ASTRA SUPERSTARS tiny review
pierrot-X
graphics, great backgrounds (some have this
hard-to-explain-unless-you-see-it photorealistic shimmering water
effect), crazy combos, great animation, likable characters (a cute
angel, a "Little Prince"-type, and for those SNK diehards, a Samurai
Showdown-esque one), and -- as far as I can discern -- the lack of any
"dragon punch/fireball/hurricane kick/yoga flame/sonic boom/flash
kick" controller motions in order to produce special moves!
Now, I consider myself a fairly average player (i.e., I can do special
moves with ease, including the more complex SNK KOF ones, I can do
combos, but don't expect me to pull off King's 15-hit Tekken 3 combo)
when it comes to fighting games, so why, do you ask, do I love this
game? Because it's another VIDEO GAME that my girlfriend (not a very
avid gamer at all). Guys, you all know what I'm talkin' about...
there's only so much Puzzle Bobble or Puzzle Fighter (or in my case,
Shanghai: Triple Threat) a fellah can take, you know? The simplicity
of just pressing ONE button to see a fireball of some sort, and TWO
buttons (B+Y or C+Z) for a super-duper special... my girlfriend ate it
up. Very fun.
Don't fret, because this girlfriend factor is also applicable to the
kid brother or kid sister in your family. Heck, I would even go so
far as to say that your parents, if you still live with them, would
enjoy this game as well.
Must dash -- Pierrot-X
Mark & Michelle Wood
pierrot-X <pier...@compleatbellairs.com> wrote in article
<35cafdb4...@news.visus.com>...
> Just bought this game from NCSX... I love it. Quick loading, good
> graphics, great backgrounds (some have this
> hard-to-explain-unless-you-see-it photorealistic shimmering water
> effect), crazy combos, great animation, likable characters (a cute
> angel, a "Little Prince"-type, and for those SNK diehards, a Samurai
> Showdown-esque one)
Could you give a little more info? How many characters and a brief
description of each? How many bosses and are they playable? How many
specials does each character have (or an average)? What game modes are
available (training, versus, arcade, tournament, team battle)? Support for
1mb/4mb ram?
Thanks for any help you can post!
Skid
Raymond McKeithen II
Mark & Michelle Wood wrote in message <01bdc258$92d9cda0$9f69d9ce@legend>...
>
>Support for
>1mb/4mb ram?
>
>Thanks for any help you can post!
>
>Skid
I don't have the game, so this is the only question I can answer. Saturn Fan
says it supports both cartridges. I take that to mean that it only uses 1M
in either case, but I'm not positive on that.
remove *2* nospam's for email...
Raymond
pierrot-X
Yes, the 4MB works fine (dunno about the 1MB one, as I haven't checked
yet). The loading is quite fast.... not as fast as SF Vs. X-Men
(although someone may refute me) but definitely faster than Pocket
Fighter. I believe (trying to do this from memory) there are 8 main
characters in the game, plus a hidden one ("Test Man" ... a hilarious
fighter that looks like a stick man drawn in the style of a child's
crayon scrawl!). Others include the aforementioned angel, SNK-esque
Samurai, "little Prince(ss?)", a Count Dracula vampire-type, a
cutesy-wootsy girl in Santa Claus garb (?), a huge, hulking behemoth
(but friendly looking), a witch, and an all-purpose-looking fighter.
Were there are any questions? Let me know.
By the way... and keeping with the "fighting" tangent... check out a
new site my friend and I have been working on (it's sort of a
celebrity deathmatch brawl-fest using characters from videogames,
movies, TV, comic books, cartoons, classic literature, etc.):
-- Thanks!
jona...@pierrot-x.com
Mark & Michelle Wood
pierrot-X <pier...@compleatbellairs.com> wrote
> Yes, the 4MB works fine (dunno about the 1MB one, as I haven't checked
> yet). The loading is quite fast.... not as fast as SF Vs. X-Men
> (although someone may refute me) but definitely faster than Pocket
> Fighter. I believe (trying to do this from memory) there are 8 main
> characters in the game, plus a hidden one ("Test Man" ... a hilarious
> fighter that looks like a stick man drawn in the style of a child's
> crayon scrawl!). Others include the aforementioned angel, SNK-esque
> Samurai, "little Prince(ss?)", a Count Dracula vampire-type, a
> cutesy-wootsy girl in Santa Claus garb (?), a huge, hulking behemoth
> (but friendly looking), a witch, and an all-purpose-looking fighter.
