It used to be so easy in the old days: Japanese videogame
company Squaresoft made high-quality RPG's that sold well
to the masses of Japan and the cult-following of gamers in
Europe and America... Square released their games only on
Nintendo platforms... the Earth was deemed round, and
everybody lived happily ever after... then 1996 hit the
calendar. Square switched their business prospects from
Nintendo's 64-bit machine to Sony's 32-bit CD-based PSX,
announced the big sequel ("Final Fantasy VII") and started
investing in talented programmers with expertise outside of
the RPG genre. Two of them (Koji Yamashita and Seiichi
Ishii) formed a little company called Dream Factory, and
used their previous expertise in the fighting genre to
develop a PSX brawler... under Square's label. Gulp!
The setup: Emperor Udan, ruler of the planet of Tobal,
holds a contest to see which of eight warriors from several
planets (four are from planet Earth) can be called the King
of the Tobal Tournament. So it's up to Chuji-Wu (Akira/Ryu
clone), Epon (Pai lookalike), Oliems (a giant chicken man),
Hom (a robot), Fei-Pusu (old warrior), Illgoga (big pink
lizzard), Mary Ivonskaya (BIG Russian wrestler) and Gren
Kuts (Jackie from "VF2" as an Irish man) to prove which
warrior is the chosen one... blah, blah, blah! More
comparable with Ocean's N64 fighting game "Fighter's
Destiny" than with other button-mashers, "Tobal #1" is full
of depth and interconnecting links that reward the use of
technique rather than random button tapping (although you
can also play like that). The potential of Dream Factory's
pioneering effort was rewarded with a blockbuster sequel
("Tobal 2") that sold well in Japan, gave "Tekken 3" and
"Dead or Alive" a run for their money and solidified
Square's reputation as a quality-conscious software
developer (then "Saga Frontier" hit stores, and Square had
to go back to, pardon the pun, square one! :-P). Is "Tobal
#1" still worth your dollars and attention in 1998?
GAMEPLAY / FUN FACTOR: B
Many people that bought "Tobal #1" actually started playing
the "FFVII" demo CD packed with the game before they turned
to the main game, but once they loaded the CD they must
have realized that this is no quickie product slapped
together at the last minute. Although the graphics caught
most of the attention at the time, the engine crafted by
the developers is tight, intuitive without being
disorienting and can be picked-up and mastered by hardcore
and casual gamers alike ("Tobal 2" took what this game
started and pefected to the umpteenth degree). Your
character can move in any direction and in/out, left/right
of the screen and of the other fighter, all by simply
tapping the direction you want to move with the d-pad keys;
contrast that with the "2D wrapped in 3D" view of "Bloody
Roar", "Tekken 3", "Virtua Fighter 2" and "War Gods" that,
at best, allows for minor side-stepping of incoming
attcks. Your characters have Upper/Middle/Lower attacks,
that can be linked with d-pad movements and the Jump (L1)
and Guard/Throw buttons (R1), and although sometimes you
might end up disoriented and kicking/punching the air while
you are getting wacked in the back, the game sometimes
positions you around when two characters are close so that
there are hits being connected. An aquired style of
fighting control that must be sampled before committing on
the purchase, because there is more to "Tobal #1" than
meets the eye; just because there are ring-outs that lead
to precipitous free-falls doesn't mean the game is a
"Virtua Fighter" clone, although it might look like one.
Modes of play include Tournament (go up against all seven
other selectable characters, plus several bosses that
include a killer bunny!), Versus (you and an opponent in a
ring trying to win two/three out of three/five matches) and
Quest mode. This last one is an attempt by Dream Factory
to marry their new fighting engine with the rudimentary
basics of an RPG dungeon, in which you pick up a character
(from the same roster used in the fighting game, complete
with moves!) and try to dodge pitfalls and falling rocks,
pick-up potions and bread (for health!) and make it to the
end after beating numerous thugs to slug it out with a boss
that, if defeated, will become a selectable character for
the fighting game. It isn't a perfect game (controls are
somewhat confusing, the objectives are not made clear and
it gets rather repetitive after the second dungeon), but
the Quest mode is a serious attempt to give longer
shelf-life to the purchase; notice how those "extras" are
becoming routine nowadays in today's big fighting games,
from "Tekken 3" (Tekken Force Mode, and the Volleyball
game) to "DOA" (a ton of outfits and dresses for each
character). The AI for the one-player modes can be too
much of a push-over (except for the bosses, which can get
real cheap real fast), and the whole package could have
used a few more modes to keep the player entertained
without having to commit to the Quest mode. But at least
the loading times are kept to a minimum, which makes going
through the Options and selections a breeze (and look at
how Namco has used their quick loading as a selling-point
for the "Tekken" series).
GRAPHICS / VISUALS: B+
The first PSX game to run on the machine's high-resolution,
60 frames-per-second mode, "Tobal #1" is in the very
privileged company of just a handful of technically
advanced software pieces like "N2O, "Dead or Alive",
"Einhander" and "Tobal 2". Sure, the characters and
background lack the textures that make today's games look
more realistic, but Dream Factory uses their plain-shaded
polygons with an artistic design that makes the game look
like an artistically-innovative retro take on the original
"Virtua Fighter". Anime superstar Akira Toriyama (of
"Dragon Ball Z" fame) designed the characters and the
background story of "Tobal #1", which gives the game a
stronger appeal among otakus and anime fans. Although
"Tobal 2" is a much better game than the prequel, it kept
the look and feel of the original's flat-shaded engine and
added gourard-shading and other nifty technical tricks to
make the game look rounder and a little more life-like. A
little dated by today's standards, "Tobal #1" is out there
at discount prices to clear inventory after it's lackluster
initial performance (NGOnline reported TRST figures of
60,000 retail copies being sold to consumers).
MUSIC / SOUND EFFECTS: C
Sound effects are as average as they get on a fighting
game, with the punches/kicks making the appropriate sound
when connecting against blocked limb (booo!) and exposed
body (kick ass!). The characters utter untranslated
Japanese one-liners (just like the "VF2" gang) that make no
sense whatsoever, but fit the anime feel of Akira
Toriyama's artwork and storyline. The music is an eclectic
collection of tunes that (a) have no relation or apparent
connection to one-another, and (b) are as bad and unlikable
a collection of videogame music as you've ever heard.
Eclectic videogame soundtracks can sometimes succeed on the
strength of their weirdness ("Tekken 2" being the best
example), but "Tobal #1" sucks hard lava rocks! Ouch!
OVERALL: B-
The firing round of what turned out to be the explosion of
diverse software Squaresoft cooked up for the PSX, "Tobal
#1" was the game that showed PSX gamers back in 1996 that
Square meant business, and "Final Fantasy VII", "Einhander"
and the upcoming line-up of titles that will be
co-published with Electronics Arts ("Parasite Eve" and the
like) almost makes us forget the stinking pile of s*** that
was "Saga Frontier" (can't stop bashing that one, can I?).
If the sequel ever gets released in the States (and the E3
buzz wasn't too positive about the prospects of that
happening), or you feel like importing one of the best
fighting games ever made for the PSX, seek out and touch
(in a non-sexual way, please!!!) a copy of "Tobal 2".
Otherwise, "Tobal #1" is out there collecting dust in the
bargain bins and awaiting for its rightful place in history
as the sleeper hit of 1996. Ahem!
