The Bouncer on PlayStation 2! (THE WORST SQUARESOFT GAME?)

I used to play the crap out of this back in the day. I think it was one if the first ps2 games I ever owned. Along with Dark Cloud and some others. It might have worked better as a 2D beat em up. Or an rpg like the classic Final Fantasy games you know before 10. It was ok, but also incredibly short. Now wonder Enix had to join forces with Square lol. Cheers Sean!

Final Fantasy the beat em up !

Oh, so THIS was the game that took advantage of the pressure sensitive button...lol

I really liked this game when I was a stupid 12 year old lol. Oh the days when you had only 1 or 2 games and HAD to rationalize them being good because there was nothing else to play.

Have you ever played the motorcycle-ass game Kinetica? I remember it being cool and fun but with some bitch ass rubberbanding.

I love you.

Wicked funny dude. Never played the Bouncer but I loved this vid!
Also glad you called them out on character design because DAMN sometimes Square is SO BAD at that and no one EVER seems to notice.

Great reviews! I remember wanting this game so bad and when I finally got around to playing thinking it sucked ass. Now looking back it, I think it is ass, and suck.

What a sack of crap this game was! I played through the thing, finished it, and have no reason to ever return to it--it annoyed the hell out of me how little gameplay there was and how much time was spent LOADING to the next fight!
Thing is, I was stoked when this game was announced. I enjoyed beat-em-ups, I loved Square, this looked gorgeous, and the idea of a cinematic experience with a leveling up system in a brawler spoke to me and enticed me and then I played it.... Ugh. On the bright side, thought I bought my PS2 day one, I only initially rented this game and it wasn't until years later I found it in a bargain bin and added it to the collection.

Good stuff!

This was a really funny review! For some reason I like watching reviews of games where the reviewer really dislikes the game haha

No one goes unbounced 😂❤

Too bad this game wasn't just like Roadhouse with Patrick Swayze. Bc that would've been f**king sweet!

I must be one of the very few who actually kinda liked this game. Grabbed it used pretty cheap, but I beat it a good number of times. Enjoyable beat 'em up, baaaad execution.

The Bouncer is my all-time favorite video game. This game means the world to me, and I’m admittedly very bummed to hear just how much of a bad reputation it has. I think The Bouncer is criminally misunderstood and wrongfully dismissed, it’s a much better game than people think.

The gameplay is very well designed, only with a few imperfections here and there. The pressure sensitivity feature allows for tons of experimentation and custom combos—once you’ve fully leveled up your fighters and have gained access to their full movesets, The Bouncer becomes an addicting experience. Combined with the special moves you can obtain, there are so many different ways to fight, and the various enemy types (humans, dogs, robots) allow for different strategies to be applied while fighting them: dogs are best dealt with by relying on low attacks, robots are slow which encourages using fast attacks that are difficult for them to punish, etc. The combat is deep and involving once you really take the time to master it, and every character excels in different attributes—Echidna is great at fighting from a distance, Volt is a powerful grappler who can easily nullify an enemy’s guard with his throw attacks... every fighter is useful in their own way.

The characters are lovable and intriguing, I think Tetsuya Nomura’s designs for The Bouncer are some of the best, if not the best work he’s done. Sion Barzahd is my favorite character in the game, and my favorite video game protagonist. Kaldea’s design is beautiful too, and Dauragon’s appearance is cool. Each character stands out from each other and you can really get a feel for who they are based on their looks alone.

The story is very well written but not many people fully understand it, and those who hate the game are usually the ones who don’t get the plot at all. Mikado is a wealthy mega-corporation with large technological prowess, led by Dauragon. Following the assassination of the previous Mikado leader who happened to be Dauragon’s adoptive father, Dauragon rose to leadership in the Mikado Group after being prepared by a longtime servant of the Mikado family, Wong Leung, specifically by means of martial arts training from Wong and academic success acquired by Dauragon’s own efforts. As a child, before encountering Wong and the former Mikado leader, Dauragon, alongside his sister Dominique were orphaned and Dominique had been suffering from a severe illness, which was slowly killing her. Frantically searching for a hospital that could treat her, Dauragon was ultimately turned away by the only hospital nearby. Wong and Master Mikado found the two kids and quickly rushed to the next available hospital.

Unfortunately Dominique passed away due to the illness, and Dauragon was approached by Wong to inform him of the plans to pass leadership of Mikado over to Dauragon once he came of age. Master Mikado desired to adopt Dauragon as his son under the conditions that he excel academically, mentally healthy and physically fit. When Dauragon earned leadership of Mikado, he used his new power to revive Dominique by any means necessary. The result was a robotic replica created in the image of the original Dominique, but lacking the memories of said original. When this replica came to be, she felt uncomfortable in her current surroundings and, with help from Wong, escaped Mikado territory and found herself lost in the middle of town.

