The Great Battle V for SFC

Image: MobyGames

The Great Battle V

Wild Guns meets Mega Man 7

Genre: shooter - gallery

Publisher: Banpresto

Year: 1995

System: SFC

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

Two distinct game modes: gallery shooter sections (mostly for boss fights), and a standard Mega Man-style action platformer. The platforming sections are, frankly, uninspired. They either feature too much, or not enough platforming, and movement is slow and cumbersome. Also, half of your playable characters have horrible weapons and show never be used. In fact, Ultraman is the only "good" character because he has a powerful projectile weapon. There are no powerups and really nothing noteworthy about the gameplay in these sections. But the gallery shooter sections are great! Not up to par with Wild Guns, but there are some great ideas here, like thje ability to lock your cursor in place by clicking L.

Level Design Score: 4

Level Design Notes:

Tons of variety. You switch between the gallery shooter and platforming sections, but even within those two modes there's a lot of different environments and other variation. That slow gameplay let's us down, but the level designs are great.

Theme Score: 5

Theme Notes:

Ultraman and friends in the Wild West is such a funny concept. I'm not sure if this or Wild Guns came first, but the premise is the same. I think WG did it better, but this is great. And having a translation makes it even better.

Art Style Score: 4

Art Style Notes:

Cute SD characters. The explosions and other effects are a step below Contra or Wild Guns, but still better than average. The star of the show are the fun character designs. Unforunately, there's quite a bit of slowdown and some weird graphical glitches, like animations stopping while dialogue is animating in.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

The music sounds like it's straight out of Contra. Great stuff. I really like the Western riffs in the non-action tracks. Sound effects aren't annoying, which is always good when you're constantly shooting and blowing stuff up.

Overall Score: 71

Review ID: 1931