Games of the Abstract: Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (1995)

 

Developer: Gazelle

Publisher: Banpresto (Japan); Sega (World Wide)

One to Two Players

Arcade

 

Sailor Moon for many that needs no introduction. Even if it rarely screened at a sensible time on Fox Kids on British satellite television, I still saw an episode in my youth. Only that fact this series has not been well released on physical media or streaming over the years made Sailor Moon out of reach for large periods of time despite the fact that, a) in Japan, Naoko Takeuchi's source manga and its anime adaptation became huge, and b) in the West, a fan base was created too when dubbed in English and syndicated in the West. The manga starting in 1991, Sailor Moon follows in the magical girl genre, of schoolgirls having heroic alter egos. In this case one named Usagi Tsukino who (with friends) who inherit incredible powers to fight evil as the "Sailor Guardians". A shōjo manga, targeting teen girls and young adult women, this franchise has gained a fan base regardless of age and gender, and the legacy continues with a 2014 animated reboot, Sailor Moon Crystal, the original Sailor Moon animated series, which lasted five seasons with tie-in works, a 2003 live action series, and even an attempt at an American version from 1994 which infamously never came to be. 

And, obviously, for such a huge franchise too in its homeland, a lot of games were released as tie-ins we never got in the West. There was a JRPG for the SNES/Super Famicom called Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story (1995) for example, or two one-on-one fighters, another Super Famicom game called Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen (1994), and later for the Playstation One named Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Shin Shuyaku Sōdatsusen (1996). The correlation between most of the titles' releases, including Pretty Soldier, which says a lot of when the boom for the franchise came; by 1994 when the games were coming thick and fast onwards, that would have been into the second animated season into the third by 1995. Pretty Soldier is not even the first scrolling beat-em-up either of the tie-ins, which goes to Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon R (1993), also for the Super Famicom.

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon did get a Western release however. In its homeland, it was published by Banpresto, and in the rest of the world, with versions with at least English text even if the voice acting is still in Japanese, Sega acquired this. This stands out among the pack of this era too for that, barring one or two male villains, and male goons, this is almost entirely dominated by women, and whilst a character named Tuxedo Mask is used in a cool gimmick here, all the playable characters are women. The Sailor Guardian team led by Usagi Tsukino, known as the titular Sailor Moon alongside the others from that point in the series - Minako Aino / Sailor Venus, Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter, Rei Hino / Sailor Mars and Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury - not all the leads who would be introduced over the franchise as it continued from this game. The game itself, as a franchise tie-in if you played this without any of the source's context, plays contrary to the concern that, for a shōjo work, this would be sold to a stereotypical female audience as happened in games form the time like for the Barbie tie-ins from Mattel. Instead, Pretty Soldier looks the part for the many beat-em-ups from the era in richly details but realistic locations, even if fantasy ones eventually end the game, contrasted by a menagerie of monstrous villainesses led by Queen Beryl, one of the antagonists of the animated and manga series who in this is trying to steal life force from the human race.

The developer is of great note here as Gazelle is one of many breakaway groups from Toaplan, a studio who broke up in 1994 (the same year Gazelle founded itself) and was known among other genres for scrolling shooters. This is of note as CAVE, the legendary cult studio for scrolling shooters, is founded by Toaplan staff, and Gazelle only made five games in the entirety of its existence between 1994 to 2002, members joining CAVE themselves during and afterwards if not to another studio named Raizing/ Eighting, another cult studio especially known for shooters¹. Two releases, Playstation One’s Toaplan Shooting Battle 1 (1996), a compilation of Toaplan shooters, and a 1996 Sega Saturn port of Toaplan’s Batsugun (1993), could not really count, leaving among the others Pretty Soldier itself, Quiz Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Chiryoku Tairyoku Toki no Un (1997), another Sailor Moon arcade tie-in in the mold of a party quiz game, and Air Gallet (1996), their one scrolling shooter involving aerial combat planes. The 1994 bankruptcy of Toaplan led to four companies coming from its ashes – Cave, Raizing, Takumi, and Gazelle – as well as argubly some of the holy figures when it comes to the founding of the "Bullet Hell" side-genre of scrolling shooters. Sadly Gazelle is the maligned one of the quartet, which is a shame as, whilst it is a game which required some polishing, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon as a licensed arcade game, a late beat-em-up, has a lot to impress with.

This fully embraces being a beat-em-up, including the rise in difficulty, both in the sense this was designed for multiple players to deal with the hordes that eventually appear, and the general jumps in challenge just from the bosses. From the get-go, I will admit there are flaws, and most of those beyond the coin munching nature of the game are more to do with what is missing. There is not a lot of combos possible, neither is there a lot of actual pick-ups, with no weapons, very few health pickups, and few of the gems (looking like blue energy drink cans) which power up one of two form special moves your character can do. Barring a crowd control attack which takes health, combat is mostly having to step out of the way of attacks and try to get your shots in, or exploit the jump kick, whilst there is a lack of four player mode despite being an obvious thing to appeal to fans of the license or the genre. There are times too where it feels like grinding for the sake of it, be in how the bosses in particular are frustrating for their challenge, Queen Beryl herself as the final boss constantly teleporting. These do not take from the game too much, eventually quibbles, but they are factors which could have been improved on.

The license means you cannot have Sailor Mars shooting someone with an Uzi, understandably, but considering the franchise would introduce a chibi (diminutive) comic relief character named Chibiusa who waves air soft replicas of guns, you could have invested a bit more to the proceedings to spice it up, both in its fantastical nature and that there is comedy in the source material. This is especially as, beyond this, this has a lush aesthetic and, due to how the license was interpreted, juggles between incredible imagination, being a game entirely driven by women in non-damsel-in-distress positions on both moral sides, and a gleefully macabre nature that was unexpected too. A few breakable weapons and more health items to work with would have befit a game where, rather than a whole turkey in a bin that boosts health, you get milkshakes and burgers from the pockets of defeated monsters for this instead.

There is style here. This has the voice actresses for the anime for the leads, and there is animated FMV. One bosses, the third as a bat woman, has a cool twist midway through taking down her health bar where, stopping the gameplay, she flees to move the fight to Tokyo Tower for a dramatic finish to the brawl. In terms of sprite art, this has a rich palette, grounded environments befitting the leads, normal schoolgirls, contrasted by the unnatural intruding on their world. The main enemies are all based, even if repeated and with colour swapped versions, on villains of the week from the animated series, as with the bosses, and they become some of the most memorable enemies I have encountered for a beat-em-up. It is almost a shame Stage 5 is mostly male masked thugs committing a bank heist, as this is almost entirely a roster of women, including those which border on horror to, a feminine series of macabre and/or elegant figures. Some are alien underwater figures, other are ninjas, and then there is the buff muscle female mutant, with the blonde elongated crew cut from Guile from the Street Fighter franchise, who uses a tennis racket, between hitting explosive tennis balls to raising the heroines with one muscular arm and smacking them with an incongruous tiny golden tennis racket. There are also more overtly Japanese figures, like yōkai in their appearance, or the really creepy female mannequins, who, able to throw their heads and, if not collected, leave them on the ground even after they are demolished.

The sense of aesthetic is a huge reason why I fell for so many genres considered “retro” like this, be it scrolling shooters or beat-em-ups like this, where the designs really stand out. Even the sole male characters include a psychic bishonen (pretty boy) and a cat creature being transformed against its will into a hulking monstrosity, so everyone is extravagant or inventive. It says a lot that, with how good the game’s style is, that I wish it has embraced this more. It’s limits in gameplay and grinding through certain events are the only annoyances – that power ups are restricted is more annoyance, not only for practicality defeating the hordes, but especially because that the special moves were clearly meant to sale the arcade cabinet as, in another game stopping moment, you get fully animation of that specific Sailor Guardian. The little touches, such as Usagi's two gem mega attack literally her crying to the point it clears the environment of enemies out of unforeseen guilt of upsetting her, add so much when the production pulls them out.

Probably the best example of living up to the license, but making sure it adds to the gameplay, is Tuxedo Mask. For those unaware of the franchise, the leads are all teen girls who fight evil, but Tuxudo Mask is the one male all, a possible love interest for Usagi who steps in difficult moments to help the female team, dressed in his tuxedo costume with mask, throwing a rose at enemies which gives the heroines the upper hand again in the midst of a fight. It can happen randomly (if with hidden contexts) and more than once in the game, with him appearing in the middle of boss battles, with his own cut scenes in sprite animation that pause the game and throw a rose at the enemy. The cut scene when it happens is both an advantage to get the punches back in and also with the rose a health pickup. This is one of the other unique touches, recreating the source’s context, where a cameo has a gameplay advantage and is inspired.

The potential for Gazelle if they had lasted longer, just from this game, adds a shame to their brief existence. Birthed from the likes of scrolling shooters, and many joining CAVE, the irony they only made one of their own and two Sailor Moon licenses, neither of them shooters, is a little funny in its own way. Whether they continued in this direction, in mind to how shooters like this became more of a cult genre into the 2000s, or embraced the legacy of Toaplan, the team here with some mistakes nonetheless knocked this license out of the park. The license itself, allowing for this proudly all-female cast and story, but possible to make a no-nonsense beat-em-up from, more than once, alongside one-on-one fighters, is also something to admire for this reason, that it can be an action story with an all-female cast and yet has the visual style this has. The time when Sailor Moon Crystal came to be, screened over three seasons from 2014 to 2016, we got Sailor Moon Drops (2015), a mobile phone puzzle game, which frankly is disappointing to learn of. For all the knowledge of people who loved this franchise, grew up with the original animated series, and with this animated reboot coming in the 2010s to bring the franchise back, it comes with the conclusion for me that, to be honest, the idea of this proudly resplendent franchise in style, with sailor suit costumes and elaborate superhero transformations, not having an action or fighting game tie-in seems disrespectful. It seems so much cooler if the art style is full of cuteness but also its leads punching bad guys than solving mobile puzzle games, something with Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon attests to.

 

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1) Toaplan: The Rise and Fall of Japan’s Greatest Shooting Game Company, written by Ryan Lambie for Den of Geek and published on June 21st 2018.