THE GAME MODES:

• Team Story Mode. Akin to Story Mode of the other Toshinden S [Toshinden Remix in North America], this is where you choose your team (see below for more on the Team option) in order to learn the story of one of the fighters on the team (you're given the choice at the Select screen; everything in Story Mode is the same, except that this fighter will be "chosen" by the Four Sacred Weapons at the end, and you receive the fighter's ending). As you go through the game, your team has short conversations with each other (...all in Japanese text though -_-;;), as well as before and after the fight with your opponent. Through these, you can learn a lot more about the fighters, their relations with each other and just what everyone's out to accomplish.

• Time Attack Mode. In this mode (which was supposed to be in Toshinden 3, but was dropped), you have 60 seconds to defeat your single opponent in two rounds. The faster you defeat your opponent, the better score you'll receive, and you can face up to all of the thirteen fighters in the game.

• Team Time Attack Mode. The same setup as Time Attack Mode, except this time it's a team-on-team battle.

• Vs. Mode. Your typical head-to-head battle that's been in the series since the first game. Two players can choose their [singular] fighter and fight it out to see who can overcome who first. You can also select the fighting arena and if you want a handicap, and more options can be configured in Option Mode.

• Team Vs. Mode. The same setup as above, except that now both players have their choice of teams to fight with. The battles and elimination play the same as any King of Fighters game, and the setup can be altered to your preferences through Option Mode.

• Survival Mode. Like Survival Mode of Toshinden 3, your task is to fight as many opponents as you can in one-match battles - on one life bar. However, you regain a small bit of energy at the end of the match, depending on how fast you've won, so it's not too difficult, as long as you keep your health steady throughout the fight. If you lose, the game ends there and you are ranked depending on how many opponents you managed to defeat.

• Practice Mode. This mode allows you to practice your attacks against a partner. You can also set your partner to attack, or set the game so your super attacks are unlimited, for better experience when it comes to the real thing.

• Goods Mode. A special mode that you open after beating the Team Story Mode for the first time, Goods Mode is a unique little addition in which you pick any fighter, and are given a choice of different "types" of battles by way of a spinning roulette-type wheel. Once you choose your [random] battle, you face the computer to try and win one of your fighter's "goods"--new costumes, colours and weapons. For more on these, see Goods Mode section below.

• Mini-Game Mode. The best thing to happen to the Toshinden series in a long time, TSD4's Mini-Games are practically good enough to be games in themselves. There are seven games that you can unlock by code or time-release, and they range from puzzle games to shooters to even a Bust-a-Groove style dance game. Crazily addictive and almost more fun than the fighting game itself. See the section at the bottom of the page for more on the Mini-Games.

• Database Mode. A new feature set up like a computer database, this is where you can view extra stuff like character pictures, records, rejected character designs, listen to the game's background music, sound effects and voice clips, and more. See below for more.

• Option Mode. Here is where you can customize the game's features (like difficulty, number of matchs and time limit), the controller commands and various other things to your liking. Also, this is where you can save your current game or load your previous one.

THE THREE-ON-THREE TEAM: This is going to be very familiar to any fans of The King of Fighters series (although the fact that TSD4 only has four teams - the Subaru Team, the Puella Team, the Genma Team and the Eiji Team - pales in comparison to KoF's 30-something teams ^_^;;)--the Team option, new to the Toshinden series, where you choose a team of three fighters and engage in an "elimination" battle against another team of three, in which you fight against three opponents (gaining a small bit of life back every time you manage to defeat an opponent), and if you lose, the next fighter chosen in your three-man lineup takes over. However, TSD4 differs from KoF in the way that it chooses your starting fighter FOR you, thanks to some of the pre-programmed character interactions that take place--it's hard to explain if you haven't played the game yet. But later in the game, you can unlock the option which is known in KoF as Team Edit, which allows you to make up your own teams. While you can't use this in Team Story Mode, it's helpful if you don't want to be straddled with some of the *cough* LOSERS *cough* on the original teams.

NEW-STYLE ARENAS: Now, there are three arenas you can end up fighting in: 1) your typical ring-out arena that you can slip off of / knock your opponent off of for a ring-out victory; 2) the dropping tile arena (which is usually included as the ring-out arena), where the floor tiles slowly start to shatter and then drop right out, leaving gaping holes that you (or your opponent) can slip through (this is what constantly happens during Time Attack Mode); and 3) the free-running arena, where there is no barriers and you can run all over the place, thanks to the new Free-Running option (see below).

