Remember Toushinden? It was one of the launch titles on PlayStation back in 1995 under the name Battle Arena Toshinden. The game was quite awesome in my opinion, as I always enjoyed fighters and took a special liking to ones that didn’t immediately fall into the Street Fighter II clone pit. The music was great too, done by Yasuhiro Nakano with some assistance from Makoto Mukai. Toushinden was followed by numerous sequels for PSX and Game Boy, and even got the anime treatment from Masami Oubari, the man who was also behind the Fatal Fury and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer animes. The series eventually faded at the dawn of the PS2 release, and nothing has been heard since.
Until now that is! Takaratomy have announced they are reviving the series on the Wii, and have released some promotional videos to showcase the game, which can be compared to Castlevania Judgment. They also announced that pre-orders will come with a limited edition DVD, containing a making-of, character profiles, artwork, voice actor interviews and the complete soundtrack! As of now the composer is not known, and it is unclear if they are bringing back Yasuhiro Nakano to score the game, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on the chance of that happening. Takaratomy have however revealed they are using the voice actor group AKB48 with talent like Sato Amina and Yui Matsushita. Another male voice actor who has been confirmed is Hikari Midorikawa, a well known voice actor fondly remembered by fans as Heero Yui in Gundam Wing. The game is out on December 10th.
What do you think of Toushinden returning?
