Written by Flamecaster, edited by Otaku Apologist

“Vanguard Princess”, developed by Tomoaki Sugeno, published by eigoMANGA. A 2-on-2 fighting game with plenty of hot anime girls showing off their bodies and fighting skills. Released on the 3rd of May, 2014. Available on Nutaku for $5.00 or 500 Nutaku Gold. Available for PC Windows. Full controller support.

Enter “Vanguard Princess”, a two-on-two fighting game developed by former Capcom sprite designer Tomoaki “Suge9” Sugeno. The game itself consists of an all-girl cast of 10 major characters and five assisting characters. The game has extra girls you can get with DLC . Each major character has their own quirks, and they approach fighting with their own unique styles.

STORY

In a world of chaos and constant warfare, a plane was shot down, leaving only one survivor. That one survivor was a little girl named Hilda who would grow to have mysterious powers. “The Government” decides to analyze her and use her powers for military purposes. After ages of cruel experiments by “The Government”, a freak accident referred to as “The Astral Impact” caused the mysterious powers, known as “Tactical Sorcery”, to be bestowed upon many other women. This resulted in many beautiful, but dangerous women referred to as Vanguard Princesses. These Vanguard Princesses are drawn to do battle with Hilda, who now seeks to bring about the downfall of mankind. This doesn’t sound convoluted at all!

Fighting games are not known for their storytelling. The narrative is vague, as each character gets a bare minimum of backstory, and a brief cutscene in their playthrough. Still, you wish they went a little deeper, and at least defined the antagonist better than just calling it “The Government”. Bloody Roar had the Tylon Corporation, Street Fighter had Shadaloo, and even Tekken eventually had “The Mishima Zaibatsu”. In comparison, “The Government” just sounds bland.

GAMEPLAY

“Vanguard Princess” is a fairly competent fighter, that reminds me of games by Arc System Works. There will never be a Vanguard Princess e-sports tournament, but for casual gamers, it’s a fun time-killer. The 10 major characters have their own styles and attacks that range from long-range projectiles and “shoto” type moves, to grappler-type attacks by a DLC character called Lilith, who plays like a simplified version of Alex from Street Fighter III. For example, Luna and Ayane shoot bullets and arrows that enhance their special attacks. The fighting system feels basic, utilizing only three attack buttons: light, medium, and hard. Compared to other fighting games out there, the gameplay is stunted. Trying to do combos feels like a chore and often goes underused, as most characters don’t have many. The best way to play combo moves, is to use your support character, who can be brought out with a button press, and tapping the D-pad. Timed correctly, you can nail short juggling combos that get you an edge over your opponent.

In this game, parrying attacks is executed interestingly. Parries can be done with one button, or two buttons, and they can block an attack without block-stun, and chip damage. It doesn’t feel as intuitive as parrying in “Street Fighter III”, but it’s a nice touch, even if pointless. The benefit from parrying is that you gain a considerable amount added to your meter for super combos. The super combos are fun to pull off and feature a flash of anime pantsu.

Your support characters play an integral role. They assist your play, similar to “Marvel vs Capcom”, or the older “King of Fighters” games. They are good for linking combos, or just getting damage in if you whiff an incoming move. The only problem I had while playing was that for support characters, they’re pretty damn distracting. It’s one thing if they’re completely off-screen, jumping in to deliver an attack, and then jumping out. However, in this game, the support characters tend to stand right beside you. Along with the incredibly busy backgrounds, it’s way too much visual information to process. What’s worse, it makes the screen feel cramped, partially due to such large sprites within such a small screen.

Playing the standard arcade mode is fun. You battle against a decent computer A.I. You won’t feel cheated when you lose, that is, unless you’re playing on hard mode and you aren’t going against Hilda. Sugeno’s prior experience with SNK must have rubbed off on him substantially as Hilda is a prime example of SNK Boss Syndrome. She can spam multiple projectile attacks at will. With certain characters who can’t retaliate against that, it’s a pain to deal with, often leaving you with one strategy: Swoop in for a few hits, and spend the rest of the game guarding in a corner, until time runs out. The reason you can do this is, is because there is absolutely no chip damage.

GRAPHICS

Vanguard Princess features a cute, upbeat visual aesthetic. Boasting some bright colors and flashy effects, it’s definitely one of the cutest fighters out there. The character sprites are well-animated and clean. The downside is that if you want to fullscreen the game, or play on a larger resolution, you can, but at the cost of image quality. Most of the stages feature a grainy gradient that sits at the top of the screen. Going fullscreen only makes this more obvious.

MUSIC

The soundtrack of “Vanguard Princess'” is limited in number of tracks, but has a decent mixture of genres. From traditional Japanese temple music, to electronic high fidelity trance, ending on rocking tunes. Each stage has its own distinct theme that mixes well with what’s happening on screen. As a compliment to a high-paced fighting game like this, the music does a great job in hyping up the ultra violence.

VOICE ACTING AND SOUND EFFECTS (SFX)

Vanguard Princess has limited Japanese voice acting.

The developer clearly understands how important audio is for games of this genre. The player can really feel the action in the number of sound effects used for attacks. This game offers the full-course audio meal, which includes tens of different unique sounds for all kinds of punches, kicks, and special moves. You won’t be starved for variety. Another great thing about this title is the inclusion of Japanese female voice acting in combat.

All the girls like to spell out their attacks vocally, announcing their techniques. They also signal when they get hit with sensual moans of pleasure, grunts of displeasure, and screams of pain. Even if the story segments themselves aren’t voiced, all the great performances during combat more than make up for it.

HENTAI

Vanguard Princess is “ecchi”, and keeps the eroticism fairly tame. The director’s cut DLC is supposed to bring some extra uncensored stuff, but in reality, it only goes as far as increasing the number of panty shots. If you’re looking for a fighting game with big boobs and white laced panties, this game has them. There’s a great deal of well-animated boob jiggle to satisfy your perverted desires.

CONCLUDING WORDS

Vanguard Princes is a serviceable fighting game, great for a casual distraction. If you want to play something really cute and sexy for a change, the title only costs a fiver. The game has issues, and a very limited number of game modes. To play online with another person requires a workaround solution, rather than something built into the game. For fans of “moe” anime girls and cute imoutos, this game has your fetish tropes covered.

Recommended ecchi fighter for PC Windows. Download Vanguard Princess now>

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