Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen

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Yū Yū Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen
multiplayer

Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen

martial arts
battles as it progresses.

The game features 11 playable characters from the manga and traditional

combos. It also integrates other mechanics, such as allowing up to four players to compete simultaneously and letting fighters alternate between horizontal planes in the foreground and background. A number of multiplayer options are available that include battle royales, tag team
matches, and tournament modes.

Makyō Tōitsusen was produced at the height of a global fighting game boom for

Street Fighter II. After the company made its debut on the system with Gunstar Heroes, Treasure began development on Makyō Tōitsusen as one of a quartet of Mega Drive games to be published by Sega. Unlike the rest of these titles, Makyō Tōitsusen was never localized in North America or Europe. The game's only other official release was in Brazil via Tectoy in 1999 where it was titled Yu Yu Hakusho: Sunset Fighters. The game did not receive any form of re-release until its inclusion on the Japanese Sega Mega Drive Mini in 2019. Despite its limited availability, the game has been assessed by several publications outside those two regions and enjoyed a mostly positive response from critics. The gameplay and four-player options were praised by many reviewers, several of which have even considered it among the best fighting games of the 16-bit generation
, although its graphics and sound received criticism.

Gameplay

health
and spirit energy are displayed at the top of the screen.

Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen is

health gauges using various short and long-ranged attacks. Fighters move horizontally on 2D battlefields and can jump from the ground toward or over opponents. One-on-one matches are possible, but Makyō Tōitsusen allows up to four characters to battle simultaneously in a single match. This added action is complemented by the inclusion of a second layer in each stage. Similar to the Fatal Fury series, players can leap onto a separate horizontal plane in the background.[2][4][5][6][7] Matches have no time limit.[2]

Since multiple opponents can potentially face either in front of or behind the player, pushing back on the controller's directional pad will cause a character to face the opposite direction rather than simply back away or block enemy attacks. Makyō Tōitsusen is compatible with both the Mega Drive's three-button and six-button

combos and unique special attacks that may be performed either on the ground or in the air, some of which can be charged for larger amounts of damage.[6] Since the three-button controller is standard and pushing the back button changes a character's direction, combos are fairly simple to execute.[3][7] A few abilities require "spirit energy" that is represented by a second gauge under a fighter's health and can be refilled by holding down an attack button. A charged attack can be temporarily cancelled and stored by pushing back on the directional pad and then instantly unleashed at that strength the next time the player uses it.[7] The game offers several modes that consist of a single-player campaign for fighting consecutive one-on-one matches; an endless practice mode; and multiplayer options further divided into four-participant battle royales and tag team matches with opposing teams of two.[8] A bracketed tournament mode can also be chosen where individual players, teams of players, and the computer can battle until a final championship match. Up to four human players can participate in these multiplayer modes using Sega's Team Player multitap device.[2][7]

Development and release

Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen was developed by

Mega Drive with Gunstar Heroes, Makyō Tōitsusen was one of four games in simultaneous development by the company for the system with Sega as publisher.[9][10] Makyō Tōitsusen is Treasure's first fighting game and its second game based on a licensed property, after McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure.[11]

Treasure initially made Makyō Tōitsusen as an original game titled Axion before converting it into a Yu Yu Hakusho title.[12][13] The project was directed by Tetsuhiko Kikuchi and supervised by Treasure founder and president Masato Maegawa. According to Kikuchi, Axion was conceived sometime in 1993 when the company noticed a lack of unique Mega Drive-exclusive fighting titles. However, production stalled when a game with a similar world and concepts was set to beat Axion to market. Treasure's plans for their game were reconsidered many times before the Yu Yu Hakusho license was integrated, which Kikuchi believed would assure good sales.[12] Maegawa said that the controls and gameplay mechanics, including the multiplanar stages, were already created for Axion before the arduous process of reworking the game with Yu Yu Hakusho assets.[14] Sega assigned Yoichi Shimosato to support the game's production after he joined the company's Third Consumer Research Division in 1993.[15] Despite the developer's seemingly close relationship with Sega, Maegawa claimed the publisher's communication was poor and that it offered no help to Treasure during the game's creation.[16]

Treasure's staff was made up chiefly of Kikuchi as director and main graphic designer; graphic artists Makoto Ogino and Hiroshi Iuchi; programmers Masaki Ukyo and Mitsuru Yaida; and lead sound effects and music composer Satoshi Murata. Kikuchi was appreciative of the game's animators for their use of character sprite shadows, but implied that their disregard for how much memory they required created difficulties.[12] Ukyo found it most challenging to program having four characters on-screen simultaneous and give them the ability to freely change the direction they face.[12] Alongside Katsuhiko Suzuki, Aki Hata, and Norio Hanzawa, Murata composed original music tracks for the game while also providing instrumental versions of the songs Hohoemi no Bakudan and Unbalance na Kiss o Shite from the Yu Yu Hakusho anime.[12][17] The game's main theme, "Tokenai Hono" (溶けない炎, Insoluble Flame), was written and arranged by Hata, who also performed a vocal version of the song for its official soundtrack CD and later one of her own albums.[18] The game also features an extensive array of digitized character voice samples portrayed the anime's voice cast.[19][20] Kikuchi was satisfied with the quality of the game's voices despite the Mega Drive's inferior ability to synthesize voices when compared to the console's main competitor, the Super Famicom.[12]

Makyō Tōitsusen was released in Japan on September 30, 1994.