Dauragon had been hatching plans for revenge against humanity for rejecting him and Dominique as children and resented society for forcing him to work himself to death to become worthy of leading Mikado, viewing himself as being superior above the rest due to the hardships he had to take in order to reach his current position. Under this belief, Dauragon sought to rule the world with the technology granted to him by Mikado, using Dominique’s circuitry to link up to a satellite launched in outer space to provide infinite energy to those that choose to serve him, while using that same energy to destroy anyone that refuses him. Of course, he needs Dominique to make this plan work, so he dispatches a team of special forces units, led by Mugetsu, to find Dominique and bring her back to Dauragon so that these plans can be put in motion.

Sion, as a child, was also orphaned, and after a chance encounter with Wong Sion asked to be his student after being amazed by Wong’s martial arts prowess. Wong initially declined as he is prohibited to take any disciples and suggested Sion go home, but upon learning of Sion’s homelessness, Wong takes Sion in anyway, serving as his martial arts teacher while also caring for him like a son. As Sion grew older, he soon met a young girl named Kaldea Orchid who would spectate Sion’s training sessions and spend time with him when he was free. The two formed a close friendship.

One day, Wong mysteriously vanished without Sion knowing why, and Kaldea suggested notifying the police to search for him under the impression that Wong was in an accident, but Sion reassures her that Wong is not the type to get caught up in an accident, let alone die by either that or attempted murder. Shortly afterwards, Kaldea earned a job at the Mikado corporation, and Sion rewarded her a special pendant as a gift. Sion and Kaldea had grown significantly closer to each other as time passed and formed a romantic relationship.

Unfortunately, a tragic explosion occurred at Kaldea’s workplace and she was killed from said explosion. Upon learning this, Sion bursted in rage and believed her death to be a lie. As the truth unraveled itself and Sion realized Kaldea really was gone, his anger turned into depression, becoming engulfed in suicidal thoughts and would pick fights with strangers on the street with intent to be killed, though with his newfound martial arts skills, it’s safe to assume Sion caused a lot of harm to those who stood in his way. When a nervous young man directed Sion to a bar named Fate, telling him that the bouncer who works there could kill Sion, Sion entered the bar and caused a large melee, scaring away the customers and catching the attention of the bar’s bouncer, Volt Krueger. Provoking Volt into a fight, Sion managed to keep up very well against him and impressed the bartender, offering Sion the opportunity to work as a bouncer alongside Volt. Sion accepts.

Just shortly after becoming a bouncer, Sion encounters the escaped Dominique while on a late night run downtown. Sion decides to take Dominique in to live with him upon realizing her homelessness. Dominique, being a replica with no memories of her original self, does not know what it’s like to experience emotion and compassion, whereas Sion, after losing Kaldea, had given up on relationships and the like, not wanting to open himself up to anyone else as a result of the severe emotional damage he suffered from. Though Sion closed off his heart, spending time with Dominique helped him rediscover what it meant to care for someone and form a bond—this was also Dominique’s first time experiencing this. Sion found himself opening up again little by little and treated Dominique like a little sister or perhaps a daughter—any which way, Sion acted as Dominique’s guardian. On the night of Sion’s one-year anniversary as a bouncer, Dominique gifts him a special pendant.

This same night is when the Mikado forces invade the bar and attack Sion, Volt and newly hired bouncer Kou Leifoh. Dominique is kidnapped and Sion wastes no time in pursuing the Mikado Group and rescuing her. With help from Kou and Volt, Sion charges forward and upon infiltrating Mikado territory, learns many shocking truths relating to his past that ultimately turn his life upside-down. One such revelation has to do with Kaldea, Sion’s girlfriend, who never actually died—her death was faked and she was subjected to experiments by the Mikado Corp using their custom Bionoid technology, a special tech that transforms a human’s internal organs into mechanical workings. These experiments granted Kaldea the power to shapeshift into a panther, but it also aged her up by approximately ten years, and when Sion encountered her within the Mikado building, he did not recognize her at first because of the age gap. Upon Dominique’s initial rescue, Sion hugs her in relief, with this being the very first time Sion has shown genuine emotion towards Dominique, a sign of his growth. Dominique takes great comfort in this hug as it is her first exposure to an act of love coming from someone who is usually silent and emotionless.

Later, it is revealed to Sion that Dominique is an android, a replica of the original who died from the terminal illness. The experiments performed on Kaldea were to help Dominique become more of a human. At the end of the story, upon learning that Dominique is not truly human, Sion resolves to put that aside anyway and wishes for her to live a happy, normal life regardless, planning to inform Dominique of her robotic “life” when he feels the time is right. Sion thanks Dominique for the pendant she gave him, and with both characters having found new appreciation for each other’s love, shelter and compassion, Dominique hugs Sion just like when he hugged her upon her initial rescue. The credits theme, Love Is The Gift, is the main theme song of The Bouncer, meant to convey Dominique’s message to Sion following everything he’s done for her.

