History YMMV / BattleArenaToshinden

* CriticalBacklash: Despite the series being seen as terrible and outdated nowadays compared to its contemporaries, there are fans who defend it, arguing that while the gameplay (at least in the first game) doesn't hold up, it's still serviceable enough, and the awesome music and interesting characters that help make up for its shortcomings.

* ContestedSequel: Those that even remotely know of ''4'' thanks to its NoExportForYou status generally don't look favorably upon it, between its controversial story ideas for the three returning cast members with most of the rest PutOnABus or suffering from [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unexplained deaths]], the new cast being a fraction of ''3'''s size and not held as all that interesting, and the drastically slowed down and sluggish pace compared to the previous two games. Besides a failed SpiritualSuccessor on the Wii that was InNameOnly besides a protagonist with the Shinjo name, ''4'' was effectively a FranchiseKiller.
* CultClassic: Despite having a bad rep now, the series still has its fans. Often citing that while the gameplay definitely got dated over time, the soundtrack didn't. And the diverse cast and their backstories are worth a look at.

** On one hand, ''Battle Arena Toshinden Remix'' for the Sega Saturn managed to include [[EnsembleDarkhorse Cupido]], and has all of the gameplay intact. On the other hand, ''all'' of the sound quality besides the music took a massive compression hit, nearly all the transparencies were turned into rather ugly dithering, numerous effects were downgraded, the game's performance was noticeably more choppy, and almost every single detail of the battle arena backgrounds had been either downgraded or turned into 2D billboard objects. ''Remix'' near single-handedly sunk the consumer opinion of the Saturn's 3D capabilities versus the [=PlayStation=] version, and it took later, better ports of other games to prove otherwise, but in the west it was too little too late for most.
** The game was ported to the Tiger R-Zone, a feeble console with a monochrome LCD display. See [[https://youtu.be/fCnRupdj2RE this video]] for details, starting from about 15 minutes.

* TrueNeutral: Sho Shinjo. He's indifferent, not good, not evil, not anything. To be more accurate, Sho fights because he thinks the Toshinden is the tournament and doesn't get involved with other storylines.

* CondemnedByHistory: Upon release, ''Toshinden'' was hailed as a KillerApp for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. Its reputation [[http://web.archive.org/web/20061026213404/http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index4.shtml would soon be eroded]] as in spite of the pretty graphics the gameplay was very shallow, specially once [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Bandai Namco]]'s ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]'' arrived to give 3D fighters a higher benchmark for comparison.

** Cuiling. When she had debuted in ''Battle Arena Toshinden 3'', she had unexpectedly became a BreakoutCharacter due to not only her cute {{Moe}} appearance, but also for her GenkiGirl personality and the fact that some had considered her a RedeemingReplacement for her late master, the AxCrazy SerialKiller Fo Fai. Cuiling gained such a huge amount of fans to the point that she had ended up appearing as a playable character in the [[NoExportForYou Japanese exclusive]] UsefulNotes/PlayStation game ''Toshinden Card Quest''.

** Cupido, an exclusive character who is only seen and playable in ''Battle Arena Toshinden Remix'' (the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port of the first game) became a surprise hit with fans due to her attractive design, her theme music, and in the English version of ''Remix'', her surprisingly good voice work. Plenty of UsefulNotes/PlayStation fans of the series were disappointed that she never appeared again in the following sequels.

** The fourth game, which was never released in North America, and sees [[spoiler:series protagonist Eiji make an improbable FaceHeelTurn as the new head of the "Himitsu Kessha", though his true goal is to dismantle the organization from within]].

** Speaking of Puella, her stage theme could easily be a Battle Frontier facility theme in ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' ([[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the Battle Subway]] seems suitable). Listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZ5JlbhIms the bell notes]], and then listen to [[https://youtu.be/NiDUh-LHrDU?t=4s the original Battle Frontier theme]] from ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]]'' and its subsequent remixes for the Battle [[https://youtu.be/UE7c-e78WSU?t=17s Factory]], [[https://youtu.be/Vt-H7vCQDy4?t=22s Arcade]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMKDvuhAjXA Hall]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZU66ZYg8g Castle]] in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold/SoulSilver]]''.

