» Upon
booting, the game shows the various girls such as
Kanu and Ryomou in 3D fighting action that's spooled
from the game along with anime sequences of the
girls which are mixed with the in-game battling. The
show lasts for about 90 seconds.
» The title screen features the following game
mode selections:
STORY MODE / Choose a character from six
choices and experience their unique stories
MISSION MODE / Rage through 50 missions with
targeted objectives
???? / Needs to be unlocked before selectable
???? / Needs to be unlocked before selectable
OPTION / Load/Save data, set Difficulty
Level, etc
» If you play as Sonsoku Hakufu, her cousin Shuyu
Koukin appears and speaks to Ryomou. The dialogue is
accompanied by voice acting provided by the actors
from the animation series. Sonsaku joins the
conversation and she and Shuyu eventually go outside
where they're met by Chouhi Ekitoku who's best
described as a mushroom-haircut girl with red eyes
and Sailormoon outfit. Inner power in the form of
blue hazy light wells up within Sonsaku and a battle
against four school girls in matching blue/white
outfits starts.
» Movement is controlled through the L-Analog and
the button commands are as follows:
TRIANGLE / High kick
SQUARE / Punch
CIRCLE / Special attack
R1-TRIGGER / Guard
L1-TRIGGER / Recover health
» The schoolgirls are fairly aggressive and will
gang up on poor Sonsaku with a volley of punches and
kicks. They also block blows and mix up the action.
Once they're beaten, Chouhi Ekitoku appears and
engages Sonsaku in a one-to-one battle. She's a
patsy however and after the battle, you're graded on
your overall efforts, hit percentage, and time of
battle.
» Between battles, the points that you've earned
may be used to upgrade Sonsaku's skills. You'll also
be prompted to save your progress to memory card
after each successful bout.
» After defeating Chouhi, a new character named
Cicada enters the scene and speaks to the assembled
group which includes Ryofu Housen. Later in
recovery, Sonsaku speaks to her cousin and Ryomou.
However, after the interaction, Sonsaku's off to
battle again where she faces off against another
four schoolgirls that regenerate a few times before
their bosswoman appears. This time it's Ryomou who
swaggers in with her trademark French maid's outfit
and eyepatch. She's not much of a fight either but
maybe she's holding back.
» The next battle pits Sonsaku against four male
bruisers. If you've upgraded Sonsaku's skills, she
can perform a ground-level whirlwind kick where she
pirouettes on one foot and spins around so she'll
knock everyone surrounding her off their feet. The
boss lady in the third battle is Ukitsu who throws a
hard hitting forward thrust move with her hands.
» The schoolgirls return in the next battle and
the boss lady is Choun Shiryu with her pastel blue
hair and mysterious persona. Choun attacks with a
sword and is can break Sonsaku's guards with her
weapon. She can also perform a cinema-accompanied
special attack where she seemingly pokes Sonsaku in
the stomach and knocks her down for the count.
» Ikkitousen Shining Dragon is a video game
that's built on fan service. Sonsaku's shirt is
remarkably short and the bosoms found in the game
tend to be large and juggle during battle. That's
right, juggle. The destruction of clothing is
also an interesting feature.
