The Last Blade 2 is one of my favorite video games of all-time. It blew me away when I had the game on the Sega Dreamcast back in 2001 and it still blows me away just seeing other players in action through Fightcade’s spectator mode in the past year or so. The game isn’t quite as well-recognized compared to SNK’s other fighting game franchises, but still has a strong following from those who are fans of the game.

I recall being immediately swayed by The Last Blade 2 as I first got it. There were a number of eye-popping things that I thought was really cool during my first couple of playthroughs: the impressive movie introduction, great character looks and designs, gorgeous stages, sorrowful soundtrack, three fight styles, cool specials and supers, and of course, the fighting. The Last Blade 2 was the last of the great collection of fighting games that I had owned on the Sega Dreamcast, which also included Garou: Mark of the Wolves, The King of Fighters 1998 and 1999, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Power Stone 2, Project Justice, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. Unfortunately, I made the dumb decision to sell off my Dreamcast copy of the game (and most of my Sega Dreamcast library) to hoard up money to pay for a PlayStation 2 as soon thereafter.

On this eighth entry of my personal blog series, I will explore through The Last Blade 2's inner workings to the best of my ability before it’s re-release on PSN (PS4/VITA cross-buy and save!) on 24 May 2016.

Finding and Riding the Right Mode

One of the biggest mechanics that players have in approaching TLB2 is to find which fighting mode to run with. The game’s three fighting modes offer vast differences in available mechanics that have their share of strengths and weakness that causes subtle differences on how every character plays and how they feel for the player to evaluate from.

Speed mode is the most stable out of the three modes in TLB2 as it’s weaknesses aren’t quite as restrictive as Power mode or as dramatic with Extreme. Speed allows the player to chain normal attacks and specials together into combos/strings, an option not available in Power mode. Speed also has an Overhead attack which can used in conjuction in a combo/string in which if the attack successfully connects, it props the opponent airborne, which allows the player to tack on additional attacks afterward. Speed mode users also have the ability to execute a “Combo Special”, where if the first rush-in hit connects once it has activated, the player can input a series of attacks together to inflict massive amounts of damage. The mechanic is there as Speed mode’s most damaging mechanic outside of the character’s super move to have its damage output comparable to Power mode’s Super Desperation mechanic. It’s the mode highly suggested for users who are new to the game and suitable for those who prefer access to combos/strings or players who lean toward an offensive style.

Power mode has its own brand of mechanics that make it formidable in its own right. As the name implies, Power mode players inflict the most damage from normals, specials, and supers of the three modes, and even inflicts chip damage from normal attacks. Power mode also allows the player to cancel a special move into a super, although the ability to do so is limited to one particular special. A special Unblockable attack is available to Power users that has its strengths and weaknesses against Speed mode’s Overhead attack. On one hand, it’s unblockable so the opponent has to avoid contact to not get hit by the attack. Unfortunately, initiating the Unblockable attack locks the character stationery until the attack is unleashed, which leaves the player vulnerable if the attack is unsuccessful. Lastly, Power users have access to the Super Desperation move, used as the mode’s ultimate comeback mechanic as it can only be used when the player has full meter and is on low (flashing) health. The mechanics to Power mode cater to certain playstyles better than others, and helps players who aren’t as adept or concerned with combos and/or prefer the increased damage output from fewer attacks. Power mode player have access to combos, but the available moves that can be linked into a combo is extremely limited, hence once of its liabilities. The biggest liability that Power mode users face are its restrictions on use of its mechanics along with the lack of attacks that can be linked together. Even with its limitations, it’s still a viable mode for player to use.

Extreme mode is a new fighting mode introduced in TLB2 and provides the biggest risk/reward option out of the three modes. The biggest benefit that Extreme mode users have against the other two modes is a mixture of access to both Speed and Power mode mechanics. Players can produce combos and access to cancel normals into specials and specials to supers. Experienced players adept to executing combos can produce a very lengthy and damaging combos as they can go utilize Speed’s normal mode combos and can chain it into Speed mode’s Super Combo or Power mode’s Super Cancel. Extreme mode also contains Speed mode’s Overhead attack and Power mode’s Super Desperation mechanics. Of course, there is an extreme cost for EX mode users’s plethora of options. Extreme mode’s biggest drawbacks are players having lower health as they get hit with the biggest damage and gains the least amount of power meter of the three modes, thus the big risk/reward factor for the move. This mode definitely is geared to more toward experienced players of the game and the risk/reward characters seem to to encourage an extreme offensive style to use all of the options available to defeat the opponent against the cost of lower stamina.

Dancing Around the Repel

One of The Last Blade 2’s memorable mechanics and what I feel is part of the reason that makes TLB2’s battles so much fun is its repel function. It acts as an attack parry but is very different from Street Fighter III’s version. SFIII’s parry are used by flicking the movement stick/pad forward and must contact the opponent’s attack at the same time. The duration of SFIII’s parry is very short and is deployed instantaneously, making it a great tool to quick parry off an opponent’s attack to mount an instant counterattack. TLB2’s repel active length is a lot longer than SFIII’s, which doesn’t make it a great candidate for an up-close and instantaneous parry of an opponent’s attack, but it still comes out pretty quick and being active a bit longer still has its uses in battle.

