Battle Blaze is a mediocre fighting game by Sammy released in 1992 in Japan and 1993 in North America. By: Evan G Last updated: September 4, 2010

Back in 1991/1992, the release of Street Fighter II revolutionized the arcade scene and made the SNES the must have console with its initial port. Battle Blaze came out shortly after Street Fighter II, obviously trying to implement a fantasy environment. On every aspect, Battle Blaze is a terrible fighting game and pales in comparison to Capcom's masterpiece.

The story of this game is that the main character, Kerrel has had his father killed by a phantom sent out by a demon intending to turn the leaders of the kingdom of Virg against each other. Kerrel vows revenge and sets out to free the leaders who are under the power of the phantoms.

Graphics and sound

The graphics in Battle Blaze are incredibly underwhelming. The backgrounds are pretty bland, and look like they were made for an old Commodore 64 game. In particular, the "Lord Gustoff" stage featured horrible looking chickens and beast creatures in the background. The characters are generic fantasy characters that do not take advantage of the wide SNES palette. The music is forgettable arcade style music, and the effects are simple grunts and smacks. About the only thing that shows off the fact that it is the SNES is the background in the intro, which shows a Mode 7 flame effect (which as of time of writing is not emulated properly except in bsnes).

Gameplay

Nothing is more terrible in this game than the gameplay system. After being used to the depth of attacks and moves in good fighting games like Street Fighter, this game breaks this down into a two button layout (jump and attack). This would have been appropriate for the NES, maybe indicating that is where this game started. There are special moves that are relatively easy to pull off, but your are just as well off to mash "Y". The game is very hard, due to the enemy AI which will block almost every move you make. I did managed to beat two of the foes by hitting them with continual jump spin kicks, but I think this was merely a glitch in their programming, and it doesn't work on every foe. There is an "beginner" difficulty mode, but it is only available by accessing a hidden options mode (by holding select and pressing start at the title screen). The battles go in a win 2 out of 3 format.

The characters include the main character, a muscle-bound Conan clone, a wolf-like creature that can transform, a beat with a club and chain, a man with a giant sword, and a woman with a knife. Once you beat the four enemies, you fight a demon called Autarch. I figure this boss would be impossible without cheating, so I created an infinite life cheat (7E06DCFF, make sure to toggle it off after you win). After you win, that is it. The game is very short, and any replay value comes due to the poorly made AI. There is a one-on-one battle mode (which is where the the two player mode is), but I don't think it really adds much.

Summary

The SNES featured many great fighting games, and Battle Blaze is not one of them. It's lack of depth, poor graphics, sound and gameplay put this in the bottom tier of SNES games. Maybe if it came out before Street Fighter II, it might have deserved a look, however you are better off playing pretty much any other fighting game.

Prototypes

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Box information

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Bibliography

• Nintendo Power, Summer CES '92 (shown at CES), Publication date: August 1992, Volume: 39, Pages: 60