I love it! I was crazy about it from the moment I saw the preview for it in GameFan years ago, and when I finally got it, it was like being in fighting Heaven! I mean every single aspect about the game was great, it just never disappointed me. About the graphics... well I never happened to find anything wrong with them. Sure they were a little jaggedy but this wasn't on a newer board like Killer Instinct or something. And the music is out of this world! System Vision really knows their stuff. One thing that I like about the game is how it forces the player to be innovative with attacks. You can't play Shin Oh Ken like a KoF installment, where you use the same pattern on almost every opponent. You simply have to think up new strategies for every opponent you face or else you'll get slaughtered..... very badly. Also it was dubbed an "Aerial Battle Action Game" which further removes it from the realm of conventional, over-populous 2-D fighters. The game has actually got a fairly advanced system as far as games of its time, and even compared to some today. If you don't get this game on home cartridge or CD with the instructions, you'll never be able to play it. That is just a fact. You won't know everything it has to offer, you will get beaten, get bored, and walk away.
I'm not sure of the historicity of the game's characters, I was going to try and get help in Japan to research it, however that didn't work out in the end. Still, Lucifer I'm sure some of us can recognize. Son Goku should be familiar, either from World Heroes Perfect, from Dragon Ball Z, or, originally, from the Chinese tale "Journey to the West." As for the rest, I'm not sure, but I'm working on something related to the game.
Anyhow, yes I do like it, a damn lot, and I still feeling like crying over having to sell it last year... I wanted to say "sorry, I'll send your cheque back, I just don't want to sell it" but that would have caused me much shit. Oh well, I'll get it again one day. Guess the soundtrack and my picture of it will have to do for now.