Sailor Moon Super S (JPN)
Quasi-2D/3D Fighter
ANGEL/SEGA
1-2 Players
Best Feature: Anime cut-scenes
Worst feature: Control
Buy or Rent: Rent

How could such a great show spawn such a piece of crap game? Sailor Moon Super S has to be one of the worst games I've played fighting or oherwise. I love Sailor Moon as much as the next fan, but this game is horrible. Not even the great anime cutscenes can save this game. But let's get to the root of the problem.

First, let's detail the gameplay. In Sailor Moon Super S (and correct me if I'm wrong since I don't understand Japanese) You and the Sailor Senshi are competing to see who Darien will be going out with or something like that. Anyway, the game allows you to only play as the Inner Senshi in story mode. You can however play as the Outer Senshi in versus mode. Since the game doesn't use any memory except for scores there is no way to play any of the Outer Senshi or any rewards (except for a code that let's you view the seshi transformations) for beating the game. Sailor Moon Super S incorporates a somewhat interesting custom/enhancement system. You can choose to play the game with pre-set enhancements or set your own. The effects of which determine how your Sailor Senshi will act or preform in battle. For example setting the taunt option high will make your character constantly taunt throughout the matches. Setting the attack opion high will make your Sailor's attack more powerful. Each Sailor Senshi also has a Super attack, but this attack can only be performed when your Sailor is near death and her portrait's jewel is shimmering. This is a real shame because one hit from another Senshi at this point will practically kill you anyway. Speaking of which the computer opponets AI is so impossible to beat at some points that I would actually recommend finding some type of Game Shark code if you hope to beat this game and see all the anime cut-scenes because you only have a very few continues.

Let's talk about the graphics in Sailor Moon Super S. They suck. I know that seems pretty all encompassing, but that is my take on all the graphics in this game. The stages are all what appear to be 2D hand drawn background. And while that in itself isn't a bad thing, what is bad is how plain they are. Think Lisa Frank stickers. Better yet just look at the pic above. Almost every last background is like that. No interaction. No people. Nothing moving around. There is zippo going on back there. I would've like to see at least a squirrel or a rabbit oe something! Anything alive or even dead for that matter! The characters themselves look like they've got about 3 frames of animation going for them. They don't walk. They bounce around like Quasimodo! They do have a quasi-3D animation. Meaning that while they look 2-D for the most part, some of their moves allow you to see all of their body. It really isn't a 3D game in the strictest sense.

The control in Sailor Moon Super S has to be one of the worst of any Saturn game. Consider yourself fortunate if you can even get the simplest Streetfighter-esque moves to actually work. And as far as getting the Supers to work, well good luck! The game does use for the most part Streetfighter-type moves, but they also have some interesting variations as well. Some of which are difficult to master, but once you get the hang of it you might do well enough to get through some of the characters. I would suggest mastering one characters moves and sticking to them.

Bottomline: Unless you are a seriously hardcore Sailor Moon fan don't bother wih getting this game. Sailor Moon Super S is so absolutely awful that you'll feel like you threw your money away. But, if you are one of those die-hard Sailor Moon fans who has to have every Sailor Moon product on the market then you can get this game on either Saturn or Playstation. It's on both systems and the games are so similar that they share the same FAQ on GameFAQs under the Playstation and Saturn title.
(The FAQ is for the Playstation version.)