Bulk Slash (1997)
The Saturn doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to 3D games. Bulk Slash is an exception however. A stunningly smooth and fun game. It proves that in the right hands, the Saturn can be a real winner.
The game is pretty light on story, focusing mostly on the arcade-style action. It's set 25 years after the defeat of the fascist planet of Blau. The remnants of its forces have staged a coup d'etat and are holding the entire planet of Blau hostage with a new super-weapon called "Spät Fest" and it's up to you to stop them. The more personal conflict is between the protagonist, Chris Dooley, and his childhood friend, Riesen Lavia. The two were best friends their entire life with Chris standing up for Riesen from bullies. The people of Blau were discriminated against in the aftermath of the war. Now with the coup underway, Riesen has joined them, determined to end the suffering of her people through power. Chris wants to find her and talk sense into her and make her stop. It's a pretty cliche story but it's enough of a motive for the main character.
Where Bulk Slash shines is in its gameplay. You control a transforming mech that can change between a flying form and a walking form. The flying form is good for outdoor areas where you can fire your guns and rain missiles down on your opponents. The walking form is better for close combat or navigating narrow areas with it's bombs and equippable upgrades that can change your gun in to a flame cannon, a napalm gun or a laser. The combat is really fun and the controls are surprisingly good for a game without 3D Pad support. You move forward and backwards and strafe with the D-Pad and you turn with the shoulder buttons. It takes some time to get used to if you're more accustomed to modern controls but it works really well. The English patched version also supports the Saturn Twin Stick but I don't have one of those to test. The game is really fun and it has a heavy emphasis on score attack so replaying it again and again and trying to obtain a high score is a fun time. It's pretty short so it's really good for a quick session.
The main gimmick of the game is the Manageable Intelligent Support System or M.I.S.S. for short. This is basically a navigator that can assist you by directing you where you need to go. They're fully voiced and comment on your progress, your skill and what's happening in the story. Each stage has a girl that you can find and recruit as your M.I.S.S. They're all hidden away except for the first girl so you'll have to go searching for them. There's even a secret girl who you can unlock by completing the game with the other six girls. She gives the best support by charging your weapons quickly and giving you unlimited flame cannon ammo. Each girl has a different personality so you can choose whichver you like best, they all do their job just the same though the dialogue shows that some are better than others. Theres a prim and proper Princess to a badass military officer to a pop idol. A lot of different girls to choose from. Getting a high score gives you more than just bragging rights, it gives you different endings with the girl of your choosing. From suggestive pictures to even marriage, the higher your score, the better your ending. It's a fun little addition that makes replaying the game worth it so you can see what everyone offers.
The gameplay is varied enough to keep it fun for it's runtime which is less than hour easily. It's a game to be played multiple times. There's seven missions, most of them different from each other. There's two where you have to blow up things scattered around a city. A mission where you have to escort the royal family to safety. Deplying bombs in key areas to blow up a fleet and several other types of mission. They're all pretty fun and never really get frustrating. Each stage also has a boss once you complete it, they range from fights against other mechs similar to yours to fighting giant hulking masses of metal. It's a good challenge to end each stage on. Overall though the game is not particularly tough on the standard difficulty so if you're looking for a challenge, I'd push it up to hard mode.
It's definitely a hidden gem of the Saturn, mostly hidden by the fact the game never got officially released in the west. Only being released in Japan. That never stops fans though and a couple of years ago, a full fan translation was made available and rather uniquely for a fan translation, it's fully dubbed too. They hired voice actors to dub over each character so you can hear what they have to say to you without trying to read subtitles while you're busy blasting away enemies. An extremely impressive effort.
I'd highly recommend this game to anyone who likes mechs, arcade style games or just the Sega Saturn. It really shows what the system is capable of and it's a huge shame the game never got a western release. But we can enjoy it now thanks to fans. Definitely go out of your way to play this game.