FREE-RUNNING: By holding down the two Roll buttons on the top of the controller and moving the D-Pad in any direction, you can move your fighter in any direction around the arena, like in Bushido Blade and Power Stone. A useful addition if you want to get out of some tight spots, but be careful you don't lose control and go off the edge instead!

WEAPON REPELLING: The weapon repelling (done by pressing Forward+Hard Slash when the opponent comes in to attack) is handy addition to any battle -- it allows you to knock away ANY weapon-based attack (including special attacks and super moves) from your opponent and leave them open for counterattack. Note that this will NOT repel physical punch-or-kick based attacks or projectiles, or aerial slashes.

GUARD CANCEL: Although this technique costs you one bar of your Overdrive gauge, it's up there with Weapon Repels for being plenty useful. By hitting Forward+Hard Kick right as you block an attack, your fighter will immediately counterattack without any life taken away. The Guard Cancel stops ANY attack except throws, so make good use of it!

ATTACK REVERSALS: Only Naru and Miyabi can do these, but still quite useful anyways. Excluding throws and projectiles, by pressing Weak Slash & Weak Kick together, Miyabi and Naru will catch the opponent's attack and immediately counterattack. However, it's not invicible like the Guard Cancel, so there is the possibility of being countered back.

TOSHIN RYUUGI: Toshin Ryuugi is the new "flowing" combo system of TSD4. Unlike the combos of TSD3, this system is based upon having any normal attack flow directly into another normal attack or a special attack. Here's what the flowchart looks like:

NEW OVERDRIVE GAUGE: The Overdrive gauge is back (though it probably isn't considered 'Overdrive' anymore), except this time, it fills to three levels a la Street Fighter Zero 3, allowing you to perform Ultimate Sacred Techniques. (Yes, Ultra Desperation Attacks [now called Secret Fatal Techniques] are back in the game also) With the first level filled, you can perform what would be the Overdrive attack (like Jigokumon, Hell's Gate etc.); second level, you can use what would be the Super Specials (like Enjin-Shuraha [or Kuujin Rasen Zetto, in Subaru's case] or Rainbow Splash]; third, you can use any of the above or the newest rage of Toshinden, Kishin Kourin. See below for more.

KISHIN KOURIN: When your Overdrive gauge fills to the top level, you can perform the newest of the Toshinden super attacks and a TRUE "Ultra Desperation Attack", Kishin Kourin. By hitting all four of the D-Pad buttons (like how you would perform the Overdrive attacks in Toshinden 2), your fighter will be engulfed in a pillar of flame (those with one of the Four Sacred Weapons will also get to see the symbol of their weapon's animal appear briefly), and your Overdrive gauge will go down, then turn blue and refill to the highest level, as will your lifebar. Your fighter will start to glow, and while your lifebar will rapidly drain, you have until it drains down to nothing to defeat your opponent. However, it's helpful that now, your attacks will take off more than ever. The only rule is that you cannot pull off Kishin Kourin within the last 10 seconds of the fight. It's a true last-ditch effort in every sense of the word, but be sure you know what you're doing once you activate it...

GOODS MODE: See below section.

DATABASE MODE: A nifty new feature, Database Mode is indeed set up like a computer database (complete with an annoying little cursor ^_^;;) -- with lots of Toshinden information. There are two views available: Character and Tree. (Character is used as the main view) Character allows you to choose your fighter (from either a sidebar-frame type deal or from a frame with icons), and in their database you can view such things as a bio portrait (VERY purty), Continuity (rough sketch frames of the anime intro), Original Picture (rough sketches of the character from the intro), Background (background in the game), Loading Pictures (any of the loading screens you have opened), and Goods (where all of the goods you have won with the character in Goods Mode are housed; you can also view them here). Of course, a few of these things (like Goods, Continuity, Loading Pictures, Original Picture and others) have to be opened first, either by viewing in the real game or by beating the game with said fighter. Tree is essentially the same, except that it uses dropdowns instead of icons. Other features of Database Mode are: Records (records kept for Survival, Time Attack modes, and Origin), Sound (where you can listen to any of the background music you have opened, the game sound effects, the fighter voice clips and the rejected fighter voice clips), URL (the webpage addresses for Takara and TamSoft's pages), and Rejection (a gallery of all the rejected character designs). A fun place to spend your break inbetween mini-games and the real thing.

OTHER: Aerial blocking (YES!! FINALLY!!) and parrying (not like Toshinden 3's) have been added to the fighting engine. Dual Shock compatible for fighting game and mini-games. Save feature; takes one block of the memory card.

