All-Star Battlemania 3 (v0.1) - Arcade Mode (Ragna)

Download the game here:
https://gamejolt.com/games/ASBUC/185313
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ewSAyVkvirzCEYCJkyowDnfUf3j9uMoX/view

"off-screen astral finish"

Special thanks to DarkWarriorOfChaos (@DarkWarriorOfChaos) for lending me this game (via the Google Drive link) - All-Star Battlemania 3 was lost to time as the GameJolt page that initially hosted the game was deleted.

All-Star Battlemania 3 is the third entry of Hyper Crisis's crossover fighting game series. Originally released around 2021, the game was originally made as the developer's magnum opus, but wasn't updated any further beyond version 0.1, and would be later canceled and delisted during 2023 (with their account also being deleted) due to mental issues and Hyper Crisis being too busy in college. With Hyper Crisis eventually returning after graduating from college to create a new All-Star Battlemania reboot scheduled for a 2024 release, this leaves this game as (so far) the latest iteration of the series (at least, at the time of this video's publication date). So, what did we miss?

All-Star Battlemania 3 pits several characters from various video games and media against each other, with Ragna the Bloodedge, the main character of the BlazBlue series of fighting games, being used in this particular playthrough. The game mechanics are influenced from the Super Smash Bros. series of platform fighting games, with attacks (C) and special moves (V) executed with a button and a directional input, the ability to dodge (done by pressing forwards/backward + Z) and air dodge (forwards/backward + Z in the air), knockback accumulating as you deal enough damage, as well as super attacks (a "finalmania") being done by pressing the special button without pressing a direction.

The game also borrows mechanics from traditional fighting games - like previous All-Star Battlemania games, health is used instead of lives (or the percentage-based knockback system in most platform fighters). In addition, some characters have airdashes, and some characters automatically turn around to face the opponent. Other gameplay mechanics includes the ability to sprint by holding the sprint button (Space). New to this game is the ability to wavedash, done by air dodging diagonally into the ground, which causes your character to slide. This technique is a faster approach method at the cost of being (in theory) tricky to perform, but jumping and air dodging as you land also seems to trigger the slide.

All-Star Battlemania 3 simplified the stages, with most stages being a flat area with no blast lines. The game was also left in an unfinished state (then again, this is version *0.1* we're talking here), with the CPU simply approaching you and attacking you using normal attacks, instead of making full use of their moveset (such as using special moves). This makes zoning in particular more optimal to use against CPU players, as escaping from enemy attacks is a bit annoying due to hitstun. Of course, you too can lock your opponent with certain attacks - you can spam the first hit of Ragna's standing normal attack chain, as the window to follow up with subsequent attacks (which is normally done by mashing C) is quite tight.

It is rather unfortunate Hyper Crisis abandoned this game, as all this makes this entry of All-Star Battlemania feel rather cheap and easy to exploit (thus making playing this game quite boring, despite its improved presentation compared to previous entries). Here's to hoping that the All-Star Battlemania reboot would be better, though.

Arcade Mode has you fight against seven (mostly random) opponents, with bonus stages ("Break the Targets" and "Race to the Finish", straight up from Smash Bros.) after every three battles, your fifth and sixth opponent being a pre-determined character and a shadow character respectively (somehow I felt that the shadow character was supposed to be buffed, but this wasn't implemented to the game). Your seventh opponent is one out of five random boss characters, with Galactus being our opponent in this playthrough. Other final boss characters include Giga Bowser and the Master Hand and Crazy Hand duo, as well as an unlockable boss character - Epiales (not shown here, although crisscrossgames (@crisscrossgames6940) made a video where they fight against Epiales) only unlockable by defeating all the other five bosses beforehand. Defeating Epiales in Arcade Mode unlocks the "Boss Rush" mode, where you face off all boss characters in a row.

Видео All-Star Battlemania 3 (v0.1) - Arcade Mode (Ragna) канала ziodyne44