The Best Berserk Adaptation We Never Got 

The translation was actually done by an Italian team, and the naming choices mostly reflect those used in the Italian translation of the manga. That's also why there are so many grammatical and spelling errors.

I dont care if its beating a dead horse, I still think its funny how this game has better animation than the 2016 anime.

One thing the game does really good is making u feel like guts , the tired feeling of fighting endless monsters. It literally makes ur hands ache after a while.

From Software's Miyazaki said he would love to make a berserk game only when Muria finished his story. I still hope for it to exist

"It's better than nothing" the phrase that haunts this series. I know this game is good but still there's always something with a Berserk product

To be fair. In the manga as well. Crossbow and knifes got more and more ineffective and less used as time went on. Enemies got so big and tough that dragonslayer is the only viable weapon alongside cannon agaisnt mid sized opponents Edit:wow this is my biggest like amount ever. Thanks guys!

Pro tip: The berserk devil trigger mode boosts your brand execution chance by a HUGE amount, you're guaranteed to get one after just a few attacks. Deactivate the rage mode and do an execution, it will fill the meter back up. If you're good at it you can essentially keep it going forever and always be Berserk™.

the Musou game could've at least had the fun novelty of letting you play as Skull Knight but instead we got a Wyald that sounds like a gorilla on helium

Now I know which game developers should make a good adaptation Berserk game, the same group that made the Ninja Gaiden black game Series A hack and slash bloody game

If they make another Berserk game, they should use this graphical art style. It has SOUL.

15:01 Sekiro actually has that too, they added a several boss rushes in the 2020 update

I think it's pretty easy to see why they didn't bring this game to the Western market. Berserk for 2004 was quite unknown in the international market, things were not like today, there were no social networks, youtube, or way to read manga as it is currently done, today everyone finds out what happens in Japan instantly, you had to wait a lot of time to see official translated works, and the culture around anime and manga is more generalized, it could be said that today it is a social status largely due to youtubers and influencers. Even in 2004, being a follower of these materials classified you as a weirdo or a misfit. In those years I remember that the only way to read berserk outside of Japan was to download some very poor resolution JPGs that some fans translated from Japanese to French, a product for very involved people, outside of Japan few people would have understood the Playstation 2 game as it should be, and it would have been a loss to produce it for the western public.

I wanna see From Software make a Berserk game.

11:01 - this move looks so cool, fluid and dynamic. there is some beautiful combat animation in this game that puts a lot of modern games to shame.

I would love if this got a modern port or a sequel that captures most of the series.

Cutting stuff in this game is super fun and satisfying! I'd love to see a Berserk game with similar cutting mechanics to Metal Gear Rising.

7:08 That's really cool. A monster using its cut off limb as a weapon is hilarious and a great game design.

I wasn't really too aware of Berserk up until like two weeks ago when I watched TheAlmightyLoli's 20+ hour long video going through the whole series, and I loved it. Now I notice videos about Berserk coming out like once a week from different people. It's like TOOL but for manga. Everybody loves it and everybody wants more and everybody has their own interpretations and feelings and has been influenced by it.

>PS2 Goddamn, that brings back memories

- the kunai can be used to distract and blind some enemies so you can walk past them without having to kill every single one. - you can actually deactivate your rage meter before you perform the fatality so it doesn't deplete while you are performing the action.

4:45 *i like the pushback* like such a canon would have ALSO you are pushed into enemies if u dont pay attention

I wish I could remember what magazine and what issue... I think it was a Gamepro... I just remember it was a year, maybe two, before the PS3 released. Anyway, there was a short blurb talking about this game, not even a page, just one of those like, half to third of a page rapid-fire type articles about other games coming out that wasn't the big stuff they were pushing hard. There was a screenshot of the fight against Zodd, and there apparently was talk at the time about localizing it. I went down to the local Gamestop and Hollywood Video once a week to ask about if there was any news on an official release for it. But alas, any plans for release were just... quietly cancelled. Thank god for emulation and translators. I love this game.

For real the PS2 was amazing, so many games on it that felt almost Indie, points of awful this game sucksness, then right after amazing moments of value within them.

Some Castlevania games have boss rush modes, the two that immediately come to mind are Curse of Darkness and Aria of Sorrow

Why did all Berserk adaptations not get as much love as this masterpiece of a franchise deserves ?! 😭

If Gungrave, Fear Effect Reinvented, and Dead Island 2 can return from the dead? Maybe one day we'll get great game adaptations for Berserk, Ghost In The Shell, and Fist of the North Star. Bit concerned for Fear Effect, it isn't a fixed camera and tank control game like the original. Hope we don't got another XIII Remake 2020 disaster here.

