GameSetWatch-- you know, a real website-- linked my initial post on this game, so I figured I should get going on a real post for it.
NRF's Big Bang Beat ~ 1st Impression is-- get this-- another doujin 2d fighting game based on a porn game. Shocking, I know. This time the source material is Alice Soft's Dai Bancho -Big Bang Age- (link so not safe for work or kids or whatever). According to Himeya's typically broken-English description, the game is an "Insult SIM" in which the player attempts to take over land and fuck girls, I assume. Big Bang Beat trims this complicated business down to just the part where people hit each other. Being as that's all I really need in my videogames, I jumped on the demo when it came out.
The graphics are pretty nice, as you've seen. The resolution of the sprites is low, but the detail is excellent, and the game manages to look extremely flashy regardless. The speed of play is really fast: maybe it's just because I've been playing so much Arcana, but this game is jarringly fast. It feels faster than even Guilty Gear. The production values are extremely high for a doujin game: word is that, like Melty Blood, it's backed by Alice Soft themselves. It's even been location tested over at TRF, a hardcore-as-fuck Japanese arcade that used to host a lot of great match videos, but apparently no longer. Somebody is very serious about this game. The next Melty Blood story? Maybe so.
Like Hokuto no Ken and Arcana Heart, the game hinges upon the dash cancel: during any move, the player can charge forwards extremely quickly in order to either apply pressure or continue a combo. This is really powerful stuff, and that's why it costs you: one dash cancel is about two thirds of a super move bar. Often, you'll find that the better move is to dash cancel into a longer combo as opposed to simply ending with a less damaging super move. The combo I posted for you made liberal use of both dash cancels and super moves; it was done with a full super bar. The thing is, in a real match, that bar doesn't fill so quickly, and as such, you'd probably never see such combos in an actual match situation. You will, however, see two or three bars used for around 40 to 60% damage; combos that rest in the sweet spot between damage and efficiency.
Another thing that's controlled is, unusually, the special moves: the old spirit bar from Art of Fighting is back. You can't completely shut the opponent down with your rush, because after using your special moves enough they'll stop working, and the only way to bet your spirit bar back is either to get hit-- the lower your life is, the bigger the spirit bar gets-- or make yourself vulnerable by charging.
So like I was saying, controlled chaos. The demo (get it at NRF's site) only comes with the absolute basics; two characters, versus mode, and training. Rouga is a standard-issue main character who immediately draws comparisons to Kyo from King of Fighters, but doesn't really play much like him. Senna, meanwhile, is the sword girl: long range, high power, and lots of tricky stuff. I haven't put much time into playing her: Rouga is instant-gratification fun, and Senna is going to take some time to learn.
The music is by MintJam and it's pretty badass, by the way. And is that Mai's-- good god, that Mai's-- voice actress playing Senna? It sure sounds like her. Oh yeah, I forgot to show you guys that I got over nine thousand:
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