SquareSoft's Most Divisive Game | The Bouncer 

I have nostalgia of it because of the earliest days of the PS2. These graphics back then were amazing.

Marilyn Mansons backup dancers really caught me off guard dude. friggin hilarious 😭

Great video! Loving the content. You got a great eye and appreciation for aesthetics that I don’t see with other channels. The Bouncer was my first game I got with my brand new PS2. That minimalist solid blue PS2 box and signature Nomura style of the Bouncer was magical as a kid.

The Bouncer had a timeless, but highly slept on artist, Shanice, sing it's outro song - Love is the Gift. It's a very pleasing song for its time.

I played this game a lot as kid when PS2 released. I played it like crazy hitting Those 1 and half hour marks. The short length really made extra play throughs a lot of fun. Plus the constant addition of techniques made helped switch it up. It’s definitely no masterpiece, but it’s charming and funny as hell. Plus Steve Blum voiced Kou. Need I say more?

I like that you always manage to find old games I've never heard of. It's insane how much this game captures the vibe of early 2000's I love it, great video!

This game actually had a really fun combat system. It just had a learning curve. The buttons used the pressure sensitive system that was barely used on the ps2. As for them moving slow it just meant you couldn’t spam your moves. It actually made you plan your attacks.

Let's gooo a new video about the funny fighting game with Sora from Kingdom Hearts as the main character

Why is it called The Bouncer when the characters don't really do any bouncer work? Volt even lets in someone underage. Like, his 1 job is to prevent that! Maybe that's what the villains motivation should have been. Make them ATF agents or something, here shut down this bar that just lets minors into their establishment.

The Bouncer rocked my world. Rented that bih 3 separate times to beat it

I see this game as a sort of experimental phase. Too bad it didn't work out. I like the way it looks too.

Whenever i see the title, i hear "T H E B O U N C E R" booming in my head 😂

The Bouncer is my favorite PS2 game. More than that, it’s my all-time favorite video game. It really means a lot to me that you didn’t unfairly trash on the game like so many other reviewers and critics did, and found the genuine good that lies within the unorthodox gameplay design. In my opinion, The Bouncer’s combat is very well-designed. The lack of a lock-on feature and the ability to dodge roll are dumbfounding, but the feel of the combat is still really good and makes great use of patience and capitalization. The combat is slow, but you can still pull off some satisfying combos and use the ragdoll physics to knock down crowds of enemies in so many creative ways. You can toss enemies into each other, use a wide-ranged attack to strike multiple enemies that are surrounding you, bait an enemy in front of you into attacking and then punish them which can knock down the rest, etc. Every battle encourages you to think of a strategy depending on how many enemies are present, what kinds of enemies they are and the layout of the arena. For example, since the robot enemies can’t be thrown or ragdolled, it’s best to play patiently and overwhelm them with a flurry of fast attacks once you see an opening (conversely, you can also spam one particularly powerful attack on them if said attack is fast enough since the robots cannot guard). There is no lock-on feature, but if you hold down the L1 button while in your battle stance, you can maintain the direction your character is facing which makes movement and guarding easier. Some characters can perform combo strings, too. Such examples include: Sion - lightly tap the Triangle button twice to perform two jabs, and then perform his Shoryuken uppercut (L1 + Circle + Triangle). You can then follow up with a low kick (X button) or a front-flip (lightly tap Circle button). Echidna - L1 + Triangle to perform a front-flip attack, and then lightly tap the Triangle button four times to perform her standard high attack combo. Leann - lightly tap the Square button twice to perform a rising double kick, and when the enemy hits the floor, lightly tap the Circle button to add on the damage with a somersault stomp. Wong - Press the Square button to perform an elbow strike, then press the Circle button to kick the enemy into the air. Once they land, lightly tap the Circle button to stomp them. Every character is capable of performing unique combos. The combat may be simple, but it is effective and tons of fun to master and occasionally exploit. As for the story, I love it. The characters are beautifully developed and realized, and the world building leaves just the right amount of questions which allow for theorizing and brainstorming. Sion is my favorite video game protagonist. The music alone is enough to get you invested in the game’s world, and the voice acting is fantastic for it being the early 2000s, a time when anime was just beginning to take off. The Bouncer is a treasure and I’m really glad to see that you appreciate it for its quirks, rather than dismiss it for the same reason like so many others do. It’s a true hidden gem and one of Square Enix’s sleeper hits.

