Elan Doree

*Originally Written: 8/03/2000, Rewritten: 3/04/2002

Elan Doree is like your standard 3D fighter. In other words, it has 3D graphics, but you are confined to one plane of movement like your typical 2D fighter. Most 3D fighters without full movement have a dodge button, well, Elan Doree goes one step further giving you a free flight button. By holding this button down you and your dragon can fly a full 360 degrees. Oh, did I forget to mention your dragon? You see, in Elan Doree you fight while riding atop dragons! It's quite a cool, and original concept. From what I understand, Elan Doree was one of the last few Saturn games released in Japan and is now quite hard to come by. Is it worth your search? Read on to see what I think.

As I touched on above, you fight while riding your dragon, this means that not only does the whole fight take place in air, but also that not only can you attack but your dragon attacks as well. So at one moment you can slash your opponent with your sword and the next moment you can have your dragon shoot a fireball! Speaking of attacks, they vary depending on who you choose(duh). Each of the ten characters wields a different weapon and controls a different dragon. The dragons each have their own "elemental" style powers. You've got everything from your typical Fire Dragon to a leech-esque Poison Dragon.

Elan Doree has a few differences from your standard fighter. Ignoring the obvious "you're on a Dragon" difference, you've got the free flight button. With that, you can fly all around the screen. Seeing as how you are simply riding the dragon and not a "part of them", you can also be knocked off of them. You take a nice bit of damage when you are knocked down from the dragon. You cannot attack from the ground, but you are still susceptible to attacks. Another addition to this game is the DP meter, DP meaning Dragon Power. The DP meter limits what your dragon can do. Having your dragon perform a fireball would drain a small percentage from the meter. The instruction manual lists the exact percentage each move takes to perform. Once it reaches a certain point blocking will be impossible. Should you drain it all the way you will be unable to attack. Taking damage will make your DP meter restore slightly. Using the free flight drains your DP meter for as long as you hold the button. Blocking also drains the meter. Other than those differences, Elan Doree is just your typical fighter. You can jump attack, perform special moves and super moves.

Elan Doree features a simplified control set up for that pick up and play kind of feel. You jump with C button, A button is weak attack and B button is strong attack. Holding the R trigger gains you free flight with your dragon. Special moves consist of your standard fireball motions. Super moves are very easy to perform. In fact, they may be a bit too easy. Each character gets two different super moves and all you have to do is press two to three buttons at once to perform them. Thankfully, you are limited to using a max of two or three a match so they can't be abused. The controls are, for the most part, responsive and my only complaint being the ease of pulling off super moves.

The graphics are pretty good. I really like the character designs and the dragons look pretty cool as well. The only minor problem with the graphics are the backgrounds. Don't get me wrong, they look nice, just not as nice as I'd hoped. The frame rate is nice and smooth. For the most part, the graphics are fine. They look quite good considering Saturn isn't known for it's 3D abilities.

Sound is about average for Elan Doree. The music is your standard fighter music. Nothing special. Sound FX sound as they should. The voice samples, as is the case in most Japanese games, are great. Sound, while not a high point for the game, is definitely not a low point.

Wondering if the game is import friendly? The fact that it is a fighting game should tip you off to the answer. If this game were anymore import friendly it could pass for a US game. Everything is in English except for the voices and endings. Voices in fighting games usually are in Japanese so no problem there. As for the endings, I wouldn't worry about them, I'll let you know why next paragraph. Being that this is your typical fighter, everything is easy enough to figure out, add onto that the fact that it is all in English and you will have no problems at all.

Replay value? As is the case with most fighters, not much. Depending on the circumstances anyway. Elan Doree is a bare bones port of the arcade version. It really suffers from a lack of extras. The endings are nothing to strive for either as they are just single still frame pictures with some Japanese text. One thing that kind of adds to the replay is the final boss. Well, sometimes anyway. His AI is a tad off. At times he will destroy you like an SNK boss while other times he will sit there and allow you to get a perfect. So if he is on his "evil" mode, it might take some time to beat him. But I am reaching with that. You have three modes of play to choose from: Arcade, Survival and Versus. Arcade is of course, the arcade mode, Survival has you fighting over and over until you die and versus is your standard two player mode. Not much variety, huh? As with most fighters, if you've got some competition, you've got some replay value.

Overall, I can't really recommend Elan Doree. I had a lot of fun with it and there aren't many flaws but the lack of any real extras sort of kills it. I mean, the concept is different enough to warrant some playtime, but once it wears off, there isn't much special to keep you playing. If the concept sounds like something you'd enjoy and you've got someone to play it with, it might not be a bad purchase. Just make sure you remember it is a bare bones port. It's a shame this game wasn't better, the concept is awesome.

©2001 Ed Finnegan

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