837th played so far
Genre: Fighting
Platform: Dreamcast
Year of Release: 2000
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
I haven’t played many Dreamcast games recently, in part because I have to go out and retrieve it from semi storage (the bedroom TV) and connect it to a TV that is too new to handle aerial connections gracefully. I’ve got a cable orderedfor next time, but for this session I’m hoping to knock a bunch of them off my list.
Power Stone 2 is a Dreamcast era fighting game. It’s 3D, rather than the 2D plane that you still saw more at the time, and to be honest the entire thing feels more colourful than more realistic fighters. It’s a good start, even if my expectations aren’t that high either.
Our Thoughts
When playing Power Stone 2, I find it hard to avoid comparisons to the Super Smash Bros series. First of all, weapons play a big part in these games, with them being quite defining at times. There is also a version of a final smash with their fusion attacks, which you can activate by collecting differently coloured gems. They are the main differentiator between character, who otherwise felt somewhat interchangable. It’s a nice feature and won me some battles, but seeing more individuality would have been nice.
The other part of the game that reminds me of Smash Bros games – at least the more modern incarnations – are the stages. They are active and dynamic and more complicated than that series. Each stage, except for the bosses, has several stages that you jump between – once by climbing a Japanese temple, another one with the floor giving way, and there’s a jungle temple where for part of the arena, you’re getting chased by a boulder Indiana Jones style. It makes the games a lot more interesting as you’re adjusting around this. I guess the fact that the fighters are interchangeable helps here, as one isn’t more suitable to some stages than others.
There’s a lot of stuff to do in the game, not in the least from the different variations. The standard arcade story mode is in here, with a limited set of stages and some story, although it has the downside of its bosses, which felt a lot less fun than a straight up battle. Then there are other modes that focus as much on collecting items and unlockables as you go through, for what feels like a longer campaign. I can see myself get lost in this for a long time.
Final Thoughts
Power Stone 2 has some symptoms of its age, mostly coming from the lack of distinct fighters and how that turned everything more generic. I also got annoyed with some boss fights, which is a shame because everything else worked so well and this is the closest I think I’ve gotten to seeing a game with the dynamics of a Smash Bros game, going for fun interactions more than serious, grim stories. If not for the demise of the Dreamcast, perhaps this could have been a contender for that crown.