This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on March 30th, 2019. It has been edited slightly for formatting and to add a slight bit of information.
It’s finally getting warm for Spring here in Pittsburgh. I hope
the weather is nice where you are too! Welcome back to PlayStation Basement!
Every Saturday I am here reviewing an odd or obscure game for the original
PlayStation. Though I formerly used a rating out of nine to review the game, I
am now just using a Good, Bad, or Neutral.
Today I have another mech game for the 40th
anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam (April 7th, 1979). This time
it’s Megatudo 2096 (pronounced like “mega-tude”), a fighting game developed
by the generically named General Support and published by Banpresto in 1996,
only in Japan.
The cover art for Megatudo 2096 shows one of the mechs from
the game with a Gundam-esque beam saber standing in an angry pose. It reminds
me of the cover of the previously reviewed Dragonseeds. I like the bright
blue color of the sky, but the rest of this is kind of whatever. The robot
looks fine, but there is nothing happening – it’s just standing for a picture.
They could have done a lot better showing an encounter between two of the
combatants.
The actual combat looks a bit better with no slowdown or
choppiness. The robots are animated well and have unique designs from the
spidery Vanilla Giger to the huge Gul Ogre to the bulky Drill Doll and the
knightly Swordgear. The names are pretty weird. Environments are large and
rendered with some textures, while the fighters are very smooth. It works well
here, as they are robots. The bright colors in this game help each battle pop
out like it’s right in front of you.
The sound effects are loud and clear, again, as if you are there
in the arena. The explosions are particularly strong sounding, giving a rumble
to the room before DualShock. The musick tracks are along the lines of
electronic rock and most are not particularly memorable. They work well enough.
As this is a fighting game, the gameplay is full of fast battles
between two metallic warriors. Unlike some other fighting games from that time,
such as Tekken, Megatudo 2096 is sparse. The only modes are Story, Versus,
and Options. There are no Time Attack or Survival modes for these robotic
battlers, though they have enough iron fists to go around.
What makes Megatudo 2096 unique is the mobility involved in
each match. Each player can move in 3D, kind of like Soul Blade or Bushido
Blade. You can also switch between a melee weapon and a firearm with each
having their own attacks. The amount of different moves with each weapon is
lower than you would find in many other fighters, but knowing when to use each
one in these high-speed matches is what keeps the game fresh.
Megatudo 2096 is a very Japanese game; I can’t say that I am
too surprised that it was only released in that country. I won’t be covering
all of them in this short span of mech games for Gundam, but I will say that
there are many more similar things on the PlayStation in the Land of the Rising
Sun. Of this one, Megatudo 2096, I will mention that some of the attacks are
a little weird and sometimes the controls feel slightly delayed; it’s nothing
big though. The other gripe I have is that there isn’t much beyond a
congratulations screen when winning the single-player mode, and there’s not
much else to do. Obviously fighting your friends is good fun in a fighting
game, but I do wish there was a bit more here.
Anyway, if you are able to play Japanese PS1 games, this is a
fun one that shouldn’t break the bank. Just remember that there’s only fighting
here with little story or other modes. I had a lot of fun flying around the
courses and smashing up enemies with Vanilla Giger’s huge warpick. I think you
might too.
Megatudo 2096 receives a Good.
Comments
Post a Comment