I bought this one on day one and it's not too bad, just really underdeveloped honestly. It feels like a tech demo, sadly. Would play it again, no doubt. But, not sure I am happy with what I paid for it when it first came out. 😅

"square enix is a legendary studio that has a catalogue of classic games in its roster" *Shows FF13, Tomb Raider remake, Just Cause and Life is Strange sorry those are crap games. Classic games from Square came from the PS1 PS2 era, Everything before FF12. The Bouncer was def one of my favorites

Yo HeavynSent,love your videos man! The one on sega and namco are golden. I purchased the bouncer when it launched on ps2. Back when we are all curious of what squaresoft (in its golden years) would do with the power of the new ps 2 hardware. In thqt sense; it was an amazing tech demo which showed us the power graphics the ps2 could produced. This made it a worthy purchase back then for me. The difficulty was low and the story mode short…..it was the graphics and music that stood out. And it might have been a test project before final fantasy 10. As most of the same team worked on that “ bigger” project that was ff10. Please go on making awesome videos. Uve got me subbed.

This is one of the best game i had from squaresoft back in the day as i still own the Disc in s good condition. We used to play 4 players mode using the 4 gateway for controller. Much fun if you unlocked all characters you can experience mugetsu in his crazy form 😂

Awesome video and sort of a forgotten gem. Like The Bouncer, Capcom's Chaos Legion was another gem that sort of went forgotten after the PS2 era. It was a great hack and slash but just couldn't compete against their own Devil May Cry franchise.

5:55 The game uses the DualShock 2’s pressure sensitivity function for the combat- which can be adjusted in the game’s option menu. Basically, how light or how hard you press an attack button determines the attack a character performs.

There's never any shame in appreciating early 2000's ＳＯＰＨＩＳＴＩＦＵＴＵＲＥaesthetics. Even if the gameplay is poop.

I remember at the time seeing it in magazines and tv ads and being like cool the final fantasy company is making a streets of rage type game. Never got the game back in the day but played it on emu a few years ago and yeah it wasn't great.

I bought the game fairly recently, still haven’t played it though. I mostly bought it as a curiosity since it reminds me so much of the PS2 launch. One day, I will play it!!

Man, the video production keeps getting more admirable. Fantastic work! Anyhow, I have such specific memories of going on some trip with my parents to Michigan when I was 15, and I was trying to choose between Yakuza or the Bouncer in a dingy low lit store where the cashier thought I was fake as hell for being a girl in a game store lol. I chose yakuza lolol. Until like 2019 when I found the Bouncer and have... yet to play it

No one will ever understand my affinity for this game, must have been just a perfect time when I discovered it but it holds a special place for me. One of my all time favourite games Fun fact: Dog street as a clothing brand is referenced in KH, I forgot which entry in the series tho

I dont know if I'm trippin or what, but for 2001, the graphics and fidelity of this game is pretty impressive.

So like in FF7 is that why Shinra is called the electric power company due to SquareSoft's origins as an electric company??

"BDSM-themed skiing team" is one heck of a descriptor. A creative one. Points for that.

Every time I think of a video game or a moment in gaming that deserves more coverage, you make a video about it. And it's always well done. Salute man.

its a vibe 😎

I think I remember this game.. It did kinda suck ..😂 Not bad that good.. plan just crappy dude

Where this game really shines is 4 player fights with friends. This and Time Splitters were the only games I ever used a multitap for.

Completely agree with your adoration for the title screen. This game is such a vibe. I think it would benefit from a remaster with overhauled combat and a proper pacing/structure while keeping all of its charming absurdity.

Me with Enchanted Arms, I can't help but love it. Also, Remake the Bouncer.

Til KH had a third older long lost brother nobody talks about, glad to see Dog Streets roots.

man the very first ps2 game i ever rented when i was kid thank you for putting me back in the basement of my childhood home even if it was just for a little while...

Bought this game at a yard sale like 8 years ago and it was the best random game I ever bought all because it said “square” on it

I liked The Bouncer when it came out but I found the game so short and easy. Good thing I rent it and not bought it.

The world record speed run for this game is just under 22 minutes, so yeah, it's short without the cut scenes.

I had a friend who played this game religiously. It was a good game, but the playtime was too short.