I played AS today. Not bad, dunno if I really want it or not though. Good
descriptions on the characters! "A huge, hulking behemoth (but friendly
looking)", I couldn't have said it better. All of the characters have
exaggerated movements and cartoon-elastic limbs when striking, even more
than Victor from Nightwarriors. The specials can encompass the entire
screen! The backgrounds have a lot of detail and look great but don't have
much going on back there. The controls seem to be very simple compared to
other fighters though I didn't know entirely what I was doing in the short
time that I played it. Animation is much better than Groove On Fight but
not quite as good as Waku Waku 7 (though everything is much bigger once the
action starts).
I didn't have much trouble beating the computer until I got to Test Neku
(Test Man?). He reminded me of that little Volkswagon logo guy. I was
playing as Cupe (the friendly behemoth) and every time I thought I had the
upper hand, he got "testy" and started to seriously whomp on my butt!
Skid
Charles Doane
>
> pierrot-X wrote:
> > game? Because it's another VIDEO GAME that my girlfriend (not a very
> > avid gamer at all). Guys, you all know what I'm talkin' about...
> > there's only so much Puzzle Bobble or Puzzle Fighter (or in my case,
> > Shanghai: Triple Threat) a fellah can take, you know? The simplicity
> > of just pressing ONE button to see a fireball of some sort, and TWO
> > buttons (B+Y or C+Z) for a super-duper special... my girlfriend ate it
> > up. Very fun.
>
> Bobble/Puzzle Fighter with the girl. And don't even remind me of when I
> got Bubble Symphony! Couldn't play my games for a week! The same thing
> is currently happening with my Neo Geo and Magical Drop 2. I wish I
> could play Real Bout 2, but whenever I get near the Neo all I hear is
> "oh, is it time for me to play Magical Drop?" AHHHHHHH!!!!
>
> This "fighting game that girls might like" category is looking good
> these days. Because of her love for Puzzle Fighter (and an appreciation
> for the character designs of the Vampire series) my girlfriend LOVES
> Pocket Fighter. I'm hoping she'll get good enough to want to move on to
> more traditional fighters (a natural progression to Vampire Savior and
> SF Alpha 2?) and eventually be good enough so I can have some tough
> competition when SF Zero 3 comes to the home systems! One can only
> hope.....
>
> As for Astra Superstars - I'm a HUGE fighting fan and play most
> fighters for Neo or Saturn. What would it compare to? I thought Galaxy
> Fight was decent, but I wouldn't buy a new version of it now. Believe
> it or not, I NEVER played Waku Waku 7 (and a question of its own - is
> WW7 worth trying?). So what's the good and bad of ASS <-- (he he, funny
> abbreviation!) Thanks to anyone with input on this new fighter.....
>
> - jar...@memphis.edu
Anyone comparing Astra Superstars to Waku Waku 7 has NOT played the game.
The graphics in Astra Superstars are MUCH better, the gameplay is VERY
different. Astra Superstars is a "floating" fighter, there is no floor.
Attacks can be dodged by floating above OR below them. The fighters are
"floating" in midair, a type of game that's unusual in a 2-D environment.
Psychic Force comes to mind, but that's a PS game, not a Saturn one.
As for Waku Waku 7 being "worth trying", my opinion is YES. The backgrounds
on WW7 are admittedly pixellated, and unispired, but the gameplay is solid
and it's full of humor and fun. Throwing a cat at an enemy (one of Dandy J's
attacks) is pretty funny, you'd have to see it to believe it.
Astra Superstars, as near as I can tell, is in NO WAY related to the Waku Waku 7
game. It's GORGEOUS 2-d, as it OUGHT to be, it uses the 4-meg expansion.
The game IS worthwhile, but Astra Superstars doesn't take itself very seriously,
and it's an over-the-top brawler, along the lines of WW7, or VF Kids.
The attacks are probably "TOO EASY", but I'm playing on the default setting,
the option*is* there to crank it up. Astra Superstars is a GOOD game, and
it's especially well-suited to people who memorize combo attacks.
