Unsung Fighting Games No. 4- Star Gladiator & Plasma Sword

[Blue Monkey]

Star Gladiator
Console releases: Playstation

a 1996 weapon-based 3D fighting game released by Capcom for the PlayStation-based ZN-1 arcade hardware. It was Capcom's first polygonal fighting game, preceding the original Street Fighter EX
Star Gladiator utilizes a four-button configuration system, which consists of two attack buttons for a character's weapon, a kick attack, and a guard defense. The fighters are able to battle upon a limited 3D plane field and a ring-out victory is possible for a fighter if they're able to knock their opponent out of the field.
Characters can initiate unique tactics seen from within this game. Plasma Reverses are two special guard moves that can be unleashed at any time from within a battle. A Plasma Reflect enables a fighter to deflect an opponent's incoming move and stun them in an instant, leaving them vulnerable for a few seconds while a Plasma Revenge enables a fighter to counterattack an opponent's incoming move and strike back with their own fast attack. Characters can also use a Plasma Strike, which can cause huge damage to an opponent if it connects on sight, but a Plasma Strike can only be done once per round.



The arcade mode of Star Gladiator consists of 10 fights. Depending on who the player chooses as their character, they'll fight a specific set of opponents from within the game. Gore is always fought at Stage 9 and is considered a sub-boss before Bilstein, who is the 10th and final opponent of the game. Depending on how the player got to Bilstein from within a specific time limit, the game either ends with a false ending or it continues as the player is then taken to a special battle against an unplayable computer-controlled final boss named "Ghost Bilstein". Losing to "Ghost Bilstein" results in a bad ending while defeating "Ghost Bilstein" results in the completion of the game and seeing your character's true ending.



Chars Converted to Mugen:
Hayato (MVC2 sprites)

Gaming in the Clinton years review- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op2DxT-QDtI

Star Gladiator
Vector, B. Hayato vs Zelkin, Vector & June
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx8Dl9Iw4WU&feature=related



Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, released in Japan as Star Gladiator 2: Nightmare of Bilstein, The sequel to Star Gladiator and runs on the ZN-2 hardware, an improved version of PlayStation-based ZN-1 hardware its predecessor ran on. A Dreamcast port was released in 2000.

Ports: Playstation, Dreamcast

The control system from the first Star Gladiator was reworked and rebuilt for the sequel. Much like the first game, players are given an arsenal of four usable buttons. Two of the buttons are attacks for a fighter's weapon while one button is used for a kick attack and the final button is used for inward and outward sidesteps as well as dashes. The Plasma Combo System was discarded in favor of the Plasma Strike System, in which all characters have a Super Meter (similar to the ones found in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Darkstalkers) and that they can raise it to level 3, enabling them to pull off super moves called Plasma Strikes. Unlike the first game, fighters are able to battle on an endless 3D plane, meaning that ring-outs were unavailable upon sight. Like other 3D fighting games, set combos were implemented through tapping a specific sequence of buttons. However, characters could perform special moves from within the combos themselves, akin to 2D fighting games (similar to the treatment found in the Street Fighter EX series). Characters can also counter incoming attacks using a Plasma Reflect or Plasma Revenge tactic against their opponent, requiring at least half of a Super Meter level.
One new tactic introducted from within Plasma Sword is that characters were granted a special skill called a Plasma Field. With the use of one level from the super meter, the character who activates it will emit a sphere of Plasma energy around them. If the opposing character is hit by it, the playing field will be temporarily boxed in with four invisible walls, making escape from the Plasma Field difficult. The effects of the skill vary with each character, ranging from infinite Plasma Strikes, growing to gigantic sizes, and even stopping time.



With the exception of Rimgal and Kappah, the remaining characters of the original Star Gladiator return for the sequel. The ten returning characters are joined by fourteen new characters, in which ten of the new characters are considered to being "mirror images" of the returning ones while the remaining two have their own unique fighting styles. The ten "mirror image" characters share the same weaponry, attacks, and Plasma Fields of the original cast, but each have their own unique Plasma Strikes, new design, and original story. There are two hidden characters from within the game and can only be played through the use of a code.

