They are rough, they are tough, they will kick your face in… These toads are THE BIGGEST BADDEST creatures you’ll ever encounter! When Rare decided to come out with this knock off “Ninja Turtles” style game I don’t think they knew how much of an impact they were about to make. The first for its time, combining a side scrolling beat em up, action, and platformer all in one!

I am Jason Heine, this is the Emulator Review, and we are diving into “Battletoads” for many different platforms, enjoy!

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Welcome to The Gaming Vault of Fame, where we take a look at some of the accomplishments of the video game world’s lesser known heroes. Y’know the ones I mean: those who rarely hog the spotlight for themselves, merely pleased with starring in a few games and then fading into obscurity. This series of articles will be to honour those heroes. And we begin with the world’s biggest secondary fiddle: Luigi.

We’ve all heard of Mario: it’s safe to say he’s the most recognisable video game character in existence. But what about his brother Luigi, who seemingly always stays out of the limelight? There’s also the unfortunate problem of everyone forgetting who he is. Throughout the entire Mario & Luigi RPG series he’s referred to as “Mr. Green ‘Stache” or “Mr. Other Mario Bro”, though he seemingly grows out of Mario’s shadow eventually.

Luigi has been around for longer than you might think, as his first appearance coincided with Mario’s in the Mario Bros. arcade game. Then he was merely a colour swapped version of Mario, but neither of the Bros. had a distinct personality at that point. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the game, wanted two players to be able to experience the game playing with and against each other. Thus, Luigi was born and has been overshadowed by Mario ever since.

The Mario Brothers after their humble beginnings, not much to differentiate the two

It wasn’t until Super Mario Bros. 2 (The American version) where a playable Luigi turned out differently than Mario. His character sprite was taller and thinner than Mario, and could jump higher than his older brother. The original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was deemed too difficult for Western audiences, resulting in the game being a retooled version of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Luigi’s character model was based on the character “Mama”, resulting in the subsequent design. Since then Luigi’s new look has been adopted by Nintendo for character artwork and in-game appearances.

Unfortunately Luigi hasn’t turned out to be as popular as Mario, with most of his appearances being reduced to Mario’s spin-off games. He’s been a playable character alongside Mario in several main-series games, but only as a reskinned version of Mario.

It wasn’t until 1991 Luigi got to star in his own game: “Mario is Missing!” The results were… unexpected. Mario is Missing! was a geography-based game for PC, Mac, SNES and NES in which Mario is captured by Bowser, forcing Luigi to venture forth and rescue him. Luigi looked exactly like his Super Mario World incarnation and didn’t do much but walk through cities and talk to locals in order to find stolen artefacts. A true blue Mario game it was not and Luigi wouldn’t star in his own game until a whole 10 years later, merely existing as a palette swapped Mario or competing in spin-off titles like Mario Kart.

In 2001, the GameCube launched and everyone was looking forward to getting to play a new Mario game. But a Mario game didn’t show up until a whole year after the GC’s launch. Instead Nintendo chose to focus on Mario’s younger brother in Luigi’s Mansion, the game that cemented Luigi’s role as the cowardly underdog to Mario’s heroism.

Luigi discovers one day he’s won his own mansion in a contest he never even entered. He calls Mario and asks him to visit the mansion with him, but Mario got there first and entered the mansion first. When Luigi arrived, Mario was gone and ghosts haunted the mansion. Through the help of Professor E. Gadd (appearing for the first time in this game), Luigi received the Poltergust 3000 and set out to rescue Mario.

