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[VGEsoterica]

It’s so strange I rarely hear Guardian Heroes mentioned any more but I’d assume that’s due to the fact the game never really had much of a sequel after the Saturn original outside of the GBA quasi-sequel. Guess it just faded into obscurity a bit

But that’s just unfortunate as it’s one of the best beat em ups of all time that I never really hear many people talking about any longer. Even the XBLA re-release was barely a blip on the radar it seems.

I miss these types of games. While Streets of Rage 4 was legit awesome I wish it had kept to the old school sprite and pixel art vs the super clean modern look it went with. I 100% why the devs would go the route they did though.

Guardian Heroes has those giant sprites and big chunky pixels I remember so fondly from the 90’s. It even had actual transparency effects even though the collective gaming minds of the time said Saturn couldn’t handle them.

If you enjoyed the D&D games on CPS 2 you’ll love Guardian Heroes. It’s just an amazing light RPG beat em up that’s still top 5 beat em ups of all time in my book! It has amazing visuals, some solid story, a near perfect soundtrack and 10/10 gameplay

The XBLA version is equally as awesome. Way cheaper too plus you get 16x9 support which is fun.

Curious who else has played this and what you thought? For me it’s one of my favorite games on the Saturn and one I come back to time and time again. It’s just THAT good.

I just wish Treasure would loop back around on the franchise and give us a proper sequel. Clearly SOR 4 proved the demand for beat em ups is still out there

 

[VGEsoterica]

See!? Saturn really could do transparencies...if you tricked VDP 1 and 2 into it lol

 

[ManaByte]

BTW this is BC on the Xbox.

 

[nush]

I could never get into it, screen was far too busy and the jumping between planes was not as good as free walking in every other scrolling beat em up. Still brought the XBLA version, gave it another chance but no, didn't click still.

 

[ghairat]

Good game and its sequel Advance Guardian heroes is a hidden gem

 

[Ma-Yuan]

Have my Japanese Version still resealed from Trader... bought it back in 2015 on my first trip to Tokyo . . . If I ever have to much time on my hands I will give it a go . . . borrowed the PAL version from a friend in the early 2000s and liked it a lot but never got far ><

 

[Darkone]

Bring back awesome memories of this indeed masterpiece.
i so much miss these type of gameד, pure adrenaline beat em up action.
I guess some things will always live on in memories.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Got the game, but it has next to no save functionality to it so you have to sit through it in one setting, and whatever happened to the sequel???

 

[diffusionx]

Yes. Guardian Heroes is one of my favorite games ever. It's such a brilliant game. And it's important to note the time it came out... beat em ups were pretty much a dead genre, and it stagnated bigly post-SOR2. So Treasure grabbed their balls and released this huge, gorgeous, replayable beat-em-up. Yet we haven't gotten much like that in the ~23 years since... maybe Dragon's Crown and that's it.

I sold my Saturn copy years ago which I sort of regret looking at eBay prices now but since it got a good port to Xbox I'm quite fine with having that around.

 

[Team Andromeda]

See!? Saturn really could do transparencies...if you tricked VDP 1 and 2 into it lol

Astra did more 2D transparencies mind

 

[TintoConCasera]

Talking about this game and not mentioning the OST should be labeled as a crime, OP.





Truly ahead of his time.

 

[TheContact]

easily one of my favorite games on the Saturn. I bought it for XBLA back on the 360. I loved the Undead Warrior character which I thought was unique for the game as most undead warriors are bad guys. The choices you could make between going to heaven and fighting angels, or going to hell and fighting demons, was such an awesome concept when I played it as a kid (still is now). Of course, the battle arena is just a massive amount of fun as well. This game absolutely deserves a remaster.

 

[Tiamat2san]

Great game,
i played it a lot with friends.
what a mess on screen sometimes but it was part of the charm.
available on Xbox.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Talking about this game and not mentioning the OST should be labeled as a crime, OP.





Truly ahead of his time.

haha I thought I had

 

[Bruno_Arrais85]

quality content as always

 

[molasar]

It did not have any appeal for me back then and it still does not.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I think this is, without a doubt, the most overrated beat-em-up of all time. Even moreso than The Simpsons or Castle Crashers. It's a pretty fun game, but it does not have the feel that the actually great beat-em-ups had.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I think this is, without a doubt, the most overrated beat-em-up of all time. Even moreso than The Simpsons or Castle Crashers. It's a pretty fun game, but it does not have the feel that the actually great beat-em-ups had.