The Arcade Mode of Plasma Sword has the player going through eight stages of combat. Upon reaching the fifth stage, the player's character will encounter a mid-boss that further advances the story of the specific character. Once the player reaches the eighth and final stage, they will battle against a specific final boss for their character. Depending on the performance of the player from within the duration of Arcade Mode, the specific character will have a unique ending. If the player has to use a continue while fighting their eighth opponent or during earlier competition, they will have an abridged (false) ending. A one-credit play with no continues will reward the player with an extra fight against another specific boss character - which is safe to continue from - and an extended conclusion that is considered to being the "true" ending of the character.



Rai-On Playthrough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdnJeAnyrFI&feature=related


Vector vs Bilsten, B. Hayato vs Claire, Bilstein vs Gamof
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emnvbEOhKw&feature=related

["Bad News" Hoffmann]

small correction, Star Gladiator was never released for the Sega Dreamcast, you probably meant its sequel Plasma Sword.

Like with Darkstalkers, Rival Schools and Capcoms JoJo fighting game series its a damn shame that Star Gladiator /Plasma Sword didnt get a sequel.

Plasma Sword had a lot clones though...half of the roster was nearly identical to the other half and the game in general was quite dissapointing and uninspired after Star Gladiator had a great Playstation port with outros and some extras to make it an interesting game.



<3 June and this fanart

[Blue Monkey]

small correction, Star Gladiator was never released for the Sega Dreamcast, you probably meant its sequel Plasma Sword.

Like with Darkstalkers, Rival Schools and Capcoms JoJo fighting game series its a damn shame that Star Gladiator /Plasma Sword didnt get a sequel.

Plasma Sword had a lot clones though...half of the roster was nearly identical to the other half and the game in general was quite dissapointing and uninspired after Star Gladiator had a great Playstation port with outros and some extras to make it an interesting game.

Thank you my friend for the correction, this post is planned to describe both star gladiator and plasma sword, but i have been busy and havent had the time to update it, i know what you mean, having this other franchises on the next gen could have helped Capcom to stay away of the lazyness they are currently showing in the release of their newest games like MVC3.

I always liked the Star Wars homage they made this game to be, the only difference is that storm troopers (Vector) actually can kickass in this game!

<3 June and this fanart

[rednavi -RETIRED]

Game got so little attention that I bet you wont even find 10 good quality June hentai pics :V

I got it for dreamcast and it sucked alot. The graphics are nowhere near the quality a Dreamcast game could have and it was a lacking port as most of the non-mainstream capcom games were (This port is identical to Jojo's one for example and it also has the same style Power Stone 2 had except that game had an added shop mode).

[Retro Respecter]

I am surprised that someone from Star Gladiator was chosen to be in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, seeing as how obscure this game is.

["Bad News" Hoffmann]

Game got so little attention that I bet you wont even find 10 good quality June hentai pics :V

I doubt i ever saw hentai pics of june but there are some great Star Gladiator fan arts in general http://fighting-games-elite.deviantart.com/gallery/28842551

Sooner or later i will start a fana rt project for this game as i did with toshinden currently via my website

[rednavi -RETIRED]

90% of them are Hayato related, probably because they found about him thanks to MVC2

and damn, just checked those submissions, not a single good June artwork.

["Bad News" Hoffmann]

yeah...at DA and probably all other places where fans can post their works you see mostly the capcom characters who got popular trough marvel vs capcom 2/3. there is a ton of felicia, morrigan and hsien ko fana rt psoted since mvc3 was released

since a few weeks there are also a lot Poison fanarts uploaded


I liked the June pic i posted above a lot, whats not good about it?

somewhen in october or november i ll do a damn contest there to get star gladiator fanarts done

[Blue Monkey]

Game got so little attention that I bet you wont even find 10 good quality June hentai pics :V

I got it for dreamcast and it sucked alot. The graphics are nowhere near the quality a Dreamcast game could have and it was a lacking port as most of the non-mainstream capcom games were (This port is identical to Jojo's one for example and it also has the same style Power Stone 2 had except that game had an added shop mode).