Luigi, the way we know him today

The shift in main character also resulted in a massive shift in both tone and story to the game. Bowser and Princess Peach was nowhere to be found, and the game was more like an action adventure game. Luigi’s main weapon against the ghosts was a vacuum cleaner, making the game feel more like Ghostbusters than a “true” Mario game. I think Stuttering Craig of Screwattack put it best in his list of “Top 10 Pussy Ass Bitches”:

“This guy can never catch a break. Luigi’s been in the shadows since pretty much since day one and being on this list, and not Mario, says a lot, because Mario is about as big as a pussy ass bitch as it gets! I mean, think about it, the guy is the most whipped guy ever saving the princess hundreds of times: and he never goes in for the poontang! I mean, that’s bad. And when you’re in the shadow of that, you just gotta look at yourself in the mirror and say: “Where did I go wrong?” Even when Luigi was given his own game, he still acted like a scared vagina through the entire thing. So sad…”

This characterisation was also present in Luigi’s appearances in Super Mario Galaxy, where Mario had to rescue him from, where else, a ghostly mansion level. While Luigi did help Mario recover numerous stars in order to aid his brother’s progress, he’d always get lost and in need of rescuing.

The thing is though, in spite of Luigi’s apparent cowardice and lack of any sort of recognition within the Mario universe, the guy can actually be fairly competent. What I believe it comes down to is a lack of willpower and self confidence. Luigi can quite brave and competent all on his own, even downright dangerous.

*Warning, here there be (slight) spoilers*

In Super Paper Mario Luigi was one of the four main playable characters, and his special high jump was boosted even further, resulting in a special jump that could launch him out of the screen. He was also noticeably braver, rushing in to save Peach, attacking Bowser and calling main antagonist Count Bleck “a goon”. Yet Luigi’s most dangerous side came out when he was captured and brainwashed by Count Bleck’s assistant Nastasia.

The frighteningly capable Mr. L

Suddenly Luigi was confident, sporting the personality of a gentleman thief archetype. Under the pseudonym Mr. L, a.k.a The Green Thunder, Luigi attacks Mario on numerous occasions and steals one of the Pure Hearts right in front of him. Mr. L also has access to huge mechas, the Brobots, and even goes out of his way to insult Count Bleck’s minions.

*End of spoilers*

Luigi has also proved very competent under the effects of hypnosis in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Mario had suddenly contracted Bean Fever, a sickness contracted by foreigners in the Beanbean Kingdom. Mario and Luigi went there to reclaim Princess Peach’s voice from Cackletta, the game’s antagonist. Luigi still held the personality of the cowardly underdog, and was stricken with fear when he realised he had to venture forth without his brother to help him. Luigi was subsequently hypnotized by Psycho Kamek into believing he was Mario in order to make him relax, and the mission was a complete success.

Super Smash Bros. BRAWL also gives Luigi several moments to shine. While he does start of as a coward, it’s ultimately his actions that bring all the characters back to life when everything starts looking bleak. Masahiro Sakurai, director of BRAWL, wanted to present Luigi as “less of the eternal second fiddle”, re-branding him as “everyone’s favourite man in green”. Yet Luigi’s characterisation, as well as fighting style, still pits him as the underdog.

In game, Luigi rarely appears happy at all, and whenever the crowd cheers for him, there’s a certain lack of voices in the recorded cheers. The announcer himself seems almost surprised whenever Luigi wins a fight, and there’s also Luigi’s Final Smash, Negative Zone, to consider. In Luigi’s Final Smash trophy, it’s revealed that Negative Zone is a sorcerer’s magic attack, fuelled by his dislike of being in his brother’s shadow. Sounds absolutely like the Luigi we know.

Luigi finally gets to overshadow Mario

Yet many seem to prefer Luigi for this reason alone. Luigi has a much deeper personality and is the more complex character of the two. He will always be a bit of a second banana, but that’s why we like him. Mario hasn’t changed; he’s still the fat plumber who’ll save the Princess no matter what happens to here, yet Luigi has come a long way from his somewhat humble beginnings. While some games characterise him as the series’ butt monkey, you could always count of Luigi when things got bad. So we here at TGV are glad to have him as the first inductee in The Gaming Vault of Fame.

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Released in 1990 and taking place in 2777, Xexyz is one of those strange titles that you don’t hear about nearly enough.

And it’s kind of understandable. This quirky game combined elements of classic platformer titles with old school shooter elements. It takes place in the future where you rescue fairies from robots.

You also ride on a mechanical lobster.

I’m on a lobster, motherf***er, don’tcha ever forget!

Yeah, it’s like that.

More on this unsung NES hero after the jump.

Xexyz is, by far, one of the most unique games I’ve ever played. However, it’s not necessarily in a good way. The same way that the crazy cat woman is unique.

Meeeooh god was this necessary?

The first thing you’ll notice about this game is that the controls are awful. Every single element of moving your character, Apollo, is clunky and downright pitiful. You carry absolutely zero momentum when moving through the air, so if you let go of the D-pad, you drop straight down. This makes pinpointing some of the jumps extremely difficult.

The shooter parts of the game are rather boring, really. As you may know from my earlier Nostalgia Vault, I’m a fan of shooters. My favorite subgenre of shooters is, of course, “manic”, but I can sit down and play a slower-paced shooter, too.

Xexyz does two things wrong with the shooter parts of the game. The first is playing horizontally. This is awful and should never be done. The second is that the way it plays is just horrible. Your ship is slow, your shots don’t do enough damage, and it takes some seriously risky maneuvers to grab powerups.

This really is the only level with some real color. And it fades away into a stormy nightmare after a few minutes, anyway.

All in all, this is, for all intents and purposes, a pretty horrible game. The plot is cliche and unpolished, the controls are worse than giving directions over the phone to a paraplegic who’s driving a tank through San Francisco. However, the game, for some reason, still remains to be awesomely fun.

It’s really hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this game so fun. I think it’s the level of difficulty in trying to manage the god-awful controls and reach the end of the game.

One of the things that was always kind of exciting when playing Xexyz was buying new weapons and upgrading them. You start out with this horrible, short-range bullet that is more useless than shooting spitballs with paper bits and a plastic straw. After time, you’ll pick up new weapons, some of which are pretty unique, like an orbiting energy ball thing that can charge up a chain of laser blasts, or a bullet that bounces at 45 degree angles.

As for actually how you play the game, you start off in a platforming level, and you have to find a star. Finding the star is actually pretty ridiculous, because in order to find it, you have to find a hidden room somewhere in the level. The room is only accessible when you shoot a specific block a few times, and the door opens.

Look at that level design. You’ve got stone, grass, the abyss where the developers couldn’t think of anything to put in there, and then some pretty, blue mountains.

See those two blue blocks with the star on them? There’s about a hundred of these scattered through the levels, so you have to start shooting at each one of these until you find the one that opens the door.

Once you find the hidden room, you have to “fight” a statue and get the star. Then you use this to enter the castle at the end.

The castles are the dungeon type area, where you have to navigate through a strange maze to reach the boss. Halfway through the castle, you go on a short shooter-type level, where you pilot a mech suit of sorts. Then you go through more of this labyrinth of a castle where you reach the boss, who generally is overpowered and takes far too long to kill.

One thing worth mentioning about the boss fights is just how incredibly boring they are. For something that should be an important part of the game, the atmosphere is… Well there simply isn’t any atmosphere.

Bloop bloop, I’m a crab. Here’s a bubble attack.

The first thing you should notice is that there is no background. Half of the HUD is gone. Also, the boss never has any sort of health meter of any sort, so you pretty much gotta keep shooting at him until it explodes. And you better HOPE you’re doing damage, because most bosses have areas of their body that won’t register any damage. I spent days on the last boss, having to pause every 20-30 minutes to take a break.

Keep in mind, this game was released before there was ever such a thing as “Game FAQs”, and nobody really knew what the “internet” was at all. If you needed help with a game, you’d better damn hope Nintendo Power did a write-up of the game sometime soon, or else you’d never finish it.

So after spending a few days, I finally came across the boss’s weak spot. So now that I actually knew where to hit him, it only took me about 45 minutes and a few hundred attempts to actually kill him. Believe me, this is not an easy feat by any means.

Honestly, this game was pretty bad, even when it was new. These days, it’s just downright awful. However, Xexyz still manages to be mysteriously entrancing, and any time I dig it up from my box of old NES crap, I still give it a quick playthrough.

