All Stars: Battle of Fighters

[M4ngo]

yes i cant wait till it comes out

[T.O.R.N.A.D.O]

Guys the version has been released. Please download it here!

http://bit.ly/1HoFE7a

Also support the project by joining the forums!

[A-Man]

Overview:
All Stars Battle of Fighters is a mod where different anime characters are brought together to fight. The game mostly uses GBA/DS games' ripped sprites, but I did see some moves which sprites' I have never seen. So it seems there was some work done in doing custom sprites as well. In the game, I've recognized few characters I know myself like Goku, Vegeta and Freeza from Dragon Ball, Gon from Hunter X Hunter, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji from One Piece, and to my surprise, Yugi Moto from Yugi Oh!. But the main questions is, were the characters work of quality?

Review:
So I started the game by jumping to VS mode for a quick match. 16 characters were there (excluding YinYin's training/sandbag), and I went with Goku since Dragonball character are often fun to play with (another reason was that @bashscrazy, who's done some excellent work in his DBZ mod, is in the team ). It was a match against a randomly picked character which turned out to be Sanji from One Piece. Movement and controls were fluid and up to my expectations. Generally speaking, there were lots of moves which were fairly different and managed to stay true to Dragon Ball, but there were 2 moves which, while fancy looking, weren't very special. The first being Kaioken + A which activates a length pre-scripted combo with Goku moving in a straight line which very often misses. And even if it hits, you can see few of the attacks not hitting the target (might be a high v/arest value problem). I would've loved it if it was something more than a fancy combo which you can't combo from nor to. The other being the grab attack which was another lengthy pre-scripted combo that stops where it ends (how the last part of it hits makes no sense to me. It's just Goku teleporting to where the target is and they're taking damage ?_?) . I would have preferred a much simpler one with a unique advantage over the rest of the moves. DvA is one attack which is currently useless, but can be really useful if only its starting time is decreased (enough to be used straight after defending an attack).

Sanji, on the other hand was just the opposite of that. His attacks were dull, slow and stupidly conditional.D>J aka "Grill Shot" has a big start up time and will only hit after Sanji dashes a fixed distance with his red hot leg. His first hit in his basic combo is 2 kicks which were slow, and using them already puts you in a great disadvantage where you're welcoming the opponent to attack from the back or from an angle. The time gap between the hits in the combo is big enough for the victim to leave the injured state and counter :\. His jump attack is Brochette/Drill kick/Skewer which is Sanji "drilling" his way straight to the ground, so it's difficult to even hit an opponent who's in front of you in the air (they must be under you or close enough for the attack's hitbox to collide). His run attack is a wild dvx:100 dash followed by a sudden stop which feels jerky. Sanji is supposed to be a very fast combo machine, which is certainly not what I have seen there. The only attack(s) I liked was the D^A combo, but again, I was disappointed that it can't be used mid roll (which again takes a big distance and lots of time for its animation to finish :\).

One moment in particular with Sanji triggered a reflexive F4 click for me, and that was Sanji using his "speciality" (only knew it was intended after I inquired); the fire defense 0_0. One of Sanji's powerups "Diable Jamble" involves spinning around himself extremely fast until his leg glows red hot. In the game, special defense is that Sanji's leg blocking and BURNING the opponent it touches which is very cheap.

Luffy's case was better, but still not satisfying. Again, controlling him felt very stiff an no where near some Goku in responsiveness , and he had the problem with the great time gap between the attacks in the basic hit combo. Conqueror's haki was made very cheap; no bdy so you're invulnerable during its frames, low MP consumption and can hit anyone around within a huge box range around you. It is true that it doesn't inflict much damage, but its still a decent amount for what it does. Also, I really don't think the run attack should have any MP consumption.