yes i also tough the game port for this lacked in graphic quality, however i always found it more interesting than other 3d fighters of the time such as Avenger Galactic Storm, back in the arcade days and while nobody tought there would ever be a Street Fighter 3 at the time, i remember believing (WOOOW this is the futuuure) that this would eventually become the new spearhead of the Capcom fighters (silly me, i know). i encourage you to play the arcade Mame in any case to see if its more to your liking

["Bad News" Hoffmann]

Just play star gladiator for the ps1 on the epsxe emulator and use a high resolution..and bang..its looking way better than the arcade version which was based on a playstationa rcade hardware anyway

[blackstar]

I borrowed this game on ps1 and I really liked it, man capcom should bring back *The gamesGBK667 already mentioned* like Street fighter iv (but I know that's asking too much) but just rival schools would make me happy or at least a bit more aknowledgement that it's in the same universe as street fighter with a cameo or even just a stage from rival schools being in a SF game.
Oh yeah Hayato always reminded me of zero, anyone else got that vibe?

For anyone curious about Hayato his latest appearence was in TvsC: UAS when in appeared in Tekkeman Blade's ending

[Zeo]

I never played SG1 when I was a kid but I had Plasma Sword on dreamcast. I wasn't looking for so much depth and all that back then, I just had a ton of fun with it with my uncle and siblings as a kid and it was one of my favorite games.

I was one of the chosen few rooting for Hayato for MVC3.

[Blue Monkey]

 

I was one of the chosen few rooting for Hayato for MVC3.

Even tough i was excited to se Hayato on MVC2 i never actually considered him one of my favorites, always tought Chun Li and Morrigan could use some June competition on future crossovers, i consider her some kind of a naive fighting Princess Peach for the Capcom universe.

I borrowed this game on ps1 and I really liked it, man capcom should bring back *The gamesGBK667 already mentioned* like Street fighter iv (but I know that's asking too much) but just rival schools would make me happy or at least a bit more aknowledgement that it's in the same universe as street fighter with a cameo or even just a stage from rival schools being in a SF game.

Im also a fan of the rival schools franchise, and like you i would love to see at least appearances of some o their characters into other Capcom titles, maybe even seeing what some of those guys became when they went out of school. Would be cool to see howd Akira & Daigo turned out to be after graduating from Gedo.

I think blackstar that Capcom saw the Zero-Hayato similitudes themselves and that, couldve been its downfall.

On my opinion they used Gerelt as a model to develop Dudley of SF3 later on.

[Basara Bogard]

Game got so little attention that I bet you wont even find 10 good quality June hentai pics :V

Wrong, SG saga was one of the most famous Capcom 3D fighter games released for arcades and some consoles (Star Gladiator for PSX, Plasma Sword for DC), apart of hayato, June got almost all the attention between Capcom fans and she appeared in a lot of official Capcom group artworks, so she's a lot of famous (and she appeared with Saturn as cameo in one of MVC2 hayato winposes)

And... I've like 50+ hentai pics of June she's one of my favourite Capcom females for far

[S.D.]

Wrong, SG saga was one of the most famous Capcom 3D fighter games released for arcades and some consoles

It's not like there are THOUSANDS of Capcom 3D fighting games.
Also, more famous than Rival Schools, Street FIghter EX or Power Stone? Haha no.
If anything it's above Tech Romancer by a tiny little bit, and Tech Romancer is kinda obscure.
tl;dr NO.

[Bastard Mami]

maybe more famous than power stone
an sf ex does not count.

[S.D.]

Huh? But Power Stone has an anime and a PSP compilation.

[GOH]

Just the anime alone should do it. I remember Power Stone because of it.

[rednavi -RETIRED]

And... I've like 50+ hentai pics of June she's one of my favourite Capcom females for far

you dont count, you hav terrible taste (You like Scott Plitmsdoadiamdaidamdiagimn). The quality of those 50+ pics probably suck

[Basara Bogard]

It's not like there are THOUSANDS of Capcom 3D fighting games.

As I said, it's ONE of the most famous, not the only one. And agree with [E], SFEX doesn't count

The quality of those 50+ pics probably suck

You wanna bet?? 8)