Konami is one of the most beloved 3rd party game publishers of all time, creators of many
popular series that would ultimately go on to define their genres.
Action games wouldn't be the same today without Contra or Castlevania...Metal Gear paved the
way for popular stealth games...Gradius is perhaps the most important shoot-em-up ever
made, and you can't mention the horror genre without mentioning Silent Hill.
The publishing giant has gone on to make successful RPGs, sports games, and even dating sims,
but one genre almost no one associates Konami with is the fighting genre.
When I heard that Konami created a fighting game, I knew I had to check it out.
OK...well this is kind of lame...oh...bland graphics and stiff control...wait, wait, stop,
what?
Why's the camera doing that?
Aaaaagh.
STOP.
All right, no more!
I guess it's time to go to video game hell.
Eek.
That game is god-awful...but thankfully we're not here to talk about that one.
This is the fighting game we're here to talk about--Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken,
or Daigo's Great Adventure, for the PlayStation One.
Released only in Japan right at the end of 1996, it's jam packed with charm and humor,
and also happens to be a fun, solid fighting game at the same time.
Unlike many other fighting games for the PlayStation in that era, Lightning Legend was made from
the ground up exclusively for the system and not ported over from the arcades.
Set in the fictional Japan-esque country of Japone, the game initially provides you with
eight different characters to play as and two game modes--story and versus.
I love the way the character select screen is designed, as it is much more clever and
interesting than other fighting games.
There is an option to change this to a "quick select" mode, but it is rather pointless since
it doesn't really cut down on the time it takes to select a fighter, and only serves
to make the selection screen more drab.
Anyway, each character has his or her own story, which unfolds through 2D cutscenes
in between fights.
Since this game wasn't meant to be a quarter muncher, the story and dialogue between characters
are fleshed out a bit more than your standard fighting game.
In general, 3D graphics from the PSOne era have aged terribly, but somehow Lightning
Legend still looks pretty good nearly two decades after its initial release.
The graphics are colorful and bright, and the art style is very appealing.
Animation is nice and fluid, and character models are quite detailed, showing a lot expression
on their faces.
Music in Lighting Legend is top notch, pretty much what you'd expect from a Konami game.
There are a lot of typical anime themes and tropes in the game--you've got your young
boy hero out to save the world, the cute mascot character, a ninja super hero, a burning youth
fighting for justice, some boob touch action...But no giant robots, sadly.
To be honest, I don't really watch or care for anime, but I love the style of Lightning
Legend.
The cast of characters are all distinct and likable, the story is presented as parody,
and nothing is ever taken too seriously.
The fighting game system is pretty solid, and easy to pick up and play due to its relatively
simple control scheme.
On default settings, the d-pad is used for movement and the four face buttons are used
to execute light, medium, and heavy attacks, as well as a taunt.
Special moves are performed by combining different inputs of the d-pad with one of the attack
buttons, similar to Street Fighter.
Holding down the heavy attack and taunt buttons at the same time charges a power meter that
can be used for super attacks, and taunting will cause your opponent's power meter to
decrease slightly.
Pressing back on the d-pad makes your character block, but there is also an auto block feature
that takes effect when there is no controller input.
Finally, you can grab opponents by simultaneously taunting and moving right or left, and can
parry attacks by pressing the light and medium attack buttons together.
At first, controls feel a bit stiff and it may be hard to pull off some of the moves,
but in no time you'll be stringing together combos and winning matches with ease.
A nice little bonus that comes included with the game to help out are character cards that
list all inputs for their special and super moves on the reverse side.
There is a nice feeling of impact when attacks connect, but at times hit detection can feel
a bit spotty or off, with attacks clearly hitting your opponent but to no effect.
It's frustrating, but nothing game breaking.
Balancing in the game is pretty good for the most part, but there definitely are some characters
who are better than others.
In particular, Adolf and Misa come to mind...Adolf is fast, powerful, has long combo strings,
can shoot projectiles, and has two super moves when most of the cast has only one.
Clearly alpha.
And Misa is, in my opinion, the best character in the game, due to her awesome, high damage
special moves, speed, and dash attack.
Her combos seem to connect more than any other character, and I barely ever lost a round
using her, even on higher difficulty settings.
But I guess this is not surprising, since in most fighting games, any character who
graduated from the Mai Shiranui School of Boob Jiggle Animations is usually a bit overpowered.
They do it for the fans.
Anyway, the driving force to continue playing Lightning Legend stems from item collection.
After each round, you receive an item from your opponent, and what item you get depends
on a variety of circumstances.
You'll get different items for more obvious things like winning a round without taking
damage, finishing with a super move, and victory by timeout.
But some items require you to mix things up a bit, such as winning a round with only one
second left on the clock and losing to an opponent without causing any damage whatsoever.
Every character has 16 different items to unlock, and the conditions to unlock these
are the same for each one.
You can view your collected items in the game records, and a majority of them unlock some
kind of bonus, such as developer messages and extra costumes, but most are concept artwork
of the various characters in the game.
Collecting all items for the aforementioned Misa also unlocks a new alternative character
for her, her twin sister Risa.
Additionally, there are a few items that unlock based purely on chance, and these are allow
access to new modes.
Obtaining a gold watch unlocks time attack mode, and finding a treasure box and a treasure
key will unlock collection mode.
Time attack is just that--an arcade mode with the purpose of clearing the game with the
best time possible.
And collection mode is a series of never ending fights with any characters of your choice,
making item collection much easier.
But unfortunately, since obtaining the items to unlock these modes are random, you may
have to play through story mode many times before you find them, which can be annoying.
I beat the game with all characters, did several more playthroughs, and found four gold watches
until I finally found a treasure chest and could unlock collection mode.
Unlockables that aren't dependent on item collection are four new characters--two of
which are added to the roster after your first story mode playthrough, and two more for completing
the game a couple of times without the use of a continue, which can be made easier by
setting rounds to one.
Unfortunately, they cannot be used in story mode, but are available for everything else,
and all have their own set of items to collect.
Lightning Legend is a fun, well-designed fighting game with great presentation, an interesting
world and characters, and a lot of replayability and extra content.
This was such a good first attempt at a new fighting game series that it's really a shame
it never a saw a sequel, spin-off, or anything else related to the IP.
You can tell the creators really put a lot of care and effort into the game, and I would
have loved to have seen what else they could have done with this series.
But anyway, if you're looking for a good fighting experience on the PlayStation One, I highly
recommend checking out Lightning Legend.
You should have no trouble picking it up, since it sells for pretty cheap and is not
all that uncommon.
Anyway, thanks for watching the video, I hope you enjoyed it and please check out my channel
for more videos like this one.