Dynasty Warriors (PlayStation, 1997)

Koei has stepped away from its traditional strategy game format and decided to try their hand at a side to side fighter and they did a pretty decent job for their first try.. The game is easy to handle and the moves are not hard to pull off. It has a one player mode (vs computer) or you can have battles when your friends come over. Good fight engine, excellent voice overs , and good AI for its day ! ~ The graphics are decent and the action is fast and furious ~ Good job Koei ~ I would rate this a 7.5 on a 1 to 10 scale ~ (PJC)

Bear in mind this a PS1 game from the 1990's.

Think Tekken more than Dynasty Warriors 2. This is a fighting game, not a super-soldier-takes-on-armies-of-thousands game. This is a side-scrolling, one-on-one combat game based on combos and quick button-pushing. As such, it is fun, well-designed, but like all dueling games it eventually loses it's flair.

This is an excellent fighter that is often overlooked. This game was never in arcades and most fighters that were made direct-to-consoles (during the late 90's) were often poor. Dynasty Warriors is an exception. There are a lot of one-on-one fighting games, but not many that involve the use of weapons. The Samurai Shodown series and Soul Caliber series are the only two that I can think of.
What makes this game good is what makes any fighting game good. First the graphics are clear and well done. The characters still look good today. Most important is the collision detection is well done. You won't see weapons going through an opponent and then saying, "Why didn't that attack hit that guy?" Guys respond well to being hit and you get the sense that they are being hit.
Second the sound is good. The background music has a cool uptempo Japanese style. Characters say things in Japanese, which seems appropriate since they are Japanese. Even though I don't know what they're saying it's better then them speaking English and taking the authenticity away. They make good "grunt" sounds when attacking or getting hit.
Third the controls are simple and responsive. There are moves and controller combinations that are similar to Street Fighter II. That's a good thing. You can do combos, but not more than 3 or 4 hits, which is the way I like it. I hate ridicoulse combos of 10 or more hits.
Last the characters are well balanced and likable. Sure some are better than others, but a good player can beat a mediocre player no matter who they're using. Characters are unique and I found myself liking almost all of them.
This game is good if you've played the other Dynasty Warriors games and are interested in seeing familiar characters and for getting a feel how the future games evolved. You should be able to pick up this excellent fighter for less then $10. I got mine for $6.25. That's $2.26 for the game and $3.99 for shipping. That's a great deal for a great game!

Dynasty Warriors (Playstation) The Original game is what led to the other excellent Dynasty Warriors Playstation games. Challenging levels, plenty of action, awesome graphics.