Kenseiden

[anagrama]

Haven;t got time for a long intro tonight, but barring any last-minute entrants, this week is the last of this cycle, and to introduce the final selection we have JoMusashi - over to you!



(Andy - can you boot last week's over to the GotW forum & sticky this - I seem to have lost the mod functions. Cheers!)

[Jo Musashi]

My pick for GOTW is a title I've played on a regular basis since buying it for $69.99 (Canadian - gah! where did the money come from? ) from Sears in 1989 : Kenseiden!

I bought the game initially because of the cover (does anyone do that anymore? ) - the samurai fighting crazy-looking demons caught my interest. Shinobi was at that point (and still is, in fact) my favourite game and the idea of playing a samurai game seemed really cool.

I believe the game orignally came out for the Mark III in 1986, which, to me, makes the game's graphics and sound all the more impressive. If you check out Hayato's sprite, it isn't "mirrored" like the majority of player sprites in action platformers. You can actually see that his sword scabbard is on his right side and his one-handed attacks are done with his left hand, no matter which way you face. Stuff like this tells me the programmers spent that little extra time and game memory to add some finesse to their project. The sprite size of Hayato and the various enemies is good - it's hard to describe but I would put them in the "medium" category - that is, the game characters look just right size-wise, allowing you to see a fair amount of detail like layered Japanese armour and creases in clothing. There is an abundance of amazing texture work (not in the 3D polygon sense ;D) - for example, the stone buddhas. Sega could have just drawn the figure and coloured it flat gray and we would have known "hey, that's a stone buddha", but as usual with Sega, they went the extra mile and added a bunch of shading and colour to really crank the detail level. This attention to textural detail is apparent in everything, such as wood timbers and shoji screens in the castles, the waterfalls, the stone walls in caves, the bamboo grove etc etc etc! It really is quite mindblowing at times.

The sound is another example of the effort put into the game design. The tunes are very haunting and fit the atmosphere of the game perfectly. The sword "clangs" ring out well, as do the "swipes".

An interesting part of the game is how defeating each boss character usually reveals a scroll that teaches Hayato a new combat technique. These moves are actually extremely useful in the game and it is great how they make sense, too - the overhead sword attack is more powerful than a regular slash, for example. The later techniques are also more advanced, like when you gain the ability to attack an enemy behind you, or my favourite - the berzerker technique, where Hayato maintains an attack pattern with his sword while advancing, clearing a path. And let's not forget defense - hold down the attack button while crouching and Hayato will hold his sword in front of him, causing any enemies who are foolish enough to continue towards him to perish. I should also mention that the various moves are simple to perform and quite intuitive. There's a feeling of satisfaction from defeating enemies using the various sword attacks. The game is really, really playable due to the fantastic control.

The enemy character design is excellent and varied - there's lots of different bad guys to kill. The bosses are interesting to fight and I believe they are taken from Japanese myth. The final boss is great, not insanely difficult but a good challenge and I always enjoy fighting a boss that is armoured - when you break that last layer and get to the soft underbelly, it's like "ha! now the real fighting can begin"

One part of the game I usually avoid are the training rounds -I find them mind-bogglingly difficult (well, not the first one). I have actually finished them all but that was years ago and I must've spent an hour or two learning the patterns of the arrows. One good thing is the training is there if you want to do it, it is very difficult (more difficult than the actual game by far), it gives you useful rewards (an extended life meter and defense/offense talismans) but it is not necessary to complete them if you decide not to.

Overall Kenseiden is my second favourite SMS game, right after Shinobi. Check out my review here:

www.geocities.com/sabulente/kens.html

[Stan]

Good game, will check this out tonight.

[dezanuebe]

there´s a game i´ve always been unfair with. i only got this one about a year ago, as a result, the impact that it might have had in 1989 dissapeared (i believe there are much cooler games, like, p.ex., Ninja Gaiden). Nevertheless, i will give it a try. Good choice!!

[Stan]

Well, I'll write a more thorough review tomorrow, but I really, really like this game. Seems very good overall. In fact, if it plays as well as it does the first few levels through the whole game, it may now be my favorite SMS game.

