Genre:Fighting
Developer:Treasure
System:Mega Drive
A little backstory, I have been a fan of YYH since it was on Adult Swim oh so many years ago. I remembered hearing about this game and thought "oh hey that will be cool", I downloaded the rom and I HATED IT. Nothing about it seemed fun at all, it felt clunky and dated. But I recently got Wii homebrew and thought "oh I will give it another chance", since it seems like everyone loses their shit over this game. I played it, I learned more about it. I got into it. I'm impressed, how impressed? continue reading to find out.
Story: No story really, think of it as a "dream match" type game from the KOF series or something. Characters that have never even met and exist in different storylines all fighting against eachother.
Gameplay: This game is a 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 fighter, which means that up to 4 players can join in and cause unholy chaos. If you are familiar with Smash Bros or Guilty Gear Isuka then you will know what to expect. There are 11 characters, each with their own unique move sets. Everything plays like a 2d fighter, with special attack motions and super attacks and all that good stuff. You have a spirit meter and a regular life meter. Using special attacks uses up your spirit meter so you may need to recharge. The controls are simple, with a light attack, a heavy attack, a block button and you can dash and even jump in and out of the background like in Fatal Fury to make those 4 player matches easier, or if you just need to avoid an attack. The controls are excellent, that, combined with a really fun and deep combo system which can lead to some silly juggle combos this one plays like a dream. It's just so damn SATISFYING to land a long juggle combo with a buddy, or knocking out your opponent in midair and still juggling them in slow motion, their cries of agony echoing in your mind with each successive hit! SEX I TELL YOU! SEX!!
Graphics: The game looks really nice, not as gorgeous as the other games Treasure made for the Gen/MD but it still looks good. Backgrounds are so-so, recreating scenery from the series well enough. Character sprites are really detailed, they are small too, they don't fill up the entire screen or anything but still look great. The whole thing moves at a fluid framerate, I know a lot of fighters for the Gen/MD either suck or are plagued by slowdown or clunky controls, with this, SF2, and maaaaybe Fatal Fury 2 being the exceptions.
This game looks as smooth as it plays, with little to no slowdown even in 4 player mode. B+
Sound: I thought it was really cool how they crammed in so many voice samples for each character, showing once again that Treasure goes the extra mile in what they do. Music is decent, in the heat of a battle the music starts to get lost in the voices and punching and explosion sounds. It isn't too amazing but still solid. I think the game overall sounds great though. B+
Overall: I highly HIGHLY recommend you play this. It's a blast with 4 players and is a very solid fighter. Get some friends together and have at it. Overall I give YuYu Hakusho:Makyo Toitsusen 9.8 SHOTOGUNNNNNS out of 10.
An underappreciated classic. PLAY IT NOW.
