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Sacred Reviews: Ranma 1/2 RPG DX

Introduction

"Ranma 1/2 RPG DX" was an attempt by RankoChan123 to port "Ranma 1/2: Akanekodan Teki Hihou" by Atelier Double into RPG Maker 2003. An action that probably didn't get hit with a cease and desist order because the original developer never became aware of this project or because the original developer is now defunct and it's not clear who owns the rights to the original game. Though, I suppose I shouldn't drag on this topic for to long. After all, I got panned pretty hard for balking at the audacity of Redwall10 to steal sprites from "Hero’s Saga Laevatein Tactics" by GungHo Works. Though, I can't help but feel like RankoChan123 was playing with fire when she decided this was a good idea. So it may have been for the best that she eventually decided to drop this project in order to pursue more original ideas.

Story
Summary
The game starts out with the Jusenkyo Guide wandering into a legendary graveyard dedicated to ancient gods and demons. He then proceeds to rush home only to trip and smash up the gravestone of the dreaded Nekomaou, the legendary Ghost Cat King. This results in Nekomaou being released so he can continue his quest for world conquest. Of course, the Nerima Wrecking Crew eventually gets drawn into this plot and absolute pandemonium ensues.

Translation
"Ranma 1/2: Akanekodan Teki Hihou" has never officially been translated into English, but there is an unofficial translation that was created by fans of the series. And considering how obsessive most fans tend to be I'm going to assume that the translation is fairly accurate to the original source material as well as of high quality. And as far as I can tell it was this translation that RankoChan123 was going to use for her port.


A name that will truly strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child on the planet!

Minor Changes
It's pretty clear that this port does include a few minor changes such as making Ukyo, the cute fiance, a playable character as well as a cameo by Kenji, a character from a manga that RankoChan123 used to draw called Chaos Theory. Outside of those few chances though RankoChan123 has assured people in the comment section of her game that she's going to stick as close to the source material as possible. And to be fair, it's not exactly uncommon for ports of games to make changes here and there. So I really can't hold it against RankoChan123 to change things up a little bit.

Pros
In what other universe are going to find a young man that turns into a pretty red-head, a Chinese Amazon that turns into a cat, a brute that turns into a cute piglet, and a blind idiot that smashes people over the head with a training potty shaped like a duck? No where, that's where. As a result you owe it to yourself to play this game. Though, I suppose if you want the full experience you'll need to play the original seeing as how this project was canceled ages ago.

Cons
It's hard to deny that in small doses "Ranma 1/2" is rather hilarious, but the series can definitely wear you down after a while. After all, the characters really don't evolve that much over the course of the series. As a result the series tends to reuse the same jokes over and over and over again. Add in the fact that the characters don't usually grow that much from one arc to the next and your left with series where the status quo never really changes in any significant way. In fact, the original game ends with the usual status quo being reestablished despite the entire Nerima Wrecking Crew working together in order to save the world from falling under the iron paw of Nekomaou.

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things the demo makes several changes. For starters it moves the game away from the conditional turn-based system in the original to an active-time battle system. A decision that really gets under my skin. After all, I'm not a big fan of the active-time battle system. In my opinion it represents the worst possible fusion that could be achieved through merging real-time and turn-based combat. It hinders real-time combat because in real life you don't need to flip through a menu in order to make a decision and it ruins turn-based combat because it forces you to rush and thus causes you to make sloppy mistakes. I can't tell you how many times I've played through games like this and was in such a rush to make a decision that I ended up using a basic attack when I wanted to use a skill or an item instead. As a result I tend to avoid games with this system like their carrying a virulent strain of the black plaque. And as far as I can tell there's no way to set the system to passive in the demo.

Conclusion

"Ranma 1/2 RPG DX" is a game whose existence is highly illegal in my opinion, but at least it sheds some light on an old SNES title by Atelier Double, a studio whose probably most famous for it's work on either "Lufia: The Ruins of Lore" or that god awful port they made of "Winter Games" for the NES. Regardless I suggest giving the original a chance if your into either Ranma 1/2 or were interested in this game back in the day. After all, while we may not be able to get a full view of what RankoChan123 was going for. We do know what she was trying to copy.

Posts

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Frogge
I wanna marry ALL the boys!! And Donna is a meanc
18536
Since when has illegality stopped the rpg maker community
It hasn't, but I'd argue that this project definitely goes beyond the usual concerns developers might have with a fan game. After all, this is an attempt to port a game without the original developer's permission.

Though, I'm not sure Atelier Double even exists anymore. After all, links to their official website just leads me to site trying to sell coats and purses.
Wait, is this a game taken from another RPG Maker dev and remade/ported by someone else? Because we don't allow that without the original owners permission.
author=Liberty
Wait, is this a game taken from another RPG Maker dev and remade/ported by someone else? Because we don't allow that without the original owners permission.


This game wasn't taken from another RPG Maker dev, but is meant to be a port of SNES game made by Atelier Double, the Japanese studio that was behind "Lufia: The Ruins of Lore".
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Wait...RankoChan123 is supposed to be banned. She was the one that was stealing a bunch of games from RMN and putting them on itch.io.

Edit: That sure puts the origin of this game under suspicion.

Edit II: Hopefully, I'm not confused about this, but the name RankoChan123 was coming up on most of those pages.

EDIT III: Yeah, pretty sure I'm remembering correctly.
author=pianotm
Wait...RankoChan123 is supposed to be banned. She was the one that was stealing a bunch of games from RMN and putting them on itch.io


This is project she was working on before she was banned. After all, it's not like your posts and game pages are automatically deleted when you get banned from the site.
Well, this certainly takes me back! Stumbled upon a link to this on a Ranma 1/2 wiki and thought I'd pop in for nostalgia's sake. I was just a kid at the time when this was made, but it's something I look back fondly on. Don't really do much with RPG Maker these days (getting old sucks).

EDIT:
author=pianotm
Wait...RankoChan123 is supposed to be banned. She was the one that was stealing a bunch of games from RMN and putting them on itch.io.
Not sure what this is about, but I have nothing to do with it. I don't even use itch.io
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