Battle Garrega review for the Sega Saturn
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Made by Raizing/Eighting this game was released in the arcade in 1996 and in 1998 it was converted for the Saturn.
Yep, this game has a full screen "vertical arcade mode".
Check the How to.. section of this site for instructions on how to succesfully rotate your monitor.

Upon first contact with the artwork on the background one might be forgiven to think that this game's release date is 1986 instead of 1996.
It's nevertheless THE best vertical scrolling shoot 'em up on the Saturn.
A true gem that no shoot 'em up fan should be without.
The entire package is nop-notch. The presentation, option mode, loading speeds are all eccelent and the in-game graphics are amazing.
Everything's here: nice sprite rotation and scaling effects.
But first let's look at the fact file:


                FACT FILE

           Vertical arcade mode   Yes
           Unlimited continues    No
           Levels                 7
           Aircraft               8
           BGM Audio test mode    Yes
           CD player audio        Yes


This game is arcade perfect. I checked it monitor to monitor with RAINE running an arcade-emulated Battle Garegga.
This game HAS IT ALL: wonderful backgrounds, unique explosions, great shrapnel-effects & beatiful music create a trully great game.
No slow-down (maybe in 2P-mode?)
The option menu is probably on of the best examples of how an option menu should be.
Meaning it has all the options you'll ever need.
What else can I say about this game.
Not much I guess, judge the screenshots for yourself.
The reason why it's so expensive on Ebay is probably because the owners know it's good and that people who like this type of game eventualy have to have it.
Check it out on an emulator like Raine or Mame, you'll see how great this game really is!






                        
The default number of selectable aircraft is four. In the Saturn version 4 extra craft from the Mahou-series are selectable.
In the arcade original in order to achive this you have to do this code:
insert coin, UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, A, B, C, START.

The differences between the 4 original aircraft range from different speeds to different smart bombs to different shot power ups.
-The speed is shown in *'s with four *'s being the maximum speed.
-A special is a situation that alters the current formation of the small ships that surround you into a new formation. Normally when you have ships that surround your ship the type of formation can be selected with the "OPTION"-button. If you receive a special you musn't press the "OPTION"-button again or you'll lose the special. The special is something you obtain when certain demands are met and seem to be the same for all original 4 aircraft. There are different specials and one of them is shown in the illustration. These new special formations can be quite handy.
-The smart bomb gets activated by the button that is configured to trigger the "weapon" function.
Here are the properies of the 4 original aircraft in Battle Garegga:


speed: ***(3 out of 4), smart bomb: napalm


speed: **(2 out of 4), smart bomb: strong balcan


speed: ****(4 out of 4), smart bomb: homing missile


speed: *(1 out of 4), smart bomb: search fire


When selecting an aircraft press:
"SHOT" (default A) to choose the original arcade settings for your aircraft.
You can modify your aircraft's characteristics by selecting your aircraft with following other buttons:
"WEAPON" (default B) gives your aircraft more speed.
"OPTION" (default C) gives your aircraft smaller hit size.
"SHOT" + "WEAPON" + "OPTION" (default A+ B + C) to get your aircraft with more speed & smaller hit size.

Please take note that for that last combination
"SHOT" + "WEAPON" + "OPTION" (default A+ B + C) you can program one button to trigger that combination. I use it on the left shoulder button.
Furthermore, each button combination gives another clored ship so that;s how you can tell the code worked
Following is a complete casting list of all the game's fighters
Including normal speeds & more speeds.


BATTLE GAREGGA CAST


Normal speed by pressing SHOT(A) -or- OPTION(C)
Speed = 03   Speed = 02   Speed = 04   Speed = 01
               
Speed = 06   Speed = 05   Speed = 07   Speed = 03
More speed by pressing WEAPON(B) -or- SHOT(A)+WEAPON(B)+OPTION(C)



Normal speed by pressing SHOT(A) -or- OPTION(C)
Speed = 08   Speed = 04   Speed = 10   Speed = 02
            
Speed = 09   Speed = 07   Speed = 11   Speed = 05
More speed by pressing WEAPON(B) -or- SHOT(A)+WEAPON(B)+OPTION(C)




Included in this game is a "Harder"-mode that supersedes the difficulty setting selected in the option menu. It is an anti-cheat where the game gets harder instead of easier.
You'll know if you've been succesfull when at the beginning of the game it says "harder" at the top of the screen.
On title screen at Game Start press:
Y + Start for "Harder" = as it says.

The by default Japanese option menu can be a bit of a beast at first and luckily the language can be changed.
To select the menu in the English language go to:
-Option
-press R
You are now in a second options screen.
The text is in Japanese but all options in this part of the options are either "ON" or "OFF".
-change last option to "ON" (default is "OFF"). This enables "Easy Menu", which means English.
After changing it nothing happens. You need to exit the opions menu and re-enter it to see it all in English.
The English menu has most options the Japanese menu has, except for the difficulty setting "edit"!
I herefor only temporarilly change to English text when redefining buttons.

*Tip* Try the smart-bomb (WEAPON) on various locations to see if you can blow up stuff in the background which may reveal hidden icons.
A good example of this are the little cabbins on level 2. When blown up they reveal an 'option'!
Offcourse waisting a full smart-bomb on this may not allways be such a good idea. I only do it when I don't have a full smart-bomb.

This game has every option conceivable for a shooter.
including the arrange versions of the game's music There are 32 audio tracks that cover more than 60 minutes of audio and can even be played in your hifi cd-player.
There is also an option to control the way some of the enemy fire looks.
If you get bored with the order of the levels, you can change the order of the levels 2, 3 & 4.


Verdict:

18:12 7-12-02Playability 10
Graphics 10
Music 10
Lastabilty 10

Overall: 10+

This game is pe-her-fehect, I swear by it.
Get this game either for the Saturn or on PCB!
Some people say Ikaruga is better! I consider those people cr@zy. So if you like me are offput by Ikaruga don't let this title slip your fingers.
Check out the screenshots below and try to convince yourself that this game doesn't look great. Well it plays just as great!
I'd take the Saturn version for all the extra's and limited credits/continues. (and the price offcourse)


most info in this review was taken from "Battle Garegga for sega saturn FAQ v0.2" by .

Check the official site.
It's in Japanese: just press the big red links to access different areas full of screenshots and artwork.
The entire contents of that website section is on the game's cd as well.
Or click here for the english version, translated with Babelfish/Systran.

Check out 's Battle Garegga arcade manual. It's a translated link so not everything is translated well.

Check out 's article about the game.

Check out which has a lot about Battle Garegga amongst other games.

Check out A Raizing/Eighting Fan site with lots of screenshots, animated gif's, tips 'n tricks etc.




screenshots: