This year the PSP will be getting a port of the Saturn Atlus RPG Princess Crown. I thought it would be a good time to recap on this classic title and the reasons why people should either seek out the Saturn original or start saving their pennies for the PSP version.
I first witnessed Princess Crown in the pages of American magazine Gamefan. It was given a one-page 'import' review and was basically praised to high-heaven by the reviewer. The screens looked beyond gorgeous - as close to 2D perfection as I'd ever seen at that point (this would have been about 1997). I decided I would seek the game out, but I didn't see a copy for months (this was also before I'd gotten onto the internet). Thankfully I spotted a second hand copy in Birmingham CEX (back when it was good) for ?35 and snapped it up.
It remains one of my favourite Saturn titles by some margin. Playing very much like Zelda II, it's a side-scrolling RPG with elements of Street Fighter II thrown in for good measure. Enemy encounters trigger a 'battle' scene where you have full control over your character and you can pull off special moves, block and use items. This element of the game is excellent, and you never tire of battles as a result. Locations are joined by simple A-to-B pathways that you must traverse in real-time (battles happen randomly on these pathways). When you reach a town you have the traditional RPG features such as shops, inns and NPC with which you can interact.
The main character is the princess of the title - Gradriel. I won't bore you with the plot (which isn't actually that good anyway) but she's your usual strong-willed teenage princess on a mission to free her kingdom from evil (and excellently animated) demons. Along the way she bumps into other characters such as Edward the Dragon Slayer, Prosperpina the Witch and Portgus the Pirate. All these characters become unlockable once you complete the game and they even have their own (limited) mini-quests that relate to the main story. This adds a massive amount of play value, as the main quest itself is pretty big.
There are plenty of nice little touches to this game - the animation is excellent throughout, as is the design. At one point you get to transform into 'Evil Gradriel', complete with massive, Mai-style wobbling breasts, which is a little at odds with the nature of the game but what the hey. The sound is also excellent - when you are moving from location to location there's no music, just the sound of birds in the background.
The only problem is obviously the language barrier - Princess Crown was never released outside of Japan (where it was a massive hit). However there's an excellent FAQ over at GameFAQs that helped me through the game, and TBH there's not actually that much of a plot anyway. This only goes to show just how much fun the game is.
A highly recommended title - if you can find it at a decent price!
I first witnessed Princess Crown in the pages of American magazine Gamefan. It was given a one-page 'import' review and was basically praised to high-heaven by the reviewer. The screens looked beyond gorgeous - as close to 2D perfection as I'd ever seen at that point (this would have been about 1997). I decided I would seek the game out, but I didn't see a copy for months (this was also before I'd gotten onto the internet). Thankfully I spotted a second hand copy in Birmingham CEX (back when it was good) for ?35 and snapped it up.
It remains one of my favourite Saturn titles by some margin. Playing very much like Zelda II, it's a side-scrolling RPG with elements of Street Fighter II thrown in for good measure. Enemy encounters trigger a 'battle' scene where you have full control over your character and you can pull off special moves, block and use items. This element of the game is excellent, and you never tire of battles as a result. Locations are joined by simple A-to-B pathways that you must traverse in real-time (battles happen randomly on these pathways). When you reach a town you have the traditional RPG features such as shops, inns and NPC with which you can interact.
The main character is the princess of the title - Gradriel. I won't bore you with the plot (which isn't actually that good anyway) but she's your usual strong-willed teenage princess on a mission to free her kingdom from evil (and excellently animated) demons. Along the way she bumps into other characters such as Edward the Dragon Slayer, Prosperpina the Witch and Portgus the Pirate. All these characters become unlockable once you complete the game and they even have their own (limited) mini-quests that relate to the main story. This adds a massive amount of play value, as the main quest itself is pretty big.
There are plenty of nice little touches to this game - the animation is excellent throughout, as is the design. At one point you get to transform into 'Evil Gradriel', complete with massive, Mai-style wobbling breasts, which is a little at odds with the nature of the game but what the hey. The sound is also excellent - when you are moving from location to location there's no music, just the sound of birds in the background.
The only problem is obviously the language barrier - Princess Crown was never released outside of Japan (where it was a massive hit). However there's an excellent FAQ over at GameFAQs that helped me through the game, and TBH there's not actually that much of a plot anyway. This only goes to show just how much fun the game is.
A highly recommended title - if you can find it at a decent price!
I've seen it in Hard Off for the past three months with spine card but never picked it up. So after reading your little review I checked my site and found that I don't have it (^o^). I'm in need of a good gaming fix now taht I'm near the end of Blue Submarine on the DC.
Comment