Anyone play this? There’s two games out based on the manga Garouden, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. I also think there was a thread on it in the other games section, but can’t find it now. I’m talking about the sequel, Fist or Twist, and was wondering was there anyone here who played it as I might pick it up(it’s an import, and I can’t find it for any less than 60 bucks:wasted:).
Site:
Its hard to tell since I only played it for a couple of hours (as a joke), but my first impression was that they’re absolutely awful games. They might be ok if you’re a fan of the manga, but game play wise, they are a complete mess. The biggest reason was probably the lack of any real hit stun on attacks. Characters could just keep attacking regardless of who was hitting who. The only time an attack would stun an enemy was when their stamina reached a certain level, and even then it seemed almost random whether it did or not. There was never any sense of momentum, both players could just flail at each other mindlessly.
There were a ton of weird systems though that we never did figure out. I doubt they would really help the game that much in the end though.
wow this game looks weird and interesting at the same time. what system is this game for?
ps2^
Thanks for the indepth post Kamui. Felt i’d get a better analysis here than on a fan site or something(which doesn’t give a rooty patootie if it’s a good fighter or not, more so for fanservice.)
Almost non-existence of hit stun is mind boggling, but that pales in comparison to the Yuujirou OHKOs I’ve seen in game vids.
Hello everyone. My apologies for bumping an old topic, but I reckon this is probably the de facto Garouden thread here in SRK (after having used the search function).
I am currently helping someone write an FAQ for Garouden Breakblow : Fist or Twist, and I may need some help and input from other people here who had also played Garouden Breakblow : Fist or Twist. I have a good grasp of the game system, as well as some advanced strategies. I also got a hold of a tier list of the earlier Garouden game from a Japanese site:
http://www.katch.ne.jp/~kubomitu/garouden_kyara.htm
And this is how it translates:
Garouden Tier list:
SSSSSS
Hanma Yujiro
SSS
Crybaby Sakura
S
Shozan Matsuo, Jyumei Kuga
A
Great Tatsumi, Tanba Bunshichi, Tsutomu Himekawa
B
Hikoichi Kurama, Fujimaki Juzo, Teruo Kataoka, Izumi Souichirou
C
Jyohei Tsutsumi, Kenji Yasuhara, Hiroshi Nagata, Toshio Kajiwara
D
Chuck Lewis, Kubo Ryoji, Kickboxer (Bunkerd?), Kosei Ino, Judoka, Kamiyama Toru, Punk (Rogue, Ya-Ku-Za, Chin-Pi-Ra?)
Not sure if the same tier list can be used for the sequel (Garouden Breakblow : Fist or Twist), but if the gameplay barely changed, I guess the tier list doesn’t change as well, with the exception of having to add the new characters in like Jyoji Umekawa (which I believe is A rank), Kazue Shiina (unsure if he’s a potential A or B rank), Rikiozan (S or A rank, although I’m betting it’ll be S, due to how ridiculously easy he can damage your head), etc.
Anyway, Garouden is not only one of my favorite manga series of all time (I’m lucky to be close to a Japanese bookstore that stocks the Garouden manga!), it’s definitely my most favorite fighting game of all time, and I had spent a considerable amount of time in the game (yet couldn’t understand the Japanese text, except the typical ones indicating difficulty, time, save, load, story mode, options, etc.) until my Japanese PS2 broke 
With that said, when I played this game, I was surprised at how unusually deep and original its fighting system is, as well as how a few times for some reason, a few friends thought I was playing a PS3 game (they dismissed it as some sort of a first or second generation PS3 game… until they saw me playing it on a PS2).
I’d say that there’s a considerable amount of strategy in the game, with good balance (so long as you don’t use obviously boss characters like Hanma Yujiro, Shozan Matsuo, Crybaby Sakura and Great Tatsumi, which are very strong characters even in the manga) and a LOT of mindgame potential, given the number of counters, reversal, as well as strategies when it comes to special moves, grappling setups, and hitstun “combos” (there are no true “combos” in the game… at least, the type of combos most fighting game players are accustomed to. And there are no ridiculous juggles either). More on this once a writeup of a FAQ is created.
At first, I thought simply mashing attack buttons at the start will suffice. Later on though, especially when taking on higher difficulties, you get punished BADLY for this. Parries (at least, that’s what I call the 2+G deflect is), grabs out of nowhere, grappling setups, and instant reversals, that’s what I get for just mashing.
