Guardian Heroes - HD Remake

[Asura]

A nice way to bring down your karma too, of course...

Yeah, I saw that in the help menu - what's that about? I had no idea that concept was present in the original game; same for much of the other stuff like magic resistances. Reading that stuff made me realise something - I'd always seen Guardian Heroes as "Treasure's take on the scrolling fighting game" but after seeing all that, I now prefer to think of it as "Treasure's take on the RPG".

[Wiper]

I didn't see a prompt, does it disappear? Fortunately, I pressed X by accident as I was workinging out how to exit.

Invisiprompt!

Yeah, I saw that in the help menu - what's that about? I had no idea that concept was present in the original game; same for much of the other stuff like magic resistances. Reading that stuff made me realise something - I'd always seen Guardian Heroes as "Treasure's take on the scrolling fighting game" but after seeing all that, I now prefer to think of it as "Treasure's take on the RPG".

Aye, I knew about the karma from reading about GH back in the day, but would probably never have worked it out on my own. It alters the endings you get. The magic resistance thing was new on me as well, though - I don't think the help menu mentions its affect on MP, either, which I'm sure is (or at least was) an effect of it.

[mayor_mike_haggar]

Is anyone playing this on an obese arcade stick, or is a merely porcine fightpad going to do the job.

Lads.

[joffocakes]

I played the demo on a fightstick but I didn't change the controls so my mind had a lot of trouble changing planes. It seemed nice and fun but a bit too busy for my old slow eyes and dreadful TV. I will buy it. 8/10.

The street fighter type move motions all seemed simlpe and lenient, so I don't think a pad would be much of a hindrence. A stick is all big and satisfying though. SMASH.

[Lyrical Donut]

Hmm, didn't think to try my TE, but I only have 6 buttons on it so i'd have to sacrifice alternate plane switching.

I'm using a Saturn pad for it anyway

[Godzilla]

So many happy memories came flooding back playing this last night. I went from wide eyed smile watching the intro to full on retro happy times tears of joy by the time the sax hits during "Shuffler In The Dark".

Still an astonishingly awesome game.

[sixbuttons]

It's funny. Treasure have put a lot of effort into Remix mode to try and balance the game, and turn it into more of a tactical fighter about cancels and counters and all that good shit, and I think they've made a good fist of it... but at the same time, knowing that game as I did from the Saturn, I just want to blow things up and abuse spells that make enemies go flying miles across the screen.

The weirdness is, Remix probably makes it a better game, but I can't get away from how much fun it is on Original.

[Naysonymous]

Its been so long since I played this but I have bought it and will get stuck into it when I get the chance. Having a quick blast now, just trying to get used to the controls and remember the moves. I remember that SFII fireball and dragon punch tended to work for most characters, but I found this online:

Samuel Han

Physically powerful, can inflict a lot of damage. But his movemements are slow and he's not good with magic.

Special Techniques

Han Dynamite: down, down-forward, forward + B or C (ground)

Han Final (rises while spinning): down, down + B or C (ground)

Han Maximum (diving attack from air): down, down + B or C (air)

Han Miracle (swing sword while descending): repeat B with D-pad neutral (air)

Han Victory (throw): forward + C nearby opponent (ground)

Han Special (combo): repeat B (ground)

Magic

Han Burnigs (fireball): down, down-forward, forward + Z (ground)

Randy M. Green

Has many spectacular attacks and a large variety of magic, but weak defense.

Special Techniques

Dancing Wind Staff (jumps while spinning staff): down, down + B or C (ground)

Wall of Wind Staff (spins staff in front of him): down, down-forward, forward + B (ground)

Hellstaff Combination (combo): repear B with D-pad neutral (ground)

Triple Skull Stomp (Diving kick from above) down, up + B or C (ground or air) use B or C and keep bouncing! (air)

E-MAX (uses Nando, his magical companion) B + C (ground)

Magic

Super Magic Fireball: down, down-forward, forward + Z

Super Magic Firewall: down, up + Z

Super Magic Thunderbolt: forward, down, down-forward + Z

Super Magic Ice World: down, down + Z

Super Magic Tornado forward, back, down, up + Z

Super Magic Fire Blaster forward, down, back, forward + Z

Ginjirou Ibushi

Emphasis on mobility. Large variety of moving attacks, but this can also work against him.

