Game #930: Star Gladiator Episode I - Final Crusade

  Now THIS is how you make a Star Wars fighting game.

 Star Gladiator Episode I - Final Crusade is the Star Wars game Masters of Teras Kasi wanted to be, and.... I also think it might be one of Capcom's hidden gems. Pretty much nobody talks about Star Gladiator, or its sequel Plasma Sword, anymore... and it's a shame, because I thought it was pretty dope!

 I'm not being facetious, this game wears its inspiration on its sleeve, the main character, Hayato, is pretty much Luke, Bilstein, the big bad, is pretty much Darth Vader, we even get a girl with a weird-twin-tailed haircut, a loveable rogue and a Chewbacca wannabe. There are 9 basic characters and 3 unlockable characters for a total of 12. Hayato, June and Gerelt are the only 'normal' characters, the rest are all alien weirdos... including a double-edged spear-thing wielding alien Kappa. I am not making this up, this game's roster is all kinds of weird, for good or bad.

 What really struck my fancy was how much fun it felt to play. The game uses a combination of five-button attack strings as well as special moves. It also borrows Soul Calibur's(Blade, at the time) control scheme, having a vertical slash, horizontal slash, kick and even a block button, and, why not, even ring outs. Heck, most characters fight using some kind of bladed-laser weapon. Regardless, it's pretty fast, and the actions flows very smoothly. The five-attack strings system is particularly interesting, and it's not like you need to commit to the full string, you can just stop pressing buttons if your enemy dodged or blocked. This simplicity makes it very easy to just pick up and play, and, if you ask me, it's a much better alternative to modern day's autocombos.

 On another note, the loading times are really fast, surprising for a Capcom PS1 fighter, and the graphics aren't half bad either. It is no Tekken 3, but it gets the job done, and some stages even have 3-D objects moving in the background, without hampering the framerate. Impressive!

 Where the game takes a hit is in its content, or lack there off. Only Arcade, Team Battle, Training and Versus available, and characters don't even have endings. Well, they do, if you fulfill special conditions, but all you get is a boring text-scroll.

 Far from Capcom's best effort on the console, heck, it ain't even their best 3-D fighter on the PS1, but this game has certain charm coupled with a solid fighting system that makes it memorable and quite fun. That said, the character roster IS weird, which is probably one of the biggest reasons the series fell into obscurity nowadays.

 7.0