So...what do we have here?

Japanese Game Box Front

Your Favorite SD Heroes IN 3D

What's this game? Just ANOTHER game with Gundams and/or giant super robots (only they are Super deformed in this game, as well as a number of the SNES Great Battle & Gundam games). What's up with all the Gundam games on SNES!? There's over a dozen Gundam related games on this system alone, sheesh. Well, the good news of all this is that most of the Gundam & Great Battle games are quite good. The bad news is, if you liked the Great Battle beat-em-up games, this isn't for you.

GBG2 is a bit of a departure from most of the other Great Battle games on SNES/SFC. Of course, you will still get action…more than you can probably handle, but the game is more childish than the others. The robots traverse the levels via platformer style, though there are some odd twists to the game. For starters, there are no life bars. Instead, you have hearts (like Zelda). Secondly, the game has a much more Japanese feel (the Great Battle heroes fight mostly with food, and they all wear Kimonos). Third, the game is more objective driven. You just can't go from left to right and clear the stage. Next, mini-games, or “games-within-the-game”. You can play a Breakout/Arkanoid game, a Tetris-style falling block puzzler with a unique twist, a Raiden/ Toaplan style shooter filled with power-ups, etc. These are all sweet additions to the normal game, which has it's fair share of diversity. The main game sports several power-ups, and shops are everywhere (you buy items from Zakus, lol).

This all sounds too good to be true? Well, it is…sorta. The game is short and there is no co-op play. The environments also feel a bit too compact. The shooting mini-game also suffers some slowdown. Thankfully, the heroes can punch in four directions (up, down, left, right…A, start. Couldn't resist) and the shooting stages are short. This brings about another problem; The heroes have very limited range with their primary attack. The extra attacks are limited. Oh well, no game is perfect. All in all, a good game with some decent graphics, neat music and challenging and diverse gameplay.

- Written by Vyse the determined -