Hi-Score Warrior | Ragnagard

[This game was the winner of the monthly poll on my Patreon. Each month I'll make a poll with 3 random arcade games, and my awesome Patreon subscribers vote to determine the game that I'll play and review.]

SNK has put out more fighting games than there are stars in the galaxy. It seems like every time I think I've learned about a decent chunk of obscure SNK games, a few more sprout into existence. So is the case with Ragnagard—a game that I knew nothing absolutely nothing about.

Ragnagard (or Shinouken as it's called in Japan) is a 2D fighting game released worldwide for Neo Geo arcade in June 1996, ported to the AES console a month later in July, then to the Neo Geo CD console in August, and finally to Sega Saturn in April 1997—with the latter console ports being Japan-exclusive. The AES port had limited continues and the option to change difficulties, while the Neo Geo CD port offers an improved intro, much better background music, and quite a few other tweaks. I've done a lot of digging, but haven't been able to figure out what those tweaks are exactly. Finally, the Sega Saturn port introduced new modes, like Versus and Arcade mode, and improved graphics and gameplay. Both the Neo Geo CD and Saturn ports offered the ability to play as bosses directly from Versus mode.

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The main menu and fighter select screen of the Saturn (top) and Neo Geo Aes and CD (bottom).

I only played the arcade version for this article, so I can't offer a lot insight regarding the different ports. Above is a great video that runs a side-by-side comparison of the Neo Geo CD and Sega Saturn ports. From what I've seen and read, the Saturn version is pretty good. I especially like the redone fighter select portraits and main menu, giving the game a more modern, console-oriented feel. The Saturn port also has flashy "player vs. player" loading screen graphics.

Each character is based on a different Shinto deity, with some recognizable names like Susano and Sun Wukong. There are 8 characters total, not counting the bosses:

Top left: Susano, Top-middle: Benten, Top-right: Binten, Middle-left: Chichi and Nene, Middle: Igret, Middle-right: Seena, Bottom-left: Sun Gokuu, Bottom-right: Syuten-Dozi

Just like any other fighting game, each character has their own disctint moves and playstyles. But Ragnagard has two mechanics that set it apart, with the first one being the power gauge. Each character uses two of four elements: fire, water, wind, and thunder. You can charge whichever element you want, but you have to careful. You'll be standing completely still and wide open to attacks while charging. When fully charged, your moves will become more powerful and you'll periodically drop tokens that allow you to perform a Desperation Move. This reminds me of the Soul Charge in Soul Calibur or the energy charge in Dragon Ball Z Budokai, but with a neat twist.

The second mechanic is the aerial combat. After performing a move, you can press UP+weak punch+weak kick and juggle your opponent in the air, as well as perform air dashes. That all sounds way cooler than it actually is. That description sounds a lot like an episode of Dragon Ball Z, but it's mostly just "hit your opponent into the air, attack a few times, and then land". It's not very entertaining.

As cool as all of this sounds, the fighting in Ragnagard is pretty boring. Each move feels a tad bit delayed and the moves are kind of lame. The fighting lacks the speed and snappiness that you'd see in Fatal Fury or Samurai Shodown. While some moves (like Seena's ice crystals or Igret's scythe attacks) are fun to look at, they don't feel anywhere near as explosive or bone-crunching as other arcade fighting games at the time, or even earlier. The closest I ever got to having fun was with Syuten-Dozi. That guy can string together combos like nobody's business.

The visuals are pretty interesting. They remind me a lot of the visual style used in Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country, which used 3D models that were compressed into 2D images. Despite being an arcade game released only two years after both Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country, the visuals lack the polish seen in both games. But that could be due to how much is on-screen at any given moment, because each stage is packed with lots of depth and moving parts. I got a big kick out of Son Gokuu's stage with the monkeys in the background.

The character models, while impressive and very detailed, feel very stiff. Each movement feels like it was created using bad stop-motion animation, adding a sort of sluggish-ness to each move. That aside, I like the overall designs of each character. Each one is incredibly unique and further adds to the wow factor that this game's visuals bring. You can tell that they did their best to make sure each character resembled the god they're portraying. I especially dig the designs for Susano and Igret. Susano's design has a 90s anime vibe that I can't get enough of, and Igret, who is a shinigami (a reaper of souls), looks exactly like what I'd expect from a Japanese death ghost.

A few of the characters, like Seena, Benten, and Chichi and Nene, have bigger, kind of uglier eyes than the rest. They feel very unsettling and just don't fit the designs.

A handful of the stages in the game.

The one thing that I really enjoyed about this game is the soundtrack. Ragnagard's soundtrack packs some real fire! The fighter select screen is one of the hypest tracks in the entire thing, getting you amped-up and ready to kick some godly ass. Even the tune that plays during the "Continue?" screen is a freaking bop. The Neo Geo CD version of the soundtrack is the way to go.

The soundtrack was composed by Hideki Suzuki, who has a pretty extensive history in video games. He's worked on soundtracks for Deadly Moves, Stakes Winner 2, and Lagoon—all of which have stellar soundtracks. I definitely recommend checking out his work.

Overall, I didn't care for this game. The slow and boring combat really killed the experience for me. I liked the character and stage designs, and I really like the soundtrack. I'll definitely be adding lots of those tracks to my playlist.

This is one that I would only recommend if you're a fighting junkie and want to check out something obscure, or you want a really great soundtrack to jam to. Otherwise, save your quarters for one of the many other SNK fighters.