I’d like the use of TLB2’s repel attack as more of a predictive factor that the opponent will attack at that moment. The mechanic is a big risk/reward factor on its own, as a missed repel can lead to you wide open to eat a lot of damage, but the reward on a successful repel is reciprecial. The repel attack also prevents TLB2 from being more of a brawl out affair. Repels can be used against standing attacks, crouching attacks (the player must also be in crouch stand to repel crouching attacks), and airborne attacks. The repel can also be used in the air to repel air-to-air attacks and anti-air attacks. An attack that connects with the repel while it’s active will have the attack parried and allows the repeller to mount a counterattack. It was a mind-blowing mechanic I thought back then (I did not know of SFIII’s parry mechanic back then either) and really helps what I think makes TLB2’s bouts exciting from my current viewpoint and helps prevent it from possibly being an all-out slash fest.

For those familiar with BlazBlue, Hakumen’s drive is reportedly directly inspired by and taken from TLB2’s repel function, and his drive exactly mimics the repel function to a tee.

Surprising Speed

The Last Blade 2’s boasts surprising surprising speed in its battles. Most of the cast moves pretty fast which is amplified with dash ins. The combination of all of the attacks and mode mechanics while not falling into getting repelled that makes most battles a quick on your feet speed feel.

A, B, C, Not as Easy as 1, 2, 3

I don’t have a great history of executing crisp combos in all fighting games, but some games make executing combos easier than others. Unfortunately, TLB2 gears toward the tougher end of executing combos. The game’s Speed and Extreme modes expects the player to execute combos to produce significant amounts of damage. On my experiences on the NA Dreamcast version, it was quite hard to link combos together on the Dreamcast controller. I was never successful in completing the Speed mode’s full Combo Special nor able to cancel the Power mode’s special cancel into a super. Luckily, I still loved the game in spite of my execution shortcomings.

Limited Combo Routes

During casual research of TLB2, I found that the game’s common target combos are 4A, A, A, B or A, B, C. The A, B, C route is locked in and always results in a lock down, so it can be a nice quick combo to get a quick knockdown to set yourself up again once the opponent recovers. The 4A, A, A, B route has more open options after the B. There are some other routes within the 4A route but that’s the main origin of the game’s combos. The game does not allow players to go back and forth between the three attack buttons freely, so you cannot perform an A, B, A or an A, C, B on the ground. The only method that you can go from B to A or C to B is if the first attack is from the air, so jC into B is allowable as a rare exception.

Where Did These Mechanics Come From?

I was surprised to eventually learn TLB2 includes a number of other universal fighting game mechanics that I did not know it had back then. The game has dash attacks, where the player can unleash an attack while they’re dashing. I was also surprised to learn that it also had a guard cancel, which is done by performing 412 while in blockstun with at least 50% meter. But the game makes you pay in using the guard cancel as it uses up whatever meter you have, which is different than most games that only use a portion of meter. Lastly, TLB2 has two different pounce attacks to add a bit more damage to a knocked down opponent.

Those Darn Infinites

The most unfortunate part of The Last Blade 2 is its infinites that can be done by everyone (I think). It’s definitely a skill to perform the infinite but unlike other games that have infinites that looks very technical and flashy, TLB2’s infinites fall onto the worst scale where it’s just spamming one attack repeatedly on a timely manner, and also takes a darn long time to actually complete the infinite in a match. I don’t know how much of a competitive scene TLB2 ever had, but I hope that it isn’t employed much in a competitive environment.

Cautious Optimism with the PSN Re-Release

I am counting down the days to The Last Blade 2’s PSN re-release with cautious optimism. I was glad to hear that SNK/Sony hired Code Mystics to handle this port, as they did a remarkable job with the PSN version of Metal Slug 3 last year, which I liked so much it landed on my GOTY list. They also did, from what I hear, did a solid job with the PC Steam ports of KOF98UM and KOF2002 UM as well. I was a big fan of the amount of care they placed with Metal Slug 3’s PSN version, the game looks and ran great on both the VITA and PS4, and managed to include cross-buy, cross-save, and even online cross-play co-op capabilities. TLB2 will also have the same PSN cross capabilities and I am praying really hard that the online netplay is good. I am interested to see what version of the game they worked on the port from and if we’ll get to see a bit of red in it.

Really Great Then, Does It Still Stand as Great Now?

My next writing endeavor is to write a review of the game as soon as I ingested enough of the revamped re-release. I am glad to play this classic on a current gaming platform and to control the game using a MadCatz TE2 fightstick instead of the clunky Dreamcast controller. This blog was only a piece on picking apart the game’s mechanics, the review will highlight all of the other aspects which I feel makes the game so special to me as soon as I can get around to it.

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Thanks for reading!