Having got the game as a freebie in Akiba last November, I finally sat down, removed the Capcom vs. SNK disc from my beloved Dreamcast and fired up Super Hero Retsuden. Having done thus, I have to say there really isn’t much to say.
The game covers high-points in the runs of several Ishinomori helmed tokusatsu series, the most significant (and arguably well known) being Kamen Rider and Himitsu Sentai GoRanger. The game doesn’t really have massive amounts of playability. If, like me, you have cobbled together some understanding of Japanese from tokusatsu/anime/very patient Japanese friends and Chinese study then you sit there reading on screen dialogue and then face down a series of famous villains plus goons on a grid until they are dead, after which point you save and progress.
60hz + blurry camera = WTF
What recommends this game is the crossover potential. Like DCD, the premise is flimsy and elicits a squee when it pans out on screen, even in the Super Deformed art style of the game.
For this reason – and the promise of unlocking Stronger – I’m going to continue to play through the game because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to see a Henshin Ninja Arashi and Kamen Rider Stronger team up?
My only disappointment is the fact that neither Skull Man or Tackle appear to be in it…and even though he isn’t an Ishinomori character, I would have loved to have seen Spider-Man turn up in this.
Speaking of whom: Watch the Japanese Spider-Man TV Series on Marvel.com.
