I went into this game expecting caveman Devil May Cry and I was not disappointed. Seems to me like the game has the same vibe and soul as DMC, even in how Zan calling himself "The Super Ultra Sexy Hero" reminded me of stuff like "Smokin' Sexy Style".

The controls and combat are pretty primitive and janky but honestly it still works surprisingly well. I also have to applaud the devs for actually including a lock-on mode, which helps mitigate a lot of the bad camera in the game, most of the time.

I imagine back in the day the game was seen as more of a 3D beat-em'-up of sorts but nowadays it's easier to compare it to character action games.

Sadly the game's main story is pretty short, beatable in about just a couple hours depending on how well you do, and there's not much else to do besides beat the game again in a higher difficulty. Not surprising that a PS1 game of this nature lacks in extra content but I still would have appreciated maybe a longer story mode.

rising zan can only be described as the precursor to the character action game we know today. before devil may cry, there was another gun-slingin, sword-swingin red-coat-wearin, badass, and his name was zan. its honestly hard to believe this game even released on the ps1 before the turn of the millenium, just 2 years prior to devil may cry, because much of what devil may cry gets praised for innovating started with this game... although devil may cry DID do it better. no denying that.

its not quite as complex as devil may cry though (im done with the comparisons, its not fair to zan considering it came prior). rising zan is very arcadey, especially in its presentation. it just as that arcade vibe you know? the controls got a bit of jank to it, with this game not using analog controls, the 3d movement... isnt great. not only that but when you make an attack, you really commit to it, it takes like a second or 2 before youre able to move again when you attack due to waiting for the animation to finish. blocking can cancel it, and so can "dodging" (though its more of a shimmy left or right) that coupled with the pisspoor camera means fighting enemies can be a real pain at times... and well, thats all the game is. fighting rooms after rooms of enemies until a boss, and sometimes you get these quick time events where you need to mash every button on the controller really fast.
despite the problems, rising zan is still a fun game to play, and i recommend it to any character action game fans even if just to see where the roots really started

Picture this - A wisecracking, too cool for school action game hero who wields sword and gun in accord, has access to a variety of special moves and the ability to expend a meter to temporarily power himself up, and runs through a bunch of linear levels, being graded with a rating at the end of each of them. Sounds familiar, right? If it's not Devil May Cry, it's one of the many games strongly inspired by it that populated the PS2 era (and the PS3's to a lesser degree). Rising Zan seems to fit this concept, until you glance at the release date and realize it's a PS1 game that came out roughly two years before DMC1.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to accuse Capcom of ripping people off or whatever, it's just that playing Rising Zan feels like finding a pistol inside an Egyptian pyramid. It's fascinating, honestly, this is a game with many aspects of the Hack 'N Slash genre that wouldn't be codified until much later.

Let's get back to Rising Zan, though. It starts with... quite frankly one of the best intros I've ever seen. Sets the tone perfectly, it's somehow really cheesy but kinda raw at the same time, it's one nasty earworm, honestly all games should start like that. Not being able to understand the lyrics kinda takes away from the charm, but I'd say the JP intro is also quite good. Rising Zan is a stylish game - it never misses an opportunity to show off the protagonist's incredible strength with big ol' QTEs, and at the end of every fight you get to pull off a finisher on the chapter's boss as the theme song plays. Great stuff on that front.

How does it play though? Well, the base combat is actually fairly alright. You've got your fighting game command input attacks, your super mode that's a bit wacky to control because it literally makes Zan move at x2 speed, and your gun and sword attacks, including a combo where you use both. It's nothing too complex, but it feels good enough to do, especially the special moves. Rising Zan is a short game and that's probably for the better; there isn't any way to upgrade yourself or get new moves, it's just a straight shot to the end. Where Zan begins to fall apart is in the actual levels. There isn't any bit that's incredibly horrible but a whole lot of tiny issues that make the experience fall flat a bit. The aforementioned QTEs get pretty demanding by the end, and they're all just mashing for a long span of time, which gets tiring. You don't die if you fail them but you do take unavoidable damage, which is rough because this is not exactly an easy game, levels are long and if you lose you gotta do them over again. I sidestepped that issue with save states but it'd be really annoying if I couldn't.

Another issue is the camera control, or lack thereof. You turn around and it kinda turns with you. You hold L1 and it sometimes moves behind your back. It's mostly fine at the beginning, but as enemies get more mobile, it's not uncommon to struggle to actually face one or even see all attacks coming, especially when getting hit sends you flying and resets your camera (Pro tip, you can see enemies and projectiles in the mini-map at all times). Some enemies just suck, too, and the game sorta feels like it's trying to have a bit more story than it does.

Anyways, Rising Zan also has a second playable character, unlocked when you beat the game (I played her a bit and she didn't seem too different, but I don't think I found all her moves), and a bonus mode you can unlock to put both characters in their underwear (Zan keeps the hat, of course). Y'know, I'm not the guy to get turned on by a PS1 model but I do respect the equality, most games would have only put the lady in the fanservice costume.

I'd have liked to see a sequel, but the company behind Rising Zan disbanded not even 2 years after, so clearly it passed under the radar. Bit of a shame, there's more than a hint of BS in places, for sure, but I don't think it's awful, just unrefined, there's fun to be had.