It should come as no surprise that someone would eventually about a doujin PC game entitled Magical Battle Arena. Having "acquired" the complete version, with latest patching, I have given it a shot.
MBA, as it's called for short, is said to play like a Gundam game . . . which game the fans are referring to, I have no clue. (Hey, don't look at me! I'm not a Gundam fan! I didn't fall for the hype of Gundam Wing back during The First Otakulypse!)
Regardless, it's a fighting game in 3D (NOT AVATAR 3D! Who needs that kind of 3D anyway?) where you fly around and shoot at your opponents. It can support four fighters at once, kind of like
But that's not what I'm here to talk about. MBA's selling point is you can play as anime girls gifted in magic. From Nanoha, Fate, (available in both kid and adult forms for double the action figures!), Sakura Kinomoto, Lina Inverse, Naga, two twins from a hentai VN (no worries, no H in MBA), some little girl from an anime from the early 1990s, Vita, Hayate, and two OCs (that I have yet to unlock . . .) Each of them plays somewhat differently, but it is quite a fun game.
Yes, I already know about my feelings with Lyrical Nanoha and Slayers; remember, a fun video game can overwrite storytelling flaws! Besides, the character I'm having the most fun with so far is Vita.
OH NO! NOT VITA!
Oh yes! I finally found a Nanoha character who is just so, soooo, kee-yeute! She may be a (loli) dead ringer for Hong Meiling, but her hair is gorgeous, and she's just so cute!
By the way, is it just me, or are most magical girls red-haired? If you count auburn as red, then it certainly is the case: the auburn Nanoha and Sakura, Lina has reddish-orange hair most of the time, Vita has pure red hair, one of the OCs has red drills for hair, the twins have reddish-purple, and if I may include Nanoha characters that didn't appear in MBA, there's a girl in the third season named Teana who has reddish-orange follicles . . . uh, guys, a redhead every now and then is fine, but I think you might be overdoing it in this field right now.
Oh yeah, all the characters have audible voices. I don't know if the trademarked characters' dialog is ripped from their respective shows, but I keep laughing every time I hear Sakura cry out, "HOEEEEEEEEE!" every time she gets knocked back. Oh, speaking of voices, Adult Fate has a cool voice.
But you know what's weird? I recently bought a game for my Xbox 360, Dynasty Warriors 7. It's a good game, it really is, but its graphics are horrible by today's standards. MBA came out in 2007, and it looks better than DW7. Far out, man. Far-fucking-out . . . either that, or magical girls just look that much better than Ancient Chinese warriors.
Oh, what's a game series with magical girls that fly around and shoot magic at each other on a daily basis? What's the next game the developers of Magical Battle Arena are going to release? Touhou Sky Arena? Uses the same engine? Oh, I'll definitely look into that in the future.
P.S. I noticed Vita's wand/staff/whatever speaks in German. Hurray for multi-culturism!
