A combination of 3 highly popular anime makes it a winner despite there not being many ways of enjoying it.
- Great idea to combine 3 highly popular anime series
- Unique combat involves more than just a few punches
- Several characters to play with
Negative
- Unlocking characters routine is a bit off
- A bit short, since there aren't many modes
What would happen if you combine popular anime fighting series together and make a game out of it? Battle Stadium D.O.N. combines Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto together for an explosive outcome which is a fun and incredibly addictive game. This is not your average fighter, its unique gameplay and several characters will draw in more than just the fans.
No particular story is to be found unfortunately that could have made this game a bomb. This game was never translated which again I can't see a specific reason why since there are individual games of each on the PS2. Thankfully on each mode's Japanese name, there is an English translation and the commentator says the name of the mode for you. There are 3 battle modes in which one of them is the story mode, where there is one player on the mode except for 4. In the 'story' mode you can choose any of the playable characters which include the most popular and fan favorites. Expect to find Goku, Vegeta, Naruto, Sasuke, Zoro and Luffy in the game if you're a fan of any. If you are of all, all the better.
The gameplay has a surprising twist over other fighters. It's strange mechanism work just as fine. When in battle, you won't make any health bars but you have to steal the red orbs from the enemy. The battle can last forever if there isn't a time limit since if you fall or get beaten up you lose orbs. When you collected the required number of orbs you go in burst mode and gain more power to finish off the enemies. By the way these are fatal-4 battles.
In story mode after choosing the character you get thrown in a set of random battles against random enemies which you have to beat to move on and then fight the final boss and get the ending. This takes less than an hour but there is a survival mode which you fight against countless enemies until you fall. This is a different mode than has health bars, meaning you have to lose all your health to finish. The combat is pretty repetitive over time and the number of characters available for each series is 4 each. You can unlock other character from the story mode by winning missions. The unlocking routine isn't very appealing though and frustrating since it is difficult to nail the mission objective since the writing is in Japanese. Although in the story mode you might fight certain characters which you haven't unlocked yet, it wouldn't be the first time.
You may think that this game is very unbalanced since it involves the Dragon Ball's extreme power and One Piece's craziness and Naruto. Well if you under power Dragon Ball a bit you get the balanced result. The fighting is fun but on the easy side. All characters adapt to their fighting styles in their anime, for instance Goku can use Kamehameha, and Naruto can use Rasengan and such. This is a noticeable amount of difference in power, for example I find Luffy the strongest of the bunch. Fight with the square button, and perform a special attack with the O button when you have enough power. The level of challenge is a bit too easy, but some stages make life hard for you. When having the win at hand, you go in burst mode and powerful attacks to the others.
It may not be a graphical masterpiece but this game looks quite good. The character models look great and look as they do in the anime. Unluckily there are certain characters missing which may not have fit the game anyway but they are still not in the game. There are stages from the 3 series. The music may be less appealing in most ways. Some of the sound effects aren't da bomb, and voice acting is all in Japanese.
Battle Stadium DON is a very good fighter. If you are a fan of any of the 3 series and don't have any grudge against one of them, you might check this game out if you manage to get your hands on it. The discrimination of not translating certain Japanese games will never end and we from the west will forever suffer from this, but don't allow this fact to stop you from trying this game.
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Graphics = 8.3
Characters look as they should so no problem there. Stages can be found in the series.
Sound = 7.2
The music isn't particularly amazing, and the voice acting is in Japanese. I like the commenter's voice though.
Presentation = 8.0
High production values and interesting ideas. Character unlocking routine is flawed and bad. Camera does a good job of showing the action. It freezes for a second when loading.
Gameplay = 8.4
Yes, combining Dragon Ball, One Piece and Naruto make Battle Stadium DON is a winner. Unique combat system which requires more than mindless button mashing. Several playable characters. A bit too easy.
Modes = 6.3
No story mode or cutscenes and overall too short. There are modes which you can play with a friend.
OVERALL = 76 / 100
A combination of 3 highly popular anime makes it a winner despite there not being many ways of enjoying it.