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Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story SNES (Super Famicom, really) Angel - 1995 If you don’t love Sailor Moon, for the love of all that is holy, stay far far away from this game. Another Story is aimed at fans of the show Sailor Moon, a happy, “Magical Girl” anime and manga based on hugs, cooking and saving the world in awesome makeup and a sailor suit. Another Story is a recap of a good portion of the Sailor Moon story that rehashes every villain they’ve faced like some kind of sexy leftover party while throwing in some dark “Anti-Scouts”, or as the DeJap translation calls them “Oppositio Senshi,” for spice and profit. Basically, it’s a really obnoxious game. In a sailor suit. Because it’s aimed at people who like anime or manga and not necessarily video games, it’s as easy as punching a baby. The battles are mostly pointless exercises in leveling up in which the same tired enemies trot out to be annhialated by pink hearts and lighting again and again. Add this to the fact that there are not a whole lot of attacks and you’ve got a pretty boring battle system, which is a damn shame because you can’t walk across the street without getting attacked.
The sound’s kind of nice and the graphics aren’t anything special. They have actual voice clips from the show of the scouts naming their attacks in typical anime fashion, which sound ok, but they’re a tad overused. And by a tad I mean all the time. And by all the time I mean every battle. Sigh. The graphics are exactly what you’d expect from a super famicom game. Perhaps even a bit less. Let’s face it, people. This game is pure fanservice. WE know it, the developers know it, and they’re putting in minimal effort for maximum coinage. So hey. Whoopie for them. It just means that we video game fans (and anime fans and manga fans and Japan-o-philes) get one more game that could’ve been fun and cool but actually turned out more like an invitation to suicide than a game. Or maybe it was actually supposed to be cool in Japanese, but stupid Americans hijacked it and decided to make it innocous and deal to children on the streets, hoping to get some of them addicted to Toonami. If you’re a fan of the whole sailor moon vibe (The whole “I am a pretty soldier out to save the world, go shopping and maybe date a little” thing) and have seen most of Sailor Moon, and like it more than, say, toes, this might be fun. Otherwise, don’t bother. What liked: Captures the Sailor Moon vibe well enough. Woah. Suddenly I feel the urge to shop . . . What disliked: Minimal effort. Some skimping on level desgin and art. What to expect: A long haul full of leveling, pretty soldiers. What not to expect: A ride that anyone but a true fan would enjoy What's so different from this and other games of it's genre: It’s an RPG! With Sailor Moon! Now give us your money! Ratings on: Control: 5 (Fine . . . I guess) Graphics: 4 (Sub-par. A lot of them are copies of each other, or just plain incorrect. Also, only the characters that were on the show get faces.) Sound: 7 (Pretty Reasonable. There are some nice voice clips and the characters actually shout the name of the attack they’re doing. But, like the (dubbed) show, it gets old fast.) Style: 3 (Does a reasonably good job of translating Sailor Moon into an RPG, but the innovation stops right there.) Difficulty: 2 (Anyone reasonably familiar with the RPG genre could beat this game by training a monkey to do it.) -1st 1/20 hour: 10 (I guess I’ll download the Sailor Moon Game!) -1st 1/40 hour: 8 (C’mon! Download already!) 0 Hours: 7 (Yay! it’s downloaded!) 1st hour: 3 (Oh yeah. I hate Sailor Moon.) #1 reason why I hate this game: You know, I think I could write better than the people who translated this game. In fact, I think I will!! Tuxedo Mask: Sailor Moon. I love you for reasons no one can fathom. Sailor Moon: It’s a day that ends in “y”! Let’s go shopping! All the Monsters in the game: No. Let’s fight, and then explode or die. Sailor Moon: I am full of friendship! Monsters: You’re full of something all right. by Sailor Freeohio |