Special Techniques

Reverse Mirage Sword (jumps while twisting body): down, down + B or C (ground)

Vacuum Human Top (spinning ground attack): down, down-forward, forward + B or C (ground)

Shadowless Dash (moves forward while warping): forward, forward, forward, forward

Mirage Sky Dance (high, long jump): down, up + B or C (ground)

Mirage Spin Surprise Attack (rolling diving attack): forward, forward + B or C (air)

Shadowless Kick (diving kick): down, down + B (air)

Reverse Thunder Kick (diving kick with thunder): down, down + C (air)

Magic

Firespell (fireball): down, down-forward, forward + Z

Thunder Palm (shoots lightning from hand): back, down, forward + Z

Thunderspell (pillars of lightning): down, up + Z

Thunder Transformation (turns into thunder and attacks): down, down + Z

Nicole Neale

Weak attacks and random magic. She is the only hero that can use healing magic.

Special Techniques

That Hurts! (falls down): down, down-forward, forward + C (ground)

Holy Turn (jumps and scatters light): down, down + B or C (ground)

I'm Mad Now (use health to do invincible attack): B and C (ground)

Smiley Staff (shoot light from spinning staff): forward + repeat C during fierce attack (ground)

Midair smiley Staff (shoot light from spinning staff): down + repeat C during diving attack (air)

Rocket Jump (floats in midair): down, up + B or C (ground or air)

Magic

Firespell: down, down-forward, forward + Z

Barrier: down, down + Z

Healing (random): down, up + Z

Smiley (random): forward, down, down-forward + Z

Serena Corsaire

finish the game on 'normal' or 'hard' to unlock Serena

Special Techniques

Dragon Punch: down, down + B or C

Circulair Fire Strike: down, up + B or C

:

Magic

Fireball: down, down-forward, forward + Z

Iceball: down, down + Z

Thunderspell: down, up + Z

Circulair Ice: forward, back, down, up + Z

Laserbeam: forward, down, back, forward + Z (?)

[Jackson]

Never played or heard much about this, but am super impressed with it so far. The combat is really, really fun, especially as a wizard. Definitely not one just for nostalgia, incase anyone was wondering. Oh, and the music!

I'd never even consider putting on Streets of Rage or Castle Crashers for 1 player but the combat in this is deep enough to enjoy solo.

[monsly]

Just a word of warning but it seems that if you play on easy mode then you won't unlock any characters for versus but you will still get achievements. Seems a bit backwards and a bit of a pity really.

[Jackson]

Speaking of easy mode, I love that it is really easy. You get 99 continues and the enemies go down so fast. I nearly completed it with my non gaming sister in 15minutes (skipping cutscenes of course). Great fun to blast through without a care.

[Timmo]

I'm finding this decent, although the characters feel a bit limited, only a few moves each etc. Normal seems about right and I seem to learn new techniques each time I play.

At first the pace seemed ludicrous but your brain starts to catch up and it stops feeling so fast.

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

Downloaded the trail yesterday and very impressed, the remix looks good. Loved the Saturn version in fact i still have my copy.

Game feels as good as ever. Did they remove the opening FMV movie? i was upset when that didn't appear.

But yeah good times and the music is still ace i've seen it mentioned already but

All about that sax.

[Jackson]

For some reason it's in the extras section, but at least it's there

[Zero]

Is there anyway to save your characters stats once they've been upgraded? Just had a quick coop session over live with a mate, we got to the colosseum and died and when we restarted the game all our stats had reset.

It's pretty annoying that the game abruptly kicks you out if you run out of continues rather than returning you to a coop lobby.

Gripes aside, I'm loving this, amazing graphics, ace music and combat just deep enough to stop you getting bored.

The versus mode is completely fucking crazy though, had an 8 player match earlier and it was an absolute attack on the senses.

[Asura]

Is there anyway to save your characters stats once they've been upgraded? Just had a quick coop session over live with a mate, we got to the colosseum and died and when we restarted the game all our stats had reset.

This happens every time you start the game. You always start from zero. It's not like a "proper" RPG.

