Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Overview

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon ("Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon" or "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon") is the first video game adaptation of the popular anime of the same name, which in turn was based on a shoujo manga about female high school students who transform into superheroes with planet-related names.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon was developed by Arc System Works, back when they were a contract developer producing licensed games for other publishers, and published by Angel (a subsidiary of Bandai) in Japan in August 1993. The game was later released in France as Sailor Moon, mirroring the earlier France-only release of another SNES anime license game Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden (which was simply named Dragon Ball Z in France). The game did not receive a UK or US release.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon would also receive a Sega Mega Drive port in 1994, which was developed and published by Ma-Ba (another Bandai subsidiary). It replaced some of the graphics and stages, and almost all of the music. It also included a new final boss, who only appeared on the game's Hard Mode.

Gameplay

The game is a fairly standard brawler, with five playable characters. They include:

• Sailor Moon - The heroine of the franchise, recognizable by her long blonde pigtails. Standard all-rounder character.
• Sailor Mercury - The short-haired brunette and the brains of the outfit. She's faster than the other characters, but she's also the smallest and has the shortest reach.
• Sailor Mars - The long-haired brunette. Sailor Mars is feisty and musically-inclined, and most of her repertoire involves fire in some capacity. Her regular attack is a stronger kick, rather than a punch.
• Sailor Jupiter - Wears her brown hair in a ponytail. The muscles of the group, Jupiter's attacks are the strongest of any of the playable characters.
• Sailor Venus - The other blonde. She uses a chain in battle, and is the only character to use a weapon. This gives her a longer reach than the other characters.

The player, as any one of the five Sailor Soldiers, must progress through five different stages which culminates with a trip to the Dark Kingdom to fight Queen Beryl. Each character fights slightly differently, and each has a different special attack which requires charging up before they can be unleashed. Each character also has a special attack that consumes health when used.