From: rksuzuki@edison.seas.ucla.edu (Richard K. Suzuki)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade,rec.arts.anime
Subject: NEW ANIME ARCADE GAME
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:34:57 GMT
Followup-To: rec.games.video.arcade
Organization: SEASnet, University of California, Los Angeles


	The UCLA arcade room has just gotten a new BIG screen game (twice as 
   tall and just as wide as the new X-Men game).    
	It's put out by SEGA and set up like the standard 4-player,martial art,
   slaughter-everything-on-the-screen video game but this one has a new twist.
   Instead of ninja turtles or street vigilantes or the Simpsons everyone in 
   the game is wearing turbins and one of the 4-main characters is named Sinbat
   (yes, with a 't') the Sailor.  The game is called, and you can see this pun 
   coming, Arabian Fight (ugh!).  
	The controls are fairly simple (joystick, attack button and jump 
   button) and the graphic quality is not the highest but this game is worth
   note because there are some very pretty animated sequences that look like
   they were digitized straight from an anime video.
	(Anime being the native term for Japanese animation.  I call it anime
   rather than 'Japanimation' not because we should stop mauling the English
   language by inventing bizarre, new words, not because when it it pronounced
   'Jap-animation' the word uses the term 'Jap' which is offensive to a
   certain minority of American citizens, and not because the Japanese have
   been borrowing English words for years now and damn it, we have to start
   to do the same if we're going to compete in this global market!  But rather
   I call it anime because it's easier to type.  :)  ) 
	Anyway there are four characters to play in the game. The generic,good-
   looking, anime hero named Sinbat, a big, muscular guy named Goldor, a 
   Hindu-priest sort of guy named Datta (who looks a little like Dhalsim -
   no stretching power though!) and, of course, the cute girl character   
   called Ramaya (that's Ramaya not Ranma!) who could be the first video
   character to beat Chun Li in the cuddly video game character category.  
	The game has some problems, there are a few glitches and the graphics
   are not equal to Street Fighter II but it certainly matches current games
   like Legionarre or Knights of the Round.  
	There are a few special combinations that can be done with the
   controls and characters can do more than just punch (like flying kicks,
   sacrifice throws, picking up opponents etc)	There are also 'magic'
   moves done by hitting jump and attack simultaneously and they often have
   amusing effects.  Sometimes they give you a nice-close up animated sequence 
   of the character doing them. 
	The setting of the game allows a little more variety than other 
   martial art games.  You get to do things like fight on flying carpets
   and battle your own shadows.  Like Golden Axe you collect magic items 
   as well as food and these allow you to do interesting magical attacks. 
   I saw one split the character into a dozen little, tiny ones for a few 
   seconds.   
	However there are some problems with it.  In some sequences the
   screen fades showing a background from another section.  This may have
   been designed rather than a glitch but it's still annoying.  Sometimes
   you or the villians end up off the screen but you can still attack and
   be attacked.  I don't think it's worth the $0.50 a credit like it says
   on the coin slot and evidently the UCLA arcade managers feel the same 
   because they're only charging $0.25 (Yay!).  
	At this price the game is worth playing and makes it a whole lot
   cheaper to get to the end of the game and rescue the princess. (What did
   you expect the goal to be?  To get into the Pleasure Dome? *Snicker* Sorry
   but Kubla Khan wasn't one of the opponents.....) 
	WORD OF ADVICE:  There are some nicely done endgames for each of the 
   four characters when you reach the end of the game but the game only plays 
   the endgames for those characters that are present in the last seqeunce.  
   I'm fairly certain you can join in as late as the last villian and still 
   get to see your end game when you defeat him.   
	The game is really quite easy and doesn't offer much by way of
   challenges, I found it pretty simple and I hardly ever play video games.
   I just like to watch them to see the how graphics are developing with them. 
   And with this game the most noteworthy thing about it is the pretty animated 
   sequences.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see a video release based on 
   these characters.  Afterall SEGA were the folks who out the Zillion toy - 
   a laser tag game that had a half-hour anime TV show based on it that was 
   surprisingly well done and entertaining (none of this Transformers drivel)
   And any anime fans who see this game will realize that it just seems to
   beg to be turned into a video.   
	So if you want an easy change of pace from street fighting or you just
   want to see exactly how much anime is starting to invade the video game
   world, check out Arabian Fight.   It may not be a great game, but who the 
   hell cares, it looks cool......   


--
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       Richard Suzuki                     "It's a pity that stupidity 
       rksuzuki@seas.ucla.edu              isn't painful......" 
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade