I've heard a lot of great things about Guardian Heroes over the years, but I think this might just be my least favorite Treasure game.

One part beat-em-up, one part action-RPG, Guardian Heroes is definitely interesting in concept. You select from one of four characters with different stat builds and proficiencies before being set loose in a fantasy world on the brink of war by two feuding clans of spirits. How you progress through the game and what ending you ultimately get depends on several dialog prompts throughout the game, and in a way it's quite similar to Shadow the Hedgehog, giving it some replayability.

Treasure, as usual, knocks it out of the park with presentation. Animations are smooth, characters are suitably cartoonish, environments are colorful, and the soundtrack is full of bangers. There is a bit too much reuse of enemy sprites, with most being recolors of the same basic soldiers and orcs, but Guardian Heroes has so much of that Treasure charm that it's easy to give it a pass.

Less forgivable is the difficulty balancing, however. My initial playthrough got me about 80% through the game, and rather than sit there and slog through all of that a second time I decided to max out my character's stats, easy thanks to my Saturn's hacked Action Replay. But even with Han at his absolute zenith and the game set on easy, enemies are still spongy and more than capable of locking you in a juggle from which there's little hope of escape other than dumb luck. Two bosses in particular just fly around and spit magic everywhere, making them a nightmare to even approach let alone damage, and I'm just not sure how to beat them without cheating. By the end of the game, basic enemies will block through all of your attacks, and when you do manage to hit them they still have more than enough health to shoulder several combos. Magic appears to be a counterbalance to this, but it deals such pitiful damage that it only becomes useful when you can buy half a screen of space to spam it relentlessly.

As I finished the game a blue screen popped up, warning me about the dangers of pirating this game. It's not unlike the dozens of fake copyright warning videos people seem to love making for retro games. Guardian Heroes is intended for personal use, and it is a crime to sell, reproduce, or even rent the game. As I turned off my Sega Saturn and pulled out the CD-R I burned Guardian Heroes to, I thought "Perhaps... but not today."