--
eppur si muove... 'and yet it does move'... Galileo,
after recanting his assertion of the Earth's motion.
Raymond McKeithen II
jarnone wrote in message <35C5E8...@memphis.edu>...
> Very funny. And VERY true! I have had my share of Puzzle
>Bobble/Puzzle Fighter with the girl. And don't even remind me of when I
>got Bubble Symphony! Couldn't play my games for a week! The same thing
>is currently happening with my Neo Geo and Magical Drop 2. I wish I
>could play Real Bout 2, but whenever I get near the Neo all I hear is
>"oh, is it time for me to play Magical Drop?" AHHHHHHH!!!!
>
> This "fighting game that girls might like" category is looking good
>these days. Because of her love for Puzzle Fighter (and an appreciation
>for the character designs of the Vampire series) my girlfriend LOVES
>Pocket Fighter. I'm hoping she'll get good enough to want to move on to
>more traditional fighters (a natural progression to Vampire Savior and
>SF Alpha 2?) and eventually be good enough so I can have some tough
>competition when SF Zero 3 comes to the home systems! One can only
>hope.....
>
Heh. Just don't let her see the winning quotes in English mode in Vampire
Savior... You'll probably never get her to like any SF though; I've never
liked any of them--for a not-great fighting game player like me, the control
is too precise, and the specials seem to 'boring' compared to a Vampire or
X-Men game. Since you're sweetie will probably never be a truly 'serious'
fighting-game player, I suspect she might have the same opinion...
> As for Astra Superstars - I'm a HUGE fighting fan and play most
>fighters for Neo or Saturn. What would it compare to? I thought Galaxy
>Fight was decent, but I wouldn't buy a new version of it now. Believe
>it or not, I NEVER played Waku Waku 7 (and a question of its own - is
>WW7 worth trying?). So what's the good and bad of ASS <-- (he he, funny
>abbreviation!) Thanks to anyone with input on this new fighter.....
>
> - jar...@memphis.edu
All I can tell you about 'ASS' is what I've seen from pictures. The
character designs are varied and unique (based on the pics my personal
favorite would be the girl in green with the 'witch hat'). Some of the
special attacks make a *huge* character portrait overlay the screen, a bit
like the special attacks in MvSF.
I'll let the people who've actually played the game give you more info...
Raymond McKeithen II
Charles Doane wrote in message <35D2887E...@primenet.com>...
>Anyone comparing Astra Superstars to Waku Waku 7 has NOT played the game.
>The graphics in Astra Superstars are MUCH better, the gameplay is VERY
>different. Astra Superstars is a "floating" fighter, there is no floor.
>Attacks can be dodged by floating above OR below them. The fighters are
>"floating" in midair, a type of game that's unusual in a 2-D environment.
>
>Psychic Force comes to mind, but that's a PS game, not a Saturn one.
>
>As for Waku Waku 7 being "worth trying", my opinion is YES. The backgrounds
>on WW7 are admittedly pixellated, and unispired, but the gameplay is solid
>and it's full of humor and fun. Throwing a cat at an enemy (one of Dandy
J's
>attacks) is pretty funny, you'd have to see it to believe it.
>
>Astra Superstars, as near as I can tell, is in NO WAY related to the Waku
Waku 7
>game. It's GORGEOUS 2-d, as it OUGHT to be, it uses the 4-meg expansion.
>
>The game IS worthwhile, but Astra Superstars doesn't take itself very
seriously,
>and it's an over-the-top brawler, along the lines of WW7, or VF Kids.
>
> The attacks are probably "TOO EASY", but I'm playing on the default
setting,
>the option*is* there to crank it up. Astra Superstars is a GOOD game, and
>it's especially well-suited to people who memorize combo attacks.
>
I think the only reason 'ASS' is being mentioned with Galaxy Fight and Waku
Waku 7 is because they were all made by Sunsoft, and they do all share that
whacked-out character design. I also read somewhere (but can't verify) that
'ASS' and WW7 were done by the same programming team.
I *haven't* played the game, so I've got a question for those of you who
have. Since Charles mentioned here the 'floating' aspect, would this be
comparable in any way to the 'in air' parts of the SFC Dragonball Z games?