Really? I'd love to hear why more in depth. Totally valid opinion...just curious

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I want a Japanese Saturn copy since UK prices are unreal. How much am I looking at for this?

 

[TheContact]

I want a Japanese Saturn copy since UK prices are unreal. How much am I looking at for this?

like $70-$120

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[Danny Dudekisser]

Really? I'd love to hear why more in depth. Totally valid opinion...just curious

Hitting dudes just doesn't feel satisfying. Both the visual response and the sound effects are just wonky, especially compared to Capcom's games. I also didn't the range that most of the characters have - feels like you have to be right on top of enemies before you can strike them. Except for like... Han, who's too slow. Serena was way more fun. I didn't really like the way movement feels, either.

 

[Holammer]

I just read a manga with an epic reference to Guardian Heroes in Chapter 4.
Man in his 30's just spent 17 years in generic fantasy Sword and Sorcery world, returns to modern day Japan where Sega is no longer a market leader. Manga makes a lot of references to Alien Soldier and Sega products in general.

404 Not Found... - Manganelo

404 Not Found... - MangaNelo

manganelo.com

 

[VGEsoterica]

Hitting dudes just doesn't feel satisfying. Both the visual response and the sound effects are just wonky, especially compared to Capcom's games. I also didn't the range that most of the characters have - feels like you have to be right on top of enemies before you can strike them. Except for like... Han, who's too slow. Serena was way more fun. I didn't really like the way movement feels, either.

That's definitely fair. The strikes and sound effects for attacks def don't have the same "oomph" of other beat em ups and you are right...sometimes you feel like you have to be right on top of an enemy for the strikes to hit. I am more forgiving of it because I love the setting and art style but I totally see where you are coming from

 

[darth.shrimp]

Now THIS... this is my childhood right here.
I've never really been able to play anyone but Han, the other characters are either too weak, too fragile, or both, and don't have much range - but who needs fancy magic when you get that sweet sword in level 8 anyway? The ninja being able to one-shot any robot in the game, including Proto Silver, was pretty nice though, and my sister was a huge fan of Randy.

 

[Vitacat]

Loved this game. Still have my original Saturn disc.

 

[butane bob]

Bought it for Saturn, tried so hard to like it because of its reputation but could not get into it. Gameplay was repetitive nonsense, enemies were sponges, you just wail on them for half an hour until they finally die, it's not satisfying at all. The graphics look shitty because of all the wonky uneven scaling that the sprites do and the backgrounds were really flat and the art direction in general was weird looking - especially the character designs. Previous games in the same genre from the previous generation were better and people seemed to only like it because of multiplayer and "rpg elements". I really like the music though.
I much preferred Silhouette Mirage (saturn version, ps1 sucks) and i think that's way more "unsung". Everybody raves about GH even to this day but nobody ever mentions SM.

 

[the_master]

It was a great game at the time and it is a great game today.

Love the universe, gameplay, characters, leveling up and branching story.

10/10

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

On the note of unsung beat-em-ups, can we sing about Denjin Makai II?

Most people have never even heard of that one.

 

[VGEsoterica]

On the note of unsung beat-em-ups, can we sing about Denjin Makai II?

Most people have never even heard of that one.

it’s on my list of Unported Arcade games. Not 100% if it’ll make a video or not...still mulling it all over

 

[VGEsoterica]

Loved this game. Still have my original Saturn disc.

worth a LOT more then you paid back when it came out lol

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Incredible game.
What on earths going on with Treasure these days? I lose track, I'm old.
I heard a rumour a long time ago about "Treasure box" a compilation of the best Treasure stuff in one collection.
Sadly, nothing materialised :-(

 

[VGEsoterica]

Incredible game.
What on earths going on with Treasure these days? I lose track, I'm old.
I heard a rumour a long time ago about "Treasure box" a compilation of the best Treasure stuff in one collection.
Sadly, nothing materialised :-(

they are supposedly still in business? Doing what I have no idea

 

[Naked Lunch]

The greatest beat'em up of all time.
Never dethroned - and most never even tried to post its release.
I still play Guardian Heroes online co-op to this day on xbox.

 

[Durask]

Wasn't Code of Princess made by some of the people who worked on GH?

 

[Vyse]

Loved this game. Still have my original Saturn disc.

Same. Now I need to pull my Saturn out of storage and play GH!

 

[KAOS]

Yes and Yes to this thread! I love and miss treasure soo much! Guardian Heroes was awesome and ahead of it's time!

 

[SF Kosmo]

I recently realize I could emulate the 360 version (I own it legit but I don't have a working 369 controller) and gave it a run through for old time's sake. Still a fantastic game.

