AquaPazza - PlayStation 3

You can throw aside the fact that this is about as niche as it gets. I'm not familiar with any of the characters, so it's not like that was what brought me in. Rather, it was the myriad of little things it does right.The best thing this game has, without question, is the most friendly Training Mode I've ever seen in my life. It seems like a small thing until you realize just how much time is actually spent in that mode.In almost all fighting games, if you want to switch characters, or stages, or anything, you necessarily have to go back to the character select screen--or the stage select screen, or whatever, and re-load the thing. Not so here. You can do so on the fly, with absolutely no hiccup. You can swap between characters, partners, stages, anything, and it's instantly there.Further, the multiplayer allows you to play *any* mode--literally, any one--while waiting for Ranked matches, kind of like SFIV and its arcade-style Challenger system. But unless I'm mistaken, SFIV doesn't let you actually wait *in* Training Mode, allowing you to basically warm up for as long as you like.It seems like such a small thing, but the more you use it, the more you appreciate it. Additionally, the fighting mechanics here are spot-on, damned stylish (full FMV Supers! You've got to see those, they're amazing.), and the Story Modes (there are two, one console-specific), while very bare and lacking a dub (guess we can't have everything for a budget title, too bad, I would've liked a dub), has what you'd still really want: CGs to unlock, great AI, and it just works.It's a horrible shame that the online scene is so bare at the moment, because this is truly a gem. I can't believe how user-friendly and robust it is for both newbies and hardcore fans alike. There's a Stylish Mode for every character if you just want to go nuts and don't care, and there's your standard mode for everyone else. I dig the flexible Partner system, and I dig the little graphical touches (some of those stages look *really* cool, you can't deny that, and the tongue-in-cheek anime convention hall stages are also worth a smile).You also get a ton of colors to work with for both your main character and your Partner if you like to have your own look, and, well, nothing's really missing here, but there's a lot that would be missing in *other* fighters.And it really is great fun. It's just joyous to play. It's actually a really nice change of pace from the hyper-hardcore fighters that tend to dominate nowadays. It certainly isn't shallow, but neither is it too simple. It reaches a very satisfying balance that I can definitely enjoy, and should be appreciated.Now, it's not without a few faults. To start, some of the special moves are really tricky on a pad (Full-circles? Well, guess you won't be using those much if you're a pad user, unless you're using Simple mode.), and Touka's "Splash Art" (the most powerful move for each character) is very borderline impossible to input. It uncomfortably reminds me of the original Astral Heat inputs of Calamity Trigger, the first iteration of BlazBlue, before they were made...well, you know, doable. This applies to a few of the characters, and very regrettably, Touka and Chizuru suffer this the worst, the latter slightly less so. It's too bad, because these are some freaking amazing--and practical--Supers.Additionally, I have to gripe about some of the mechanics. While it's absolutely wonderful that projectile attacks are kept to a very strict minimum and "zoning" strategies don't apply to anyone except really the bookcase-wielding girl (sorry, her name escapes me), some matchups just aren't really fair. Maybe they're more doable for pro players, but I'm not a pro player. But in any case, Touka vs. Morgan/Satsuki is bad news for Touka, unless you *really* nail down Touka's dashes. Still, the Morgan player will have a much easier time than Touka will against most players.Karulau is also an unreal powerhouse of a character with astonishingly high-damaged moves. This would be fine, of course, if she wasn't so able to keep her distance from you while dishing it out. It makes countering her hard with some characters who don't have the reach to take advantage of a missed attack. Satsuki also has incredible range and power, though she's a bit easier to deal with. But I won't go into every detail, I'm just saying some matchups are more difficult than others.In any case, mad props to the devs for making this title some that has no right to be as good as it is. Budget title or not, this is a very sweet fighter, and the things that separate it from the others put it over the top. Beautifully created, and absolutely worth it...Especially if you're not like me, and you haven't seen these anime characters before. But I certainly won't fault it for bringing me in on its own with its mechanics alone.

