the PAL or North America version of the game available, they do however have an imported copy of the Japanese version of the game. This copy is priced up at £7 and is a complete copy in excellent condition, with a disc quality rating of 10/10.

On to eStarland.com next who have two versions of the game listed, the first Is the imported Japanese version of the game, which is currently out of stock, this version has a usual price of between $3.25 and $6.50, eStarland also offer a trade in with up to $2 being paid for a complete copy of the game.

The second version of the game available is the Long Box release, this version of the game is currently in stock, the copy on offer is a complete used copy of the game, which is priced up at $24.50. Like the Japanese imported version eStarland offer a trade in with up to $11 paid for a complete used copy of the game. 

Finally we move on to Amazon.com where we find all three regional releases of the game available, starting with the North American release we find just a handful of copies available, with all bar one of them being incomplete, these range in price from $11.98 for an acceptable quality disc only copy up to $19 for the one good quality disc only copy.

The only complete copy of the game available is the long box version, this copy is only in acceptable condition, the description notes state the sides of the box are peeling away and have been taped as well as sticker residue on the disc, this low quality used copy is priced up at $19.99 with a $4.69 shipping fee, which brings the total cost to $24.68.

The next version on offer is the PAL version of the game, both copies on offer are open box copies and are priced at $33.57 and $53.49 respectively. These are both 3^rd party sellers so it is highly recommended you contact the seller to find out the exact condition of an open box copy.

Lastly we move on to the Japanese imported version of the game which is by far the most prolific available, and the cheapest available, with a complete copy in good condition the first on offer and priced at $4.27. Several good quality and complete copies of the game a priced between $7.13 and $9.45, the former coming with free shipping.

Beyond them we have a very good condition copy of the game available for $11.38 with another priced at $14.27 which comes with free shipping. A Steady rise in price from here until we find the only like new copy currently available, this copy is priced at $26.98, a couple more used copies are priced beyond this point as well.

If however your are looking for a new copy of the Japanese version of the game there are a few on offer, you will have to pay considerably more however with prices starting at $54.36, this copy does come with free shipping, as does another new copy priced at $58.53.

The remaining two new copies on the market both have shipping fees, the first is priced at $56.72, while the final new copy takes a significant jump in price from here with it currently sitting at $79.05, this comes with a shipping fee of $2.25 bring the total cost to $81.30.

Written by

P J Gibbon