[Zero]

This happens every time you start the game. You always start from zero. It's not like a "proper" RPG.

Ah right. Well this game just got a lot fucking harder then haha.

[Curtis]

This game is 50% mental, 50% awesome!

[mayor_mike_haggar]

I'm playing on my fightpad, but it doesn't seem to have quite enough buttons to do everything since some things are mapped to the thumbstick buttons, what are people not using? Also, why is the button config option screen so utterly profoundly fucking awful, the way it changes back previous buttons if you use the same thing twice, so you have to second guess the system, and the utterly ludicrous mechanic of making you set each button, in turn, one by one, all the way through, or else it wouldn't save the changes. Surely just allowing the user to map specific buttons from a list would have been easier to sort that this wild abomination of a system. god. Anyway at the moment I have some bodged system of not using the magic shortcut button, and have somehow got the pane changing to work.

Anyway I'm really enjoying the game, but I'm awful at it. I'm not sure how much I should be using things like blocking, backdash cancelling moves etc. Could someone (jlm) write me a 1500 or so word essay on what I should be doing thanks.

[sir stiff_one]

As with all good 2D scrolling beat em ups, find the most effective move and rinse it over and over and over again. With GH you can go power it up after each stage too.

I had forgotten that

Han doesn't get that cool sword on every path through. Took me a few playthoughs to get it right, I couldn't remember which options to choose. Wicked when you do get it though, stat booost!

[Zero]

Han doesn't get that cool sword on every path through. Took me a few playthoughs to get it right, I couldn't remember which options to choose. Wicked when you do get it though, stat booost!

That really annoyed my coop partner when I got that. He kept moaning that my stat boost was unfair and didn't appreciate it when I kept replying with "There can only be one" 8)

This game could do with having an additional difficulty between normal and easy, jumping from 9 continues to 99 is crazy in the coconut.

[imp]

Choo and I have been playing this co-op every now and then - we've been trying to beat the game on normal mode. Finally managed that tonight - I think stumbling into

the Silver Warrior Sword for Han helped a lot!

We only lost one continue during the playthrough, and a few on that damned

Sky Dragon

boss. Feels good though. Like we've graduated. Next stop: 1CC on hard mode, yeah?

One day...

[monsly]

Does this track your stats in the arena mode like in the original? I couldn't find anything when I had a quick look yesterday.

[Asura]

We only lost one continue during the playthrough

Note to self - imp is a CYBORG

[mayor_mike_haggar]

Guard Ian, Heroes!

[JLM]

Twelve characters in battle mode really is the greatest. Had a four player battle during the last session where we each picked a general and had two AI troops for support. Gash and two blue knights vs. Valgar and two black knights vs. Katrina and two red knights vs. Super Zur and two pink knights. It's such a great set up that I'll be hard pushed to play any other way.

Two player Macho vs Gambo with five Glutes each is also a winner. On the subject of Macho, I noticed with the new dialogue rhat Valgar doesn't call him "steroid boy" any more. Heh.

I'd also recommend picking a knight and then having two soldiers as back up. I found myself getting quite attached to my minions and trying to keep them alive until the end.

Oh, and picking a strong character and taking on a pack of 11 wolves is fun also.

What a great remake.

[Nate Dogg III]

Jason I would like for you to show me the ropes on this sometime. I've not even played it yet though because Uncharted.

Is the consensus on this pad, rather than stick? The xbox analogue okay or am I going to have to use that horrible d-pad?

[JLM]

I think I have too much pad muscle memory for this game from playing on Saturn to switch to stick, but coming at it fresh I reckon I'd have used my TE.

It's OK on pad though; so many of the commands are MK style directional inputs rather than quarter circles etc. that the 360 d-pad actually manages OK.

Also, having both triggers and shoulder buttons means that the lack of face buttons isn't a huge problem. Giving orders to the Undead Hero never really needed to be on a face button anyway, for example.

All of that said, if you really can't get on with the 360 d-pad then I'd definitely use an arcade stick over an analogue stick for a fighting game. The commands that do require double taps (quite a few specials and spells along with air dashes for some characters) are much easier and more immediate on a d-pad or arcade stick than an analogue controller.