Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen[lower-alpha 1] is a 1994 fighting video game developed by Arc System Works and published by Angel for the Super Famicom. It is based upon Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon manga and anime series and stars heroic teenage girls who represent the major celestial bodies of the solar system.[1] The player takes control of one of the girls who have decided to stage a fighting tournament to determine who should lead the group.

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen
Developer(s)Arc System Works
Publisher(s)Angel
Composer(s)Takanori Arisawa
SeriesSailor Moon
Platform(s)Super Famicom
Release
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen served as both the first full-fledge fighting game in the Sailor Moon franchise and the first fighting project created by Arc System Works. In 1996, an updated version titled Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Zenin Sanka!! Shuyaku Sōdatsusen was published by Angel for the Super Famicom and featured several additions not found in the original release. The game garnered mixed reception from critics upon its initial launch, however retrospective reviews have been more positive and has since been featured at the Evolution Championship Series tournament, among other fighting game events.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Sailor Pluto and Sailor Uranus.

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen is a fighting game similar to Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat.[2] Players determine who is the best in a staged tournament by fighting against other characters in 1-on-1 matches and the fighter who manages to deplete the health bar of the opponent wins the first bout and the first to win two bouts becomes the winner of the match.[3][4] The game features five modes of play and nine playable characters.[4][5][6] Playable characters in the game are Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Pluto and Chibimoon, Sailor Moon's daughter from the future.[3][5]

Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen uses a customizable four-button control scheme, with throws being present and are similar to Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Some throws can also be teched by rapidly hitting buttons twice while being thrown. Special moves are present in conventional format, with most commands consisting of standard "quarter-circle" movements.[7][8] Desperation moves are available at low health or with 9 seconds or less left on the clock and they become available once again until the next round and are considered a strong comeback mechanic.[9]

Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen also differs from other fighting games of the era in various ways, featuring one of the earliest instances of dashes in the genre, with each character being capable of back-dashing while certain characters can also perform a forward dash.[9] Players are able to cancel block stun into special moves, forward or back dashes, and desperation moves.[10] Players can also customize characters prior to a match in the options menu screen.[4]

Synopsis

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen is set in Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon shōjo manga and anime series, taking place during the third season of the anime series series after Sailor Moon R.[5][11] In the game, players control either one of the eight high school girls who represent the celestial bodies of the solar system who are led by the titular Sailor Moon. One day, the girls become frustrated with Sailor Moon's leadership and they stage a fighting tournament to determine who is the best and should be the leader of the group.[5]

Development and release
SuperS: Zenin Sanka!! Shuyaku Sōdatsusen screenshot showcasing a match between Sailor Saturn and Sailor Neptune.

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen was developed during the boom of fighting games after Street Fighter II's launch.[12] The game was both the first full-fledged fighting game in the Sailor Moon franchise and the first fighting title developed by Arc System Works, who had previously ported arcade games such as Double Dragon and Vigilante for the Sega Master System as well as Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon for the Sega Mega Drive.[8][13][14][15] BlazBlue producer Kazuto Sekine briefly recounted the project's development process from first-hand accounts of both Arc System Works CEO Minoru Kidooka and Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari in a panel at Evo 2018, stating that grappling characters were becoming popular at the time and one of the programmers insisted on writing an algorithm system to make AI-controlled opponents feel "human-like" while Ishiwatari worked on the game as part-timer, testing characters using the newly-developed algorithm.[15] Arc System Works would later go on to develop fighting games such as the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises, as well as Dragon Ball FighterZ.[8]

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen was first released in Japan by Angel for the Super Famicom on 16 December 1994, two months before Sailor Moon S finished airing in the region.[6] The Sailor Moon franchise has a much larger audience in Japan than in America, which is the likely reason why the game was not released outside of Japan.[16] On 29 March 1996, an updated version co-developed by Make Software and Monolith Corp. based on Sailor Moon SuperS titled Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Zenin Sanka!! Shuyaku Sōdatsusen was published by Angel, featuring the addition of Sailor Saturn as a playable character.[7][17]

