Something good about the video game (GUNNM Martian Memory)

     Yes, everyone, there was a video game for the manga series known as Battle Angel Alita.  It was called GUNNM: Martian Memory, and it looked something like this:

The game was released solely in Japan back in 1998 for the original Sony Playstation Console.  However, in spite of it being a video game, it arguably did a good job of crafting a number of characters and storylines from the original series in game form.

      One of the interesting themes from the game itself is it's incorporation of the theme of forgiveness, along with the need to reflect, as illustrated in the game version of the Ouroboros Program, as well as the earlier Iron City section of the gameplay. 

Warning: Spoilers to Follow!  If you have not played GUNNM: Martian Memory or read the original manga series, then proceed at your own risk! ⚠⚠

NOW, That the Spoiler Warning has been taken care of, Let's Begin!!!

       In the video game adaptation of Battle Angel Alita, known as GUNNM: Martian Memory, Alita is written off differently as a character than in her original manga form.  How?  Let's begin with the entire situation with Zapan.  Zapan was a prideful hunter warrior.  In the game, Alita is set up as very much a bully to Zapan, picking him out when the whole bar refuses to go after Makaku, citing him as being too dangerous.  Zapan's entire reason for picking a fight outside the bar in the video game is the fact that Alita was being disrespectful to him and he feels that she should learn some manners.  This part of the game is a little different from the manga or the live action film adaptation, because here, Zapan didn't take the initiative to be condescending or hazing to you as in the live action film, nor did he stand up for not wanting to go after a target with no bounty or a suicide mission, he did it because he didn't like how Alita was being rude to him.  Playing that part of the game was a bit off-putting, but don't worry, it did pay off later, I can assure you, but it made Alita a tough character to want to play as being that she was acting unlikeable because the game wrote that situation off in that manner.  The situation continues as Zapan points out that Alita's boyfriend, Hugo, is breaking the law, and both he and Alita are present to see Hugo (Yugo) in the process of collecting a cyborg's arms and spine as well.  Alita tells Zapan to get lost, to which he responds that such perpetrators of spine theft and manslaughter must be punished by Factory Law.  Zapan meets up with Alita in the large factory building where Alita met with Hugo (Yugo) earlier to contest the Bounty, arguing that he had been honestly pursuing the lawbreaker but Alita responds by fighting with Zapan, to which she easily triumphs by slicing off Zapan's face and kicking him off a cliff.

        Zapans loss of face and fall would not be the last of him, much like the manga.  Hugo (Yugo) likewise would also die in spite of all that Alita did in defiance of both Zalem and the two Hunter Warriors whom she combatted for Hugo's life.  Zapan in the game resurfaces when Alita encounters Murdock and his dogs in the Factory, consulting with the deckmen.  Murdock mentions that his daughter has just been murdered by a former disgraced Hunter Warrior named Zapan.  Alita begins her hunt, eager to make her revenge for Hugo's death final.  Alita finds a murdered cyborg drug dealer outside of the Bar Kansas with Zapan's knife embedded in his skill along with a trail of blood and bloody fingerprints in the area, which she then followed to the slums of Iron City.  Zapan asked to fight with Alita, or die trying, Alita responds by kicking him down.  As Alita prepares to finish him, Murdock and his dogs arrive on the scene, and Alita walks away to let Zapan get eaten by the dogs, as Alita goes home that night, she talks to Ido with a grin of satisfaction about Zapan being dead, to which Doc Ido scolds her, stating that there’s no reason to celebrate about Zapan’s death, even though he did some awful things, and that hating him wouldn’t make her feel any more better or satisfied.  Ido also points out that she was partially responsible for the situation by singling out Zapan for bullying and also for hurting him for upholding the law.  His ending message is that holding grudges is wrong.  Sadly, similar to Uncle Ben giving Peter Parker the message about power and responsibility, this was the last message of Doc Ido to Alita before an unfortunate event.  Doc Ido dies shortly after this lesson.
      Doc Ido leaves the next morning because he has received an emergency call for help from outside the city.  Alita later finds out that her father was called to by none other than the mad doctor, Desty Nova, and now he is dead, and she might only see him again on some other day, if Nova fulfills his end of the Faustian bargain.
     Years later, after a lengthy Badlands saga, Alita finds herself trapped in Nova’s trap, a virtual construct known as the ouroboros program.  Ido has been revealed to be alive again, but he doesn’t recognize her.  Unlike the manga, this virtual construct includes Alita other now deceased supporting cast, including Hugo and Zapan.  The game version of Kaos appears a number of times to Alita as a recurring conscience or Angel on Akita’s shoulder in the Ouroboros, pointing out in the Ouroboros Program that Alita’s situation before the Badlands was largely from her actions, and she could not escape from the illusion created by Nova unless she ultimately accept the real world and the truth of herself as a person and her actions, rejecting the idealistic dream for the true reality and responsibility for her actions.  Which she ultimately did rather than just say it was fate that she lost people as she did in the Badlands. 
At the end, the game made Alita arguably a more compelling character than the manga, and easily a more compelling character than the film did, and made her actions and attitudes a more convincing character flaw, and only by accepting the responsibility and moving forward with some help could she escape the dream spun by her arch nemesis at the time, all while validating and satisfying the lesson given by Ido earlier before his death.  It also changed Kaos into an interesting character along the lines of a type of preacher, prophet, or spiritual guru, who pointed out that running away from accepting responsibility was not really an escape at all.  At the end of the day, GUNNM Martian Memory is an interesting alternate take on the story of Battle Angel Alita, that’s worth playing or watching if one gets the time to do so.
So if you want to find out more about playing the game, you can contact me on my Twitter at RadioKaos2, comment, contact me on my YouTube channel,Or send me an e-mail at kaosnova1@gmail.com