Collection essentials #547: DreamMix TV: World Fighters

With the success of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. series, it’s no surprise that there would be imitators. Here’s an interesting one that only saw the light of day in Japan. DreamMix TV was developed by a little-known company called Bitstep, and published by Hudson, and they managed to get rights from video game giant Konami and toy company Takara for a rather quirky crossover roster.

The game looks at first glance like a Smash Bros. ripoff, but it doesn’t quite play the same. The objective of Smash Bros. is to knock your opponent(s) off the stage, which becomes easier to do the more a character has been beaten up. But ring-outs aren’t a thing in DreamMix TV. Instead, characters have health a little more like in a regular fighting game (although it’s represented strangely, with every characters’ health represented in relation to one another in the same meter at the bottom of the screen). When you knock down a character who has no health, a large heart flies out of them, and if an opponent manages to snatch the heart before they do, that character is “out.” The last one standing wins. It’s possible to collect heart coins during the match to increase health.

This is a much smaller-scale game than the second Smash Bros. which was already a couple years old at the time. There are far fewer modes of play, characters have fewer moves, and there are no items to use in battle to spice things up and/or turn the tides. However, simply being “not as good as Smash Bros.” does not mean that a game is bad, as Smash sets a very high bar to clear.

DreamMix TV’s odd roster is its main draw. It’s a weird one that you probably wouldn’t see in a modern crossover. Some of the faces are quite recognizable, including Solid Snake and Simon Belmont before they appeared in Smash. Other characters include Bomberman (who appeared in Smash but not in playable form), Master Higgins from Adventure Island, Yugo from Bloody Roar, Optimus Prime and Megatron from Transformers, and Tyson from Beyblade. There are some odd choices too and some characters that would really only be recognizable in Japan. The character that amuses me the most is the Moai head from Konami’s shoot-’em-up series Gradius. Those games often feature large enemy Moai heads inspired by the real-life statues from Easter Island, which are usually stationary (only pivoting in place) and shoot circular laser beams at you. Moai as a playable character in this game moves slowly and awkwardly by spinning around and can shoot said lasers. It’s such a strange addition, and I love it. The game features stages to fight on that represent the different universes that these characters are from along with remixed music, which is a really nice touch.

DreamMix TV is a good and fun game, but it’s really not a great game due to being pretty shallow and lacking a sufficient amount of content. But it’s a fun little game to pull out when friends are over who would recognize a few of these characters, and it makes for a good multiplayer session. 

I can’t remember precisely when I first heard about DreamMix TV, but I think it was the late 2000s. I was immediately intrigued by the character roster, and got my hands on the game before very long. I have enjoyed breaking it out with friends from time-to-time. It’s never going to replace Smash Bros., but it’s great for when you want something a little different. For being an amusing crossover and a nice multiplayer option, it’s earned its place in my collection as an essential.