Sailor Moon (1993 video game)

Sailor Moon[lower-alpha 2] is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game originally developed and released by Angel in Japan on August 27, 1993 and later in France in 1994 by Bandai for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the second game to be created by Angel based upon Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon shōjo manga and anime series, the first for the Super Nintendo and one of the few Sailor Moon titles that had an official international release.[1]

Sailor Moon
Developer(s)Angel
Arc System Works[lower-alpha 1] (MD)
Publisher(s)SNES
Ma-Ba (Mega Drive)
Producer(s)Jōji Yuno
Artist(s)Kazuko Tadano
Naoko Takeuchi
Yukihiro Kitano
Composer(s)Takanori Arisawa
SeriesSailor Moon
Platform(s)Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
ReleaseSNES
Mega Drive
  • JP: 8 July 1994
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player, co-op

Following the first season of the anime series, which adapted the first arc of the manga,[2] the players control one of the five original Inner Sailor Guardians and fight against enemies across several locations in order to protect Earth from the Dark Kingdom, a group of antagonists led by Queen Beryl who previously destroyed the ancient Moon Kingdom as they attempt to steal life energy from humans and the Silver Crystal to free Queen Metaria from her imprisonment. Due to the success of Sailor Moon for Game Boy in Japan, Angel wanted to develop a project for the Super NES with the aim to appeal towards fans of the series. The title was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive, featuring various changes compared to the original SNES version.

Sailor Moon was met with mixed reception from critics since its release on both SNES and Mega Drive. A sequel, Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon R, was released later in 1993 by Bandai exclusively for the SNES.

Gameplay
SNES version screenshot.

Sailor Moon is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game where players take control either of the five original Sailor Soldiers across various stages, each one set in a different location, and fight against an assortment of enemies and villains from the series in order to defeat Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom.[3][4] Each Soldier has a special attack of their own that deals damage to all enemies on-screen at once by charging it.[3][4] Unlike other titles based on the franchise, most of the fighting is physical rather than magical and the Soldier can run and perform dashing attacks. Each Soldier also has different attributes during gameplay, encouraging players to select their preferred character.[3][4]

Development

Super Famicom version
Sailor Moon for Super NES was developed by Angel in response to the success of their previous Game Boy release.

Sailor Moon on Super Nintendo Entertainment System was created by a team comprised from staff of the titular shōjo manga and anime series, with producer Jōji Yuno at Angel heading development, who recounted its making process and history in an official strategy guide by Kodansha from December 1993, four months after the game's release to the market.[5] Kazuko Tadano, Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation artist Yukihiro Kitano were responsible for illustration, original youma designs and character animations respectively.[5] The soundtrack was composed by Takanori Arisawa, who also served as music director of the anime series.[5]

Yuno stated that Sailor Moon for the Super Nintendo was created in response to the commercial success their previous title on Game Boy in Japan, as the Super NES hardware imposed less restrictions than the Game Boy and Angel wanted to developed a Sailor Moon for the console.[5] The team desired to have a game that would be enjoyed by all fans and meet expectations from those who liked the characters, prompting the involvement of staff members from both the manga and anime series.[5] Yuno was introduced to Kitano, who created the hand-drawn animation work from paper before being transposed into pixel art, however this process took a large memory space and technical difficulties were faced when displaying four enemies on-screen due to the characters' large size as a result but the team were able to implement them into the game.[5] Yuno also stated that the Sailor Soldiers' attack techniques were based from pro-wrestling magazines.[5]

Angel requested Arisawa to compose the music, with Yuno stating that although said music felt like Sailor Moon songs they seemed to not fit the action.[5] Seiyūs from the anime series returned to reprise their roles, recording new audio during a break on their schedule due to the project being a character-based game.[5] However, Yuno stated this process also took a large memory space and the characters' attack techniques are spoken quickly due to hardware limits when voice samples are enabled, while simultaneous spoken attacks are disabled during co-op play as a result.[5]

Tadano, who was recommended by Nakayoshi editor Fumio Osano to the team at Angel, created art for the cover package, character selection screen, post-transformation poses and the ending.[5] Yuno stated that Tadano also drew more elements that were ultimately scrapped from the final version due to memory space, while having Takeuchi make original youma designs was an idea from Osano due to his desire to see a Sailor Moon title on SNES.[5] Other elements such as destructible vehicles were implemented as a response from players during the game's showcase at a trade show.[5] Several elements, items and stages were either reworked or scrapped before launch.[5]

Release

Sailor Moon was first released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan by Angel on August 27, 1993 and later in France by Bandai on November 1994.[6][7][8] The game was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive by Arc System Works and TNS, with Ma-Ba publishing it on July 8, 1994.[9][10][11][12]

