Digimon - Battle Spirits 2
IGN provides us with this nifty review of Bandai's new GBA Digimon game. This fighter might not use the GBA power, but it's still good fun. Just like the original.
At the very beginning of 2003, Bandai made one of its biggest steps in videogaming by swallowing its pride and producing the first Digimon game for the then-competing Game Boy Advance console, pretty much admitting defeat for its own handheld system in Japan. The only thing was, the first GBA game from the company, Digimon: Battle Spirits was essentially a straight-on port of the same game released on the WonderSwan Color, right down to the lower resolution, color palette and plinky sound effects. At least the game played well, otherwise we would have torn the game a new one.
Digimon: Battle Spirits 2 marks the third Game Boy Advance title from Bandai in just under a year. But like the first game in the series, this sequel is nothing more than exactly what the company produced on its WonderSwan Color system more than a year ago, with the same technical step backwards that the original had. Still, even with the limited graphics and sound, the game plays really well, and builds upon the clever fighting gameplay established in the original Battle Spirits.
Features:
- More than eight different Digimon fighters
- Six arenas
- Collectable Tamer Tags
- Unlockable Digimon Shoot mode
- Cartridge save (one slot)
- Link cable support for two players
(multiple cartridge)
Last year's Battle Spirits put players in control of the Digimon series' early year characters. For Battle Spirits 2, the game features the Digimon creatures from the most recent set of episodes in Season 4. Agunimon, Lobomon, Kumamon, Kazemon, and Beetlemon are available right from the start, but there are at least three hidden Digimon characters that will become available after successfully working your way through the game's single player modes. The idea is to work your way through the ranks of Digimon creatures in a one-on-one battle, with a fighting finale against the powerful Kerpymon; the boss fight in Battle Spirits 2 is one of the more challenging battles on the Game Boy Advance, even after learning his pattern.
The game's fight engine continues the unique design created for the original game. It's an action design that shares more with Super Smash Bros. than it does, say, the Street Fighter series. In the game, two Digimon fight in special platform-style arenas, jumping around and pummeling each other. The fighters are essentially invincible; the idea isn't to knock the other guy out, but to steal as many D-Spirit balls from him. Each successful attack will knock an amount of D-Spirit balls out of the opponent's possession, each a set points value...but only if it's collected. The amount of D-Spirit balls that fall out of the opponent's possession depends on how powerful he's been attacked. The Digimon with the most points at the end of the fight wins the round.
As the fight goes on, players can activate their Digimon's special attacks with a combination of the D-pad and button presses. Successful hits will also fill up a gauge at the top of the screen that, when full, can power-up the Digimon's special Evolution abilities. Occasionally gems will appear instead of D-Spirit balls, and when a Digimon collects five of these he can perform a super powerful Ancient Spirits attack that, if successful, can knock out a plentitude of D-Spirits out of the opponent.
The game isn't much different from the original Digimon: Battle Spirits, but the sequel's gameplay has been balanced a lot better with cooler attacks, easier blocking abilities, and more opportunities for combo strings. The addition of D-Spirits with different point values also adds a little more balance since it's possible for a player to make a huge comeback by collecting the larger D-Spirit orbs. There's also a lot more emphasis on replay, since players can collect Tamer Tags by meeting certain criteria in a fight, as well as unlocking extra Digimon and a silly little Digimon Shoot game (a shuffleboard-style challenge) with multiple times through the single player challenge. And, of course, Digimon Battle Spirits 2 supports link cable for two-player, one-on-one competitions.
But again, what's holding the series back is that it's a port of a game made on a much weaker system. The game still has a border around the action thanks to the WonderSwan's lower resolution, and the characters don't have a whole lot of detail since the WonderSwan can't display as many on-screen colors. The music is that grating 8-bit FM music that we've tried so hard to leave behind.
Closing Comments:
Even with its incredibly dated graphics and sound, the Digimon Battle Spirits game design is a clever and fun fighting design that just begs to be pulled out of the 8-bit era. This sequel is a very satisfying fighter with some great ideas implemented, and we'd love to see the franchise return a third time...but in a Game Boy Advance native mode. What say you, Bandai?
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EarthsMightiestAdmin
10/30/2003
IGN