In order to win "Goods" for your fighter of choice, the object of Goods Mode (which can be opened by beating the entire game in Team Story Mode) is to finish what the game terms a "quest", which is a special one-round match against the computer, with some sort of deterring rule added on. The quests are chosen by pressing a button to stop a spinning roulette wheel on which all the games are slotted, and you're stuck playing the quest that you choose. If you succeed, then you receive a good for the fighter you chose (see below for more on the goods), but if you lose, you have to go back to the fighter select screen and try again. The quests you can choose are:

• Throw Battle. As the title implies, only throws will cause damage to your opponent. However, they can hurt you with ANY attack, so watch out! You can also pull Ring Outs in this quest (and the win will still count), or you can try to throw your opponent until their bar goes down to nothing.
• Fatigue Battle. Any type of attack counts here, but your lifebar will slowly decrease throughout the extent of the match. So in order to win, you must defeat your opponent as quickly as possible before your bar runs out (Kishin Kourin works here too), or to try and knock them out of the ring.
• Ring Out Battle. This battle can only be won with a Ring Out--any damage you inflict on your opponent will recover. You take damage without recovering though, so you have to try your best to send your opponent off the edge first.
• Time Limit Battle. During this 30-second battle, the tiles in the arena will rapidly shatter and fall out, creating gaping holes in the floor which you can knock your opponent into. Or you can just try and defeat them within the time limit without slipping through a hole yourself.
• Kishin Kourin Battle. At the beginning of this match, both fighters will automatically activate Kishin Kourin, so it's a matter of who's lifebar goes down first. Super attacks work really well here.
• Recover Enemy's Vitality Battle. The name's slightly misleading for this fight--any damage you inflict on your opponent will be slowly restored, forcing you to try and defeat your opponent quickly before they gain their life back.
• Super-Chance Battle. A special chance fight, Super-Chance Battle appears every now and then, allowing you a shot at trying to open a new Mini-Game instead of waiting for it to be unlocked through time-release. In order to win, you have to beat one of the six randomly-picked matchs above against the computer.

Mini-Game: Puzzle Toshinden
Hours to Get It: 3
Description: Like Tetris and its brethren, you're faced with a screen that's rapidly filling with falling blocks. In this case, the blocks of two each have a number, and your job is to correctly line them up with three or more of the same number, or to line them up in order (like '123' or '456'). This clears the line, and you hear a voice clip of the fighter you chose (and if you score a chain effect, the clips progress right up into attack name yells). You pass each level for each line you clear, and the higher you go, you'll get more numbers to match up, from 1 to 9, and the dropping speeds up as well. The object? Beat it all the way up to level 99 and you get a special picture. You hardly even notice the levels passing!
Empress' Rating: What should be better known as Puzzle Arena Toshinden Subaru gets ** 1/2. As annoyingly addictive as any other puzzle game out there, but not quite as good as Puella no Tamago or the real Puzzle Arena Toshinden.

Mini-Game: Puella no Tamago
Hours to Get It: 4
Description: While a lot alike to Puzzle Toshinden, I actually think the fun factor is higher here in Puella no Tamago [Puella's Egg]. Everything here's the same as above, but you start off by lining up similarily-coloured eggs (yellow, white or blue) instead of number blocks. The stakes get upped once you hit level 8, when the eggs hatch into coloured chicks which you also have to match up. After another certain level, the uncleared chicks mature into chickens, and you're forced to clear them as well as any eggs or chicks that are left on your screen. Take some time to beat up to level 99--the picture's worth it.
Empress' Rating: This is the better of the two puzzle games in Toshinden Subaru, and it gets ***. I think I wasted four hours on this game alone ^_^;;

Mini-Game: Scoop! Toshinden
Hours to Get It: 5
Description: Rouin-sama compares this with Arkanoid, and I'm tended to agree with him ^_^ The object of this mini-game is to reflect a moving ball off of a paddle that you can move back and forth at the bottom of the screen. The playing field is buried in different-coloured blocks, which cover up an "embarrassing" picture (actually, some are pretty cute) of the fighter you chose. By hitting the ball off of the blocks, you can break them, and uncover the picture underneath. Some of the blocks are harder to hit (power-up blocks take 3 hits, black blocks change colour instead of breaking), and some reveal power-ups when you break them (like ones that will slow the ball down, make the paddle longer, create extra balls, turn the ball into a fireball that will break any blocks, etc.). Every now and then, a new line of blocks will be added to the top, so you have to break them all as fast as you can.
Empress' Rating: While virtually unbeatable (believe me--God knows I've tried), Scoop gets ***. One of my other favorite games to play when I'm not constantly into Toshinden Dance.

