#0009 - Astra Superstars - 1998 - Sega Saturn - Sunsoft - Versus Fighter

So my wife was gone overnight to her sister's, which left me with some free time to pull out some games. Red Dead Redemption was obviously on the slate, but after about an hour I realized I wasn't exactly in the mood to spend ten minutes at a time riding across the landscape. I wanted something with instant gratification, something to pick up and play. Definitely something off the wall. I looked to Bayonetta but I wasn't in the mood for tons of completely obtuse cutscenes. I needed a one-on-one fighting game, the more obscure the better.

That was why I pulled out my album of Saturn games and found Astra Superstars, which fits all of those descriptions better than I had even hoped for. It made me realize just how long it had been since I'd played a game that was so...Japanese. The character designs are completely insane and feature mismatched names like "Lettuce"(???). But it works, of course, even with the singsong-y kids who introduce the fighters and the exuberantly expressive victory/loss poses. I don't know if its the fact that it's a Japanese game, a Saturn game, a '90s fighter, or all three - but again, it works.

I was also amazed at just how good the thing looks. For those of you who have an Action Replay 5-in-1 or a dedicated 4MB RAM cart, this game is one of the few that does support the technology in full for short load times and massive character sprites. What you get is a fighter that looks more like a Dreamcast game, which I guess just goes to show you how much life Sega's try-hard had left in it when it got the axe. Makes sense - I mean dang it, compare Legend of Mana on the Playstation to Dragon Quest VII or something and you'll see how much technology can progress on a single console system.

The last thing that Astra Superstars has going for it is that it's just so easy to play. Right off the bat it's unlike any other fighter I've seen - the characters are all witches and angels and stuff, so they float in the air and can 'jump' both up and down, so crouching is gone. And these jumps aren't the gravity-hobbled little bunny hops from Street Fighter II. These guys leap half the screen in a single bound, scaling bigger and smaller as they range out to the edges of the arena. It's great stuff, especially when you start chasing each other around the screen trying to land a hit.

The special moves are worth mentioning too. Since there's no crouch there's really no way to implement QCF and DP style inputs, so instead you get the ease of just smashing two buttons simultaneously: C+Z, B+Y, A+X. Each character has two offensive specials and a 'powerup' move that builds their meters. The specials are usually oriented along a left-right or up-down axis, and the big strategy is to stun your opponent with an attack and then follow up with a special from the right direction. It's great fun, and there's an added bonus if you make the other guy block too much: pinball mode.

Once you break down their guard bar, they start careening around the screen and smashing into everything, which is the perfect time to lay in extra damage. It is, of course, hysterical like the rest of Astra Superstars. Anyway, this is getting pretty long so I'll wrap it up. Suffice it to say that I had a ton of fun with Superstars, and it makes me want to check out Sunsoft's other fighters - Waku Waku 7 and Galaxy Fight. The biggest takeaway was just how ridiculously accessible the fighting mechanics were, and how friendly it was to button mashers. Last night at 2AM, it was exactly what I was looking for.