Really glad you keep finding hidden gems like this.

I'm very happy that someone made this video because it's the only Berserk game that I also liked. The introduction.. the cgi video.. the music.. and the sword swinging, dismembering gameplay feels Berserk unlike anything. Fromsoftware games don't have this feeling like it.

The best way to earn XP is with the kill counter, which pretty much defines the gameplay loop. You want that counter to go as high as possible, as the XP rewards for big kill combos are pretty substantial: at 10 or kills you only get a few hundred XP, but after 50 kills you get a few thousand, and eventually tens of thousands once you break that 100 kill mark. You have a few seconds after each kill before your combo drops, so the goal is to kill at a steady pace; fast enough so as not to get overwhelmed and knocked down (thus dropping your combo), but slow enough so you don't run out of things to kill (and dropping your combo). This makes those little 5 XP monsters become SUPER valuable, because having a steady batch of enemies to one-shot ensures that you can keep that combo rolling. Weapons like bombs and the cannon basically serve as tools to ensure that tankier enemies don't force you to drop your combo. It's an intricate (and bloody) balancing act that ultimately makes the game far more entertaining than just flailing wildly in a direction until done. You kinda float into a zen-like state after a while, becoming centered and at peace as you carefully dismember Eldritch horrors with a sharpened dinner table on a stick. As weird as this may sound, in practice this feels a lot like the combo system in Bayonetta, and rewards you in a very similar fashion.

I got a physical PS2 hack kit that got you past the PAL coding and played it in Japanese. It was awesome. I had read translations of the manga before so I kind of knew what was happening.

Cvit I want to say thank you for getting me into the series. I first watched the 90s anime and I thought it was ok, then the three movies and thought the same thing. Well long story short there was a point in my life where I fell into a really deep depression, to the point where I just didn't know if I could go on anymore. One day I saw your Berserk 2016 video and had a laugh, then I watched all of your Berserk videos. You always spoke of how much you loved the story and I won't lie, I'm not a big manga reader, but you keep saying "read the manga". So I picked it up and you were right, the show and movies are ok but the manga is entirely different and how the story pulled me in with each page. I look at life so differently now and I feel that I can pick up the pieces and keep on fighting. I now own all the deluxe edition and I want to say thank you for getting me into such an amazing story.

14:56 _Sekiro_ allows you to re-fight boss battles, though I was rather disappointed to see that the feature did not re-appear in _Elden Ring._

Now wait a moment, Yuke's DID develop "THE DOG Island", a game that has a lot of really funny plot overlap with Nier despite coming out in 2007 (Oh and I hear their EDF games are okay)

I wish we got more of the 1997 anime that shit made me love the series then I read the manga and it blew my mind.

I would love a berserk game that adapts most of the story and uses the golden age to introduce new mechanics and enemy types during flash backs. Just an idea.

Played this game before watching this video and as soon as I booted it up, the first thing I noticed were the animations. I was blown away by how practical and realistic every movement felt. When you hold triangle to do a heavy swing, he literally plants his feet firmly before the swing, and leans his whole weight back to swing the sword and then loses his entire balance and tumbles forward after the swing. Only few games exist that really make you feel the weight of swinging a big sword and I would say this one is the best i've seen so far

Imagine that ps2 games on emulator, 4K pcsx2, it rocks so much even for today's graphical standard, the models are drawn on texture respecting miura s style 200%, nothing beats it

6:34 Dude you tried to grab a fury while two antenoras were going after you, of course you were going to get hit.

I watched your video that covered the berserk game literally just yesterday and this shit drops. Epic timing as usual Cvit.

13:08 The game expects you to replay levels for the red spriggans and high experience upgrades. After completing a chapter, you’ll be taken to the select screen which you can replay levels that are repopulated by sacrifice arenas which have Guts fight hoards of enemies with the level having a limited number of enemies starting at 100% and, once completely vacant, gives you a piece to a secret weapon unlockable. As mentioned, the red spriggans are also found exclusively during replay and function like the sacrifice arenas where you fight a bunch of enemies and then get an upgrade. Completing replays is about as tedious as the main game, and I’m pretty sure the unlockable weapon is just a large version of Puck’s dandelion thing from the manga.

