The Great Battle IV

The Great Battle IV
This is Great Battle at it's absolute best.
Genre(s): Platform Action Platform(s): Super Nintendo Entertainment System Release: December 17, 1994 Developer(s): Banpresto Publisher(s): Banpresto Predecessor: The Great Battle III Successor: The Great Battle V

The Great Battle IV (ザ・グレイトバトルIV) was the fourth entry in Banpresto’s Compati Hero series, a crossover action game involving the characters from Kamen RiderIcon-crosswiki, UltramanIcon-crosswiki, and Mobile Suit Gundam franchises respectively.

Plot

The compatible world was renamed New Compatibility and tried to maintain peace, but the suppressed evil energy opened the gate to connect with another dimension. As each planet was subdued by the Emperor Overlord, the heroes formed a special battle team "Battle Force" to counter them.

The next day, when Battle Force learns that Dr. Kisaburo has been abducted by Black X, he invades a team of V2, Powered, and ZO into an enemy warship and breaks through to an enemy base, and another action takes another hero to the enemy base. He sneaked into it and carried out an operation to rescue the doctor.

This story is a record of the battle of four heroes who played an active part in the battle between Battle Force and the army led by Overlord.

Why It's The Greatest Battle Ever

1. To begin with, the story of the game is one of the best of the entire series. With a Star Wars esque, the story is also much darker than the other Great Battle games.
2. The soundtrack of the game, even by the standards of the Great Battle series, is absolutely amazing, with many bangers, and the soundtrack is extremely unforgettable; in fact, the soundtrack is so good that you might want to listen to it for so long or even dance to the soundtrack.
   • Some of the music even sounds like it could be in the first Mega Man X game or even in the second game, which is massively impressive considering how awesome the soundtrack of that game is.
   • Some of the music even gives off a darker feel than in the other Great Battle games, due to them sounding like they could be in a Mega Man X game.
3. As usual, the gameplay is extremely fun, but here the gameplay is at its best in The Great Battle series, since here it is incredibly fast-paced and is surprisingly varied in comparison to the other previous Great Battle games.
   • There are some parts where you are forced to use a specific character, but it doesn't happen often, and it's well incorporated as a stage gimmick.
   • Characters can basically be changed freely, and by changing characters on the fly, you can find clues to the strategy for both action and boss battles.
   • In addition to attack methods, there are a wide variety of actions, and it's fun to master them and advance.
   • When the player dies, their body becomes an angel, and they can float invincible for a certain period of time. It is also possible to use this to forcefully break through difficult points. Although they cannot be used carelessly because the risks are quite high, such remedies are available.
4. The graphics are absolutely amazing and possibly one of the best-looking games on the SNES, and they have even aged extremely well by today's standards, since here they are extremely detailed.
   • The sprite work in particular is amazing and is extremely detailed for a 1994 SNES game, with them being on par with the awesome sprites from Doraemon 2 on SNES.
   • In fact, this game looks even better than The Great Battle VI on the PS1, since here it's an amazing 2D style and in VI, it's a terrible 3D-looking game that has aged extremely badly.
5. Tight and responsive controls that are a massive improvement to even Great Battle III, as here the characters will never, ever be unresponsive, especially with the jump. Great Battle V would also have the same controls, and the controls of that game are as good as this one.
6. Compared to the previous Great Battle games, you can actually select the level you want to play through, which is another big improvement over the previous games.
7. The boss fights are really good and challenging, especially the ones where you are in foot; the other when all the characters control a robot with a Megazor-esque design is also fun but can still be very frustrating, but overall it is still very fun.
8. The game is actually really long for a Super Famicom platformer, lasting 2 hours.
9. All the characters have amazing gameplay styles and are extremely fun to play as, especially Gundam.
   • Fighter Roar
     • In this work, he appears at the end of Stage 1, so it can only be used from Stage 2.
     • The main weapon is a fighter beam gun. It has a high rate of fire, and as the weapon level increases, the bullets will reflect off the terrain.
     • Unique actions are a wire that flies to the ceiling and hangs, and a double jump that goes straight up vertically or diagonally. A reliable character, especially in action parts.
     • He is known for his look similar to that of SD Gundam, but in this game, it seems that he was wearing a face cover, so you can get a glimpse of his true face. He also has a stronger image of being an honest and nice young man compared to ``II and ``III, and his first-person words are ``I and his tone is more polite.
   • Gundam
     • A character that is excellent both from a distance and from a distance, with a V2 napalm that has a flexible shooting angle and a beam saber that is a melee weapon that can be used for special attacks.
     • V2 Napalm draws a parabola, so if you get used to it, you can attack from delicate angles and over steps. As the level increases, the blast range becomes wider, and even if you shoot an enemy from under the floor, you will be able to defeat them if the blast reaches them.
     • Unique action is hovering. It is possible to jump up, like a double jump, or slow down the speed of falling from a high place.
   • Kamen Rider ZO (ZO)
     • A character whose main weapon is a burner (flame thrower) that is less powerful but can negate enemy bullets. As the level increases, the range of the burner increases.
     • The main weapon, the burner, has the ability to melt ice, and depending on the enemy, you may be able to win one-sidedly by simply using it to counteract bullets. Slightly weak against fast-moving opponents.
     • His unique action is a dash, and by launching an attack from that state, he can perform a rider kick.
     • He has a wall kick ability that allows him to climb up by kicking walls, and there are some places that cannot be climbed without his wall kick.
   • Ultraman
     • His main weapon is the ability to fire a bazooka straight in the direction in which the gun barrel is pointed. As the level increases, the number of bullets fired also increases.
     • As a special skill, he also has a Mega Specium ray that penetrates walls, allowing it to damage opponents through walls with low risk.
     • His special ability is micronization, which allows him to crawl through low ceilings that are normally inaccessible.
10. You can upgrade in this game when you collect the collectibles that the enemies give when they die, which is an awesome system and makes the game even more fun than it already is, although you lose all of them if you run out of lives.
11. Challenging difficulty that is much more balanced than the previous game, The Great Battle III.
12. Killing enemies in this game is extremely satisfying compared to the previous games, as the combat is more based on weapons than melee attacks, and when the enemies explode, it's extremely satisfying. This is especially true with Gundam and Fighter Roar.
13. The password system is a massive improvement over both The Great Battle II: Last Fighter Twin and The Great Battle III', as it is much easier to do and it's can be very fun to do the passwords, which is rare for the password system in a game being fun.
14. This game was also the reason why most other Great Battle games use the platforming genre, as this game was a massive success and was acclaimed by both critics and players alike, although not all of them are good, such as The Great Battle VI.

Bad Qualities

1. Some of the boss fights on foot are very tedious and have a lot of health risks, and they are also difficult to beat without taking damages or even losing a life, although it's not really a big deal for some of them, as they are pretty fun.
   • This could be said with the giant robot battles, as while they are very fun and are like Megazor from Power Rangers, they can be extremely hard, annoying, and sometimes rely on luck-based.
2. Kamen Rider playstyle isn't as fun as the other characters, as his weapon is quite poor and he relies on melee attacks, with his fire flares being very short in distance. This makes him the most useless character in the game, and the only reason why you would use him is for climbing on walls when the other characters can't get out.
3. While the password system is fun in this one, they could still make a save feature instead of passwords, although it's not really a bad thing in this game.
4. When you lose a continue, you will lose all of the upgrades that you got, and this can be a major problem later in the game.

Reception

The Great Battle IV received critical acclaim, some even claimed that this is the best game of the entire Great Battle franchise or even Compatie Hero in general.

Trivia

• Battle Force Kaiser, the giant robot of the Battle Force, is a homage to Super Sentai, despite Super Sentai already appearing in the Compati Hero series.

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