Senko no Ronde

Senko no Ronde caught my interest as soon as it hit arcades in 2005. All the media pointed to a mix between a shooting game (which was more or less G.Rev's talent) and a fighting game. It sounded right up my alley, but it was an arcade release, and I wasn't near any decent arcades. Surprisingly, in early 2006, G.Rev released Senko no Ronde Revision X, a port of the game to the Xbox 360. As surprising as an Xbox 360 port is, Ubisoft’s decision to release the port in America as Wartech: Senko no Ronde was nearly as unexpected. What caught me off guard the most, however, was what I found after putting about an hour into the game with a friend of mine on the day that I finally got to play it.

Senko no Ronde could be the closest we'll ever get to a new Virtual On game. There's no doubt in my mind that Sega's hugely original series was an inspiration during the development of Ronde, as the similarities between the two games are remarkable and go far deeper than the one-on-one robot fighting theme. Just look at the dash mechanic, for example: Ronde's robots, called "Rounders," can dash, make mid-dash 90 degree turns, perform dash attacks that leave them temporarily immobile when the dash ends, and even rotate while dashing to get a better angle on the opponent. These are more or less the exact same dashing options found in Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, and that's only the first thing that jumped out at me. Further play revealed a similar melee combat system, weapons that require reloading yet have infinite ammo, explosive attacks that double as shields against enemy bullets, similar bosses for the single player mode, and even a generalized version of Oratorio Tangram's high-risk special button techniques in the form of an "Overdrive Mode," to name a few.

That's not to say that Senko no Ronde is a clone of Virtual On. In fact, despite being so obviously inspired by Sega's game, Ronde brings a ton of original ideas to the table. Again, it's a mix between a shooting game and a fighting game. Instead of using an over-the-shoulder perspective, Ronde has a nearly top-down view of the action. This allows the arena to be filled to the brim with bullets without worrying about what the player can or cannot see; a good thing, because the bullet patterns that the Rounders fire wouldn't look out of place in a manic shooter. The screen is literally filled with bullets when a player enters "B.O.S.S." mode, but I'll come back to that in a bit.

As with any fighting game, there's a health meter and an energy meter at the top of the screen. One unique thing worth noting is that when a player's health meter is drained, they enter "Vanish" mode, which allows them one more hit before death while also giving them some benefits. The energy meter is nearly as important as the player's health; it allows them to perform special attacks, utilize their shield to prevent a little damage, occasionally wipe bullets from the screen, and take maximum advantage of B.O.S.S. mode.

B.O.S.S. mode is easily the flashiest and coolest-looking part of the game. Your character's Rounder augments itself to one of many gigantic, deadly machines capable of filling the screen full of bullets for as long as it takes the energy meter to drain. What's particularly cool about this mode is that it's not a simple static super attack; you can fire different patterns while slowly shifting yourself around to change the paths of the bullets. If the attacking player takes too much damage before his energy meter drains, the extra equipment blows up and the player is left at the same amount of health as he had before summoning the boss. If the energy meter runs out first, the player will gain a little bit of health upon returning to normal. This can create a bit of back-and-forth B.O.S.S. summoning in an attempt to stretch the life meter, but with the summons being typically limited to twice per round, and with the energy meter needing to be conserved to actually get anywhere as a boss, it becomes something to strategically manage rather than a total nuisance. Being up against these bosses can be pretty damn intimidating, but my modestly-skilled self can weave through the bullet patterns without taking too much damage, depending on my opponent. It's a great idea, and being on the receiving end makes for one hell of a rush.

All of the mechanics lead to an awkward learning curve, and the game would definitely benefit from some kind of tutorial, but matches are wonderful once both players know what they're doing. It doesn't take too long before you find yourself weaving in and out of enemy barrages and taking advantage of their downtime after a dash-attack with an aimed shot of your own. The eight characters provide excellent variety in their weapons and attacks; Sakurako has placeable pods that can hold an enemy in place if touched, Ernula has a solid laser with rebound points that can be placed throughout the arena, Lili's primary attack is a chargeable missile that explodes into a circular spread, and Werfer's secondary weapon exists for the sole purpose of enhancing his primary weapon, for example. Eight characters may seem a bit small, but I haven't felt a need for more.

Visually, Senko no Ronde impresses if you consider its NAOMI roots, but it's a bit plain looking if you hold it up to the expectations of a 360 title. Standing out more than anything are the gorgeous backgrounds. The music is similarly nice, for the most part. The characters themselves, though, are a bit obnoxious: the males are androgynous like no other game you've seen (look at Cuilan, Jesus Christ), and the females are mostly pandering loli material. Thankfully, they don't show up outside of character select screens and ending sequences. The extras included in the home port can't stack up to other big-name fighting games like Virtua Fighter, but what's there is a far cry better than the typical Gallery mode you'd expect to find in the home port of a modern shooter. Oh, and the game does support online play. If you play it with someone in the country, expect to have a nice, lagless match, but things get a bit iffy once you go international. Sadly, it doesn't seem like many people play in the first place.

There's no question that Senko no Ronde is worth a purchase if you're into arcade games. It's a bit light on the extras, visually sparse, and the mechanics are strange to come to grips with at first, but if you can get past these things and find some competition, you'll be treated to one of the most intense and unique competitive games of the past few years.

Nice review. I agree overall, though the one negative point you didn't mention was the end bosses of the story mode. I thought they were terrible and were basically shoving mechanics not meant for traditional boss fights in a round whole. Even when they were easy with certain characters, they were never fun. Versus was fun and diverse though, with a lot of room for different sorts of strategy.

Thanks.

I actually don't mind the end bosses. Heck, I was pretty surprised that they went out of their way to make the elaborate scenes. Now that you mention it, though, they aren't all that fun to fight against, and a boss character would have been cooler.

Speaking of, I'm kind of baffled as to why I can't select the Earth stage with the orange sky.

I never got to admire that stage with the bullet madness that hits so quickly. Don't really remember any of the boss stages as selectable, which is odd considering how few extras there were. I wish you could have adjusted the fighter stats instead of having two slightly different variants.

Tain, did you notice that in the end credits, a bunch of Sega devs were thanked? I definitely think VO is an inspiration to this game. I wish some of the characters' art is better design, and the robots look kinda meh (low poly).

Yeah, I did catch that. Not sure if they were part of Hitmaker or not, though.

The same thing is at the end of Border Down and (I believe) Under Defeat, I think it's credit for assistance with the Naomi rev of the game. *-neo

Good work. Don't forget to leave your own ratings if you've played this game.

You seem to have enjoyed it more than I did.