digital re-release for over two decades after its initial debut, likely due to licensing issues.[7][26][27] After the success of Nintendo's NES and Super NES Classic Editions in 2016 and 2017 respectively, Maegawa expressed interest in Sega releasing a similar dedicated version of the Mega Drive.[16] The Mega Drive Mini was ultimately released worldwide in 2019 and Makyō Tōitsusen was included on its Japanese version.[28]

Reception and legacy

Upon its release, Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen was given average review scores from panels in major Japanese magazines like Famitsu and Beep! MegaDrive.[21][29] Although it never had an official localization in any region other than South America, it was imported by print and online publications in North America and Europe and met with greater acclaim there. Nick Des Barres of GameFan, Tom Stratton of Gamer's Republic, and the editors of Retro Gamer have all heaped praise on the game. Des Barres called it "the best 16-bit fighting game ever" in a 1994 review and concluded that "Yu Yu Hakusho is a game that truly has to be seen to be believed".[5] Stratton likewise described it in 1999 as "easily one of the best 16-bit fighters there has ever been".[6] Retro Gamer has repeatedly lauded the game, describing it as possibly the best Yu Yu Hakusho game and among the best Mega Drive games and fighting games of the 16-bit era.[2][25][35] Kurt Kulata of Hardcore Gaming 101 said that the game managed to become of the best anime license games that can stand against other tournament fighting games.[7]

The gameplay and multiplayer options were high points for many reviewers. Retro Gamer summarized Makyō Tōitsusen as "highly enjoyable in single-player" as an over-the-top and zany anime-styled brawler, in addition praising the multiplayer as well.

Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II, both of which were more accessible to Western gamers in 1994.[31] EGM admitted to having difficulty keeping up with the action with multiple characters in a single battle.[8]

Reception for the graphics and sound of Makyō Tōitsusen has been mixed. Des Barres, Stratton, Kulata, and Retro Gamer all had positive comments regarding its visuals and audio. Retro Gamer felt the game boasted "slick animations and detailed character sprites", while both Des Barres and Stratton thought the characters properly mimicked their anime counterparts.[5][6] Kulata was especially impressed with the backgrounds, which utilize various effects such as parallax, transparencies, and warping.[7] Des Barres and Retro Gamer enjoyed the music, the former proclaiming it to be "the best Mega Drive music" he had ever heard.[2][5] Kulata made similar, constructive remarks about its voice samples and sound effects, but considered the soundtrack to be "forgettable" in contrast to other Mega Drive games by Treasure.[7] Ciolek opined that Treasure focused too much on refining the gameplay and failed to fully develop its presentation. He criticized it for having small character sprites, a "bland" soundtrack, "scratchy" voice-overs, and dynamic backgrounds that "try to compensate for frequently boring scenery with changes in lighting".[3] Swan and Merrett were complimentary of the sprite animation and voice sample quality, but echoed complaints that the backgrounds lacked detail and coloring and that the soundtrack was "not up to the standard of Treasure's other in-game music".[31] Retro Gamer agreed that the backgrounds were "drab" and "unfinished" when compared to the rest of the game's aesthetic.[2] EGM seconded the notion that the sprites were too small while also experiencing "break-up" when too many present were on-screen at once.[8]

Treasure's next fighting game, Guardian Heroes, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1996. This game features 2D sprites and gameplay mechanics resembling Makyō Tōitsusen like simplified combos and multiple horizontal planes in battle.[3][36][37] For Guardian Heroes, Treasure president Masato Maegawa told gamesTM that the developer wanted to "evolve" what they had created in Makyō Tōitsusen into an original game with "more madness and excess".[38] Treasure also carried this design over into two Nintendo DS fighting games that are based on the manga series Bleach.[2][3][4][39] This includes supporting up to four players simultaneously and having two horizontal planes between which players can switch during fights.[40][41][42]

References

  1. ^ 幽(ゆう)☆遊(ゆう)☆白(はく)書(しょ) 魔(ま)強(きょう)統(とう)一(いつ)戦(せん)
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  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Ciolek, Todd (October 29, 2008). "Field of Fire - The X Button". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
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  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Kulata, Kurt (May 2, 2008). "Yu Yu Hakusho: Makyou Touitsusen". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
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  9. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (March 6, 2006). "Maegawa Talks Gunstar". IGN. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
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  13. ^ Kikuchi Tetsuhiko (December 29, 1996). はんの個人誌 落描帳総集編 (壱~参) [Han's Personal Magazine Doodle Book Omnibus (1~3)] (in Japanese). Self-published doujinshi. pp. 1–130.
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  15. ^ Sega staff (March 17, 2005). "Sega Voice Vol. 13" (in Japanese). Sega. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  16. ^ a b c McFerrin, Damien (October 31, 2017). "Treasure's Masato Maegawa Wants Sega To Make A Mega Drive Mini". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on December 2, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  17. ^ "幽遊白書 魔強統一戦 サウンドトラック" [Yu Yu Hakusho Makyō Tōitsusen Soundtrack] (in Japanese). Treasure. Archived from the original on December 2, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  18. ^ Hata Aki (December 21, 2007). "隷属快美の娘達～BEST SONGS II～ / 畑 亜貴" [Reizoku Kaibi no Musumetachi ~BEST SONGS II~ / Aki Hata] (in Japanese). Aki Hata. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  19. ^ a b c d Tectoy staff (February 9, 2017). "Yuyu Hakusho para Mega Drive – O jogo que só saiu no Japão e no Brasil!" [Yu Yu Hakusho for Mega Drive – The game that only came out in Japan and Brazil!] (in Portuguese). Tectoy. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
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  27. ^ Fletcher, JC (November 7, 2007). "IMPORTSHOCK! More Sega imports on the way". Engadget. Weblogs, Inc. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
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External links

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