There is much, much more to the story than what I’ve written here, but this is all to show you that The Bouncer is an incredible game with a tarnished image. I encourage you to take another look at the game and try to see all of the good that it has, and acknowledge the quality of it all. In my opinion, The Bouncer is not a bad game by any means, it was just subjected to unfair expectations it was never meant to meet.

i actually liked this game

Great review.....the game looks and sounds awful but I absolutely want to get a copy 😂

This game wasn't great but it looked freaking amazing in 2001. There was nothing that looked even remotely as great as this in any system. These models looked insane at the time. It was more of a tech demo than a game but holy shit did it look freaking incredible.

Haha, I remember when this was announced, everyone was so hyped like they thought it was going to be a huge game changer for the world of gaming. Then it came out and everyone was like WTF!? 😂
Great review, absolutely love the new channel vibes bro!

Hell nah. I loved this game. Even wanted to be a bouncer when I got older. (Got my chance for the Mayweather/ Paul fight) not as enjoyable as going on an adventure to save your gf with your best friends 😂

I played it, love and hated it all in the same release day. Totally a test project for fight mechanics.

This is my favorite playable movie. Zeno saga is my second. It was fun when i played it at release it was annoying with the cut scenes back then too thats with ps1 loadscreen patiants. But i was amazed with the graphics. Still not bad looking

I was 10 years when i played this and this shit introduced me to "fighting" and "martial arts"! Today i still practice. I loved the game and the arena mode! I still remember i always used the antagonist in there.
Nice review tho! Cheers

people that didn't like the bouncer were ppl that were shit when it came to playing it. Even the multiplayer mode was 🔥

I think the concept was good and this is in my top favorite games ever!!

Was a sick game for its time the cinematic was like holy shit playing vs with your mates was amazing hitting them like 10foot in the air the 3 man combo you could do in the story was so brutal and the characters were amazing it’s only real down fall for me was the camera angles and the story was a little unexplained like why is cat lady cat lady is mugezu a crackhead is volt the devil aha but seriously everyone has their opinion on it I guess I had a better time as it was something me and my mates would play and me and my cousin would grind out trying to get all the characters

My all time favorite PS2 game, nobody can ever make me dislike this game. Forever stained in my life as one of my favorites since 2000.

I played the shit out of this game back in the days lol

I had heard this was supposed to be a sequel to Ehrgeiz on PS1.

But has the best graphics on PS2 .it actually has shaders and lighting

The rag doll physics was added for the player to chain combos with in the air, even thought it isn’t that great. The game is a C rating at best, would’ve been nice if more features were added.

Unpopular opinion but I would’ve liked a sequel. 😂

This is only his opinion guys...don't take it to the heart...

If the bouncer wasn't advertised heavily and advertised as a really good game, it would not have disappointed so many people. Plus the game got better graphics them the actual game deserved. That being said I absolutely loved the game. The enemies bouncing off each other just from falling down. Some games do that when you throw someone at another.

Pretty awesome game, used to set up cpu brawls and do tournaments and shit it was actually sweet

Nothing wrong with it tbh. Short and sweet I call it.

I was excited for this game but then I read in game informer magazine that it wasn't finished. Square soft allegedly forced dream factory to release it unfinished and that was the reason why they allegedly didn't have a relationship anymore. I bought it and I played it. I was disappointed in the fight system. It was supposed to incorporate using the environment to fight like a bar fight... I think that was in the early demo.... Nevertheless I bought it. Played it. Love the graphics and story and the endings. Dealt with the bad gameplay. Overall it was ok.

No lie I keep a copy on my shelf.... I had fun with it as a kid.

How dare you, you uncultured swine. Game was the sickest game.

Kind of funny that the guy doing the review looks like one of the characters in the game. It was intentional right?

Anyone who genuinely claims that this game is bad gets no opinion on anything

Honestly if this got a ps5 remake it would be awesome

This game was amazing. First game on ps2!!! A remake should happen

its not shion XD it's sion. You cant judge a game if you don't know enough about it to get the main character's name right. Playing as different characters doesn't just change dialogue, there are entire sequences that are different. No idea where you're getting the "Duragon loves his sister too much" thing... Nothing even remotely hints at that, in fact, he basically says he has no emotional attachment to it during the final altercation with him. Other than that, spot on. The game is basically a square enix 80s action movie

This game needs to be on ps5!!!

This game was AMAZING. What the actual fuck?

you're telling me that you didn't enjoy the game? you're a liar.

Man that was a hilarious review! You got yourself a new fan of the channel. The game sounds so bad I feel like trying it just for the fun factor. Keep up the great work, dude!

No one goes unbounced

I appreciate the atmosphere of this game. It’s one of those ones that I wouldn’t want out of my collection.

there aren’t many games that have this niche and edge to it. I love that it was full of combat and no spells and magic. That stuff is everywhere and boring.
Could’ve had some better modes. Maybe if they had released something like this today on the ps5 but with more characters and longer story. It has potential. Would love to see something like this now with a bigger budget.

One of my all time favorites ✨

I have been searching for this game... For a solid 4 years damn