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Tsukino Usagi is an average school girl with some very typical habits. She's somewhat lazy, cries when things go wrong and has two hobbies: eating and sleeping. She still needs her mom to wake her up for class in the morning lest she sleep through the entire day. Usagi does poorly at math and she isn't the greatest at English though she's trying. Her strong point is home economics and she seems destined to be a great housewife to some salaryman one day. In addition, she is deathly afraid of dentists and spirits. In other words, Usagi is a typical teenager with a lot of typical problems and coming of age crises to deal with. Unlike most other teens, Usagi has a secret identity. Consider it a blessing or a curse for our heroine because with great power comes greater headaches that overshadow any teenage dilemna. Usagi is Princess Serenity, the Sailor Moon warrior. In the first episode of the Sailor Moon saga, Usagi is late for another day at Juuban junior high school. She encounters a group of children who are picking on a little cat as children will do. She shoos them away and saves the animal from certain doom. The cat later encounters Usagi again and introduces herself. 'Luna' the talking feline gives her a brooch and a mantra that turns her into the mighty Sailor Moon, the heiress to Crystal Tokyo. If you're curious, Usagi's new mantra was "Moon prism power, make up." The first episode concludes with Sailor Moon defeating an enemy agent by doing what she does best, cry. SM is a popular television series in Japan and it showed up briefly in America. It has since been cancelled. The television series is still showing on Canadian television so our neighbors to the North can still enjoy the phenomena that is Sailor Moon. SM has a loyal following and this Saturn version is the third 32-bit Sailormoon game that has come out. The first was a 3DO version of the game which had a campy intro and average gameplay. The next one was a Playstation version which still sells well but plays poorly. We'll look at the Saturn version later in this article. What is the attraction with Sailor Moon? It could be that the characters are very likable and endearing. Once you find out that Usagi doesn't like to eat carrots but loves ice cream and aspires to be a bride one day, how can you resist?

There are ten characters that you can choose from in Super S. There are the two main characters: Usagi Tsukino aka Sailor Moon and her daughter from the future, Chibi Usa (small lady) aka Sailor Chibi Moon. Then there are the four inner senshi (team): Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter. Note the planetary delineation for each character. The four outer senshi are thus: Sailor Saturn, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Pluto. All of the senshi are sworn to protect Sailor Moon but since this is a fighting game, they fight for sport, not for blood. It would be against their best interests to beat up on their beloved Queen and on each other.

Upon starting the game, you will be able to choose to play either Story Mode or VS Mode. There is a two player option as well where you beat up a human player. The Story Mode begins with an animation with Tsukino happening upon a bunch of her classmates and the not so casual invitation to battle that comes as a result of the interaction. The quality of the animation is very good and the voice actresses emote to the best of their ability. The story mode only allows you to play as either Sailor Moon or Sailor Chibi Moon and the four inner senshi. Upon choosing your character, you are given the option of allocating points to what Angel calls the 'Ability Customize

System' where you give your senshi certain advantages in jumping, defense, etc. In the story mode, each fighter will say something to the other player before fighting - not as bad as trash talking but close. All of the characters have their signature moves and special attacks from the television series. For example, Sailor Moon can do her Moon Tiara Attack which is a simple projectile attack with a very fancy name. Sailor Venus can whip out her Love Me Chain move which unleashes a bolt of energy at her opponent. Fans of the television series will revel in the assortment of moves that are available to each character and should recognize most of them.

The graphics in the game are excellent and the character graphics are rendered models of the different senshi. The character animation is fluid but the characters move in an awkward fashion. When a fighter walks, it looks like like she has a limp and is trying to compensate for the broken limb by moving her weight onto one foot. Very disconcerting to look at. I would not attribute this to missing frames of animation because the character movement when a fighter pulls off super attacks or when she jumps around is smooth. I would credit it to an awkward movement model that Angel seems to be cursed with using. Perhaps they should view tapes of how the characters walk in SFZ or any SNK game and see that most fighters do not limp when moving across the arena stage. Angel's oversight may seem to be a niggling detract but it does leave a lot to be desired when you move your character from left to right and watch the stuttered movements of you fighter as she painfully (seemingly) moves from point to point. Sailor Moon Super S looks good and the special moves are plentiful but thats where the positives end. The gameplay in the Saturn version (as well as the PSX version) is weak. I would not play SMSS as a pure fighting game because that would only drive you crazy with its imprecise control and weak physical attacks that are easy to guard against. One exception to getting physical is the spin attack where you grab an opponent by the ankles, whirl her around and then throw her off like a sack of potatoes. This takes off about 1/5 of your opponents energy bar. Conventional punches and kicks may only be used to weaken an enemy bit by bit - its the special attacks and killer moves that really count in this game. It really all boils down to who can pull off the most special attacks in the shortest amount of time because thats the only way you'll be able to do any significant damage. The other player, whether it be the Saturn player or your human opponent will be pulling off those special attacks as fast as they can so you'll have to work quickly and dodge any impending blows by jumping or guarding. Standard fighting just doesn't work in the Sailor Moon world. It can also be said that this stays true to the television series since all of the senshi use their special attacks to fight off the evil powers that assail them, such as the Galaxia. Punches and kicks are rare in the television series so perhaps it could be that Angel wanted to stay consistent to the television series. You be the judge. The Sailormoon player must resort to learning all of the special moves and then finding chances to fire away. Each fighter has a veritable arsenal of special moves at her disposal which she can use to her advantage. The VS mode will allow you to choose from all of the senshi, inner and outer that are featured in the Super S season.

Whats the verdict? Fans of the Sailor Moon series should pick this one up. Its another chance to see all of your heroines in a new package. The special moves are all here and the instruction booklet lists a few of them to start you off. It will be up to you and any upcoming FAQs to detail the other moves. Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z always sell well and this attests to the powerful fan base that these two series' have garnered. Those who are not fans (yet) should pick up a few of the television episodes on video tape and experience the world that is Sailor Moon. Y'know, see if it is your cup of tea. I am reluctant to admit that I am a Sailor Moon fan. The television series was originally intended for young Japanese girls and the characters are modeled to reflect that demographic. I do like the characters, because they're attractive and come across as very personable (yes I realize that they are cartoons) but those voice actresses are pretty convincing. The stories are interesting and deal with everyday situations, except that something paranormal happens in every episode. The vibe that I got from SM was sort of like the first time I watched a Ranma episode. It had likable characters, great voice acting and a comical plot mixed in with the right amount of 'serious' human drama. I enjoy what I perceive to be a little girls cartoon but I don't feel too bad since a quick browse through the web with a search engine revealed over 200 Sailor Moon sites with plot synopsis, photo scans and fan dedications. I should be in good company.

Back to Whats New for Nov. 25, 1996