Battle Arena Toshinden Remix [Saturn (Yaba Sanshiro)]: Ellis Story playthrough (Normal Difficulty)

Very first time on the channel of me posting anything from the Sega Saturn in any capacity, so this video is quite the first. As I've mentioned before, Toshinden 1 is one of my all-time favorite games, and anyone who is familiar with the series tends to really point out about the PS1 version of the game. However, not many have memories about the Sega Saturn updated version that released a year later in 1996, literally a MONTH before the Japanese release of Toshinden 2 vanilla for PS1. With this version of the game, many changes were done to it all across the board: a FMV intro akin to how Tekken 1 did theirs, the menu being changed using anime art instead of GC art for the character select, and even a fully voiced story mode depicting the plot of the first game (as well as bridging events towards BAT2), including a bonus secret character in Cupido, Sho Shinjo's wife [& Secret Society high rank assassin]. The player models are also cleaner in this version of the game compared to PS1.

While it sounds like a 100% improvement over the PS1 version that's... not exactly true. BAT1Remix suffers from a drop in sound quality namely in the dubbed English character voices (some being completely re-recorded and NOT for the better) and the fact that weapon and hit sound effects are constantly incorrect (a slash sound for a kick for example). Also it had bugs exclusive to it here in the gameplay with animations having unexpected cut-offs at times, strange hit interactions and weird happenings when throws are input at the same time as attacks. Also Cupido seems a bit unfinished, and you can tell they programmed her off of Sofia's data since some of her VFX and attacks share data with her. It's no where near the absolute train wreck that would become Toshinden URA, but still, all this on top of some unfortunate nerfs to certain things the cast could do from the PS1 original does make this game feel a bit worse in comparison despite having a bit more content to it.

Still, it's nice to actually experience this version of the game for myself, since I've never owned a Saturn before and emulation is the only way I'll be able to see anything about this long-dead Sega console. Any time with Ellis for me is a good time after all.

Note: Compared to normal 1P (Arcade) mode, Story mode's opponents are a set list per character run and don't randomize.

00:00 Boot-Up and Game Intro
01:48 Title Screen
02:25 Character Select
02:44 Ellis' Prologue
03:31 STAGE 1: Mondo
07:15 STAGE 2: Rungo Iron
11:16 STAGE 3: Sofia
16:26 STAGE 4: Kayin Amoh
21:27 STAGE 5: Gaia
25:02 STAGE 6: Sho Shinjo
30:18 STAGE 7: Cupido [FINAL STAGE]
35:59 End Credits