I bought this on the premise that the focus of the game was very silly, but I ended up enjoying it far more than I ever thought I would. For reference, I beat every level on normal, and just about every level on hard (except the really mental final few), and clocked in a little under 23 hours.
The main premise of the game is big muscley guys beating up other big muscley guys to impress girls. The main character of the game, Ranma, wants to become the strongest guy on Last Resort Island so he can date the current head honcho's really hot daughter. There's also some other stuff about him finding out about his father whom he never really knew, but that's the slightly more serious element of the plot. This game is ecchi as fuck, and it totally revels in it. There are cutscenes with each "Queen" (the main girls whom you're trying to impress), that are solely about showing off their bodies in certain poses. If you do certain moves near packs of girls in stages, you'll initiate "panty slots" where their skirts fly up and you see if they're related in some theme of 3 to try and get bonuses to health, voltage, etc. Them, and most other girls whose requests you fulfill in levels get added to a database where you can poke at them (on the touch screen, literally) to make them blush and cover their crotches, you can shake the Vita to make their boobs jiggle, it's ridiculous. I really only spent a very little bit of time in that area, as I found it, got a good laugh, and then went on to the meat of the game: 3D Brawling.
The main meat of the game is a really fun spectacle fighter of a 3D brawler. You have light attacks, strong attacks, grapples, as well as a focused auto dodge you can turn on to try and dish out counters to enemy punches, but that takes a while to get used to the timing to (which matters a LOT in boss battles). There's also "voltage" which builds up as you complete requests and win rounds of panty-slots which makes your attacks fling enemies further and deal more damage. You can also press down on the D-pad to "Rise-Up," and make your combos a lot harder to break, dish out attacks quicker, and also initiate quick-time events of button mashing to deal a bunch of extra damage. It's all a real spectacle to watch too, so the brawling was always super satisfying.
There are 12 characters you'll unlock, all of whom have varried fighting styles that legitimately make them play differently, as well as different movement speeds, defensive and offensive powers, the works. My favorite was of course the luchador Max, both because he says a lot of silly English phrases in Japanese ("KISS MY BOOTS!, THIS IS PRO-WRESTLER!," etc.) and because he can tank and deal out hits like a boss (he's just a bit slow). The normal mode provided a good primer, and the hard modes really make the enemies start gunning for your jugulars, so they made it a right fun romp as well.
Trying to get the highest scores in each stages were my favorite part though. As previously mentioned, there are packs of girls in each stage with requests to fulfill. These can range from knocking out however many enemies to dealing out so many "rush" finishes during a "rise up" period. You have to complete these events within the proximity of the packs of girls though, forcing you to fight in areas you otherwise might not, and to focus on objecives or fighting styles you might not otherwise consider. It really varried up the gameplay, and was definitley my favorite part of the game's formula.
That, however, is my concern in recommending it for importing, as this game only came out in Japan. You're not missing anything significant not being able to read the story, but not being able to tell what the girls are telling you to do in their requests would really dampen the experience. Unless you're just good with the titties and spectacle brawling, the 50+ bucks you'll have to shell out for this might be a bit too steep for most English Vita/ecchi enthusiasts.
Verdict: Recommended. It's a great 3D brawler, and definitely the most fun I've had in a spectacle fighter. I've played games like Metal Gear Revengence and God Hand before, and while I thought they were fun, I thought they were far too punishing to hold my attention for long (though I did beat God Hand). This is a game I enjoyed immensely, and other Vita and/or brawler fans would do well to look into it :)
The main premise of the game is big muscley guys beating up other big muscley guys to impress girls. The main character of the game, Ranma, wants to become the strongest guy on Last Resort Island so he can date the current head honcho's really hot daughter. There's also some other stuff about him finding out about his father whom he never really knew, but that's the slightly more serious element of the plot. This game is ecchi as fuck, and it totally revels in it. There are cutscenes with each "Queen" (the main girls whom you're trying to impress), that are solely about showing off their bodies in certain poses. If you do certain moves near packs of girls in stages, you'll initiate "panty slots" where their skirts fly up and you see if they're related in some theme of 3 to try and get bonuses to health, voltage, etc. Them, and most other girls whose requests you fulfill in levels get added to a database where you can poke at them (on the touch screen, literally) to make them blush and cover their crotches, you can shake the Vita to make their boobs jiggle, it's ridiculous. I really only spent a very little bit of time in that area, as I found it, got a good laugh, and then went on to the meat of the game: 3D Brawling.
The main meat of the game is a really fun spectacle fighter of a 3D brawler. You have light attacks, strong attacks, grapples, as well as a focused auto dodge you can turn on to try and dish out counters to enemy punches, but that takes a while to get used to the timing to (which matters a LOT in boss battles). There's also "voltage" which builds up as you complete requests and win rounds of panty-slots which makes your attacks fling enemies further and deal more damage. You can also press down on the D-pad to "Rise-Up," and make your combos a lot harder to break, dish out attacks quicker, and also initiate quick-time events of button mashing to deal a bunch of extra damage. It's all a real spectacle to watch too, so the brawling was always super satisfying.
There are 12 characters you'll unlock, all of whom have varried fighting styles that legitimately make them play differently, as well as different movement speeds, defensive and offensive powers, the works. My favorite was of course the luchador Max, both because he says a lot of silly English phrases in Japanese ("KISS MY BOOTS!, THIS IS PRO-WRESTLER!," etc.) and because he can tank and deal out hits like a boss (he's just a bit slow). The normal mode provided a good primer, and the hard modes really make the enemies start gunning for your jugulars, so they made it a right fun romp as well.
Trying to get the highest scores in each stages were my favorite part though. As previously mentioned, there are packs of girls in each stage with requests to fulfill. These can range from knocking out however many enemies to dealing out so many "rush" finishes during a "rise up" period. You have to complete these events within the proximity of the packs of girls though, forcing you to fight in areas you otherwise might not, and to focus on objecives or fighting styles you might not otherwise consider. It really varried up the gameplay, and was definitley my favorite part of the game's formula.
That, however, is my concern in recommending it for importing, as this game only came out in Japan. You're not missing anything significant not being able to read the story, but not being able to tell what the girls are telling you to do in their requests would really dampen the experience. Unless you're just good with the titties and spectacle brawling, the 50+ bucks you'll have to shell out for this might be a bit too steep for most English Vita/ecchi enthusiasts.
Verdict: Recommended. It's a great 3D brawler, and definitely the most fun I've had in a spectacle fighter. I've played games like Metal Gear Revengence and God Hand before, and while I thought they were fun, I thought they were far too punishing to hold my attention for long (though I did beat God Hand). This is a game I enjoyed immensely, and other Vita and/or brawler fans would do well to look into it :)