Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers

Lore & Background

Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers is a fighting game featuring over 50 characters from the Saint Seiya manga. The super gauge, called the Cosmo Gauge, allows characters to perform finishing attacks, Burst Dash, Burst Attack, Seven Senses Awakening, and special Big Bang Attacks. A character's strength can be increased through the use of an Orb. The game includes the Saint Chronicle mode, which progresses through battles based on the three main arcs of the original manga: the Sanctuary arc, the Poseidon arc, and the Hades arc. Also included is the Galaxian Wars mode, a tournament mode.

Reader's Guide

Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers received mixed reviews according to Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40. Critics noted that while the single-player offers a decent experience, the AI is dumb and mechanics are simple. The game was praised for emulating the anime series, but this same quality was seen as a weakness, as it was not designed to be balanced but rather to accurately emulate the show. The updated version, Soldiers' Soul, received mixed but slightly more positive reviews, with a Metacritic score of 59/100. Eurogamer Italy described it as 'more of the same' with a fun combat system but lack of balance. IGN Spain gave it a 7/10, stating Dimps could have made more of the Saint Seiya universe. PlayStation Universe gave a 5.5/10, calling it a simplistic but visually attractive take on the anime, appealing to newcomers but lacking depth for veterans.

Did You Know?

• Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle (2011) was the first Saint Seiya game to be released in North America.
• The super gauge is called the Cosmo Gauge.
• An updated version, Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Soul, was released in 2015 for PlayStation 4 and Windows.