Some of the level design looks like it’s inspired by H R Giger. Except it’s horrible.

If you have a couple bucks and a game shop that actually carries old NES games, take a look for this title. It’ll only cost you a few bucks, and it’ll be well worth it. For those running emulators, try to obtain a copy of the Japanese release. The enemy sprites look a lot better (by “a lot” I mean a LOT – seriously, what did Hudson Soft of USA do to this game?), and there’s a lot more WTF moments in the game, too, with the bizarre cutscenes.

After you pick this up and play it, you’ll probably agree with me that the game really deserves a reboot, because this was a game that had a lot of potential, but Hudson Soft… Well I don’t know what Hudson Soft did, but they didn’t do it right, I’ll tell you that much.

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Using “scarification”, a process in which a certain pattern is carved into your skin, which is then removed to make the pattern really stand out, Metal_Games had a NES controller sliced into the flesh of his lower right arm. This isn’t the first time, either, as Metal_Games had an “expertly” carved the Konami Code into his leg.

“The stencil went on, and we were ready to go. Starting with the lines, the pain wasn’t half as bad as I’d expected,” explains Metal_Games. “In fact, it was a breeze for the most part. It took Jeffrey, the artist, about 20 minutes to cut all the lines. A couple of deep breaths, and we went straight on to removing the skin…”

Images of the final result can be found after the cut… pun not intended.

And they are not for the squeamish.

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In our third Dissidia: Final Fantasy character guide, we take a look at Firion. This uniquely dressed hero, hailing from Final Fantasy II believes he’s so hardcore that he carries around not just one, not even two, but seven weapons in combat!

And we’re going to show you how to use them, and use them well.

 [Game of Origin] Final Fantasy II

 [Concept] Weapon Specialist

 [EX-Mode] Firion equips “Blood” versions of all his
 weapons; “Blood” weapons were weapons in FFII and
 other FFs which restored your health when you attack
 the enemy. His armour also takes on a gold tint.

 [EX-Mode Bonus] Matching tradition, Firion’s Blood
 Attacks restore your HP as you land blows on your
 foe; the more damage you do, the more HP restored

 [EX-Burst: Fervid Blazer] Firion attacks with all of his
 weapons. Five commands will appear when he draws
 his bow, and the power of his final attack will depend
 on how many of these the player inputs correctly.

 
[Firion - Gameplay Mechanics]

TIER RANKING: 85

Firion is not a character for beginners. Don’t pick him if you want an easy learning curve.

Mirroring Final Fantasy’s II freedom to allow you to equip whatever gear you want, Firion has taken this to the extreme; he carries around the signature weapons of the playable cast of that game – Ricard Highwind’s spear, Guy’s Axe, Maria’s bow, Leila’s dagger, and Minwu’s shield.

Thanks to his multitude of weapons, Firion has an unparalleled ability to juggle and combo his opponents; he can pull his enemy in close with his long range attacks, and keep them off their feet for extended lengths of time, unable to retaliate.

However, he cannot move while attacking.

Firion is an almost entirely ground based fighter. Winning with him relies heavily on using your long-range abilities to draw the opponent in, and keeping at them with combos, before spreading your distance again and repeating the same strategy.

Patience in regard to releasing attacks, knowing when to keep still, maintaining distance, and spotting an opening in your opponent’s offense are all key to winning with Firion. He is devastating in the right hands, and is easily one of the more complex characters in the game to learn.

A skilled Firion player is one that knows when to stand still, and when to move out of the line of fire. They will always take advantage of an opening in an experience player’s attacks, and can decimate an opponent without ever having to leave the ground.

 
[Background Story]

Firion is a man who is single-minded in his approaches and serious in his beliefs, but is not without a certain of romanticism. He possesses a hot and passionate heart, and believes strongly in the concept of justice and ideals of the Wild Rose.

This scene pays homage to a classic piece of Amano art

Once dedicated to something, he will pour his soul into it. He is now caught up in the unfolding battle between himself and the cold-hearted Emperor of Palamecia, who is pushing, at any costs, to expand his rule over the world.

