Although I didn't grow up watching the Mazinger Z anime, there is no denying the impact this character and his entire story has had on many people, especially in Japan, making him one of the most recognizable characters in an animated series. The popularity of Mazinger Z can be compared to Dragon Ball Z if you ask someone who grew up watching this anime, and because of how transcendental this character is, it is logical that even today he is remembered. So it's not surprising that videogames have been developed based on this universe and although the videogame I'll tell you about today is not specifically based on the Mazinger Z that everyone knows, it is based on an alternate universe of this timeless character.
Today's Retro Review is about: Mazin Wars.
As I said in the beginning, this game is not based on the original Mazinger Z, since it is based on an alternate universe (in Mazinger Z there are also multiverses as far as I can see). Mazin Wars O also known as Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, places us in the mythical year 1999, a "future" in which technology is very advanced (the opposite of reality, of course) and we are presented with a world in decline, chaos, destruction and pollution threaten the lives of people, a whole apocalyptic world. However, as if all of the above were not enough, the villain of this story "God Kaiser Hell" plans through the use of his giant robots, the "Bio Beasts", a world domination (a not very original plan). But not everything is lost, since inside the chaos and the destruction emerges the great Mazinger Z, which equipped with a powerful sword and an armada that allows it to grow to great size, will face God Kaiser and his army of Bio Beasts.
Mazin Wars is a quite remarkable game in its graphic aspect, with well defined sprites and main character design quite really good, typical of a shonen anime, the backgrounds of the scenarios stand out for having good color, lighting and effects as animations that manage to recreate the cities of Japan quite well, taking into account its graphic limits, the design of scenarios despite being simple comply very well with, likewise, create that atmosphere that we are fighting in a city.
Mazin Wars is a quite particular game, because in addition to being a pretty classic beat'em up, it is also a fighting game like any other, because when we go to fight against the final bosses, the game completely changes gender to a 1x1 fighting game, and thus the graphic aspect also changes. The character sprites are improved, now they are bigger and better defined, with more fluid and varied animations and an improvement in the color palette and visual effects. The scenarios now have a better amount of detail and light effects, in short, there is a quite remarkable improvement between these two modes of play.
The soundtrack of Mazin Wars, despite not being anything spectacular, some tunes are very good, to listen to them we will remember those animes of the 90s, as in their tunes maintains that kind of tones that so characteristic. Melodies with rhythms very typical of the manga/anime of the shonen genre that transmit energy and action. The sound effects are quite regular, they don't stand out in almost anything, but they fulfill their purpose.
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Mazin Wars is a game that has two genres, as I mentioned before, on the one hand is a fairly conventional beat'em up and on the other hand is a 1 vs 1 fighting game in the same way quite classic. As beat'em up it maintains all the main characteristics of this type of games, since we will have to go through a series of scenarios plagued by enemies (in this case mutants), defeat them and then advance to the next one and do the same. We will find the typical power-up items, and also items that help us increase our score. When we are in "beat'em up mode", our character will be the size of a normal person, obviously using the features and abilities that the armor allows him to use.
After advancing through the stages, we will have to fight with the final bosses of each stage, but before that, we must fight against that final boss (which is giant) in our small size, so we will see only one giant foot that tries to attack us. After this, is when Mazin Wars changes completely of genre and becomes a 1 vs 1 fighting game. Our character changes its size as well as the final boss, so we are in a 1 vs 1 giant battle. In this game mode, it is also quite conventional, and it keeps the patterns and mechanics of the most classic fighting games.
Mazin Wars / Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter, a title that despite having simple mechanics in its two game modes, it is still very entertaining, graphically it is quite remarkable, especially in 1vs1 mode, and it is also a game that adds a lot of fun due to that change of gender that happens when we go to fight a final boss. Without a doubt a quite curious aspect for a game of that time.