Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle
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 (Cue Mortal Kombat theme.) | |||||||
決闘 トランスフォーマー ビーストウォーズ ビースト戦士最強決定戦
(Ketō Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Senshi Saikyō Ketteisen) | |||||||
| Developer | Gaibrain | ||||||
| Publisher | Takara | ||||||
| Platform | Game Boy Color | ||||||
| Release date | March 19, 1999 | ||||||
| Credits | |||||||
Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle is a fighting game for the Game Boy Color system, released only in Japan in 1999. It has a ridiculously long title and some adorably short combatants from Beast Wars, Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo.
Plot
The powerful wish-granting Energon Quartz is discovered in a mysterious ruin on Earth. Once the Maximals and Predacons discover it, a mysterious voice proclaims the Quartz to be the prize for the strongest. Thus, the Transformers fight amongst themselves to get to it. After Megatron (who is always the final enemy, even if you're playing as him) is defeated in the chamber of the Quartz, the Beast Warrior who has proven themselves the strongest goes on to attain their wish with the Quartz's power.
Endings
- Lio Convoy: Determined to keep the Quartz out of the wrong hands, Lio Convoy seals it away forever.
- Galvatron: After absorbing the Quartz, Galvatron grows mad with power and ends up destroying his own base.
- Scuba: Scuba uses the Quartz's power to repair the environmental damage caused by the Predacons.
- Megastorm: Megastorm gloats to himself that with the power of the Quartz, he will finally overcome Galvatron...only for his brother to steal the Quartz right from under his nose.
- Cheetor: Having used the Quartz to become the most powerful of all Maximals, Cheetor is promoted to Supreme Commander. However, he can't handle the responsibility required for the post, and he runs away after only three days.
- Guiledart: Guiledart decides not to use the Quartz right away. Believing that there is still a long time until the war ends, he keeps it around as a future trump card.
- Optimus Primal: Primal uses the Quartz's power to defeat the Predacons once and for all, saving the universe!
- Megatron: Megatron takes the Quartz and sets out to defeat his eternal nemesis, Optimus Primal.
- Star Upper: As Star Upper wants to become strong under his own power, he doesn't use the Quartz for anything.
- Artemis: Blissfully ignorant of the Quartz's power, Artemis finds it really pretty and takes it home to decorate her room with it.
Playable characters
| Maximals | Predacons | Others |
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* Secret character.
† Artemis and Moon function as a single character, with Artemis acting as the "robot mode" and Moon as the "beast mode", and are listed as Predacons in-game for balance reasons.
Secret characters
Star Upper, Artemis/Moon, Starscream and BB can only be unlocked by using specific individual passwords or the "unlock everything" password; see the "Passwords" section below for more details. The remaining three "Fight! Beast" characters can only be accessed by using special cheat codes on the mini-game's character select screen. For Scylla, hold Select and Up, and press A. For DJ, hold Select and Down, and press A. For Ikard, highlight Scuba, hold select, and press A.
Gameplay
The game plays like a traditional 2D fighting game, most directly comparable to SNK's Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters, with two opponents battling it out on a small arena. Each character has three health bars, starting with a green bar, then yellow, then red; the winner is whoever depletes all of their opponent's health bars first, or whoever has the most health remaining when time expires. As in traditional fighters, players constantly face their opponent's direction and can move left or right, jump by pressing Up, crouch by pressing Down, dash by double tapping a direction, and block by holding in the opposite direction of their opponent. The fighting controls are simple: the A button for punches, and the B button for kicks, with players performing light or heavy attacks depending on how long the button is held. Various combinations of directional inputs with one of these buttons will trigger character-specific special moves. What makes the game unique is, naturally, the characters' ability to transform, which is done with the "Select" button. The characters have different attacks in both modes. Notably, characters with vehicle modes like Megastorm and Galvatron take less damage in their alternate modes than those with beast modes, but these modes are also slow and lack the ability to jump.
During combat, players have access to three "piyo piyo bullets", which can be fired in robot mode by quickly tapping Down-Down + A. If the shot connects, the opponent will be stunned for a few seconds, allowing the player to move in and attack. Once the player has used all three bullets, they will not replenish for the remainder of the match. The player can also charge their "BP" gauge by holding Down + A + B, which can be spent in one of two ways when fully charged: activating "Hyper Mode" by pressing Up + A + B to increase attack strength and speed temporarily, or using an extra-powerful special move known as a "Super Finisher" by pressing Down-Forward-Down-Back-B. Different super finishers will trigger depending on which mode the character is in. Like in Fatal Fury, when down to their red health bar, players gain access to an even stronger "Desperation" attack, performed by inputting an inverted Super Finisher button combination (Down-Back-Down-Forward-B) in either mode.
