Retro Runback: Battle Arena Toshinden

I have a confession. I’ve put more time into Battle Arena Toshinden on a PlayStation 1 demo disc than I ever have at Tekken. I can’t even remember where the demo disc came from. I just know that, more often than not, when I went into my parents’ room to turn on the PS1, it was to play that. It never got the best critical reception, but I can’t help but feel like it would be interesting to bring back.

‘bATTLE ARENA TOSHINDEN’ WAS AN EARLY FAVORITE

My favorite thing about this game was how serious the opening was, yet how hilarious a character like Fo is. The scroll and the deep-voiced narration are hilarious to look back on. Honestly, fighting games as a whole are hilarious because of the justification of the characters getting together to throw hands. We’re never going to truly get free of the tournament storyline. And I’m mostly fine with it.

I will say, looking back on gameplay videos now, I didn’t realize just how sluggish the game was. I just remember enjoying cheesing the hell out of the CPU. Although I do think that with some updates, we could have another great fighter on our hands. I would absolutely need the ring-out and desperation attacks to remain, however. When I did play it with other people, I would enjoy forcing aggression from a friend only to jump over them while they ran straight off the edge of the arena.

Should we run it back?

Yes, someone needs to fill the void left by Soulcalibur. We haven’t gotten a new game in that series in seven years. And the weapons-based fighting game, in my opinion, still has a lot to offer. So, if Bandai Namco isn’t going to fulfill our wishes, then someone get on the phone with whoever they need to. Bring back Battle Arena Toshinden. People still want it. At this point, I’d settle for a redone version of it. Most important of all, bring back Fo.