The original Sailor Moon anime series did a fantastic job adapting its manga as it was full of gorgeous artwork that created a style full of mystery and beauty. Adapting this style into a video game would be no simple task in the mid-90s, but several attempts were made. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story on the Super Famicom in 1995 was the most impressive, and its amazing use of visuals and audio made it a must-play for all Sailor Moon fans.
Sailor Moon’s Style Recreated on Limited Hardware
The SNES was capable of great-looking graphics, but its limitations were abundant. Most turn-based RPGs of the time, such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, used small sprites for their characters. While these sprites could be expressive and perform various animations, their small size meant that they lacked detail. Another Story’s approach is in large sprites that are very detailed, which perfectly captures the anime’s character designs. While these sprites don’t animate as fluidly as Chrono Trigger’s (which similarly uses big, detailed, sprites), they do animate as well as most RPGs of the time did with their smaller sprites. It is quite impressive.
Another impressive aspect of the graphics is the menus and UI. If you open up the game’s menu, you will be treated to Usagi’s School Notebook, which lists all of the important features of an RPG (such as party formation, inventory, and character stats). Stylizing it to look like a notebook is already a fun touch, but it also is full of Usagi’s cute drawings. It presents Usagi’s childlike personality through a stylish menu; something that feels exceptionally modern. RPGs of the era, even those with more impressive graphics like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger, rarely had menu designs this creative and appealing.
Moon Prism Power Make Up!
The graphics are not the only impressive part of the game’s overall aesthetic. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story’s audio is also very impressive. Many of the BGM tracks from the show are flawlessly translated into the game. Of particular note is the song “Youma Attack”, a slow theme representing the heroines struggling against the villains in the anime. In the game, the tempo of the song is sped up immensely. This is a smart choice, as it acts as the game’s main battle theme- Something meant to hype up the player for combat. It makes the game feel as though you are playing through an episode of the show, without compromising its feel as a game.
Voice acting is a rare aspect of games of the 16-bit era. Voice clips take up a lot of space, even when compressed, and this is especially true for the SNES’s 117.75 Megabit cartridges. While an entire RPG’s dialogue was far too expansive to be voiced in this era, it remains impressive how many voice clips exist in the game. The original anime’s voice actors reprise their roles to shout out the names of each of their attacks in battle, which amounts to a huge number of voice clips for the era. Usagi even yells “Make Up!” whenever a battle begins. The use of voice clips should delight any fan of Sailor Moon.
Another Story is Worth Playing Today
Sailor Moon is not the only anime and manga series that received an RPG on the SNES, but it is among the best of them. Licensed games of this era were very inconsistent in quality, but Another Story shot for the stars. While many would point towards its gameplay and story being a fun take on the franchise, its sense of aesthetic pushes it above even other popular RPGs of its time. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story is a game that every Sailor Moon fan owes themselves to play.
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