As a former teenage weeb turned adult weeb, I feel like there's no better game system for people like me than the Sega Mega Drive. PC-Engine comes close, but I'm giving the Mega Drive the edge because I grew up with it as a kid, and as I got older, emulators were a lot better than what the PCE had on offer (I didn't know how to steal Magic Engine). In any case, the Mega Drive always seemed to have something that appealed to anyone obsessed with anything that was even remotely anime, including multiple licensed anime titles, as well as stuff that looked like it was based on some obscure series; stuff like Vixen 357, and the game I'll be talking about today: Battle Mania. Battle Mania, or Trouble Shooter as it was called here in the States (I will be calling it Battle Mania for the rest of this piece), is a hell of a game by an odd developer: Vic Tokai. Vic Tokai are mostly known for Clash At Demonhead and Golgo 13 on the NES, and also known for me being a stupid kid and thinking that Vic Tokai was literally just some guy named Vic and not a major telecommunications company that is still in business today. They didn't develop or publish any other shooters besides Battle Mania and its sequel, which is odd given the quality of these games, you would think Vic Tokai would want to really get in on the shooter craze of the late-80s to mid-90s. So what makes this game so special, especially compared to so many other heavy hitters on the Mega Drive? A lot of things, actually. The first thing is the amount of charm and personality on display at any given moment. A lot of shooters tended to be either a spaceship fighting aliens, or a dude with magic powers fighting medieval fantasy creatures. Battle Mania gives us something different: girls. Specifically, two bounty hunters named Madison and Crystal. Not only that, but you play as both of them at once, with Madison being the one that gets the weapon upgrades, collects the power ups, and takes all the damage, while Crystal acts as a human version of an STG satellite (ala other classic shooters such as Gradius). Another thing that sets this game apart is that with a button press, you can direct Crystal to either shoot at threats behind the two girls, or in front, doubling the fire power against larger enemies. It's a small thing, being able to adjust your fire on the fly, but it adds so much. The main thing that sets Battle Mania apart from other games is that it's very lighthearted. Lots of sight gags and fourth-wall humor. It does not take itself seriously at all, and features jokes that are actually pretty good, especially considering the time period, where you were lucky to even get a coherent sentence. This is what makes Battle Mania what it is. See, games tend to be fun; you turn on the game, press some buttons, and enjoy yourself the whole time. Sometimes, though, you get a game that is fun fun. A game that you enjoy beyond what you do with the controller. With the lighthearted atmosphere, the bright colors, the jokes that are actually funny why is it so hard for games to actually be funny, Battle Mania is a good game before you get into all of the mechanical things that make games good. Like, yeah, the shooting is fun and the levels are well made, but there's something that I love about this game where two girls with guns defeat an ancient evil and it's all in a day's work, another day at the office. It's like an anime OVA, only without the cool ultraviolence and brief nudity, but it's somehow still really cool despite that. One more thing, hold start on the player two controller before turning on the Mega Drive, and you get this little scene (only in the Japanese version):It's Madison stomping on a Super Famicom. Battle Mania's producer was pretty pissed about Vic Tokai always giving a higher budget to Nintendo games over Sega ones, so he had this put in.
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