- Brandish
- Brandish 2: The Planet Buster
- Brandish 3: Spirit of Balcan
- Brandish VT
Brandish 2 is subtitled The Planet Buster. This is the name of a sword said to be so powerful it can annihilate an entire planet. As it turns out, this is the very sword Ares obtained at the end of the original Brandish. Unfortunately for him, King Badorrer of the nation of Bundevia wants it for himself. While adventuring, Ares ends up collapsing in the middle of a seemingly endless desert and is captured by the mercenary Karl, where he is taken to a small prison island. He is eventually rescued by Dela, who aids him on the journey to reobtain the Planet Buster begins.
PC-98
Brandish 2 plays very similarly to its predecessor – the interfaces for the PC versions are nearly identical, except that boxes around your character have been added in order to aid mouse control. This sequel simply expands things a bit, by adding a greater variety of levels, ranging from castles to forests to ninja villages, to make things feel a bit less repetitive over the game’s 22 stages. There are also many more NPCs beyond just shopkeepers, and the story is more elaborate, making it seem less like a straight dungeon hack. Along with this, you can also run optional subquests. You can also dual wield equipment, including having two shields. The music is catchier, including lots of memorable dungeon themes, along with one of the best game over themes ever. The final boss theme is also credited as being one of the inspirations for the famous boss theme “Megalovania” from Undertale.
Super Famicom
This goes doubly true for the Super Famicom port, again ported by Koei, which does an excellent job of upgrading the PC-98 synth, and is one of the few times when a non-CD rendition of Falcom music actually ends up improved over the original FM synth tunes. Koei finally added an on-screen automap, although it only shows portions of the level (you still have to pause to access the full thing), and the gameplay is much smoother than the first game. Some of the maps have been removed or replaced, as the prison area in the beginning has been drastically shortened, and some of the cinemas (like the intro) have been scaled back. The graphics are also a bit too dark, making it hard to see certain obstacles. However, support for the SNES mouse has been added, rectifying an issue from the previous Nintendo port. Overall, the various improvements make this much more bearable than the 16-bit console ports of its predecessor. Much like the Super Famicom release of Ys V, Koei later reissued the game with a harder difficulty level under the title Brandish 2 Expert. This also includes a few new features like a time attack boss rush mode.
Super Famicom
Both versions of Brandish 2 have been translated, with the SFC version by Synchronicity, and the PC-98 version by Gu4n and preta.
Screenshot Comparisons
PC-98
Super Famicom
