Sunday × Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen
  

  
STORY:  On March 17th, 1959, a manga magazine called Weekly Shonen Sunday made it's debut but on that same day, Weekly Shonen Magazine also launched. For over 50 years, the two magazines have thrilled the youth and adults of Japan with stories featuring characters such as Ippo Makunouchi, Joe Yabuki, Devil Man, Inuyasha, Neji Springfield, and many more. Sunday X Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen marks the the 50th anniversaries of the two Shonen publications.
 
 

  
REVIEW:  Sunday × Magazine: Shuuketsu! Choujou Daikessen is a cross-over 2D fighting game with 3D graphics and brings together 30 well known characters from a wide variety of different manga! The gameplay engine is 1-on-1 fighting and with a basic striker/assist system.


Firstly, the character roster is impressive once all characters are unlocked. Going through the 7 stages of arcade mode will unlock a new character with each playthrough... (I went ahead and switched it to one round for faster character unlocking). There are three attack buttons in the game, basically light, medium and fierce. Most characters only have about 3-4 special moves at best, but they vary in terms how they're used; giving the fighters more diversity than just their looks.


Each character shows off a pretty cool looking intro when you first select them in arcade mode, but if you don't know much about the character from your own manga/anime knowledge, the game doesn't do much to emphasize their persona. That said, to fully enjoy this game you'll definitely need to do some research on the characters or know them well from the start.

 

 

Each fighter has a small selection of unique priority moves, and some even have a selection of alternate command attacks... that said, some characters seem to have significantly more moves than others, which is disappointing in some cases. Combos are usually done in a basic light, medium fierce chain, and can be linked with specials or super moves. That said, there are some cool combo possibilities in the game, though only a few per character. The majority of combos are done on the ground, but there seem to be a few air combo possibilities in the game as well.


Visually, the 3D graphics aren't bad for a PSP title. Character models are on the plain side, but animate fairly well for the most part... each character even has their own unique damage/falling animations. The stages look great for the most part and there are a great variety of them! The only problem is, the game seems to run better on certain stages... notably on those with less detail. It's a shame the game couldn't run at it's best on all stages, because there really is a huge difference in the frame rate and even gameplay depending on the stage.

 

 

Sunday X Magazine features the basic Arcade Mode, VS Mode, Options, a "My Room" mode which lets you track your progress in the game & see the characters you've unlocked, and lastly a Quest Mode which I have no hope in understanding since it's in Japanese (and I'm not interested enough to look up a translation online). lol. So I tried out the Quest for a little bit and was pitted against a variety of "black monster things"... I killed them all off (which was a quest in itself since the controls are a but more frustrating since your character has to walk left & right) and then I wasn't sure what to do next once they were all dead. Overall, the Quest Mode doesn't look as entertaining as the regular game.  

 

In closing, if you're a fan of a good majority of the characters appearing in Sunday x Magazine and you enjoy playing fighting games on the go via PlayStation Portable... you might want to check out this interesting crossover title. 
 

Page Updated: June 26th, 2024 Developer(s): Konami Computer Entertainment Japan Publisher(s): Konami Platform(s): PlayStation Portable  Release Date(s): March 26th, 2009 Characters:  Negi Springfield, Asuna Kagurazaka, Natsu Dragonil, Shinichi Mechazawa, Inu Yasha, Kenichi Shirahama, Ippo Makunouchi, Ikki Minami, Yoshimori Sumimura, Kaoru Akashi, Aoi Nogami, Shiho Sannomiya, Hayate Ayasaki, Ueki, Ban, Noboru Takizawa, Kotaru Shindou, Kyo, Ryo, Recca, Yaiba, Tora, Cyborg 009, Devilman, Tokine, Tiger Mask, Joe Yabuki, Takamura, Mui, Lucy Featured Video: Related Games: Hokuto No Ken: Raoh Gaiden - Ten Noh Haoh, Street Fighter Alpha 3: Max, Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, TEKKEN: Dark Resurrection, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future    Gameplay Engine  6.0 / 10 Story / Theme  7.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  7.0 / 10 Animation  7.0 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  6.0 / 10 Innovation  5.5 / 10 Art Direction  7.5 / 10 Customization  2.5 / 10 Options / Extras  5.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  6.0 / 10 Replayability / Fun  5.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  6.5 / 10 Characters  7.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  6.0 / 10      Final Words: I picked up Sunday X Magazine while I was in Hong Kong in 2010, I even had my PSP with me (and yeah, it works on my American PSP no problem). I'm not a weeb so I don't know all the characters, but I do know some (the best ones). My mains? Ippo, Mechazawa, Joe Yabuki, Tiger Mask, Kenichi, Samurai Deeper Kyo, and Devil Man... all of which were the main reasons I wanted to try out this game in the first place. Visually, it's not a groundbreaking PSP title by any means. Characters lack detail, but look recognizable enough in gameplay and have some entertaining moves. Most characters also have assists, AKA other characters that can "make things happen" from off-screen... yeah, it's kind of a cheap / rushed mechanic, but in terms of gameplay it works fairly well. A few characters do have actual assist characters as their special moves, whom jump into the action, but those characters are actually non-animated 2D sprites... which look pretty lame. Another lame visual effect is during KO's... the frame rate will awkwardly drop to what seems to be 10 frames a second (or less), offering a choppy end to a potentially cool looking fight. Damn. The final flaw I need to mention are the load times, which are pretty bad... but still not the worst I've seen on PSP.  Again, if you're a fan of a good majority of the characters in this game and find this game at a good price, you might want to check out Sunday X Magazine. By fighting game standards it's definitely generic, but the basic core 2D fighting game elements are there... At best, there are some cool combo possibilities and simply fun gameplay for a fighting game on the go. ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen    Click Here for all Box Artwork / etc. Click Here for all Screenshots! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES