When you think of the Game boy Advance you think of great franchises like Pokemon, Super Mario, Metroid and so on, or if you think about genres maybe the fighting game genre is the last thing that comes to your mind. But what if I tell you that this system have some neat, pretty good fighting games, and most likely you never knew they existed.
That is the case of Dual Blades, a weapon-based fighting game published in Oct. 7 2002 in North America, and on Dec. 25 of the same year in Japan. Metro 3D was the company who published it, and Vivid Image the company who develop it. This game comes from Turkey of all places, and is a good one I assure you.
So lets talk about the game modes first.
You will have:
Arcade mode: Defeat one CPU rival one after another until you fight the final boss, Alperen. After that you will your character ending. Standard stuff here.
VS Mode: You play against a friend using the GBA link (couldn't test this for obvious reasons)
Battle mode: In this mode you have Time Attack, in which you have to finish the game the fastest way possible, and Survival mode, when you try to defeat as many opponents as possible with a single life bar. Again, modes that you cand find on other fighters but hey, the are always nice to have!.
Training mode: This also have to separate modes: Normal mode, which is a standard training mode for practicing combos, special moves, super moves and such, to become a better fighter. And Combo mode, which is a trial mode/mission mode, in which you have to perform from 9 to 11 combo challenges per character to complete it. Every time you fully complete a character challenge, you will unlock the characters MEGA MOVE, it is a hidden 3 level super that do a ton of damage!.
Options: In this menu you can change the difficulty, sound options, save or load your data, change the game speed (IMPORTANT: I recommend playing it on the fastest speed, Super extra, give a better flow to the game), and not much else.
OK, now what offers Dual Blades
It is a fighter with 8 characters and a hidden boss (don't know if you can play as him too). Every fighter has its pro and cons, and their own play style. A shoto-style female ninja, an ottoman warrior who likes custom combos and have two projectiles (because why not), a beast-like character armed with claws and ugly minions, an old lady which is really a powerful zoning sorcerer, a guy with a staff who do some magic stuff too, a knight albeit he is a bit slow, have powerful counters and can do quite some damage, a dark witch that summons crows to attack and Brandon, a shirtless warrior with a sword that likes to give headbutts to people. A pretty diverse cast to choose from, so I think there is something for everybody here.
Gameplay wise is where it truly shines. You have four buttons (GBA or course): B is strong slash, A is light slash, L to kick and R is a “power” button. This power button is interesting: use it by itself and will perform a taunt, that increases a bit of your super bar. All characters using sequences with this power button to perform the super moves. Speaking of special moves and supers, are pretty easy to pull off both for the moves themselves and the controller in this game that are very responsive too, so it is enjoyable to do combos and moves in general. When choosing a character, you get to choose which lvl1 super to use, AND which lvl3 super too, like on SF3 3rd strike. This alone give you quite a variety of strategies to develop. The fights feel like a blend of 3rd strike and a Samurai Shodown game
System Mechanics: It combines a little something from known fighting games like SF3 3rd strike, Guilty Gear and Samurai Shodown
Parry: it is called “block” here, and like SF3 3rd strike you have to press forward just before you are being attacked. The parry gives you frame advantage, so it is important to learn this to create more opportunities to attack.
Stun: After being hit continuously, your character can get stunned, the words “stunned” are displayed and you will be complete open for a while. Mash your buttons and dpad to get out of it as fast as you can.
Breaker: press back + B+A while being attacked, needs full meter. Cannot do it if hit by a super move or mega move
Torso Attack: Press Light Attack + Power button to do an overhead attack that crush crouching guard
Weak kick: forward + Kick. A quick kick that doesn't seems useful
Weak Slash: forward + light slash. Same like weak kick, doesn't seem useful at all.
Throws: forward or back + B, some characters like Brandon can combo after a throw. There are command throws and even throw supers.
Recovery, a.k.a. “Roman cancel”: Press B+A while performing any normal or special move to immediately cancel it and return to neutral (Roman cancels like in the Guilty Gear franchise). It cost meter but is really worth it to make moves safer or to extend combos.
Movement: You have forward and back dashes, tapping forward or back twice respectively, jump, crouch and walking. The default speed feels way too slow, that's why I suggest you use the fastest speed setting, you will thank me for it!.
Installs (certain characters only): Some characters have installs, this is a super move that gives them a certain status for a limited time. Shin, for example, have one in which every normal move gets and additional hit by a crow attacking you. Or Efe, which has a super that gives him a custom combo mode (like Street Fighter Alpha 3) for a limited time. Nagasapa has a mega move which heals herself lol. I think there is one more that have yet to discover.
Graphics:
Are pretty good really, by GBA standards anyways. Colorful stages and good sprites for the characters gives them personality. The HUD is also nice and functional so nothing to complain.
Sound:
Music is not that great. But nothing horrible neither. Sound effects are OK, I like the parry effect. Probably this is the weakest part of the game.
Controls:
They are nice and responsive, didn't have any problems doing moves, combos or supers.
Presentation:
The character select screen is good. Have seen a couple of endings and these are pretty well done. Remember the Samurai Shodown reference...well, sometimes when you defeat your opponent, you can sometimes cut them in half!, or cut a limb or something like that. It is wild, but amazing nonetheless, it is a weapon-based fighter after all, makes sense. Other little details are that the fighters change their idle stance while are low in life, like they are more damaged.
Replay Value:
Doing all the trials, unlocking endings, and doing your best records in time attack and survival can have you busy for a bit. It is victim to being a Game boy Advance game, so VS mode is limited, even more in this modern era (don't know is the GBA link feature is properly emulated though).
After all, it is a worthy fighting game for the Game Boy Advance, with a rich game system that will entertain hardcore fans of the genre (like me) and casuals fans too. Great hidden gem for sure. Cannot stretch this enough, play it on the FASTEST speed setting!. Turkish developers produced a neat fighting game that needs to be known more.
There a sequel to this game, that came out in 2013, and probably there will be a 3rd game (or a re release). Only time will tell.
Hope you try it and see for yourself!. To finish this one up, I recently did a stream for this game, so check it out in action!.