Catalogue No. - T-18701G

        I remember seeing a very early beta of Battle Monsters four months before the Saturn's Japanese launch. Back then it was called Van Battle and all I can remember saying is "Oh My God, Please don't let this be the final version" About six months later the final version was released in Japan as part of the 1st batch of Saturn games under the name of Battle Monsters. To my amazement, the game looked just the same as the early beta. I feared for the worst as I picked up the pad. All I can say is, if you MUST have EVERY fighter on the Saturn then buy this one, if not, stay well clear. The really odd thing is that I quite like this game because it's so bad, but then again I am a bit strange.  It's not that Battle Monsters looks bad.  In fact for it's time it looks better than most of the other pre-rendered 2D fighters including Mortal Kombat.  The problem with Battle Monsters is the loose controls.  There's no sense of contact or any real feel of moves being pulled off.  Everything seems too loose.  Add the crazy physics when jumping and you find yourself just mashing the buttons in hope of pulling of some sort of move.