Firion begins his journey in Dissidia in the company of Cecil, Cloud, and Tidus. At first, he believes that finding the Crystals will help him resolve everything.

As he walks this new path however, and as he meets new friends, his views gradually change, and he sees the lessons of “The Wild Rose” as the key to his truths.

 
[Personal Commentary]

Square’s means of connecting Firion in Dissidia to the gameplay of Final Fantasy II is rather a cute touch. In FFII, players could equip characters with whatever weapons and armour you wanted, so they figured… hey… lets have him use them all!

At the same time!

His appearance for Dissidia is almost perfectly faithful to Amano’s famous artwork from the original game, right down to the elaborately embroidered turban. For myself personally, it’s always been one of his best designs, and it’s great to see that Square decided to stay so faithful to that design for Dissidia.

From a gameplay perspective, Firion is definately one of my favourite characters in Dissidia.

 
[Firion Image Gallery]

 
In our next character guide, we will take a look at the main villain of Final Fantasy II, the deplorable Emperor of Palamecia, who brings a very unique play-style to the table, to match his rather… eccentric ways.

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In our second Dissidia: Final Fantasy character guide, we take a look at Garland, the legendary villain of Final Fantasy I, who was hunkering around in metal armour and looking generally imposing long before the likes of Golbez and ExDeath came on the scene.

 [Game of Origin] Final Fantasy I

 [Concept] Power Attacker

 [EX-Mode] Garland appears as the noble knight he
 once was; his cape turns a dazzling white, and his
 armour is adorned with bright, silver hight-lights. A
 far removal from the Garland we know.

 [EX-Mode Bonus] Removes knockback. This allows
 Garland to keep attacking even when hit, since hits
 on him will not trigger the usual flinching animations.

 [EX-Burst: Soul of Chaos] The player must constantly
 press the O button to build up Garland’s power gauge,
 making his attacks stronger and causing a different
 weapon transformation for his final blow.

 
[Garland - Gameplay Mechanics]

TIER RANKING: 71

If his general appearance (and that giant transforming sword he carries around) weren’t enough to give it away, Garland is a physical attack based character who relies entirely on brute force to take down his opponents. The benefits of this raw power come with some major drawbacks, however.

Garlands attacks take precise memorization and, in some cases, a bit of luck. At close range, his slow Brave Attacks means that he can be easily decimated by faster character. His HP Attacks are somewhat more user-friendly as a result, but his Ex-Mode bonus is his real trump card.

In Ex-Mode, his “flinch” (the animation that causes you to be knock out of your attack when someone hits you) is turned off. He still takes damage, but his sluggish moves can be completed without being interrupted by faster character’s counters. Use this every chance you get.

Garland posses a few basic magic attacks, such as Earthquake and Flame, but there usefulness is limited. A patient offensive approach is the best approach to take with this tin can giant.

 
[Background Story]

Recalling the classic “good vs. evil” nature of the original Final Fantasy, Garland stands tall as leader among the troops of Chaos, opposite the Warrior of Light, who stands as leader of the forces of Cosmo.

Once a famous knight in his own right, he now stands in eternal rivalry with the legendary hero.

Is he an old friend of Kuja's, or is FFIX's Garland only a namesake?

He believes deeply in the concept of “reincarnation”. As he leads Chaos’ troops, he stops at nothing to prevent the warriors of Cosmos from obtaining the Crystals, but he seems to be actively enjoying the fighting.

The whims of his “master” Chaos mean little to him, though he feigns interest. It’s obvious that he aims to serve only one person’s interests… his own.

 
[Personal Commentary]

Garland’s design is unique for one reason; no known concept art of him from the original game exists. As such, his appearance is vaguely inspired by the constantly evolving sprite of him used in the many remakes of Final Fantasy 1 over the years.

Hailing from the first game in the series, his characterisation was always going to locked into the classical role of pure evil, with little reasons to make his motives or desires any more complex.

