[ljacone]

Thanks to Sentai-Tamashii's hookup, have been playing the heck out of Taiketsu! Ultra Hero for my GBA.

JUST last night I figured out that the background music is not a random selection -- it changes depending on who you are fighting. Which leads to an interesting choice, because if you fight Z-Ton, you get the Return Of Ultraman music rather than the Ultraman music. Of course, Jack did fight Z-Ton, and actually beat him, as well, so it fits. Each bad guy is associated with one of the Ultra Heroes, save Gaia and Agul who I guess do kinda pair with each other.

Ultraman -- Baltan
Ultraseven -- Dinotanker
Jack -- Z-Ton
Taro -- Tyrant
Tiga -- Gatanathor
Dyna -- Reicuras

Playing as the monsters is fun as well. The designers did a good job of changing the experience for playing as the monsters versus playing as an Ultra. You don't have a timer, so you can use your specials as often as you want. But you don't have a powerful finisher like the Ultras do. And you can't do the special stuff like the Air Recovery nor the Barrier Shield like the Ultras, but the monsters each have different strengths. Tyrant, for example, takes very little damage because of his armor, Reicuras is short enough that a lot of beams go over his head, and Dinotanker is so short it's very difficult to grab him for a throw.

Only complaint about the monsters is that when controlled by the computer, Baltan can do a couple of tricks you can't do when you control him. Namely, he can teleport around the screen, and do a "slow fall" from the sky, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to do them.

But the core remains playing as the Ultra Heroes. I love how they have differentiated the moves between the heroes. Even something as simple as the grapple/throw are vastly different. For instance: Ultraman presses his enemy above his head and then throws him down; Ultraseven unleashes a close range combo, Jack does a snap mare, Taro shoots an leg and then pummels is opponent on the ground, and Tiga does a Street Fighter 2 style throw.

The Special moves are nicely varied. Of course everyone has a finisher beam, but they get their other moves as well. Ultraman has his Ultra Cutter, Ultraseven has his Eye Slugger, Jack has his javelin, and so forth.

Tiga and Dyna can change forms and have access to their correct moves in each form. Tiga's Sky Type is incredibly fast and can jump almost from one end of the screen to the other.

When an Ultra wins a fight, he flies off into the sky, which is just too cool, hehe!

This game is not recommended for anyone who is not an Ultra fan, though. I happen to be one, so this is pure Ultra fighting awesomeness.