Battle Arena Toshinden

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Battle Arena Toshinden
Eiji and Mondo duking it out on the U.S cover art.
Developer(s)	Tamsoft
Publisher(s)	SCEA
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Sega Saturn, DOS, Game Boy
Release date(s)	1994 (Japan), September 9, 1995 (North America)
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Media	CD-ROM

Battle Arena Toshinden (バトルアリーナ闘神伝, Batoru Arīna Tōshinden^?) is a weapons-based fighting game for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and PC. It was one of the first fighting games to boast polygonal characters in a 3D environment. It was an early killer game for the PlayStation, and Sony promoted it eagerly. However, they soon left the series, which was published by Playmates Interactive. By that time, fighting games like Tekken started emerging and Battle Arena Toshinden quickly declined in popularity. However it did spawn Battle Arena Toshinden 2, 3, and 4 along with many spin-offs and ports.

Battle Arena Toshinden was the first 3D weapons fighter, and was succeeded in spirit by Soul Edge and other games of the genre.

Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay 3 Characters 3.1 Initially playable characters 3.2 Unlockable characters 4 Reception 5 Other versions 5.1 Toshinden Remix (Sega Saturn) 5.2 Toshinden PC (PC) 5.3 Toshinden Game Boy (Game Boy) 6 Upcoming sequel 7 External links 8 References

[edit] Story

"Eight travelling fighters, brought together by a common destiny, now meet at the Battle Arena Toshinden[, a fighting tournament hosted by a mysterious organization known only as the "Secret Society"

Many years have passed since this tournament, known only to those in the underworld, was last held.

Some fighters have come for personal glory. Others have come to fight for those they love, but all will do their best to be victorious in this tournament that will decide their fortunes."

[edit] Gameplay

Each character has its own unique set of moves and a desperation attack that can only be used when the player has low energy (around 10% or less). The player is able to move in 3D using the L/R shoulder buttons, which makes them dodge projectile attacks, or get away from a dangerous spot, however, if they consistently move too far away from the arena, they will fall off it, resulting in a "ring out" and thus they lose the round.

Players move using the directional pad. Holding the backwards directional button allows the player to block basic attacks and reduces most of the damage from opponents' special moves. Players can also run by quickly tapping the forward directional button.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Initially playable characters

• Eiji Shinjo
• Kayin Amoh
• Sofia
• Rungo Iron
• Fo Fai
• Mondo
• Duke B. Rambert
• Ellis

[edit] Unlockable characters

• Gaia
• Sho Shinjo
• Cupido (Sega Saturn version only)
• Uranus (Game Boy version only)
• Earthworm Jim (PC version only)

[edit] Reception

Battle Arena Toshinden was awarded Best Fighting Game of 1995 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.^[1] However, during their 200th issue leadup, they also would list Battle Arena Toshinden as their single most overrated game and when asked if it was still a good game, replied with "Oh hell no."

Toh Shin Den was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon #221 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay did not rate the game, but Dee gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.^[2]

[edit] Other versions

Battle Arena Toshinden was also ported to a few other systems:

[edit] Toshinden Remix (Sega Saturn)

The original PSX game was ported by Nextech/Sega to the Sega Saturn under the name Toh Shin Den S in Japan and Battle Arena Toshinden Remix in the United States and Europe. A few new features were added, including an exclusive new character called Cupido and a different story mode.

[edit] Toshinden PC (PC)

Developed by Digital Dialect, this is a DOS port of the PSX version that adds an exclusive new character, Earthworm Jim, complete with his own unique arena music, but he only uses the moves of Rungo Iron. It also supports resolutions up to 640x480.

Interestingly, the PC port uses the Japanese PSX version's voices and music in all regions, unlike the original PSX version. There also exists a German specific version of the game, though the differences it has to the non-German version are unknown.

[edit] Toshinden Game Boy (Game Boy)

The first game was also ported to the Super Game Boy and was produced by Takara, named Nettou Toshinden in Japan. The game is based mostly on the original PlayStation version, however it includes a slightly altered story mode and an early appearance of the character Uranus and also Gaia sans armour.

[edit] Upcoming sequel

A new Toshinden game was unveiled in Weekly Famitsu in 2008. [1][2] It is being developed by DreamFactory^[3] for the Wii and as of this post has no connection to the previous titles story-wise that anyone outside of Takara or Tamsoft knows. It is known as War Budokai, roughly translated as War Tournament. While the past Toshinden installments have featured mainly weapons-based combat, War Budokai will feature hand-to-hand combat alongside the weapons-based battles. A total of 8 characters have been unveiled in official illustrations.[3][4] An official release date has yet to be announced.

[edit] External links

• Battle Arena Toshinden at Central Park Media (Archive)
• Battle Arena Toshinden at MobyGames

[edit] References

v • d • e Battle Arena Toshinden series Main series Battle Arena Toshinden · 2 · 3 · 4 Spin-offs Battle Arena Nitoshinden Other media Battle Arena Toshinden (anime) Characters List of Battle Arena Toshinden characters