Zoro is a huge mess on his own, and one of the characters I'd consider broken. His move set is good and all, but there are few points you NEED to resolve.  Shihi sonson (the run attack) can be used infinitely many times in a combo (just Shihi Sonon them back and forth). I really think it has a huge range. I mean OniGiri (D>J) is what Zoro used to clear crowds. Shishi sonson is a short ranged 1 sword focused version of it which is good at penetrating defenses. Another issue is DVJ, which, in addition to being an over powered move on its own, consumes NO MP. Zoro never really made big projectiles like that also. Zoro's roll, which was made an evasive move that is followed by a counter (Tiger hunt) has the evasive part extensible by continuously tapping D. Zoro is completely invulnerable during these frames, and it has very little MP consumption. Dragon Twister (DVJ) is another move you can spam against a victim in one end of the stage to KO him even if he has full HP. DJA seems to lead to unused frames with missing pics for what seems to be "Asura" :P

Vegeta, another character I played a lot with, was very well done, even though I felt was quite underpowered compared to the rest of the cast. When you see Vegeta and Goku in a game, you usually think these will pretty much be skins for the same character. But this wasn't the case here! This was apparent the moment I used D>A (which is Goku's Ki ball combination), and Vegeta fired his characteristic satisfying reckless impulsive barrage of Ki balls to greet the enemy. His playstyle was fairly different from Goku for real this time. Only common move would be his D>J (Galick gun) which correspond's to Goku's kamehameha. He has a fair number of combos, and is very smooth to play with. Vegeta was definitely well-made and is one of the best characters in this game.

Frieza, the third and the last Dragon Ball character in the mod was disappointingly just another projectile berserk. Almost all of his moveset are just projectiles which hit differently. The rest is a tackle attack and one useless static combo dubbed in the movelist "5 beam combo" and an upper direction pre-scripted combo which  I barely used.

Gon from Hunter X Hunter wasn't bad, but nothing special either. His main attacks are based on his signature "Rock Paper Scissor" moves which were done good, but aren't anything special on their own. When I picked Gon, I expected something more mobile and acrobatic, but the moveset given to him didn't offer any of this. His attacks are very straightforward; using his fishing rod to do damage from afar, an uppercut (scissor), an energy ball (paper) and punch that is similar to Hero Fighter's Drew's D>A, except that it went farther forward. The attack has 3 levels, the second and the 3rd which were very poorly done. The second was basically the same punch (probably does more damage) except that you get to travel forward consuming MP until it is the right time to hit your opponent with it using the attack button. The way Gon floats for that long in that pose is really awkward, and it gets worse when you learn that you can change your moving direction by clicking back. The 3rd level is  just a fast screen-width-sized leap forward to punch the opponent. Too much for a punch. The fishing rod attacks has much waste potential for comboing; like DvA could've been beautifully made to combo with D^A.

The Naruto characters are good and fun to play with, but they're not very different from the ones you've played in NTSD and other Naruto mods. To be fair though there were a couple of good moves added. One thing which I didn't like was how Gon's charging is through DJA AAAAA while Dragon Ball, Naruto and Bleach characters could charge with DJA only. I don't know, but I really think you should've tried being consistent with the inputs even though the characters are from different anime.

The Bleach characters had similar moves to Bleach Bankai Revolution's (I could tell from that sparkling slash effect in Ichigo's last hit in the combo.) The characters are great and quite fun to play with. My only critique has to do with their almost instantaneous teleporting move which makes them lean more towards the overpowered side of the scale. Also, it's worth mentioning that Bankai Ichigo's walking sprites animate too fast.

Natsu from Fairy Tale, another fair character with fair attacks. I didn't play him much, but his most interesting move is an idle frames during which if attacked by a fire projectile will "eat it" and gain HP. Neat, and I believe is being true to the anime/manga series, but very useless and serves no use during actual battles. I mean if someone wants to heal himself, the health kit items are all over the stage for that. That is one other problem which needs to be resolved.

Sawada, from ???.. Okay, it's good that characters from non-mainstream anime are brought into the game. Basically, Sawada is an all fire character who can fly using fire from his limbs as jets. He can shoot fiery projectiles, one which leave fire trails behind them (Firen run's). In short, OP and will defeat 7 opponents teaming up on him with little effort. His flying ability wasn't restricted as necessary, so you will often find him flying very high in the air, way beyond the LF2 screen's viewport. I also noticed that he's missing the D(v^><)(AJ) tags in his defend frames, thus; forcing you to wait until you're out of the defending frames for your input to trigger the special move.