There are multiple playable game modes. "Single Battle" is the game's standard story mode, with players choosing a single combatant and battling seven other opponents before concluding with a battle against Megatron. Three difficulty levels are available by default, plus an unlockable fourth difficulty; depending on the difficulty level, a bonus battle with one of the secret characters may occur after defeating Megatron. In "Team Battle", similar to The King of Fighters, players select a team of three Maximals or Predacons and battle against the other faction's team of three, switching to the next team member each time one falls, with the last one standing being the winner. "Quick Shot" is a bonus mode that challenges the player to be the first to fire their weapon when a prompt appears, similar to the "Sunset Showdown" mini-game in Beast Wars Transmetals.
An "Extras" section includes several additional mini-games and other bonuses, most of which must be unlocked. "Punch de Go!" challenges players to destroy a rock in the quickest time possible. "Guard de Go!" and the more difficult "Guard de Go! 2" have players defending against as many oncoming projectiles as possible. "Run! Beast" is vertical scrolling game, where the player (permanently in their alternate mode) has to reach the goal while avoiding numerous pits. "Fight! Beast" is similar to "Run! Beast", but the player is under constant attack from bacteria while they run and has to shoot them down, with each character's projectiles acting differently. This mode includes some additional characters not playable in the main game, with those that have flying alternate modes possessing an advantage due to not being affected by pits. "Let's Make a Seal" features multiple images that the player can print out as stickers using the Game Boy Printer, including character artwork, screenshots of battle scenes, personal records, and even memo templates and comics with empty word balloons for the players to fill in. Finally, a "Profiles" section includes character profiles for the playable roster, including descriptions of all their special moves, along with various tutorials and tips hosted by Starscream and Artemis. The game's options menu also includes a sound test and viewable move lists for each character, which can be printed out.
Passwords
As the game lacks any sort of save feature, progression and unlockables are instead tied to a password system. Each password is presented to the player after achieving a specific objective, such as clearing Single Mode on different difficulties, setting a new record in one of the mini-games, or even finding it written on the ground in one of the mini-games. A complete list of passwords is below, along with what each one unlocks:
| Password | Translation | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| げすと | Gesuto (Guest) | Unlock Star Upper |
| てみす | Temisu ([Ar]temis) | Unlock Artemis & Moon |
| つよい | Tsuyoi (Strong) | Unlock Master difficulty level |
| がーど | Ga~do (Guard) | Unlock "Guard de Go!" in Extras |
| つうー | Tsuu~ (Two) | Unlock "Guard de Go! 2" in Extras |
| しーる | Shi~ru (Seal) | Unlock "Let's Make a Seal" in Extras |
| はしれ | Hashire (Run) | Unlock "Run! Beast" in Extras |
| うてっ | Ute' (Fire!) | Unlock "Fight! Beast" in Extras |
| りーむ | Ri~m ([Starsc]ream) | Unlock Starscream in "Fight! Beast" |
| び び | Bi Bi (BB) | Unlock BB in "Fight! Beast" |
| たから | Takara (Treasure) | Secret message: あそびは文化 ("Play is Culture"), Takara's slogan |
| ぜんぶ | Zenbu (Everything) | Unlock all characters and extras ("Takara" password must be entered first) |
| おしり | Oshiri (Butt) | Secret animation: Three chibi Optimus Primals doing the "Gorilla Butt Puu" dance |
Notes
- As a backwards compatible Game Boy Color game, there are essentially three versions of the game in one. Playing on an original Game Boy (or Game Boy Pocket) produces an entirely monochrome game. Playing via a Super Game Boy adapter on the SNES adds a limited color palette; an exclusive, full color frame image of Lio Convoy and Galvatron; enhanced sound effects (which can be sampled in the expanded sound test option); and local multiplayer support when two SNES controllers are plugged in. Using a Game Boy Color means the loss of the enhanced sound effects, but provides a richer, full color palette.
- The game's control scheme, gameplay elements, and most of its sound effects are lifted lifted directly from Gaibrain and Takara's previous Game Boy ports of Real Bout Fatal Fury Special and The King of Fighters '96.
- Several other characters and concepts are also included in this game during the playable characters' super finisher animations:
- Megatron can summon Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, Inferno and Scorponok to attack his foe during his beast mode super finisher.
- Scuba pilots the Tako Tank during his robot mode super finisher.
- While Galvatron can only be controlled in his robot and drill-tank modes, his third dragon mode appears during his desperation attack.
- The game includes a secret code to access its internal dip switches. After going into the Options menu, highlight the Sound Test, hold Left, and press A to make the Soft Dip menu appear. Each switch activates something different, such as secret characters and modes, infinite BP meter, simplified super and desperation moves, and auto-blocking.
- Artwork for Cheetor which appeared in Comic Bom Bom advertisements is a little different from the final artwork which appeared in the manual. Apparently, they felt compelled to make him less kawaii. The in-game portrait, however, reflects the Comic Bom Bom artwork.
- The game features connectivity with Transformers: Beast Wars Metals 64. By inserting the game in the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, players can unlock Megatron X as a playable character in Metals 64.