I didn't know about this game. Mission accomplished haha and thank you for shining some light on it.

It would be so cool if they did a remake of this game knowing what people know about making good games and were able to add that to the experience. Imagine from software doing an actual beserk game with good souls combat and difficulty. That would be epic

Only one minute in and I completely agree with you that the PS2 version was incredible especially for its time. You could feel the weight of the swings and the stall time as he rebalanced felt perfect. It takes some of the most action-packed parts of the manga for the content. Mowing down trolls was amazing and the recent ps4 version just did not do it for me at all. But the Dreamcast game was amazing in its own right and the fact that it was a standalone story was brilliant.

congrats for the 200k 🔥🔥

if u think about it, it makes sense that guts would level up most from battling trees because before he fought monsters his main way of leveling up was swinging his sword at trees.

Red Ninja: End of Honor ps2/xbox is a game that doesn't have a lot of coverage on it. Its an interesting stealth game that is flawed(very) but I just want to see someone cover it, please.

when this game came out originally sadly the manga wasn't as well known as it is now... I still remember watching gameplay of guts' rage for the dreamcast in a local show from my country back in like 1999... or 2000 and that was my very first exposure to berserk and it was a very short clip and had me totally impressed as a kid wanting to know more about this guy with a huge sword. I had to w8 until like 2006 to find out more about it and even at 2010s nobody knew what berserk was on my circle of friends or whenever I bring it up on forums, chats, etc. So not really surprise this game didn't got a western release. I did beat this game all on jp on my ps2 back in the day, this game is so good the devs put a lot of effort and care to bring the source material into a video game format something we barely see now days.. it's sad it does ends when it gets so good I remember when I got the berserk armor and how I was moving so freely I thought "hell yeah I finally unlocked the ultimate upgrade!" all that for the game to end right after............. (I wish at the very least they let ya use it on NG+ but nah) been waiting for a sequel ever since and it never came and prob never will🤬.

7:23 you really just described every dark souls boss fight

Just got this game a month ago to try it out, glad to see it getting more love, also your voice is fucking awesome for this type of content

Fantastic video! Hoping for a localization or even remake one day. Berserk deserves it, and so do its fans.

probably the most butter-smooth combat i've ever seen in a game.

Aaaah anime licensed games that screams "potential", one of many such cases unfortunately. I think you really hit the nail on the head with the idea that the worst thing that came out of this is that we never got a sequel but alas, it do be like that sometime. 😔

Great video! I'm happy to finally see someone break down the combat mechanics of this game. I'm actually making a Berserk fan game that I would love for you to play once it's ready. If you frequent the Berserk subreddit you may have seen my update videos for it.

Is it weird to say the Dreamcast game is what got me into Berserk? Probably, but seeing that it got a sequel is really cool, it’s just too bad it only got a fan translating so long later rather than a full localization like it deserves.

BASED. This game deserves more recognition. Even Guts' 3D model is awesome. When you get the Berserker Armor at the end you FEEL how much better it controls and i love how its animated like an actual animal.

The Intro-Cinematic alone..... When it came out, i only had that and i wished soooooo much to play it.... it was like THE DREAM for a Berserk Fan. And the music of the cinematic 😍😭

The great thing about the dreamcast and ps2 games is that Miura (rip) himself was involved, so you got a real treat. I guess if a studio asked him for an original story for an anime based on berserk he will be more than willing (and enthusiastic) to add to the lore and richness of the world of berserk more. But unfortunately that didn't happen. At least we got 40 volumes of it, an anime & 2 games that all are great in their own right.

I just want to let you know, that everything you said in this video is my exact opinion, exact thoughts. Opinions and thoughts that I didn't have words for are now your exact words. I have had arguments with people where I said basically what you're saying but not as well. Thank you for giving me a video I can now send people to. REALLY, THANK YOU!!! AND COMMENDS!!!!

I love the counter sequences you can do in this game

I'm sorry but the " some realy good and some, uh... BOING*" IS SO FUNNY

I've been curious on what your thoughts are with it being continued and a couple of new chapters out. Idk if you're gonna do a video on it or not but I was curious. Great video!

really like the heart apostle idea, having to fight the band of the hawk would be heart breaking😶‍🌫

Also I wonder how much Eve of Extinction influenced this game, given I recall the greatsword type weapon borrowing from Sword of the Berserk's Dragonslayer moveset

this needs a remake, fire of a game this would be a great project

I got into berserk because of it's one of the main inspirations for Drakengard, which is a PS2 game. The PS2 really had some dark fantasy masterpieces.

