Reposted with permission from Diehard GameFAN - original post
There’s just something about a crossover game that gets the blood boiling. Marvel Vs. Capcom and Capcom Vs. SNK still stand as some of the most memorable fighting experiences, Super Smash Bros. still sells like hotcakes and who could forget when the Battletoads and Double Dragons settled
the score with the Shadow Boss and Dark Queen? With a variety of
series, though, licensing issues and unfamiliarity can make the journey
to the United States next to, if not, impossible – Wai Wai World, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, Namco X Capcom, DreamMix TV: World Fighters, Jump Superstars
and more continue to pile up as import-only titles. Konami was the team
behind two of the series mentioned in the previous sentence and the publisher returns to pay massive fan service in its newest PSP fighter, Sunday X Magazine Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen.
The premise behind the title is a familiar one, serving as the PSP’s answer to the blockbuster Jump Superstars
series. Kessen is the Japanese word used to describe a decisive battle
and the game is host to the decisive dream battle between two of
Japan’s successful manga publications, Sunday Shounen and Shounen Weekly.
As each publication celebrates its 50th anniversary, the two companies
clash bringing together some of its most popular characters from
current and past manga creations. While Shounen Jump houses most of the definitive names of anime and manga recognizable to U.S. audiences, Sunday and Shounen are no slouches, running manga series such as Air Gear, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Fairy Tale, Hajime no Ippo and Hayate the Combat Butler with each having a rich past of classic anime that includes known names like Cyborg 009, Devilman, Tiger Mask and Ashita no Joe.
With such an appealing cast, manga and anime fans in the United States
will no doubt want to jump at the chance to brawl with the likes of Inuyasha, but does the game play like a champ or buckle under the weight of so much promising content?
While nothing in-game suggests any sort of a story for Sunday X Magazine,
who ever needed a reason to gather warriors together to beat the holy
hell out of each other? The game opens with a very nice movie detailing
all of the game’s characters, but, still, no real story elements are
present. I couldn’t find anything that resembled a story in the game’s
instruction booklet (although, bear with me as my kanji recognition is
horrible), but one could maybe assume the warriors are called together
to tackle the game’s quest mode to defeat the original creation, Boss.
Fighters have customarily been thin on story and the collaboration
may very well just be a 50th anniversary promotional effort, but, still
even without the direction of a story, Konami manages to pack a lot
into this portable.
As opposed to Superstars’ arena format, Sunday X Magazine
opts for the tried and true one-on-one 2-D fighter mechanic. With the
classic mechanic, the game features the standard arcade, versus and
training modes one would expect to find in a fighter. While the title
isn’t the first to offer up a feature in this vein, gamers also get to
tackle a quest mode, which operates more like a linear brawler packed
with waves of enemies. It’s unlikely U.S. gamers will find another PSP
owner with the game in their library (hell, I can’t even run into
someone who has even heard of the game around here), but in
the even they do, the free battle versus mode allows for two players to
fight via ad hoc and the quest modes allows a party of up to four
players to tackle missions together. In all, the modes serve up a
variety of action and provide a little more depth than the average
fighter, with ad hoc features chalking on a little more fun for up to
four players.
Being based off a visual art form, Sunday X Magazine
has a lot to live up to in the graphics department and, thankfully,
Konami pulls off a visually appealing title thanks to the cell-shaded
graphics the PSP makes possible. The menus are full of graphical
touches such as the option
to choose which manga character greets you at the main menu, animated
borders and the characters portraits are huge and detailed in the style
which the original creators of the manga intended them to be drawn.
During matches, most of the varying backgrounds (based off each series
represented in the game) are rich with graphical flare and animations
that do not distract from the action. The characters themselves are
decent in size and detail, however, the single biggest drawback in the
graphical department is in the character animations. While the fights a
bit fast-paced to make up for the shortcomings, it grossly becomes
noticeable during the slow motion triggered by the final attack of a
round and longtime players of fighting games might have to adjust a
little bit. Aside from the shaky animation, which in itself doesn’t
ruin the game, Sunday X Magazine is a very eye-catching title.
Thankfully, the title sounds just as good as it looks with full
voice acting that accompanies all of the characters’ special moves,
fighting intros and battle cries. U.S. gamers will be happy to know all
of the menu selection voice work is in English as a female announcer
calls out character names, selected game modes and the very good news
of “battle character get!” after unlocking a character. The music is
very appropriate according to the situation and provide a range of
styles that reflect the current environment. Battle sounds feature your
usual smacks and thuds and, overall, you just can’t go wrong with the
title’s audio.
