What's the damn fuss about Guardian Heroes?

[omer]

I can already feel the potential hate I'm going to receive from you readers.

Everyone who talks about great games for the Saturn always have to mention Guardian Heroes...
Guardian Heroes awesome this...
Guardian Heroes awesome that...

When I first installed a mod-chip to my Saturn one of the first games I downloaded was Guardian Heroes. I've read so many reviews about the game. After I have played it for 1 hour, I was in sheer disappointment. I took the CD out of the console and ever since then the Guardian Heroes has been sitting at the bottom of my massive Saturn CD stack.

So I asked myself, what is the damn fuss about Guardian Heroes?

Don't get me wrong the actual concept of an RPG/Adventure Side Scroller beat-em-up is great. The story is great and the graphics are just stunning! Not to mention the ability to pull of bad ass moves and combos unlike any other side scroller beat-em-up. So what's my problem?

Here's my problem with Guardian Heroes. The story mode is too slow for it to be a great side scroller beat-em-up.

I cannot emphasize any harder about the fact of how annoyingly slow and sluggish this game feels when it comes to the actual story mode. Fighting is slow, period. After playing Street Fighter Zero 3 this game pales in comparison simply because fighting in story mode is just way too slow for me to enjoy any of the experience this game has to offer.

Jumping from plane to plane. What I mean is that the game feels like it even gets slower when jumping to the foreground, mid ground, or background during fighting.

Another good word to describe this game is cluttered. There is just too much going on at once on screen causing massive lag making fighting frustrating. This is the main reason why I put the controller down.

Zooming in and out to fit everyone on screen is a great tool integrated into this game but it's another factor that contributes to the slow down of the game.

The game play speed (frame rate) consistently changes based on however much animation you have on screen. Which provokes high levels of anger.

Is it just me or does it feel like everyone is in your god damn way? I can't tell what the f_ck is going on because everyone is either in front of me or in my way at all times.

I'm not an RPG fan so I really dislike the long narratives constantly throughout the game. Feels like a thorn on my back. But this is not a reason why this game sucks to me.

At first I thought: Okay, this has to be just a bad CD copy because the game's slowness is inexcusable, but after burning another copy at slower speed with a different CD using a different CD burner software, I get the same exact results. I dont know...maybe it's just me but seriously no one ever mentioned about how slow this game generally is... This game is just way too slow for me to enjoy.

I'd rather play Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for Genesis, the ultimate side-scroller beat-em-up.

[elvis]

Treasure Fan Syndrome.

I think Radian Silvergun is pretty crap, and Ikaruga is average at best. Yet there are those who claim they're the second and third coming of Christ, simply because they have the Treasure logo on them.

People need to play games for their individual merit, rather than blind worship of a brand or development team.

[otaku]

I've played treasure games I disliked (I don't care for alot of their older and some of their newest stuff) but RS and guardian heroes and ikaruga are all excellent the best work treasure has done imo are these three

[Paul_B-C]

Yeah I'd agree about the Treasure fan syndrome thing, though I personally adore the few Treasure games I own: Ikaruga and Bangai-O Spirits.

The fact that their games often are very creative/unusual and really push a system to its limits are parts of the reasoning behind the fandom.

[fingersmaloy]

I agree that Guardian Heroes isn't actually that amazing, technically. There's severe slowdown and a lot of stuff they didn't need to put in there, like that giant ogre you can boss around. I also feel the game is severely hampered by the constant interruptions of the story, and frankly who ever plays Treasure games--or beat-'em-ups for that matter--for the story?

That said, the game's basic concept is something I think a lot of people dreamed about and that hasn't really been done again since then. It's a scrolling beat-'em-up with fighting game-like combat sensibilities. Juggling, magic moves executed via Street Fighter-style button combos.

I wish there were more games that tried it, since it seems like it'd be fairly easy to improve upon. The only similar thing that comes to mind is Tekken Force Mode from Tekken 3. That was pretty good.

[Anayo]

I've owned this game in the past and I'll concur that it's pretty overrated. On its own merits its pretty fun, but it does get kind of repetitive and has an agonizingly boring and pretentious storyline. I guess the reason people rave about it so much might be cause it's rare and it's a Saturn exclusive that's never been ported. The times I enjoyed Guardian Heroes most were when I put it away for a long time then got it back out and played with a friend, and it seemed novel and fresh again.

[marurun]

GH is one of the first Saturn games I owned and I loved it. I still think the game is fantastic. Yes, the story segments can sometimes drag. And yes, the action's a little on the slow side, but once you get further into the game it's necessary. You get pelted by such pain that if it wasn't that slow you'd get mauled and never have a chance. You come pretty close as it is. I suspect the speed of the game was matched to some of the later fights. It also helps when you start pumping points into the various characters to beef them up. Once you up their speed a little bit things really open up.

Another key to mastering the game is mastering doing the spell moves in addition to the fighting moves. Every character has such a wide range of combat abilities. Once you have a feel for the game and the game starts throwing beefier baddies at you you can pretty much bust loose. Character choice also plays a role. Han is a good beginner character but he's a little less interesting to fight with because of his more limited options. Randy and Ginjirou are more advanced characters who are a little more difficult to master but are much more fun, due to having a much more interesting set of spells and more combo-friendly attack moves. Nicore is an advanced character who feels clunky at first but has lots of hidden damage potential. She's a wild-card and is better to play as a challenge.

[corn619]

Different strokes for different folks man. I personally love Treasure games. Their old school but, are original in there own right.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

GH is okay, I didnt really care for RS or Ikaruga, for what its worth Ikaruga was better than RS.

If you are looking for beat-em-up action, try out some 3 Dirty Dwarves or Die Hard Arcade. For 3D fighting, can't get much etter than Fighters Megamix (which in essence is Virtua Fighter 2.5 plus Fighting Vipers) and for 2D Street Fighter Alpha 2 is amazing. If your looking to import X-Men vs Street Fighter FTW!!!

[Erik_Twice]

I too think Ikaruga is pretty boring. I tried it but I have way more fun playing Gradius or DoDonPachi.