The reason why there are no hitstuns early in a match is because you don’t get hitstun when you get hit at a body part that’s still in full health (green). That’s where aiming your attacks properly play a good role, as hitting one part repeatedly will damage that part faster, resulting in hitstuns. If you keep doing the same techniques and aiming for the same part, you become susceptible to reversals, “parry/deflects”, or counters though, so you have to set attacks up properly.
Anticipating an attack then “Parrying/Deflecting” (2+G) that attack will give you an advantage of being able to attack immediately while the opponent is recovering, and the attack that’s used immediately after a successful parry/deflect automatically counts it as a counter hit, which hitstuns opponent regardless of health/stamina.
There are a lot of videos up at Nico Nico that shows fights between advanced players (I uploaded a couple of them in my youtube channel, which also shows some more Garouden vids, like the special moves): http://www.youtube.com/user/sukotsutoclone2
For a good look at a Garouden match vid by advanced players, look here (taken from Nico Nico Video):
[media=youtube]nmbqS-iIfaI[/media]
This vid shows 2 matches:
Bunkerd VS Tsutomu Himekawa
Fujimaki Jyuzo VS Souichiro Izumi
I’ll upload more match videos soon (taken from Nico Nico, of course, unless I get a new japanese PS2 and a capture card), once I got the time.
Anyway, I hope to see more Garouden fans here! I’m always glad to see more fans for this game 
This game is hella tight. Me and my friend played the shit out of the first and second game.
Chuck fucking Lewis…Drive by fisting of the face with his last special.
That one guy who get’s his fist stuck in your face…Brutal.
I’m surprised people actually care about Garouden, thought I was the only one who liked this game, lol. Yeah, Fist or Twist is sick, I use Himekawa and I forgot who my bro uses, all I know is that in one of his specials he roasts you in the balls and does a hold while they’re on the ground. Himekawa’s got nasty looking specials lol.
Yujiro is mad broke in that game though, which is fitting considering how insanely strong he is in Baki.
Ahaha, that’s one of my favourite ones too.
Looks like a cool fighting game. I’m gonna look into this a little more.
Unless I’m mistaken, I just realized that the people who made Garouden were also the same people who made the Victorious Boxers/Hajime no Ippo games: ESP Games.
Anyway, to those who want to know more about the game’s fighting system and character strategies, feel free to ask and I’ll try my best to answer. To those who do know more about the game’s system (particularly on how to escape certain submission moves, how to escape grabs after failing to escape by pushing P+K, etc.) or know the translation of the menus in the game, especially the tutorial text in training mode.
EDIT: Oh and here’s a vid of the ending credits, which shows some advanced combos and guaranteed attack series of the game:
[media=youtube]g2jcAgvCuNc"[/media]
Damn, those matches looked BRUTAL.
Strongest creature in the world son, love the fact he can use the Oni Punch of Doom
lol that punch of Yujiro’s is probably the strongest attack in the game, since it looked like it does MORE than 100% damage 
If you perform a cheap shot during the intro with him, he also has a 2/3 chance of actually ending the fight before it even started (if the opponent is careless), like in this vid: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1jxiv_garouden3_extreme
New video up my youtube channel!:
[media=youtube]z9Ipac_a2oI"[/media]
Video has four matches:
Jyohei Tsutsumi VS Hiroshi Nagata
Soichiro Izumi VS Tanba Bunshichi
Kazue Shiina VS Kensuke Kudou
Kazue Shiina VS Toru Kamiyama
Ahahaha, yeah, when I was doing story mode, I’d be winning against Yujiro, then he catches me with that, game over.
His counter specials are tight as hell though.
Thank you for uploading, gonna watch these when I get back from uni!
I nearly forgot that there was this video about some of the silly bugs from the first and second game from
http://page.freett.com/oirobiks/a-betusabadouga.html:
[media=youtube]ERmKhuqKxbo"[/media]
Hahah what is going on here
[media=youtube]nmbqS-iIfaI[/media]
Did anyone ever get the soundtrack to this game?
YES
I don’t know if posting links to those are allowed here, but a good google search will suffice. A person named ViLLaiN ripped it, and I helped him name the tracks. I don’t know the name of the tracks itself since they were in Japanese, so we just named it according to where the track was located (since the BGM was location based, not character based).
And the soundtrack is fucking awesome! I really thank ViLLaiN for ripping them!
Just PM me.
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I think I just found it.
sukotsuto, thanks for reviving the thread and posting those vid links, I’m pretty sure you can link to soundtracks, since we have a massive videogamemusic thread with links in GD