It’s a shame that in the last decade or so, some of the strongest examples of 2D gaming in arcades have been neglected by an American audience. This is due to a number of factors - the changing face the US industry, the expected risk vs. reward return, and the contacts that non-US companies are able to make (and keep) in the US for distribution of their titles. Without these factors going in favor of a developer, the chances that the games will even reach the US audience are slim outside of the occasional import-friendly arcades.IGS can be seen as a victim of these recent policies, as despite creating a treasure trove of under-appreciated classics between 1997 and today, a lot of gamers will be hard pressed to name a single game released by the company for their PGM arcade system. When people speak about the death of 2D gaming, it isn’t necessarily for lack of effort that has caused this down slide, but rather a conscious choice based on perceived consumer wants.
At the AM show this year, IGS allowed for some hands-on time for their latest game - Oriental Legend 2. The traditional 2D side scrolling brawler stood out a bit on the show floor (in a good way), despite only a small number of machines dedicated to the game.
Where-as the traditional 2D shooters have seen a resurgence and continued success from both smaller companies like G.Rev (Mamonoro) and Milestone (Illvelo) to larger companies like Konami (Otomedius) and Cave (Deathsmiles), the 2D beat-‘em up genre has been pretty much stagnant by way of releases for arcades for the last few years.
In a way, Oriental Legend 2 attempts to change that and provide a fresh experience on an old genre.
I spoke about Oriental Legend 2 briefly a couple of months ago in regards to some location test videos that were making their way onto the internet. At that point, a lot of the details surrounding the game were relatively unknown outside of the fact that the game was set to be a follow-up to IGS’s previous “Journey to the West”-themed beat-‘em up Oriental Legend. With the time that has past since I last focused on the game, a bit more information has finally started to make its way onto the internet.
As I stated before, the game is set for release on a new IGS created PGM-based hardware known as the PGM2. Like I speculated, this new hardware isn’t being planned to compete with top-of-the-line hardware changes being made by Taito, Sega, and Bandai Namco, but rather is attempting to find a comfortable niche filling the void that was created when SNK Playmore left the arcade hardware side of the industry. The games created for the system will be primarily 2D games, but outside of Oriental Legend 2 and IGS, I’m unaware of any other games or developers set to begin using the system.I wasn’t necessarily swept off the floor with the original Oriental Legend when it was first released in arcades, but it was a solid experience that did manage to feel innovative even if it didn’t really evolve the genre. However, what Oriental Legend did right was ensure that there were quite a large number of secrets, hidden areas, and multiple paths that encouraged gamers to continue playing just to see what else might be around the next boss battle or locale.
With Oriental Legend 2, gamers can expect the same sort of experience with the game. The action remains fast, the combos remain seamless, and the enemies swarm just as deadly as before. However, IGS isn’t content with just providing gamers a similar experience. Oriental Legend 2 has a greater emphasis placed on the possible branching pathways and hidden secrets in each of the levels as well as a character progression aspect that adds more depth.
Currently, the gameplay in Oriental Legend 2 is smoother than the first game. The animation and spritework are incredibly well done and a vast improvement over the previous title. They may need a bit more to them however if they plan to attract the attention that some of the recent arcade “high definition” releases are receiving. The basic controls for the game remains the same as the first title, with an 8 way joystick and 4 buttons to control attacking, jumping, magic use, and item cycling.
Oriental Legend 2 reminds me a bit of the classic Capcom developed CPS-2 beat-‘em ups of the mid-90’s in style and difficulty (which at this stage is absolutely punishing). Whether intentional or not, IGS has created a classic credit muncher in every sense of the word. But despite the fact that gamers will be seeing the continue screen over and over again, the overall experience always is encouraging enough to make them sink just "1 more credit" into the game. This is the sign of a good beat-‘em up and a good arcade game.
The game currently has 10 selectable fighters and several different stages each themed on the folklore of “Journey to the West”. Despite being scheduled for a wide release later this year in Japan (and Korea), there are no plans currently to bring Oriental Legend 2 stateside by way of any distributor. I fully expect this title to end up just like the original Oriental Legend. A side note to most arcade enthusiasts, but widely forgotten and never experienced by the rest of the gaming population. For those that get the chance to play it however, the game is a promising example of just much fun a “dead” genre can still provide.