That said, he shares an unique role in Dissidia due to his relation to Chaos, the “final boss” of FFI, and the main villain of Dissidia.

It’s also curious to note that he converses with Kuja in Dissidia. Many fans will recall that Kuja’s “mentor” of sorts in Final Fantasy IX was a man who also went by the name Garland; whether these two characters are one and the same has yet to be revealed.

Hopefully Dissidia will offer some answers.

 
[Garland Image Gallery]

 
Tomorrow, Tuesday, we move onto Final Fantasy II, and take a look at Firion, the orphaned hero of the game, searching for the “Wild Rose”, and a dream of his own.

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In our first Dissidia: Final Fantasy character guide, we take a look at the character who jump started the franchise, the iconic Warrior of Light, who makes his appearance in Dissidia looking similar to how he was originally designed by Yoshitaka Amano, over 20 years ago.

 [Game of Origin] Final Fantasy I

 [Concept] All-Rounder

 [EX-Mode] The Warrior of Light changes into Amano’s
 rendition of the Knight class from the original NES
 box-art. His armor design is more complex, and the
 horns on his helmet point forward, instead of up.

 [EX-Mode Bonus] “Protect” Defence is increased.
 The Warrior of Light will also be able to defect his
 opponent’s magic attacks.

 [EX-Burst: Oversoul] 6 directional arrows will appear on
 screen. Correctly inputting all 6 of these will raise the
 power of his Ex-Burst attack, while missing will result
 in a weaker attack.

 
[Warrior of Light - Gameplay Mechanics]

TIER RANKING: 78

Although the Warrior of Light will likely be the first character that traditional Final Fantasy fans will want to play as first, he still requires some difficulty to master. Extended play will give you a better feel for the timing of his move.

His usefulness in battle relies heavily on you positing yourself above or below the opponent to take advantage of his best abilities. Placement is key with him.

His attacks tend to move in straight lines, and because of their general slow speed, it can be harder to land hits on opponents. Only with a lot of practise will you be able to accurately predict your opponent’s movements and place yourself accordingly to make hits count.

While the Warrior of Light might be the heart and soul of Dissidia’s story (and the Final Fantasy franchise itself), the rest of the cast tends to come across as godly in comparison to him, due to his limitations.

 
[Background Story]

The Warrior of Light stands at the heart of the warriors of Cosmos as their leader. A legendary knight blessed by the power of light, he cast off the darkness that gripped a world slowly tumbling towards ruin. While fostering the light of justice within himself, he dedicated himself to battle in order to rescue this world from chaos.

He is austere and honourable in dealing with himself and others, always remains composed, and harbours a strong sense of responsibility. His heart is deeply empathetic towards his companions, and he is every inch the hero one would wish to entrust with the world’s safety.

Under the guidance of the princess Cosmos, the Warrior of Light comes to learn of the state of the world, caught in the whirl of chaos. He sets out alone to find the one thing that can save the world… the Crystals.

But along the way, the troops of Chaos attempt to knock him from the noble path. If the “truth” they preach is correct, then how can the Warrior continue to believe in the “Light?” Can even the most noble of all heroes lose his way?

 
[Personal Commentary]

It’s interesting (and refreshing) to see that Square Enix choose to use the Warrior of Light as the “leading man” in Dissidia’s story, when they could have chosen one of the more recognisable characters in his place.

It’s an endearing nod to fans that the hero of Dissidia is the character who kicked off the franchise, and it seems only fitting for him to be so.

Seeing as your entire party of adventurers had a completely blank slate when it came to personality in the original title, this gave Square Enix the ability to retrofit Anamo’s classic design with the most noble of personalities for Dissidia’s story; a hero amongst heroes.

It may not be realistic characterisation, but it fits into the context of his character in the overall mythos of Final Fantasy; he was the first true hero.

 
[Warrior of Light Image Gallery]

 
On Monday, we will take a look at Garland, the original Final Fantasy villain, who stood in opposition of the Warrior of Light in the first game, and takes up the role as the leader of the forces of Chaos in Dissidia.

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