Weird... I have a few of the "Sailor Moon" games, but I haven't uploaded one in more than ten years (and it's of a Game Gear title of all systems). Anyhoo, there are loads of Sailor Moon games, and many of them are mediocre-to-decent like a lot of licensed game tie-ins of the day (there were some notable exceptions, but that would warrant its own extensive article), but this game stands out amongst most Sailor Moon titles due to being a 3DO exclusive and rather harsh criticism compared to most Sailor Moon games. Developed by TOSE and published by Bandai in early 1995, it's a slow-paced, clunky fighter that plays like your typical Street Fighter game and visually looks like experimental cel-style fighters of the time like "DBZ: Ultimate Battle 22", "Seifuku Densetsu: Pretty Fighter X", etc with basic zoom and simple backdrops. It was torn to shreds by most major publications of the day due to its poor animation, lethargic gameplay, slow moves, spotty execution, difficult A.I., hilarious opening cinematic, you name it... but it's not without its fans.

Opening aside (which is fine until the comically rendered 3D sailor scouts start bouncing around), the game isn't actually too bad for fans of Sailor Moon games; it's often deemed better than the Playstation and Sega Saturn fighters comparatively speaking (for what that's worth) and plays fine enough (in terms of executing what you want, there's no major play control issues and there are even "Easy" control types for people not used to fighting games). It's no Endless Duel or Hyper Dimension, but there are a few cool animations and effects here and there. There's also a database where you can listen to music and learn about the scouts and their abilities in case you need to know more or didn't know much about them prior to playing the game.

The game retains the seiyuu from the main franchise and features a small but recognizable roster of fighters from the third season of the anime / manga arc (with one hidden character). Each character can execute a super move which utilizes your super gauge (it charges slowly but fills faster by spamming attacks) and they deal good damage blocked and obscene damage if they connect. The game is basic to the point where there is no combo counter (even though there are simple combos), no real plot in which to speak of, and balance is pretty much out the window as some scouts are clearly stronger or more versatile than others (and as Chibiusa is playable, you have your dreaded character who can stand and avoid half the attacks in the game), but if you're reading this and you're familiar with the franchise, that's kinda to be expected.

The game's soundtrack is pretty good and the voice work is what you would expect. There are better games within the long-running franchise for sure (with the best arguably being Super Famicom's "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story" RPG), but if you gotta have a Sailor Moon Fighting game, there aren't too many options (Puzzlers, Beat-em-Ups and Misc. titles round out most of the SM releases). This is a video of the game in action. I used Sailor Mercury as I'm sure one of my good friends would approve, lol. Enjoy.

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