Reception and legacy

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen received mixed reviews upon release. A panel of four reviewers for Famitsu gave the game a total of 23 out of 40 score.[6] However, French magazine Consoles + was more impressed with the game, giving it an 81 out of 100 score.[2] Famitsu also gave Sailor Moon SuperS: Zenin Sanka!! Shuyaku Sōdatsusen a total of 21 out of 40 score.[17] Multiple reviewers remarked that the game was fairly difficult to complete in single player mode, with one reviewer noting that they had to set the difficulty to lowest to beat the game.[3][12]

However, retrospective reviews for Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen were more positive. The 2016 mook, Perfect Guide of Nostalgic Super Famicom, listed it as the ninth best fighting game for the Super Famicom.[18] In 2020, long time Sailor Moon fan Mina Ogawa reviewed the game for Japanese website Inside. While admitting not being very good at fighting games, Ogawa questioned the premise of the girls fighting each other as well as attacking the much younger Chibi. Despite this, she praised the title as being a competent fighting game.[12] Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen has since been featured in competitive play at fighting game tournaments such as AnimEVO.[19][20] The game also made appearances at Evo 2018 and Evo 2019, as well as Evo Japan 2020.[21][22][23] Other notable tournaments have hosted the title as a major or a side event such as Yabai Invasion,[24] Canada Cup,[9][25] Combo Breaker,[26] Frosty Faustings and CEOtaku.[27][28]

Notes
  1. Japanese: 美少女戦士セーラームーンＳ・場外乱闘!?主役争奪戦 Hepburn: Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpā: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen, lit. "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S: Out of Field Brawl!? Contest for the Lead Part"

References
  1. Evrard, Eva; del Rio, Rafa. "Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - Los Videojuegos". Minami (in Spanish). Vol. 5 no. 39. Ares Informática. pp. 28–29.
  2. Homsy, Richard (March 1995). "Super Famicom Review - Sailormoon S". Consoles + (in French). No. 41. M.E.R.7. p. 100. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  3. Micky '95 (January–February 1995). "Animejuegos: Sailor Moon S - ¡¡Moon Prism Power... Make Up!!". MangaZone (in Spanish). Vol. 1 no. 17. DistriMagen. pp. 24–25.
  4. 美少女戦士セーラームーンＳ・場外乱闘!?主役争奪戦 取扱説明書 (Super Famicom, JP)
  5. "International Outlook: Angel of Japan - Sailor Moon S (Super Famicom)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 63. Sendai Publishing. October 1994. p. 82.
  6. "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: 美少女戦士セーラームーンS 〜場外乱闘!? 主役争奪戦〜". Famitsu (in Japanese). ASCII Corporation. 1994. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  7. Muñoz, Ignacio; Den (September 2003). "Videojuegos Manganime: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon". GamesTech (Extra) (in Spanish). No. 1. Ares Informática. pp. 16–17.
  8. Quesada, Daniel (4 July 2020). "Reportaje: Así era Sailor Moon S, el primer juego de lucha de Arc System Works". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020.
  9. Lanier, Corey (24 November 2017). "Shoryuken classic games: The mechanics and tiers of Sailor Moon S". Shoryuken. Complex Networks. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  10. Lanier, Corey (20 February 2018). "Koushun details the mechanics of light moves, guard cancels, and special cancels in Sailor Moon S". Shoryuken. Complex Networks. Archived from the original on 12 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. Sailormoon Channel Archived 2012-03-23 at WebCite (in Japanese) Name of story arc given on the official website.
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  20. Kemps, Heidi (16 August 2019). "AnimEVO: The Fascinating Fan-Run Side of the World's Biggest Fighting Game Event - What do you do when your favorite game's not in the official EVO roster? You run it there yourself!". Crunchyroll (in Japanese). Otter Media. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  21. Tada (3 August 2018). "［EVO2018］土曜0時に開幕の「Evolution 2018」観戦ガイド。世界最大級の格闘ゲームイベントの見どころや配信スケジュールをまとめてお届け". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas Inc. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
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