Lol i hated this game back then. I rented it from blockbuster actually in Richmond Virginia

Did you know that this game used the pressure sensitive buttons of the PS2 Controller? For example normal kick or strong kick.

This was the one PS2 game that as a Dreamcast owner, made me jealous.

Played and beat this back in the day when it came out. Great ride.

First 5 mins of the video just waste people's time.

The Bouncer is bizarre. So it's the very beginning of the PS2 lifecycle, and it was weird. Like, really, really weird. Half the games weren't even using DVD's yet, instead came on these weird blue-tinted CD's. From Software had a bunch of games for some-reason ready to go, but really you were going to play the new Armored Core they had released. One of the most popular games in the line-up was FantaVision, and that was primarily a tech demo to showcase fireworks. The big first person shooter was the first Time-Splitters, and it had all these features but like, no real attempt at a campaign that was coherent in any traditional sense. (Was fun in co-op though) but you're go-to games were going to be primarily SSX and Tekken Tag for those first few months. Someone thought _Summoner_ was a good game for the launch of a system. Is it a bad game? Hell no. But you know. It's _Summoner._ The PS2 didn't have like, a traditional library of single-player games yet, which is wild because the system would eventually become almost synonymous with high-budget single-player games. A lot of modern game design can be found in this era on this system. So Dark Cloud finally comes out a month later, but everyone really is waiting for Square's first big drop and that's this game. It was shown all-over-the-place at E3's, but never in playable form. We all know it's going to be this huge technical feast. The game has cut-scene work way ahead of it's time. It has to be the very first game to animate mouths on characters for both Japanese and English dubs, something not even Final Fantasy X would do. Seriously, go back and check that out. It's wild where the resources went for this project. But it played terribly. All of the footage that was shown at the E3 events turned out to be concept videos only. The advertising of this game originally billed it as an action RPG didn't help either. And when the game was finally released, the advertising pivoted into it being a big... Interactive movie. To showcase how incoherent everything was: I remember friends in middle school lamenting the lack of towns... In The Bouncer. Which at the time, I would not have blamed them given _how_ Square was hyping this game. And then everyone forgot it. Whats wild about this era of PS2 is how quickly it evaporated. The next year both Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X would drop and everything changed. People even forgot that PS2 games came on CD's as well as DVD's that's how fast things changed. They forgot a format that games came on for the system, so of course they forgot about Square fumbling the fundamentals of a big budget release.

Nice video, i need to play this game in my ps2

I just couldn't get into it but I respect it. It's better than most games they make these days.

The first game i played on my ps2 ❤

J-Jank character action

Yet another interesting game I've never heard of. Ngl I stopped fairly early into the video, found a walkthrough of The Bouncer on yt, watched it and came back to finish this video. So I guess I can confirm, cutscenes are appealing. I wanna say it's shame it's shame the game is so short, but I kinda needed that between watching all of the JRPGs. Back in the day when I had time to play games (and didn't have RSI) I used to get excited to get to every cutscene, it was like a reward for me, so no wonder I enjoy watching cutscenes from games like this. Also it seems I can't resist anything Tetsuya Nomura works on. No matter how frustrating it can get, seems I am pulled towards anything he has worked on.

Kakuto Chojin is a successor to this game as far as a battle royal.

I remember when this game first came out and man I loved it, coming from PS1 graphics to this was a big leap! At the time the controls didn’t bother me but I do own it today and see the flaws so I feel like it’s just one of them games you had to be there to fully love it

I had this growing up. Loved it as a kid. Thought it was really cool. Didn't know what a bouncer was. Haven't played it in years but now think of it as being flawed but fondly remembered. I remember a mechanic where occasionally you could pull off special combo moves with your NPC teammates. A problem with the levelling mechanic is that enemies level up whenever you do, so it's not even necessarily worth it, but some of the early moves you can learn definitely make a big difference. I also remember some of the moments when they switched away from fighting gameplay. Mostly when Kou put on one of the enemies' suits and sneaked through the building while having to press the right buttons to do the special secret greeting to other guards.

Man, I just found ur channel! Love the idea and the videos concept (a little bit gaming, a little bit nostalgia, and a little bit artsy cinematography and screenwriting of does games) Keep up bruh!

No cactuars lol

Love your work

One word… phenomenal

THE BOUNCER! Nice video 👍🏻

Intro way too long. I have seen a video game before.