Feature By

Dale Weir

Many would attest that the most radical business move Squaresoft ever made was its decision to part company with long-time partner, Nintendo, in favor of the newcomer, Sony and its PlayStation console. That may be true, but I would argue that its decision to branch off into other game genres runs at least a very close second. (Recent ramblings of Squaresoft vying to get back into Nintendo's good graces only serve to help my case.) Square may have gotten its start in the racing genre with Rad Racer on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but it was the role-playing game (RPG) genre that put the company on the map. Some of the industry's most revered RPG franchises go by such names as Final Fantasy, Saga Frontier and Seiken Densetsu (known in the United States as the Mana series)—all of these games came from a then small developer fully entrenched in Super Nintendo development.

Whether it was born from a deep corporate yearning to make games that didn't have the world "Final" in the title or simple overconfidence in its ability to dominate all genres, Square jumped headlong into multi-genre development. It has taken on the Tekken brawlers, Gran Turismo racing sims, the R-Type arcade shooters and even Mario Kart racers with its own unique take on each. However, the results have been anything but stellar. Though there have been some bright spots (Einhander was a nice 3-D spin on the old school 2-D shooting game), its efforts only resulted in showing off Square's shortcomings. What is remarkable however, is that with every letdown, the hype for Square's next non-RPG title does not diminish. And the same has held true for its latest Sony PlayStation 2 release, The Bouncer.

With the possible exception of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, no title is more synonymous with the PlayStation 2 launch buzz than Square's upcoming release. The few snippets of gameplay footage that Square unveiled to the public sent gamers and the gaming press into a frenzy. The game was on the lips of many due to both its incredible graphical achievement and promise of new game playing experiences as a so-called "role-playing game/action game." As a result, the US PlayStation 2 launch forecast looked so bright it was blinding.

Unfortunately, as we all know, the PlayStation 2 launch came and went without Square's much sought after title—but did come with a dearth of must-have launch titles. PlayStation 2 programming difficulties being the main culprit, The Bouncer saw delay after delay until Square finally saw fit to release the final game this month to the public. As part of Sony's self-proclaimed PlayStation 2 "relaunch," The Bouncer leads a string of next-generation releases that everyone (meaning Sony and Squaresoft) hopes will usher in that new generation of gaming we were all promised two years ago.

More details about the story, characters and gameplay will be presented in multiple screenshots with accompanying captions in the following pages.