From what's been said here, 'ASS' is a much better game than those (I hated
those Dragonball games), but I'm just trying to come up with a frame of
reference. I'm aware of Psychic Force, but never actually having seen or
played it, that comparison doesn't help much. ^_^;
One other question: Someone mentioned that the game was 'high-res'. Does
this mean the game actually runs in the Saturn's 'high-resolution' mode? If
so, it would be the only 2D 'action' game that I know of that does so. [For
the sake of certain people, I used 'action' because I know that Columns '97
runs in high-res, but I'm not talking about that... besides, everyone knows
Columns is a shooter ;) ]
Mark & Michelle Wood
Charles Doane <gdo...@primenet.com> wrote
> Anyone comparing Astra Superstars to Waku Waku 7 has NOT played the game.
> The graphics in Astra Superstars are MUCH better, the gameplay is VERY
> different. Astra Superstars is a "floating" fighter, there is no floor.
> Attacks can be dodged by floating above OR below them. The fighters are
> "floating" in midair, a type of game that's unusual in a 2-D environment.
>
> Psychic Force comes to mind, but that's a PS game, not a Saturn one.
I would say the closest comparison to the floating style of AS would be
Dragonball Z on the 16-bit systems (or DBZ Ultimate 22 on PSX/Saturn). Any
time you were on the high level (ie, flying), your character was in mid-air
and could move relatively freely up and down but always springing back to
the "mid" section of the screen. AS is similar to this but of course the
attacks are much simpler to execute, the characters better animated and
more elastic, the action is faster, and the supers are outrageous in
comparison to any of the 16-bit DBZ games.
That said, I was left feeling a little disappointed with AS. I would
rather play DBZ on Megadrive or DBZ2 on Super Famicom. The fact that you
can't fly "away" was what made Psychic Force somewhat disappointing to me
(battles should have been free form like the demo battle). DBZ Legends had
the range but also oversimplified (ie, boring) controls. AS seems to me to
have a little of both of these problems, despite some great visuals.
Skid
Darrius Joiner
didn't see my post. I like Astra Superstars, it's a good game that can stand on
it's own. Simplistic but there is some depth to the gameplay. Use the 4MB RAM
cart which delivers awesome animation, super fast loading times, SFX, and music.
All my friends who have played it liked it enough to buy a copy. Is it KOF'97 or
X-Men vs. SF? Of course not, not it is a good stand alone fighter in it's own
right. Something to tide you over until M vs. SF. Published by Sunsoft, via the
Santa Claus development team (never heard of them before). And please no Capcom
fan-boy posts of how this game is inferior to X-Men vs. SF! It's a decent title
that deserves some gameplay (dig up my post if you can, I talked about this
already). This game doesn't even compare to WakuWaku7......
FRANK CHAUSTOWICH
whichever earlier poster said it has a "spazzy" combo system is dead on
the mark with this one. The lack of special move motions will turn some
fighting fanatics off, I'm thinking, but IMO it's a great change of pace
from snapping my wrists from some of the KOF moves...
There IS a bit of depth to this fighter, however, and the graphics
certainly don't suck!
I really hope a FAQ gets made for this game-- there's enough English to
play the game, but a lot of stuff's in Japanese-- like the options menu.
I have a feeling that I'm missing some key points.
Any help from our Japanese speaking friends?
Terry Freedman
<fch...@home.com> wrote:
> I FINALLY got my copy early this afternoon, and I like it so far;
> whichever earlier poster said it has a "spazzy" combo system is dead on
> the mark with this one. The lack of special move motions will turn some
> fighting fanatics off, I'm thinking, but IMO it's a great change of pace
> from snapping my wrists from some of the KOF moves...
That was me. I believe I was the first to post any info on this game,
since I'm pretty sure I recieved my copy earlier than the rest of you.
But then...who cares? Let's talk about the game! :)
>
> There IS a bit of depth to this fighter, however, and the graphics
> certainly don't suck!
I definitely agree with you here. At first I was dissapointed that there
were no specials, but after playing it, I didn't mind. This is a VERY
unique fighter, and that's a good thing.
>
> I really hope a FAQ gets made for this game-- there's enough English to
> play the game, but a lot of stuff's in Japanese-- like the options menu.
> I have a feeling that I'm missing some key points.
I'd like translations of the endings, personally, and also how to fight
"My Angel". I'm sure it has to do with what questions you answer, but...
Lee