Kenseiden Review

[BobSega]

I first played Kenseiden(orig. mid. '88) in mid '92, my first Master System year. It turned out to be one of my top ten SMS games and I'm glad Sega didn't decide not to release it outside Japan for having too much of an old Japan/samurai theme. I think it looks really good, one thing that stands out for an 8-bit game is the large and realistic sprites. There's quite a variety of monsters and from looking at their detail in the instruction book sketches, they appear to be from Japanese history and mythology, some of theme quite disturbing! Interestingly I particularly liked the old Japan, map screen in between stages where you choose your path, with its soothing music. I don't know much Kanji, but the locations are apparently legit, historic geography. One thing that drew me to the game in the first place was the concept of having to, in the course of the adventure, reclaim a set of stolen scrolls and lastly a stolen sword. I liked the mystery boss after the supposed final boss, a much tougher opponent, with his own new background music, that requires you to discover his weak spot and destroy his defense before you can actually hurt him. So this final boss is meant to be Nobunaga the Daimyo?

Admittedly, I got very far in my first day playing, making it to the final boss, but it took another day for me to figure out how to beat him. I got there just before having to take the game back to the rental shop, helped by my gaining a life bar expansion and a charm from two of the dojos. So I finished the game quickly, but the play can be difficult at times, enemies seem to respawn instantly and defeating or avoiding them is a bit luck dependent. The music is very good though, unfortunately I can't confirm which Sega musician did it.

[Batman666]

Don't know if this is the place for it but here's my own history with the game:

It was the first game I ever owned, so I'm obviously very fond of it. My father chose the game (as the console and game was a surprise) and obviously picked it because he loved Asian culture and wanted to play it himself. Not the most appropriate game for a 5 year old, but I absolutely loved it. I was a sheltered child with a religious Jehovah's Witness upbringing (which makes it even more weird that my father would pick this game), so I hadn't experienced violent or demonic themes. To say that it blew my mind is an understatement. I actually wanted a NES and Super Mario Bros. but after playing Kenseiden, Mario wasn't as interesting anymore

[Centrale]

I love the ambitious scope of Kenseiden, the sense of freedom and exploration on an epic journey. It's got a lot more music than many games of its era (and there's an electric guitarist on Youtube who has done killer covers of a bunch of the soundtrack). There are also nice touches like the sound of the waterfall being quietly heard at first and then getting louder as you approach it. Just overall it feels like a lot of love and attention to detail were put into this game.

[BobSega]

Jul 23, 2021 16:09:00 GMT Centrale said:

I love the ambitious scope of Kenseiden, the sense of freedom and exploration on an epic journey. It's got a lot more music than many games of its era (and there's an electric guitarist on Youtube who has done killer covers of a bunch of the soundtrack). There are also nice touches like the sound of the waterfall being quietly heard at first and then getting louder as you approach it. Just overall it feels like a lot of love and attention to detail were put into this game.

Yeah. I read about how Sega stopped releasing SMS games in Japan after Bomber Raid at the start of '89, presumably because they weren't profiting enough there. And the same in the US by the end of '92. I didn't take up the SMS until late '91 and was unaware that the two major gaming centres had about given up on it. I wonder if the late '85-early '89 period, before Japan gave up, was the best SMS period? There were plenty of decent SMS games after that, but going down the list, a lot of crap too it seems.

[Batman666]

To play devil's advocate, there was crap pre-'89 as well, just look at the Great Sports series of games.

And to use the top 10 games from the top 100 list on this site, 6 out 10 are from 1990 or later. Even if it's not anything definitive of course, to claim they were only "decent" is kind of harsh.

But I can see your point and to a certain degree I agree, as there will be a dip in overall quality when the system is just supported in one region and is the second tier system which means less resources and more ports rather than original games for the system.

[BobSega]

Actually I missed the very important point that Game Gear games were being released in Japan and the US as late as Dec. '96. The Game Gear was more or less a portable SMS, I had the adapter that allowed you to play SMS games on Game Gear. Many post-Bomber Raid SMS games were ported to the GG and released in Japan in more or less the same form. I'd like to check through the Game Gear libraries for more manga/anime based games.