Muto Yugi. My favorite, and most broken XD. Playing with this character is plain fun (especially if you're battling against another Yugi (preferably controlled by a human)). Every move is done with cards. Defend to place down a trap card ("Binding Circle") which stepping on will trigger it. Attack draws a card, and clicking it again will summon "Cletic Guardian" who will be spawned to attack in a static straight line. D>A activates the spell card "Swords of Revealing Light" which will spawn the swords which, if successfully fell on the the opponent, will catch the victim in place for a while. DvJ summons "Dark Palladin" who, if hits a character, will "remove him from play" (you can guess what that means in the game :P). "Dark Magician", "Gaiya the Fierce Knight", "Kuribo" and other good-old-days cards can be summoned or activated in a similar fashion with effects that fairly matches the show's. Summoning Exodia perform a ritual where the five cards are connected, and if Yugi is not interrupted in time, Exodia emerges and everyone automatically loses. There are also the 3 god cards which pretty much KO any opponents they land their attacks on. Well obviously, the character is broken and and just about spamming cards. But this doesn't mean it's not fun like that :P. If you're a Yugi Oh fan, it is worth checking out this mod just to try him out.

Aaand I was about to forget talking about Edward from Full Metal Alchemist (I think). Ultimately the best character in terms of quality. Edward has only got 4 specials which is really few compared to the rest of the characters, but playing him requires making use of all these attacks given to him equally. The first being a big stone barrier which can block everything; even physical attacks will be absorbed by it if their hit boxes goes through and reach you (I certainly have never seen anything like that done in data changing before). The second attack D^A plants a rock fist under the closest target that knocks them up in the air. D>J, a rock version of Freeze's D>J and DvA which is a very short ranged electrical sword slash. Thats a typical LF2 move set for you. Simple, but the attacks work together in various ways.

The verdict:
There are still some issues to be resolves but, Very good! It has been a while since I last had this fun with LF2.


Edit: Added a part on the character Edward from Fullmetal alchemist.

[bashscrazy]

YAY! You loved the 2 characters I worked on :P
Vegeta and Edward.

Thanks for the detailed critique.

EDIT: btw, Edward only has 4 moves because he isn't finished yet lol

[AmadisLFE]

I downloaded it, aand it didn t work, it just crashed on Ichigo.

A problem with the char file, which amazingly wasn t there.

[A-Man]

Ah, I had this problem, but it worked after I set the compatibility mode for "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)". You can do this by right click on exe -> Properties -> Compatibility tab -> check "Run this Program in compatibility mode for:".

Edit: It's worth mentioning that while Frieza isn't very fun to play with, he makes a very good boss character. He's even got this "Planet Destroyer" move which actually destroys the planet (aka flashes into a space background) and kills everyone after 2 minutes.

[Rhino.Freak]

Thanks for such a detailed review A-man! That helps a bunch
Also yes, for some reason the game works weird with bugs in windows 7.. but works flawlessly in windows 10. (Can someone explain why that may be?)

[Hellblazer]

@Doctor A: Very good with a thumbs down. (in your review post)

@Rhino.Freak: Are you using the original LF2 engine for the game?

[Rhino.Freak]

Yes ofcourse. Oddly enough even using the original lf2.exe doesn't solve the problems.

[AmadisLFE]

Battle Reviews and Bug Fixes (Click to View)

Battle 1 = I got Goku, and just wen t SSJ and spammed Warp Kamehameha, yeah that move needs to be nerfed a bit...

Battle 2 = Yugi just did Card Combo and wrecked me, atleast I killed one.

Battle 3 = I got Gon, I managed to kill most but then Luffy wen t invincible mode and wrecked me, yeah for some reason he had no bdy ... Glitch probably.

Battle 4 = I got Ichigo, and I got Revenge on Luffy with Ichigos D>J+J, but Tsuno Flame Spam Killed me. (Damn you Tsuno!!!!! Stole my win Kill blow, waaaaaa lol]

Battle 5 = Destroyed Goku, Vegeta and Frieza with Sanji, wait does that make Sanji the 3rd strongest in the Universe, lol.

Battle 6 = Defeated Luffy, even after he randomly walked through my fire like as if it was Goku, woot woot!

Battle 7 = Zoro kept Spamming his Tornado move, so I decided I should spam Hibaris Tornado type move, lol, yeah I won.

Battle 8 = Its time for the prince of all Saiyans to enter the Battle and destroy every Opponent! Oh god I am doing a 1V7, this is gonna go bad.....I died a Horrible death from a series of Tornadoes.