Tetsuhiko Kukuchi, the director/writer/character designer left Treasure many years ago, and is currently at Studio Saizensen, along with a couple other key GH staff
They made a spiritual successor called Code of Princess. The Switch version is pretty solid. It's not Guardian Heroes level but it's as close as we're gonna get right now.

If you haven't tried them, Treasure's Bleach games on DS are also Guardian Heroes derivatives. They're fighting games, but the second one had a pretty cool story mode that manages to tap into some of GH's greatness.

 

[SF Kosmo]

Good game and its sequel Advance Guardian heroes is a hidden gem

AGH was not very polished. Beyond the technical flaw, it had a totally wacky difficulty curve. I don't outright hate it, but it's one of Treasure's weakest 2D action games.

 

[Crownjo]

They need to bring the Xbox 360 port to Steam. I miss playing online with random players.

 

[Pejo]

One of my favorites of the Saturn, and sits at the top of my beat-em-ups list of all time. I loved playing as all of the enemies, it blew my fragile little mind as a kid.

Whenever I have delusions that I want to make my own video game, this is always the goalpost I set for myself, though I'll never actually do it.

It's a shame that Code of Princess didn't have that "spark" that made GH great. You can tell the framework was there, but it just wasn't polished.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Played this game an absurd amount of time when it was released. It's definitely the best game to come out from the Saturn. Hell, it's probably Treasures best game. Co-op was superfun. Would love a sequel or a remake, or just a plain re-release would suffice too.

 

[Rentahamster]

I still got it on my Saturn... in my parent's closet somewhere. Fucking classic game

 

[anothertech]

Would pay top dollar a sequel. Day 1.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Would pay top dollar a sequel. Day 1.

Same. It was a franchise that had a ton of promise and just kind of disappeared after the GBA entry. It seemed like it has more promise as a franchise

 

[VGEsoterica]

Code of Princess

You can def see the inspiration from Guardian Heroes in Code of Princess for sure though

 

[frogger]

I am pretty sure it is not unsung.

 

[lachesis]

Loved the game very much.

Only issue that I had with the game was its low resolution & roughness of scaling effects, that scaling characters front and back had very rough blocky look around the outline - and even though I was pretty blown away and finished the game multiple times (I think over 10-20 times) - I remember hoping higher resolution & cleaner back in the day. Especially the enemies, the larger ones - seem to be drawn small first, then enlarged on the screen to make them look large.
Then again, it may have been the hardware limitation - even though Saturn was the king of 2Ds.

The reason I like the game so much was because by then, I was pretty tired of whole beat-them-up games like Final Fight or even Streets of Rage. Towards the end of the game, all of them started feel quite a bit repetitive.... but this game, thanks to engaging story and also leveling up system - kept things relatively fresh even towards the end.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Loved the game very much.

Only issue that I had with the game was its low resolution & roughness of scaling effects, that scaling characters front and back had very rough blocky look around the outline - and even though I was pretty blown away and finished the game multiple times (I think over 10-20 times) - I remember hoping higher resolution & cleaner back in the day. Especially the enemies, the larger ones - seem to be drawn small first, then enlarged on the screen to make them look large.
Then again, it may have been the hardware limitation - even though Saturn was the king of 2Ds.

The reason I like the game so much was because by then, I was pretty tired of whole beat-them-up games like Final Fight or even Streets of Rage. Towards the end of the game, all of them started feel quite a bit repetitive.... but this game, thanks to engaging story and also leveling up system - kept things relatively fresh even towards the end.

yeah I think the resolution and scaling were just issues due to how many sprites the game throws around at once. At least that’s my presumption.

I know what you mean about the other beat em ups. I’ve been playing a lot of unported arcade beat em ups lately and by the end 1/3rd of the game I am ready for it to end since nothing has fundamentally changed except the stage visuals

 

[Durask]

Loved the game very much.
Only issue that I had with the game was its low resolution & roughness of scaling effects, that scaling characters front and back had very rough blocky look around the outline - and even though I was pretty blown away and finished the game multiple times (I think over 10-20 times) - I remember hoping higher resolution & cleaner back in the day. Especially the enemies, the larger ones - seem to be drawn small first, then enlarged on the screen to make them look large.
Then again, it may have been the hardware limitation - even though Saturn was the king of 2Ds.

This kind of game will work great with Guilty Gear type graphics.

With SOR4 being quite successful (for a niche nostalgia game) maybe someone will get the rights and take a chance.