I'll say this regarding DMC 5, there are animations that do affect enemies near you, such as the lizard enemy grab and swing which can hit enemies nearby. Some of the finisher animations are more interactive with the area around you than others.

its weird watching the first few minutes of this video since i saw your editing stream lol

I loved the video and thanks I would have never known the game without you I just finished it and I loved it

I actually really like your reasoning for why this is such a great adoptation.

The intro to the game itself is so godly.

Still the only channel icon that I can't get rid of my head

I remember playing this game when I was young. I was scared and creaped out by the design of the monsters the music. I couldn't finish it. Now as an adult I am looking for gameplay footage of the game I was scared to finish as a kid.

If anything, this amazing game gave us Sign and so many cool moments of film. Love it

The intro for this game is cool.

Kunai builds up the special attack brand thing. So if you want to spam that the kunai is semi- useful. As I recall, it's been really long

Schnoz is love, Schnoz is life

Edit: reading the manga WHILE listening to the ost from the first anime adaptation is the definitive way to experience Berserk ;)

Berserk song called sign in the introduction of game was awesome

Guts fighting illusions of The Band of the Hawk has to be a gut wrenching moment

great video bro

You made some good points especially the one about schnoz, how dare they make a berserk game without letting us play as the main character no wonder it flopped

Amazing video, I agree totally!

Ive noticed that when you use the kunai it stuns the enemies for a moment this may be an upgraded feature but I remember reading that it can blind the enemy (stunning)

4:44 Minecraft Steve pain sound effect There, now you hear it too, you're welcome

Fun fact, the enemies actually have a finite spawn limit and you can completly and perminantly empty levels of enemies. this usally takes multiple runs and intentional farming however

How tf does an animation from 2004-2005 is smoother and pleasing to the eyes than those CGI Berserk.

Everytime I hear people hoping for a Berserk game made by From Software I always think the same, that would fail cuz of everything stated at 5:57, Yuke's way is the correct way of doing it

I had this game at the time of it’s release and played a little bit of it. Because it was completely in Japanese at the time, long before I would learn of the fan translation, I lost interest in playing the rest, However. My Best Friend at the time was Obsessed with this game, and continued to play the rest of it every time he came to my house, also he was collecting every Volume of the Manga so he knew more or less what was happening in the game without a translation. Long story short I got to see that Epic Final Boss Battle between Guts and Zodd with the Main Theme playing in the background, still Epic to this day.

als im rly happy u brought up the exp, when i played this game years ago i farmed those trees for hours on end to upgrade guts, it was hell. still a rly fun game tho

I would love to see a Berserk game like this in the future. I would love to see a Vampire Hunter D game as well. It has over 30 awesome novels worth of content that would be perfect for a dark fantasy hack and slash game. Maybe even Claymore as well.

*Dragonslayer CLANG* Heheh… Never gets old.

Please you are our (Nostalgia God) please never ever leave this space or private your existence.

3:12 I'm pretty sure that move is referencing when Guts did that move against the Kushan assassins when Isidro first sees him.

Don't have to lie still berserk is in my to read list and even never seen 1 movie or a ep from a Anime but for some reason I always come to see some thing about berserk.

Fromsoft needs to adapt Berserk in all its glory.

Imagine a co-developed Berserk game made by FromSoft (level design, atmosphere) and Platinum Games (combat). That might be the most perfect adaptation of the manga.

downloading a rom of sword of etheria solely cuz that lil devil imp at 12:53 is super cute

Great video. One question , did you use an old version of psx2 or how did you fix the half black screen problem ? I wanted to try it after watching the video

Good vid cvit👍

Still have my copy I imported from Japan back in the 2000s. Amazing game even by today's standards. The dismember system is still some of the most amazing things I've seen in any game. At one time I'm slashing through a crowd and as one monsters torso is flying behind gutsu, I did a overhead swing to kill another monster but in doing so, cut that flying torse in half just from lifitng the blade over the back of his head, amazing. Also one important thing I feel is heavily overlooked on this game, the music is done Susumu Hirasawa. The same composer who did the music for the 90s anime series that is so legendary and iconic with berserk. I actually have songs from this game my berserk music playlist when I'm reading the manga etc. The 3D art direction in this game is really something else. I feel this is one of those instances that they actually succeeded to bring anime to 3D