NCS Preorder Synopsis
«©NCSX» When the first round of 32-bit console wars kicked off roughly 15 years ago, the Playstation had Toshinden in its corner and the Saturn had Sega's very own Virtua Fighter. If we were to judge a console's potential success solely on the quality of its first fighting game, we would have awarded the trophy to the Saturn. Toshinden was decent for its time but Virtua Fighter had depth. As it turns out, depth didn't mean squat.
Fast forward a few years and Toshinden reached four volumes in its canon along with a couple of gaming adjuncts but it was just one face in a crowded field of fighting games from every publisher. Even Square released a fighting game (Tobal) to test the genre. In those years, the Playstation became the 800-lb juggernaut of the gaming industry which mowed down our beloved Saturn like a combine slashes innocent stalks of wheat.
Fast forward many more years and Toshinden's making a re-appearance on the Wii. We're somewhat puzzled by its revival since the game never attracted the hardcore player and it never stood out once everyone started making fighting games back in the day. The new Toshinden is described as an "Easy Operation" fighter which means the controls are rudimentary without complicated moves or combos to bog down casual gamers. A new cast of characters is featured in the game including a blue-haired lad named Toji Shindo who slashes at foes with an ornate tapered blade, a pixie-ish pink-haired girl named Lilith, and a blonde dude named Carmine who fights with a sword in each hand. Based on previews released thus far, the action runs fast with most characters wielding some sort of bladed weapon. One girl fights with a book. The previews also show aerial juggling, cinematic super attacks, character transformations, and evasive maneuvers where a fighter swivels in a 180˚orbit around an opponent. We'll post our full impressions of the game once we have it in our hands this December. Early preorders will ship with a bonus Toshinden DVD (shown to the left) in 50% ratio. Preorders will ship on December 10, 2009 at JPY6800 or US$73.90.
