So I went and did what I said I should do when I finished Flying Dragon for N64: beat Flying Warriors for NES. I'm not even sure where to begin.
Well, let's start with the structure. So the game has three distinct modes. Two are used a lot, the other pretty sparingly.
Normal exploration: This is where you run around a non-linear but fairly small side-scrolling map to accomplish tasks. It's usually to track down some item you need to beat a boss, or proceed deeper into the stage.
Fighting mode: Here, you fight enemies using a sort of karate tournament-style with some extra moves thrown in that I'll get to shortly.
RPG mode: Just you, mano y mano with a boss where you pick attacks, heal, and defend.
Sounds pretty wild for an NES game, right? Well, too bad Culture Brain flubbed the execution. The exploration mode comes closest to being enjoyable, but the level layouts are generally trash. The game loves to put platforms in places where constant enemy spawns knock you into pits. Hit detection feels very strict - it's hard to land precise hits, and you lack range on your attacks - and many enemy patterns frustrate.
The fighting mode would be fine, honestly. There's a sort of give-take early on where you wait for the mark to appear on your opponent to attack, and make sure to defend when it appears on you. You fill up a K.O. gauge that will eventually let you unleash the Hiryu no Ken, if you can land it, and later on you have magic spells you can cast in your superhero mode. Speaking of superhero mode, there are fights where you absolutely have to transform, or you can't block enemy spells. The real problem is that enemies toward the end are very fast, with vulnerabilities often not staying open long enough to engage in fisticuffs. In fact, doing so will likely get you hit. The strategy becomes defending as much as possible to max the K.O. gauge and hoping you can land a magic attack without them blocking. To the game's credit, these fights are incredibly tense, as things can go badly in a hurry. But the real problem I started having toward the end was the game eating inputs. Ah, yes, the time-honored tradition of making sure you can't get a block in through no fault of your own. Thanks, game! Even without this, the controls tend to be quite stiff.
RPG mode only gets used for two bosses. It doesn't feel like it was implemented well - it's more RPG flavor than actual RPG, since your options are limited. You can choose to erect a barrier, which gives you a chance to block attacks... but the only other option is to use magic water to heal yourself or change to other folks during the boss turn. After he hits you, you can hit back with a spell, or if your K.O. gauge is full (better hope your barrier held!), unleash a Hiryu no Ken. Especially for the last boss fight, you're going to want to grind and buy as much Magic Water as you can carry. You do have to swap to another character briefly for the final boss, but that's about it - there's no major advantage that I can tell, although it wouldn't surprise me if I discovered there were some elemental bonus for using particular members (both here and in the tournament mode).
All this sounds terrible, but there really are some good ideas in here. I like the RPG trappings. The art, while not impressive, also isn't terrible. There are some legit good tunes here. For a while, the combat, while clunky, has a sort of measured, methodical pace before it takes a dive at the end. There are also some interesting mechanics where the only way to reveal a Tusk Soldier in disguise is to finish them off with a particular move. This sounds like it would be awful, but in practice, it's fine, as you have an item that will take you directly to those fights again. The game even tells you what you need to do to finish them off correctly. You can buy "Windy Shoes" that let you teleport within the area you're in (so you can go back to the shop from the last area, for example, and then back). You can technically grind if you so choose, either on Tusk Soldiers or regular enemies. (You will need to do this for money against the few enemies that drop it unless you're amazing at the game.) The game not only gives you passwords, but also gives you continues, which actually work more like extra lives so you don't have to start areas over again until you run out... and even then, it lets you keep all of your obtained items and progress. The only thing you have to do is traipse back to where you lost, which isn't generally that bad once you know where to go. And there's a decent amount of game here. A legit run took me almost six hours. Of course, I'm sure that could be shrunk much smaller, as several longplays I checked will attest to.
Basically, this game embodies much of the Culture Brain ethos. Take a "normal" game, and add RPG elements. And in this case, a sim-ish tournament fighter. Interesting, but it just didn't come together for them like their better titles. I'm still really happy to have finally finished it. I've always been very intrigued by it, both for the structure and the comics that I would see in GamePro for it. With some tweaks, I think this could have been fantastic, but in the end, I'm left leaving it a very uneven 5/10.