is a side-scrolling

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

and released on March 22, 1995. It was published in Japan by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-own ...

and elsewhere by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

. It is the first game to be created by Gazelle, one of the offshoots of defunct developer

Toaplan was a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo responsible for the creation of a wide array of Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters, scrolling shooters and other arcade games. The company was founded in 1979 but its gaming division was establis ...

that were founded after they declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 1994, and one of the few titles based upon

Naoko Takeuchi is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the author of ''Sailor Moon'', one of the most popular manga series of all time. She has won several awards, including the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award for ''Sailor Moon''. Takeuchi is married to ...

's ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent females and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adul ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series that had an official international release, and it also has been compared with other titles in the same genre such as

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

's ''

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of ''Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control and ...

'' and

Technōs Japan was a Japanese video game Video game developer, developer, best known for the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun (series), Kunio-kun'' Media franchise, franchises (the latter including ''Renegade (video game), Renegade'', ''Super Dodge Ball'' and ...

's ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The original ...

''. Following the first season of the anime series, which adapted the first arc of the manga,Sailormoon Channel
Name of story arc given on the official website. the players control one of the five original Inner Senshi and fight against enemies across several locations in order to protect

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

from the

Dark Kingdom The is a group of fictional characters in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the chief villains of the first story arc in every version of the series, and were first introduced in the first chapter of the manga, "Usagi ...

, a group of antagonists led by

Queen Beryl The is a group of fictional characters in the '' Sailor Moon'' manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. They are the chief villains of the first story arc in every version of the series, and were first introduced in the first chapter of the manga, "Usa ...

who previously destroyed the ancient Moon Kingdom as they attempt to steal

life energy Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

from humans and the

Silver Crystal Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

to free Queen Metaria from her imprisonment. Takeuchi supervised the production of the project and

seiyū Voice acting in Japan is an industry where actors provide voice-overs as characters or narrators in media including anime, video games, audio dramas, commercials, and dubbing for non-Japanese films and television programs. In Japan, and a ...

s from the anime series returned to reprise their roles, with

mangaka A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist bef ...

and '' Knuckle Bash''

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Junya Inoue is a Japanese manga artist. He is also known by the name ''Joker Jun''. In 1991 he replied to a recruitment ad for Toaplan. Along with some other staff Inoue was transferred to Gazelle before he left to join Cave, where he worked as character an ...

serving as one of the game's graphic designers.

Gameplay

As with previously released ''Sailor Moon'' titles on

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

and

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

, ''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon'' is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game where players take control either of the five original Sailor Soldiers across eight 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. Similar to ''

Golden Axe is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video games developed by Sega. The series takes place in a medieval fantasy world where several heroes have the task of recovering the legendary Golden Axe, the mainstay element of the series. M ...

'', each Soldier has a special attack of their own that deals damage to all enemies on-screen at once depending on the number of crystals collected along the way, which up to a dozen can be fought at one time. These special attacks also trigger special animations for each of the Soldier depending on the number of crystals used as well. 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. At certain difficult points during battle,

Tuxedo Mask Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

will show up and throw a rose, which is a bonus drop that restores health for the players and damages the enemies as well.

Development and release

''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon'' was the first title to be developed by Gazelle, which was one of the offshoot companies formed after the closure of Toaplan due to bankruptcy, along with CAVE and

Takumi Corporation was a Japanese video game company founded in 1994 that is famous for developing arcade shoot 'em ups. Following Toaplan's bankruptcy, some of the former staff went to Takumi. Among Toaplan's offshoots, only Takumi has developed any sequels to for ...

. ''Sailor Moon'' author Naoko Takeuchi was involved during the production as supervisor and seiyūs from the anime series returned to reprise their respective roles. Mangaka and ''Knuckle Bash'' designer Junya Inoue was also involved during its production as one of the graphic designers. There are two versions of the game released: 95/03/22 and 95/03/22B. Prior to launch, it was showcased in a playable state to attendees at the 1994

Amusement Machine Show The Japan Amusement Expo (JAEPO) is an annual trade fair for amusement arcade products, such as arcade games, redemption games, amusement rides, vending machines, and change machines. The event is hosted one weekend per year in the Greater Tok ...

. The latter of which fixes a bug with the boss battle against Tuxedo Mask. The game also appears to have released for Windows computers in Korea.

Reception and legacy

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon'' on their May 1, 1995 issue as being the eleventh most-successful arcade game of the month, outperforming titles such as ''

Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...

''. Spanish magazine ''GamesTech'' praised the visuals. In a retrospective review, Todd Ciolek of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

criticized several aspects such as the lack of sub-weapon and length. J.A. Laraque of ''Obsolete Gamer'' gave an overall mixed review of the game, criticizing the music and sound effects, while regarding it as a "rip-off of ''Final Fight'' with little girls in school uniforms." ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'' included it among the best looking beat 'em up games from the

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...

era. Argentinian website ''Malditos Nerds'' ranked it as number two on their top ''Sailor Moon'' games. Time Extension included the game on their top 25 "Best Beat 'Em Ups of All Time" list. After the initial release of ''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon'', Gazelle would develop another title in the franchise two years later: '' Quiz Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Chiryoku Tairyoku Toki no Un'', which was only released in Japan by Banpresto on 1997 before the company was disbanded and many of its members moved on to

CAVE A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

, another offshoot company formed by former Toaplan members.

Notes

References

External links

''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon''
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon''
at

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...

''Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (arcade game) 1995 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Banpresto games Cooperative video games Gazelle (software company) games Multiplayer and single-player video games

Arcade Game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

Sega arcade games Sega beat 'em ups Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists