PS3

Battle Arena Toshinden

Fighting

Overview

Battle Arena Toshinden, released as Toh Shin Den in Japan, is a 1995 fighting video game developed by Tamsoft and published by Takara for the PlayStation. The first game of its respective series, it was one of the first fighting games, after Virtua Fighter on arcade and console, to boast polygonal characters in a 3D environment, and features a sidestep maneuver which is credited for taking the genre into "true 3D."

Toy giant Takara produced the game during a six-month period in 1994 as their first original video game, together with new developer Tamsoft, both of whom had worked on porting Samurai Showdown and other SNK fighters to consoles. Initially made to be a PlayStation exclusive, the game was released in Japan a few weeks after the console's debut, and released internationally by Sony Computer Entertainment as a launch title. Its American division had promoted it as a "Saturn killer" (against Sega's Virtua Fighter), but ironically a Saturn port published by Sega, titled Battle Arena Toshinden Remix and with additional features, was released less than a year later. A version for MS-DOS was also released.

Each character has their own unique set of basic moves, special attacks, and a desperation attack that can only be used when the player has low energy (around 10% or less). The player can move around the arenas using the L/R shoulder buttons, which can be used to dodge projectile attacks or get away from a dangerous spot.

Throughout the criminal underworld, announcements of a famed underworld tournament reemerging after a long hiatus has made word throughout the globe. Known as the Battle Arena Toshinden, this underworld tournament is a weapons fighting tournament broadcast as bloodsport entertainment for an elite and interested audience. Hosted by a mysterious organization known only as the Secret Society, believed to be related to a world leading multinational megaconglomerate, the Gerard Foundation, the Secret Society has picked eight worthy challengers from around the world to pit against each other for the chance at a prize for fortune, fame, and glory.

Battle Arena Toshinden was developed by Tamsoft, an in-house developer part of the Takara toy company and their first original game. Takara had been concepting Toshinden on a different platform before Sony's announcement in late 1993 of releasing a new hardware system, after which Takara decided to develop the game specifically on Sony's PlayStation platform. Development took under six months. Programming began at the end of May 1994 and there were 25 people working on it by the end of development.

Battle Arena Toshinden was critically acclaimed when released. Electric Playground gave the game a perfect score of 10 out of 10 in 1995. In an early 1995 interview, when asked which PlayStation game he was most impressed with so far, Ken Kutaragi answered Battle Arena Toshinden. There was also a positive reception to the game's characters and their weapons; in particular, the young character Ellis with her outfit and see-through parts.