Reception

Sailor Moon was met with mixed critical reception on both SNES and Mega Drive. Animerica's Sergei Shimkevich gave the SNES version a positive outlook, though he regarded the game to be a copy of Final Fight and Street Fighter that brings little new to the genre, and instead relies upon the Sailor Moon series to gain attention.[23]

Upon reviewing the Mega Drive version, Animerica said the visuals in the Mega Drive version to be better than previous Sailor Moon titles on SNES.[24] Spanish magazine Minami commended the big sprites and visuals.[25]

Notes
  1. Additional work by TNS
  2. Also known as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (Japanese: 美少女 戦士 セーラー ムーン, Hepburn: Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn) in Japan.

References
  1. Muñoz, Ignacio; Den (September 2003). "Videojuegos Manganime: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon". GamesTech (Extra) (in Spanish). No. 1. Ares Informática. pp. 16–17.
  2. Sailormoon Channel Archived 2012-03-23 at WebCite (in Japanese) Name of story arc given on the official website.
  3. Sailormoon Mode D'Emploi (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, FRA)
  4. 美少女戦士セーラームーン 取扱説明書 (Sega Mega Drive, JP)
  5. スタㇱフインタビュー - SFC 開発秘話. 美少女戦士セーラームーン 公式ガイドブック (in Japanese). Kodansha. December 1993. pp. 94–97. ISBN 978-4061777422. (Translation by Tuxedo Unmasked. Archived 2019-03-23 at the Wayback Machine).
  6. "SUPER FAMICOM Soft > 1993". GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 2018-09-23. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  7. "Mangamania - El Juego: Sailor Moon". Nintendo Acción (in Spanish). No. 23. Hobby Press. September 1994. p. 16.
  8. Sol, Bruno (September 1994). "Super Previews: Sailor Moon R (Japon/Bandai)". Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 29. Grupo Zeta. pp. 22–23.
  9. "International Outlook - Sailor Moon (Mega Drive)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 60. Sendai Publishing. July 1994. p. 74.
  10. Valdes, Giancarlo (February 26, 2019). "From Guilty Gear to Dragon Ball: The 30-year history of Arc System Works". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  11. Frankie MB (17 May 2020). "Anime, lucha y Arc System Works: una combinación demoledora". Vida Extra (in Spanish). Webedia. Archived from the original on 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  12. "ソフトウェア一覧（ソフトライセンシー発売）| メガドライブ". SEGA HARD Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega. 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  13. "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: 美少女戦士セーラームーン (メガドライブ)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 293. ASCII. July 29, 1994. p. 37. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  14. "BEメガドッグレース - 美少女戦士セーラームーン". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). No. 53. SoftBank Creative. July 1994. p. 16. Archived from the original on 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  15. Ravetto, Marco (November 1994). "Review: Sailor Moon (Mega Drive)". Computer+Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 42. Gruppo Editoriale Jackson. p. 104.
  16. "Speedy Gonzatest - Megadrive: Sailor Moon". Consoles + (in French). No. 36. M.E.R.7. October 1994. p. 158. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  17. Barral, Esther (November 1994). "Lo Más Nuevo - Nintendo Super Nintendo: Sailor Moon – Chicas En Pie De Guerra". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). No. 38. Hobby Press. pp. 136–137. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22.
  18. Hellert, Stefan (September 1994). "Test Mega Drive: Sailor Moon (Import Game)". Mega Fun (in German). No. 24. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 105. Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  19. "Review: Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon". Nintendo Magazine System. No. 15. EMAP. December 1993. p. 54.
  20. Lassalle, Guillaume (September 1994). "Vite Vu - Super Nintendo - Sailormoon". Player One (in French). No. 45. Média Système Édition. p. 98. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  21. Sol, Bruno (November 1994). "Super Nintendo - Review: Las Chicas Son Guerreras – Sailor Moon". Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 31. Grupo Zeta. pp. 80–85.
  22. Kock, Klaus (June 1996). "Classics - SNES - Sailormoon". Total! (in German). No. 36. X-Plain-Verlag. p. 58. Archived from the original on 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  23. Shimkevich, Sergei (December 1993). "AV Interface: Lovely Soldier Sailor Moon (Super Famicom/SNES)". Animerica. Vol. 1 no. 10. Viz Media. p. 59.
  24. "AV Interface - Special Report: The Import Report - Sailor Moon (Mega Drive)". Animerica. Vol. 2 no. 9. Viz Media. September 1994. p. 40.
  25. Evrard, Eva; del Rio, Rafa. "Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - Los Videojuegos". Minami (in Spanish). Vol. 5 no. 39. Ares Informática. pp. 28–29.
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