Battle 9 = Reenacting the Legendary Showdown between Vegeta the prince of all saiyans and Goku! we both got into a series of close range attacks, and I combo failed a lot! then the Legendary Galick Gun VS Kamehameha happened and this time, Goku Lost! Leaving the Winner as Vegeta.

Battle 10 = Reenacting the Legendary Showdown between Goku and Frieza, lets see if Frieza can win this, and then starting with a little bit of Melee, Frieza wen t full out beam, and hammed Goku with D>A + D>J looks like its not just Gokus day.

Battle 11 = Rematch between Luffy and Goku, and Luffy won, now doing the Opposite, I am controlling Goku now. And Guess what, Luffy is just too Op because he for some reason doesn t have a Bdy, that really needs to be fixed doesn t it.

Battle 12 = The Z down, Vegeta wrecked Frieza Avenging his Father and the rest of the Saiyans. then started the battle again, Goku and Vegeta, Vegeta uses Galick Gun  and Goku uses Kamehameha, and Vegeta wins Barely! after some Melee and Ki Blasts, Vegeta and Goku both are at the point when even 1 attack can kill them, and Boom, Kaioken Kamehameha VS Galick Gun, Round 2 and Vegeta yet again wins and claims his prize as the 3rd strongest in the universe!

Here are things that really need to be Done.

Fixing Luffys bdy.
Nerfing Some things.
Fixing the Combos making sure most of them work.
Making the Mod more awesome.
Nerfing Sanji a little bit, I can just spam J, wait for my opponent, then when he is under me, I can Just press A and Repeat.

Char Review (Click to View)

Vegeta = He played out well, the D>A, the D>J are also good, the only thing missing is SSJ, but except that, he is quite Balanced in terms of playability.
D>A Ki Blast Barrage = powerful good against multiple targets.
D>J Garlic Gun = a great beam attack, good against smaller and weaker attacks.
D^A Combo = Its not a bad combo and seems to take away quite a lot of health, though it has a high chance of missing.
D^J Explosive Wave = Its good if you are Surrounded, but on a 1 on 1, its quite useless.
DvA Short Range Ki Wave = Its not really a great Attack, doesn t work that well, maybe it should be linked to the D^A Combo.

Edward = He also played out well, I kept using D>A Against a Strong attack and it worked, all in all another good Char, not so bad.
D>A Stone Barrier = Seems to block most attacks, but is easily broken by punchies.
D>J Freeze Styled Barrier Barrage = Ignore the name, I didn t really bother reading its actual name, anyway, this works better than D>A does, and also does Damage, but its limited so yeah.
DvA Melee Attack = Well, not really an useful attack but its not bad either, has more change of hitting that the SRKW, (Short Range Ki Wave}
D^J Iron Fist = O.O No Comment, this is a really well made attack, as it can kinda Home on your opponent.

Goku = Not really that Good, but not bad either, really needs nerfing though.
D>A Ki Blasts = Standard, no comment really.
D>J Kamehameha = Same as Garlic Gun.
D^J Spirit Bomb and D^J+J Super Spirit Bomb = Shouldn t the spirit bomb explode after hitting an opponent, well anyway, its not that good as you are really vulnerable, but its a good attack when you hide and use it lol, The Super Spirit Bomb works better for this as you fly up.
DvJ Kaioken = + A = A Combo thats completely missing every hit, yay! not useful! + J = Kaioken Kamehameha, a stronger Kamehameha, I approve! lol.
DvA = Standard Blastpush, no rating.

SSJ Goku = Kinda Op as one can just Spam D>J+J, though again, not bad, I don t really mind, it after all is a Beta.
D>A Ki Blasts = Standard, no Comment.
D>J Super Kamehameha = Easily the Strongest Attack, the only one who survived this is Luffy, though I guess it would make sense for it to be strong, the Cost should be raised a little... D>J + J Warp Kamehameha = Same as Super Kamehameha but with warping added.
A+J Ultimate Combo = Not Really that Ultimate Is it, lol, but it works!
DvJ De-transform = Uh, do I need to rate this, Um, I rate it 1006 out of 9001.
DvA = Standard Blastpush, no rating.

Too Lazy to write down the rest for now. and btw, Longest Comment ever...