Mini-Game: Toshinden on Hockey [Battle Hockey Toshinden]
Hours to Get It: 6
Description: Don't get the idea of the Toshindeners playing at Maple Leaf Gardens--this is pure air hockey. Restricted to half of a table hockey field, you control a fist-on-a-stick which you use to try and get the puck past your computer opponent. Power-ups will appear occasionally (like ones that make your hand bigger, make your opponent's hand smaller, ones that will confuse your opponent, etc.), which both you or the computer can grab. You can also hit the puck past your opponent and break the wall behind them (by hitting the same spot twice), creating bigger gaps with more chance at scoring a goal.
Empress' Rating: **. I don't play this one too much -- maybe because I suck at it (^_^;;) -- but while it's not as good as some of the other mini-games, it's okay to play every now and then.

Mini-Game: Origin
Hours to Get It: 7
Description: Nothing like an old Atari game-lookalike (ASTEROIDS! ^^) to add some nostalgia ^_^ You choose your 2-D, line-drawn fighter (SO cool! ^^), and control a mini-spaceship with which you have to destroy all the bad things floating around in space with. For every level, you're given a task which you must succeed to pass on to the next level (Destroy 4 Enemies, Destroy 8 Enemies, and the like). At the fifth level, you must defeat a snakelike boss by destroying each of the sections on its body in succession. Some of the other enemies you can blow up are little spaceships that fire at you, bigger spaceships that will ram you, and asteroid chunks. There are also power-ups that sporadically appear in the middle of the screen, which give you extra lives, missiles, bombs etc. This is also the only Mini-Game that records high-scores.
Empress' Rating: Toshinden's version of Asteroid gets ** 1/2, for being such a neat little idea, if not outdated. But hell, that's what nostalgia's for!

Mini-Game: Fight! Wolfy [Ganbare! Wolfy]
Hours to Get It: 8
Description: Fen's pet pig, Wolfy, takes center stage in this cute mini-game. You choose your pig (pink, black, blue or yellow), and go against a CPU opponent, where the object is to climb up a coconut tree as fast as you can in order to knock the coconut down first. Sound easy? That's not all of it. The only way you can move up is by pressing in the correct button (or direction) that is displayed on the screen. You will get a response (like Excellent!! or Great!) depending on how fast you respond to the command, and these add to your Item Gauge. However, if you put in the wrong button, your Item Gauge decreases. After inputting enough correct commands to fill your Item Gauge, you get the option to choose a random hinderance for your opponent -- these involve sending a fireball over to set the opposing pig on fire (stopping him for a while), dropping a barbell on their head to knock them down a couple inches, hitting them with lightning, and others.
Empress' Rating: ** 1/2. A cute little game, if not repetitive in some areas.

Mini-Game: The Toshinden Dance [Toshin Dance Tournament]
Hours to Get It: 9
Description: Picture this: two super-deformed Toshinden Subaru characters, spinning, backflipping and breakdancing to funky music while the camera spins at its most hyper level...and you have The Toshinden Dance. I think I screamed with laughter for a full half-hour straight--if you are an avid Toshinden fan, then this is going to be either the most hilarious or most scarring experience of your life. Like any other dance game, you play as any one of the hyper-deformed 13 fighters and play against the computer, which, when it's your turn, briefly shows you a chain of button commands to press. It counts down from four, and when it says "GO!" you have to remember and tap in the buttons at just the right time. It's all about timing, PlayStation controller knowledge and dexterity. For each command you correctly input, you get either "Bad..." (worth -100 points), "OK" (worth 0 points), "Good" (worth 100 points), "Cool!" (worth 200 points), or "Great!!" (worth 400 points)--also, if you get don't get a "Bad..." in the last half of your command line (of up to eight commands), your fighter keeps on dancing while your opponent takes their turn. You're shown what level you're dancing at throughout the game (ranking in one of the five catagories previously mentioned), and your score is totalled at the end. If you got a higher score than your opponent, you get to move onto the next stage, face a new opponent, and get even more confusing commands. While it gets very difficult to keep up after a while, what could be cooler than seeing Subaru or Naru (or funnier yet, one of the bosses--like Verm! ^^) grooving on down in order to take the title of "Toshin Dance Tournament Champion"?
Empress' Rating: ****. While it's no Bust a Groove, this is definately the best mini-game to play. Addictive, adorable, the music is GREAT, and the game way too much fun for its own good!