* HilariousInHindsight: The fourth game includes a girl named Puella, who wields a bow. Come 2011, out comes an unrelated anime titled ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', in which the eponymous character wields a bow as a MagicalGirl. Furthermore, her stage theme could easily be a Battle Frontier facility theme in ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' ([[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the Battle Subway]] seems suitable). Listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dZ5JlbhIms the bell notes]], and then listen to [[https://youtu.be/NiDUh-LHrDU?t=4s the original Battle Frontier theme]] from ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Emerald]]'' and its subsequent remixes for the Battle [[https://youtu.be/UE7c-e78WSU?t=17s Factory]], [[https://youtu.be/Vt-H7vCQDy4?t=22s Arcade]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMKDvuhAjXA Hall]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZU66ZYg8g Castle]] in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold/SoulSilver]]''.

* CondemnedByHistory: Upon release, ''Toshinden'' was hailed as a KillerApp for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. Its reputation [[http://web.archive.org/web/20061026213404/http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index4.shtml would soon be eroded]] as in spite of the pretty graphics the gameplay was very shallow, specially once [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Bandai Namco]]'s ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Edge]]'' arrived to give 3D fighters a higher benchmark for comparison (see SeinfeldIsUnfunny below).

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** The first game isn't very good by today's standards, but its technical achievement convinced the public to buy the game and the console, as in 1995, the fact that you're able to play [=3D=] fighting games on home console was a feat of itself. Then ''{{Franchise/Tekken}}'' released, which wasn't super strong at first, but ''Tekken 2'' alongside ''[[VideoGame/VirtuaFighter Virtua Fighter 2]]'' would shift the fighting game hemisphere and leave ''Battle Arena Toshinden 2'' in their dust, dooming the series going forwards.
** The Story Mode in ''Battle Arena Toshinden Remix'' is often mocked and derided for its {{Narm}}-filled voice acting and laughably fake accents nowadays. However, the ''Toshinden'' series itself was actually the first fighting game franchise to have and feature a fully-voiced Story Mode, years before Creator/ArcSystemWorks, Creator/{{Capcom}}, and Bandai Namco got in on the act. And say what you will about how silly and fake the accents are in ''Remix'', the game itself did try to avert NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent since other well-known fighting game franchises either play it fully straight or are a lot more selective in terms of who gets an accent in their English dubs.

* ContestedSequel: Those that even remotely know of ''4'' thanks to its NoExportForYou status generally don't look favorably upon it, between its controversial story ideas for the three returning cast members with most of the rest PutOnABus or suffering from [[DroppedABridgeOnHim unexplained deaths]], the new cast being a fraction of ''3'''s size and not held as all that interesting, and the drastically slowed down and sluggish pace compared to the previous two games. Besides a failed SpiritualSuccessor on the Wii that was borderline InNameOnly, ''4'' was effectively a FranchiseKiller.

* ContestedSequel: Those that even remotely know of ''4'' thanks to its NoExportForYou status generally don't look favorably upon it, between its controversial story ideas for old cast members, a good amount of the new cast not quite hitting it off with fans, and the sudden slowed down and rather sluggish pace compared to the previous two games. Besides a failed SpiritualSuccessor on the Wii that was borderline InNameOnly, ''4'' was effectively a FranchiseKiller.

* DarthWiki/NightmareFuel: Most of the series is pretty tame, to the point that it can't even make murderous bad guys all that intimidating. Then you hit the Master's boss stage in ''2'', and inexplicably have a wiggling, squirming EldritchAbomination in the background amidst a blue, flaming background that looks like you're in ''hell''.

* DarthWiki/NightmareFuel: Most of the series is pretty tame, to the point that it can't even make murderous bad guys all that intimidating. Then you hit the Master's boss stage in ''2'', and inexplicably have a wiggling, squirming EldritchAbomination in the background amidst a blue, flaming background that looks like you're in ''hell'' for a nasty dose of SurpriseCreepy.