Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes (Japanese: 闘姫伝承 ANGEL EYES, roughly translating into “Legend of the Fighting Princess”)[1] is a 1996 fightingvideo game produced by Tecmo. It is a two-dimensional game featuring an all-female cast of characters, although their art styles consist of a mix of both pre-rendered3D models and traditional 2D sprites.[2]Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes was released in Japan on arcades and was followed by an enhanced port to the PlayStation console in December 1997, with additional content; the game was released internationally for the first time in October 2022, digitally for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. It was Tecmo's first fighting game and some of the development team would work on Dead or Alive released later in 1996; despite being overshadowed in popularity by Dead or Alive, Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes maintain a fanbase in Japan.[1]
Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot showcasing a match between Raiya Mikazuchi and Highway Star.
Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes is a two-dimensional fighting game, featuring an all female cast.[3] The original arcade game features eight playable characters with a wide array of character designs. Characters in the game include a biker girl, a volleyball player, a girl in a Japanese school uniform, a ninja girl, and one who uses a stuffed teddy bear to fight.[4]
Attacks include standard punches and kicks as seen in many fighting games, but also includes special moves, and special techniques.[3] Unique to the game however, is a system called "reverse combo correction" by fans and one of the planners who is inexperienced in fighting games. In a typical fighting game, as combo attacks are chained together, the damage decreases. However, in this game, the damage actually increases as the combo is chained. This results in each characters being able to carry out combos that instantly kill the opponent.[5] Another feature is "homing jumps", which are special jumps which thrust you into your opponent.[6][4] Game modes in the PlayStation port include "Arcade mode", "VS mode", "training mode", and "story mode".[3]
Development and release
Development began in 1994 after Ninja Gaiden II on the Neo Geo was cancelled. Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes was one of the first games to feature all female characters in a fighting game.[5] Similar games from that era include games such as Pretty Fighter X, Asuka 120% Burning Fest, and Variable Geo.[7] Some of the characters in the game were created via pixel art, while some of them were created from pre-rendered3D models. The PlayStation version has 2D renditions of Kiriko, Reika and Lina as unlockable characters.[5]
Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes was originally released in Japanese arcades in June 1996.[8] Later it was ported to the Sony PlayStation console and released on December 11, 1997.[9] This port adds proper intros and endings for each character as part of a fully voiced story mode. It also had additional unlockable characters and an arranged soundtrack.[1] Also released was a drama CD titled Tōkidenshō Drama Album, as well as a soundtrack CD.[10][11]
Famitsu gave the game a score of 22 out of 40. Reviewers noted the unique nature of mixing pixel art and polygon characters, but noted it wasn't a major issue. They noted that it follows a trend of recent fighting games to include battles in the air, and noted they were fun but somewhat awkward.[6]