Great fighting game, though I am not familiar with it's cast of Anime characters. There is a wide variety of fighters in this game. From the typical anime school girl, to a clumsy girl with a stack of books, a girl with a broom, swordsmen, swordswomen, an archer, mages etc.. You also get an assist character that you'll choose from a wide variety characters. The game seems well balanced as far as the main characters go but the assist characters can be very strong to useless.The graphics are colorful and well drawn. The backgrounds are very colorful, detailed and full of life. The stages are varied from highways, to comic book conventions, to a burning building etc...The sound work is good it fits this game well.The controls are where the game shines. Very responsive, very easy to pull off 98% of the moves and combos.My only grip is the last boss is very cheap,the 'ultra type' combos they do if done in a row take all you energy bars away.If you like fighting games, anime graphics and great controls. I'd say buy it.

If you really enjoy traditional 2-D hand drawn animated fighters in the vein of Street Fighter or Guilty Gear then you'll enjoy Aquapazza. It's mostly a female lead fighting game. I believe the characters are from various manga series. My only slight knit pick would be that it doesn't have the biggest roster of characters - under 20

It’s a nice anime fighter to keep me company until I get Fighting Climax Ignition and Under Night. There’s a good assortment of characters, nicely animated stages, and good gameplay matching games like Nitroplus Blasterz or Arcana Heart series, as expected from Examu. I do wish there were more characters and maybe some dlc. Overall it’s a well made but small anime fighter.

I am not all to familiar with AquaPlus who is famous for Comic Party, Kizuato, RoutesPE, Tears to Tiara, ToHeart, ToHeart 2, Utawarerumono, and White Album, but this game makes me wish I did. A cast of 13 playable characters and I believe 14 partners, it is by no means one of the larger character rosters. However they are quite unique and use strange abilities.While you will not likely see this game on the higher rungs at EVO, it does have a battle system that I feel is almost as good as the battle system in BlazBlue (closest resemblance I can think of as far as play style is concerned). The partner system also helps keep things interesting and makes even clone matches feel a little different. The other interesting characteristic to the game is the emotion system. It gives a slight push to offensive play, while giving a small penalty to those who turtle or defend most of the battle. This however is not so you rush into your battles, but more like a tease factor. Someone who has high emotion might try to take advantage and fight recklessly which could open you up to counters and some of the more heavy damaging combos.The animation is vivid and bright. These more anime like characters (They also game from other games like White Album), are stunning art greatly appealed to me. So much so I tried to watch Tears to Tiara which is on Hulu in Japanese and also on Amazon Prime Instant Video. I tried looking for the others, but I had little success unless I decide to buy the DVDs. Many of the games they released are in Japan only.So all in all I really enjoy the game. Its online could be improved, but the I have not suffered from any disconnects and no severe lag. If I knew the backgrounds of the characters I would probably enjoy it more. Still as someone who does not know much about the characters backgrounds, I have had a lot of fun with this game.

After seeing some play videos online, I got this thinking it would be pretty fun, but the moves seem a little limited, at least if you're used to playing fighting games like Tekken or Mortal kombat.

Bought this because I like fighting games and already had nitroplus blasterz on ps4. Plays VERY similar to that game. I'm not the most in depth beat em up player so maybe some of the nuances of play are lost on me, but it's still an enjoyable fighter to pick up and play a few rounds on. Recommended.

a great brawler on the ps3. it is a very deep fighter similar to blazblue and guilty gear so if you are willing to work at it you will get a lot out of it

nice little fighting game, really funny, a good purchase especially if you like aquaplus licenses

Loved every moment of it. It matched all my expectations. I love all the characters that the game included. Simply amazing!

I initially purchase this game, because it was relatively cheap and I loved anime. (Do you guys still remember good console games being only $20?) The fighting mechanics were easy to master, but there are a high skill cap on most of the characters. The online community was dead when I purchase the game, and for now, I assume it is non-existent. Anyway, I recommend purchasing this game just to play with fellow anime-lovers when they are over your house!