Shao Lin (PS1) - Is it worth importing?

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

I remember back in the days of reading magazines, this was one of the fighting games that I wanted to play so bad (along with Thrill Kill), what really sold me was the ability to play 8-players at once! Although you can select any of the characters but a Mokujin knock-off character but you select all the fighting styles, which I though was really cool. Sadly, the game was never released in the states (along with the cancelation of Thrill Kill, I was sad).

So yeah, I am thinking of importing the game from Europe, and all I am asking is...is it worth it?

[donssword]

Its an interesting game, though not remarkable. I think, in its context and period within PS1 history, it's incredible, but not as exciting as I thought it would be. I think Wu Tang delivers better on the promise of a multiplayer fighting game than Shao Lin. I played it about 10 years ago, and still own it.

It has a nice high-res 2 player mode that just pops with sharpness, much like Tobal 2 did, but I believe the art is mostly bitmaps, unlike Tobal 2. I ran my PS1 using the video-in ports on a PowerMac 7600, and then using a Redant VGA box on a PowerMac G4 tower back in the day--the high-res mode looked really nice, but was only in 2 player vs.

It claims to be a deep fighter, but I found it to be simplistic, without a lot of variety in moves--certainly not as deep as a Street Fighter or Tekken, or even Wu Tang. I was a big Soul Blade/Dead or Alive fan on the PS1, and this game does not offer as much in terms of fighting mechanics. There are no elaborate cut scenes, and while the artwork is consistent, it comes off as a little generic--maybe its just that it has a very specific style applied to every aspect of the game, without wide ranging variety/strangeness found in other fighters. I guess I would say it lacks the passion found in the more "dramatic" fighters.

The 8 player multiplayer means everyone uses a generic wooden practice dummy as their character--I might be mistaken, but I think this is true with 6 to 8 players. 5 and below you have normal skins--I forget the specifics. There is no slow down that I recall--I enjoyed playing the 2 player high res mode against the computer.

It offers a rudimentary RPG--just walking from area to area and getting into fights, usually with more than one enemy at a time (I got bored and did not finish). The enemies are smarter than your average PS2 Dynasty Warrior thug. There are multiple stages, with a large variety of visual differences between them. You start as a kid with almost no moves and slowly grow to adulthood.

It played nice with the old Connectix PS1 emulator. At one point I pulled the ISO file and ran it thru a converter to change it to NTSC and it looked great. The EU booklet is B&W and in multiple languages, but does not offer much content, and has weight only because it features multiple languages. The cover insert is boring, muddied, and uninspired. The back of the box is weak due to its inclusion of too many languages--I wish the packaging had been more dramatic--it would have helped to suck the customer in the the Shao Lin universe a little more.

I would challenge you to decide if your think your money should be spent elsewhere, or are you comfortable playing fighting games like Kensei Sacred Fist that don't necessarily represent the best of the best, but have interesting mechanics. For a PS1 fan who loves 3D fighting games and who doesn't mind spending the money, its pretty cool.