Together Retro: Guardian Heroes

[Breetai]

I guess I accidently joined this one, since I had a buddy over a few nights ago and we played the shit out of this in co-op for a couple hours.

Han rules, the ninja guy is fun, but weak, and I can't stand to play as anyone else.


(US Saturn version)

[wip3outguy7]

Well, we didn't get a chance to play any of the Saturn version at the meet. I'm tempted to take it up to work and force phaedrus to play on break.

It's all about Randy. Crazy staff combos that launch enemies into the air, then tagging them on the way down with the fiery Nando command.

[Ivo]

I have now finished this with all characters (using at most 1 continue), seen all endings, and 1 cc'd two of the hardest paths (IMO) with Randy (spoilered).

In addition to the ending where you fight the Sky Spirit 2nd form, I now managed to 1 cc the path to the ending where you fight Valgar. Valgar is easier than the Sky Spirit boss, but the last stage leading up to him is a huge pain, you still have to fight the Angel / Sky Spirit 1st form before Valgar. IMO the lead up to Valgar is the hardest path of the entire story.

I think Randy is the most powerful playable character - but I may be biased as he is certainly my favourite. I guess Han can be more powerful if you take the path that gets him the sword, as that gives him almost the equivalent of 20 extra level ups AND burning effect on sword attacks as well. But even then I can easily imagine him having more trouble in certain levels than Randy. Randy has the best spells (I now love the Ice pool, it is very powerful when used well). Surprisingly, he has possibly the best array of physical combos (!), even if they may not do so much damage he can refill MP to unleash further destruction and accumulate level ups. On top of all that he has Nando which helps even more with combos and you can basically send a fireball without MP, very useful for certain bosses that are hard to combo. Also you can send Nando fireball while casting lightning.

Serena is very good, and possibly the 2nd best (discounting Han with sword).
Coincidentally (a bit like Randy) the starting levels can be a bit tricky to survive (all others get Serena helping them until you get the Undead Hero), but that also tends to get her more experience so after you get to assign the attributes for the first time she is really strong. She has very good spells and very good combos.

I think Nicole doesn't get enough respect. Her healing ability is extremely good to do a 1 cc run, and if you use Barrier well it can quickly dispatch even the toughest enemies.

Han has very good physical attacks with very large reach. So he is good even if you don't take the sword upgrade. He still has the fireball spell so he can spam that to get level ups and then refill with combos and spam some more. It is very possible to clear entire screens of enemies with the Undead Hero and Han just standing to one of the sides and letting the enemies queue up to be skewered with long range sword attacks by both.

Ginjirou is IMO the weakest of all characters. He does have an extremely strong spell (the lightning "wave" he shoots from his hand). Maybe I just couldn't get into his style, but he is the one I had most trouble with by far.

Ivo.

[wip3outguy7]

I think Nicole doesn't get enough respect. Her healing ability is extremely good to do a 1 cc run, and if you use Barrier well it can quickly dispatch even the toughest enemies.

Among Guardian Heroes veterans, it is well known that Nicole is the most powerful character in the game. Well, she is in the original Saturn release and in the XBLA original mode re-release. She's just straight up broken. Her force bubble is cancel-able and it makes her invincible against anything. You can also use it to crush enemies against the side of the screen. You can lay waste to bosses in seconds with her this way.

She also has an infinitely sustainable MP/HP gain technique. Her "eye of god" move will take away some HP, but in a crowd it will almost completely refill her MP via physical attack. A quick cast of healing will ensure she never dies.

Witness this man mowing through the game with her.

[wip3outguy7]

Let's get this started:

Hans is the man...for the first three or four levels. It seems like no matter which path I take, he just does not cut it once you get towards the end game. Is there any trick I am missing to mitigate his lack of magic?

Crowd control with his standing fierce. It reaches far and will knock most enemies back. Heard them up and swat. You can beat the game pretty easily using this tactic with him and Serena.

[ExedExes]

I'd be playing this a bit more if the emulation wasn't so horribly lousy. SSF is the only I've been getting to work on it, and as I tried to do a playthrough with Han it just froze up at Stage 6. I'm thinking maybe another path needs to be taken, but I'm gonna do that with Randy because I think he's got a good balance of attack and magic.

[Ivo]

Among Guardian Heroes veterans, it is well known that Nicole is the most powerful character in the game. Well, she is in the original Saturn release and in the XBLA original mode re-release. She's just straight up broken. Her force bubble is cancel-able and it makes her invincible against anything. You can also use it to crush enemies against the side of the screen. You can lay waste to bosses in seconds with her this way.

She also has an infinitely sustainable MP/HP gain technique. Her "eye of god" move will take away some HP, but in a crowd it will almost completely refill her MP via physical attack. A quick cast of healing will ensure she never dies.

Witness this man mowing through the game with her.

Yes, if you get the hang of nailing someone to the side of the screen with Barrier they are gone (and that is even if they are blocking). I managed to do that to one of the bosses. I didn't know you could cancel the Barrier move and most importantly I did not realize it would get so freaking HUGE with Intelligence! With that huge bubble it is much easier to nail someone (and everyone) to the edge.

[wip3outguy7]

Yes, if you get the hang of nailing someone to the side of the screen with Barrier they are gone (and that is even if they are blocking). I managed to do that to one of the bosses. I didn't know you could cancel the Barrier move and most importantly I did not realize it would get so freaking HUGE with Intelligence! With that huge bubble it is much easier to nail someone (and everyone) to the edge.

Hehe yeah. With high intelligence and luck stats, Nicole will make your Saturn beg for mercy.

I think the cancel command is to tap block twice.

[SpaceBooger]

I played this back in the day and remember getting far. I have tried a couple of times playing the "real" way (as Flake would say) on my Saturn and I suck.
I don't remember every using any strategy and only button mashing... this is not working for me now.
So now I'm going to check out the FAQ posted earlier in this thread and learn some moves then I play again this week. I was hoping to beat this game this month, but now I'm doubting it.

[dreamcast4ever83]

I love this game and have played though the saturn version many many times and got leveled to the extream so Im really excited to download this and play co-op I had no isea we could play together.

Im gonna download asap I would love to play with everyone