While nailing the presentation of a manga/anime license is critical, sometimes developers
stop right there and fail to flesh out the game play. Many fighting
purists are turned off by the simplicity of most of these titles meant
to bring in the series’ casual fan base, but, thankfully, Sunday X Magazine
looks to please both crowds. When choosing a character, players can opt
to use either simple mode or technical mode – simple mode plots a chain
combo of strikes to the square button while mapping special moves to
single presses of triangle, circle and triangle and circle at the same
time. This gives beginners a way to jump straight into the game but
fighting game pros will feel more at home with the technical mode’s
spread of weak, medium and strong attacks and direction and button
combinations to execute special moves. At the same time, eventually any
beginner can look forward to graduating on to technical mode where the
expansion in commands allows them double or even triple the length of
their combos.
Aside from your standard mix of attacks and special moves, players
also have super moves usable when they have the appropriate amount of
super meter in stock, as well as a stock of support characters that can
buffer the player, hinder the opponent or outright send out an attack.
The X button allows players to execute evasion rolls or recover from
the ground or mid-air and pressing both triggers activates an aura mode
in exchange for one super meter level, boosting the abilities of the
fighter for a short time. Overall, controlling the character isn’t
overly complex and fighting game junkies should be able to dive right
in with comfort as commands such as backstepping and blocking should be
second nature.
Tackling the game’s modes and unlockables, on the surface there is a
lot to do. There are about 80 new support characters to unlock, 18
characters and experience orbs earned in quest mode can be used to
unlock new special and super moves for each character. If you rush
through the game, it will still take an average player around 10 hours
to complete the game 100 percent, but most should be able to squeeze
15-20 hours out of the game before everything is said and done. The
downside to the girth of the unlocks, however, is in its execution as
the player grinds through the same modes multiple times. The arcade
mode has players running through seven fighters while the quest mode
only features 13 short stages and unlocking the game’s material
requires the player to jog through these modes multiple times. Most
fighting fans should be used to the treatment, but, still the modes
could have been fleshed out a lot more, especially since both modes
offer no formal ending scene.
As stated earlier, the quest mode does grant players experience,
which is used to purchase new moves, adding an extra dimension to the
game. Each character can house one support character, three special
moves and a super move and opening new moves allows the player to swap
different maneuvers and level three ultra moves, into the character’s
move set. This means even if two of the same character are going toe to
toe, they can have different special and super move sets, creating even
more variety among the 30 fighters. Experimenting with combinations
just adds an extra element of replayability and if you have a friend to
fight against, formulating combinations to best them heats up the
versus mode even more.
That being said, the balance among special moves can be at some
times questionable, especially among the magic users who tend to have
really cheap long-range moves. On that same token, there are other
special moves that hardly do any damage whatsoever. While for the most
part things tend to be even across the board, there are same glaring
instances where a move might not exactly seem fair, especially when
simple mode allows players to spam a special move repeatedly with a
single button press.
Being a 2-D fighter based off manga licenses, Sunday X Magazine
isn’t exactly the most original game on the market, but it separates
itself away from Superstars enough to warrant having both in your
collection. Manga fans will no doubt go nuts over the prospect of
having their favorite licenses duking it out against each other, but
there is still appeal in the game for gamers just looking for a decent
fighter on their PSP. Tackling the game is a healthy 15-hour ordeal and
the multiplayer aspect offers both versus and cooperative play that can
take the game beyond its single-player offerings. While the title isn’t
the most solid fighter on the market, players will no doubt be glued to
their PSP as they whittle through the game’s lengthy list of
unlockables.
GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5
To sum Sunday X Magazine up, the title finally gives PSP
owners a taste of the manga crossover action that they previously
missed out on with the Nintendo DS’ Jump Superstars series.
While the allure of playing as manga characters is the main ticket for
the game, there is still a solid fighting game running underneath the
hood. True to form with licensed games, the title has great
presentation and the long list of unlockables and multiplayer sessions
will have players glued to system. The premise isn’t wholly original,
there are some animation issues during fights, the balance is slightly
off at times and the replayability of the title feels forced, but
anyone looking for a good import for the PSP can’t go wrong with Sunday X Magazine, especially those who are fans of manga and/or fighting.
The title is extremely import friendly as well as most of the menus
feature icons that clearly indicate what the option is and the quest
mode isn’t overly complicated. A good majority of items are featured in
katakana, making them easy to translate. There’s nothing players
shouldn’t be able to figure out with experimentation, however, we are
also posting an FAQ for the title, which should answer any general questions site users may have in regard to the title.
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