Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy (demo review)

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TheLordThyGod
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Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy (demo review)

Post by TheLordThyGod »

Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy is a game released in 2018 by Super Walrus Games (Walthros, C. Kane, Ghost’s Towns, Bufanda, Horse Game); it was written and directed by Paul Harrington (The Wobbler) with art by William James Pandelis (SodaPiggy) and music by Glock and mr8bit. Fighto Fantasy is an officially licensed RPG based on Kaiju Big Battel, a comedic wrestling troupe that combines lucha libre and kaiju themes. It is also a commercially released product; but for the purposes of this review, I have played only the free demo version (which is shortened and condensed). I played on Normal difficulty.

Giant monsters from space are attacking, so humanity has formed the Kaiju Regulatory Commission to defend the Earth from the invaders. However the KRC have been betrayed by one of their own – Dr. Cube, an evil genius using the monsters to create chaos. Some heroic kaijus showed up to battle the evil ones but caused too much destruction; so the KRC have quarantined all kaiju warfare to officially sanctioned and regulated wrestling competitions, known as Kaiju Big Battel.

The player assumes the role of American Beetle (a physical fighter type) as he fights Dr. Cube in the ring. Beetle is winning, but Cube throws a steel chair. Silver Potato (an elemental magic user type) steps in to join the fight against Dr. Cube, who in turn summons a kaiju called Super Dimensional Slug One (previously banned from combat by the KRC for crimes against the space-time continuum) to aid in his escape. The villains teleport away, and American Beetle and Silver Potato (and the chair) are sucked through a portal to who-knows-where.

Through nearby portals, they find comrades named Dusto Bunny (a heal/buff type) and Slo Feng (a slow, strong fighter whose special moves have a wind-up delay). After defeating some bosses and extinguishing some fires, the heroes teleport again to some sort of town that has slipped through into this weird dimension. There’s a pyramid, but the guards require a bribe of 2 funky gems before they’ll allow the heroes inside. In a nearby cave is comrade Pedro Plantain (a buff/debuff/status effects type) and one of the funky gems. Inside a building in the area the heroes find a robotic cardboard comrade named Robox (who can scan enemies, use multi-target special attacks, and hack computers via an appropriately silly minigame) along with the other funky gem. The guards accept the bribe, and the heroes discover Dr. Cube inside (up to no good, as expected). He unleashes his reptilian kaiju Dino Kang Jr, but the heroes stomp him and reach the end of the demo.

I completed the demo in about 3 hours while being a complete slowpoke (taking notes, stopping for a meal, etc.) but I’d estimate I spent about 2 hours actually playing the game; my heroes were levels 8-9. The game was polished and engaging enough that it didn’t feel like very long at all.

The writing is tight and focused, which is what a premise this silly really requires. The art is very attractive. Sprites, maps, and battle backgrounds have excellent polished pixel art with a consistent aesthetic. There are some buggy walls in the south part of the cave in the city, but otherwise it’s visually solid all around. The Shrooma Tango battle sprite in particular looks amazing. The music is appropriate and professional, and a few of the tunes are pretty catchy. The sound effects are great (especially ducks).

As opposed to random encounters there are slime-like monsters called Goobles that roam the maps and charge at the heroes, triggering combat when they make contact (Persona style). Heroes can use the R key to run on the world map, a feature I presume is intended for evading combat though I never had much luck evading anything. Combat itself is balanced, polished, and at times even challenging. Each character has clearly defined roles and skillsets with very little overlap, so they all feel useful. It was hard to pick my team because I wanted to use everyone!

Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy is one of the most polished games I’ve ever seen made with OHRRPGCE; it reads, looks, and sounds professional in every way. Nothing about its story or gameplay is mind-blowing or revelatory, but it’s a very tight and balanced retro-style JRPG that is simply enjoyable to play. I will gladly purchase the full version and do it all over again.
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Dr. Cube's a talkative sort.
Dr. Cube's a talkative sort.
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How you draw trees so good?
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The Wobbler
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Post by The Wobbler »

Thanks for the review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the full game when you have time to play it. I think playing the demo first is the right way to do it because many of the events you see in here play out totally different in the final game (except for the opening fight) and there's a spoiler related reason for it all.
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TheLordThyGod
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Post by TheLordThyGod »

The Wobbler wrote:Thanks for the review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the full game when you have time to play it. I think playing the demo first is the right way to do it because many of the events you see in here play out totally different in the final game (except for the opening fight) and there's a spoiler related reason for it all.
I was hoping to buy the full version before reviewing and voting for the contest, but have been strapped for cash and needed my life to hurry up and move on to things that aren't HOTOHR. I will review the full version when I get it.
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