Advance Guardian Heroes

GameBiz

The gameplay is solid action, not quite a fighting game, not quite an RPG, and always an action filled beat ‘em up. The slowdown is awful, the pixilation is annoying, but the character designs themselves are fine.

Play Magazine

The story is just as confounding as in the original, which makes me wonder if the translation is funky or Treasure simply wants to play with our heads... It's a great game. [Oct 2004, p.90]

GamerFeed

The graphics and Mode 7 effects are stunning, the music is epic and superb, and there are tons of options to choose from, including over 20 fighters to unlock and 160 attacks to master!

Nintendo Power

Although it contains RPG elements, Advance Guardian Heroes is really an action game that requires fast reflexes and arcade-style fighting skills. [Nov 2004, p.131]

NintendoWorldReport

It has its warts - mediocre extra modes, laughable text localization, occasional slowdown, a Story Mode that's over much too soon - but it also has fun and addictive gameplay with a lot of interesting features.

1UP

Missing are the large sprites, the branching storylines, the dual-planed settings, and perhaps most disappointing to me, the undead hero, a truly iconic figure of the original game.

games(TM)

There's an alarming lack of polish, with characters looking more like rough sketches than finalised art and only boasting a few frames of animation. The storyline is also hard to follow thanks to roughshod translation and there are difficulty spikes to test the patience of any gamer.

Game Informer

I love the constant action and surprisingly deep gameplay that Heroes has to offer. [Dec 2004, p.191]

Cheat Code Central

On the one hand it's great to revisit this classic game in it's new form while on the other, the hamfisted translation pushes the game into high camp territory which got on my nerves.

GameSpy

AGH lacks the polish we've come expect from Treasure games. It's a good game and a better brawler, and the unlockable bonuses are excellent. However, all these little factors add up to a feeling of rough incompleteness, as if Treasure was forced to ship it two months before it was ready.

GameSpot

Advance Guardian Heroes isn't as satisfying as the sequel to one of the Saturn's greatest games should be, but it is a decent beat-'em-up that should please people who go into it knowing exactly what to expect.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

In typical Treasure fashion, the screen is almost always littered with enemies, and the challenge level is absurdly high for a beat-em-up. [Nov 2004, p.152]

Nintendojo

With a rough translation alongside a bevy of ridiculous technical problems, it’s hard to recommend this game. However, the overall style and multiplayer aspects got the better of me.

DailyGame

A lot of good ideas do not a great game make. It lacks that "spark" that makes some games rule, and others fade into obvlivion.

GMR Magazine

Its levels come in short, overly difficult bursts that routinely send you hurtling back to the title screen with whatever heath you had when you hit the last checkpoint, be it a full bar or a mere sliver. This basically railroads whatever fun is to be had in the RPG-like character development system. [Nov 2004, p.134]

Edge Magazine

While it doesn’t pass as an update or a worthy torch bearer for the hyperactive, all-out action-clash that was the original Guardian Heroes, the resemblance is still there. It’s more homage than successor, but it’s a decent beat ‘em up in its own right. [Dec 2005, p.116]

GameZone

Sometimes the trips down memory lane are better off left as memories.

IGN

Its unbelievably irritating technical problems and underwhelming art style doesn't bring back the magic fans might be expecting.

My Gamer

The slow down problem, the wonky character models, and horrible text, and the double tapped "A" jump button feature need a complete reworking.

Pelaaja (Finland)

Despite its crap visuals and many flaws, Treasure has managed to create a game, which rewards players for their strategic thinking, sharp timing and developing their characters. [May 2005, p 89]

NTSC-uk

Easy mode is far too easy (granting you unlimited magic power) and Normal mode far too tough. Treasure really ought to have found a happy compromise, which may have added to the title’s replay value. [JPN Import]

Gamers' Temple

Bizarre, frustrating, and overly difficult. Everything you look for in a game, right?

Game Chronicles

This game sucks, but it sucks like being addicted to heroin sucks. Once you take that first hit you can’t help but want another. So try to stay away from it, because otherwise you’ll end up having to explain those Ashlee Simpson CDs.

netjak

Treasure threw together this game that, beyond the art style, barely resembles the original game at all. In fact, if not for the cameos of the original game's characters at opportune times, I would have sworn that this wasn't a sequel, thematic or otherwise, at all.

G4 TV

Simply an awful game and isn’t deserving of your time or money.