[Jo Musashi]

Forgot to mention a neat little extra - after finishing a round, you have control over which nearby prefecture you will travel to next. Of course, you will eventually end up in the demon's castle at the end but it's cool to have some choice. I always go through every prefecture (even if it's just to walk past the training round ladder ;D) so I don't know if it's possible to miss a boss and still complete the game. I've always liked the overhead map with the little Hayato walking to the next round, and the kanji used for the round names (they might actually be real prefecture names but I'm not sure). This further adds to the "Japanese-ness" of the game (if playing a samurai travelling through Japan isn't enough )

[Stan]

Thus far I have to say this game is just EXCELLENT. Very good overall. Music is a little silly at times, but I still think it's good. Graphics are splendid, rounds are beautiful, tons of variety. Selecting the areas is also quite nice, you can try different routes and such. So much here. The only problem I have with it so far is the lack of any continues or a password feature. Still, I kept coming back to it regardless of how many times the second boss defeated me. Anyone know the trick? I've noticed that you have to like jump towards him and hit him in the hand, but it seems to only be at certain times. I couldn't figure it out.

[Jo Musashi]

The 2nd boss is the most inconsistent as far as damage is concerned. I still lose to him every so often if I'm not paying attention. The trick is to keep punishing him - charge right in, use a regular slash, move just out of his club range (don't retreat - just avoid the swing), then repeat. I figure about a 3rd of the slashes do damage. If you let him push you towards the left, it's all over for Hayato. The life replenisher helps greatly; to find it, take the first set of stairs and go all the way to the right. Then you'll essentially have 2 life meters to fight the 2nd boss with. No need to worry if you use it - there's another one in the cave level after defeating this boss.

There is a continue feature, but it's not available immediately; you need to find the "diary" to use it.

[anagrama]

This is a game that I've heard loads of praise for, but it's never really clicked when I've sat down with it. I tried again after geting the Mark III version a couple of months back, but still didn't see more than the first few rounds. I'll dig it out tonight and try once again...

[CRV]

jomusashi said:

There is a continue feature, but it's not available immediately; you need to find the "diary" to use it.

You can also press Up, Up, Down, Down, 2 at the Game Over screen. I don't remember how many times you can do that (3?).

[Stan]

Yeah, great game overall, just made it to the final boss last night. I love the graphics overall, though some people may find the repeating level schemes to be annoying. I honestly think they work in this case because they give consistency to the island you're on. When you enter an area where there's a staircase going up, you know it's another test. For the pagoda, a boss. I like it. The only real problem I have with this game still involves the continues. The cheat aside, the diary is fine, I used it for the last boss, but with one problem. I lost ALL my bonuses. If I used the cheat, then fair enough, but the diary is kind of an integral part of the game, it would have been nice if I kept my long life bar after I continued with it. I worked damn hard to get it too, spent at least 20 minutes alone working on the one test with all the arrows flying about. Really annoyed me that they just took away my reward. Other than that it's great. The only thing is I couldn't beat it. How in the hell do you hit the second form of the final boss? I tired everything, every strike and move I could think of. Speaking of which, that made the game splendid, how you get different strikes. I like the berserker run mode. That's totally boss.

[CRV]

stanstepanic said:

The cheat aside, the diary is fine, I used it for the last boss, but with one problem.

Is a cheat really a cheat when it's mentioned in the instruction manual?

[Jo Musashi]

stanstepanic said:

Yeah, great game overall, just made it to the final boss last night. I love the graphics overall, though some people may find the repeating level schemes to be annoying. I honestly think they work in this case because they give consistency to the island you're on. When you enter an area where there's a staircase going up, you know it's another test. For the pagoda, a boss. I like it. The only real problem I have with this game still involves the continues. The cheat aside, the diary is fine, I used it for the last boss, but with one problem. I lost ALL my bonuses. If I used the cheat, then fair enough, but the diary is kind of an integral part of the game, it would have been nice if I kept my long life bar after I continued with it. I worked d**n hard to get it too, spent at least 20 minutes alone working on the one test with all the arrows flying about. Really annoyed me that they just took away my reward. Other than that it's great. The only thing is I couldn't beat it. How in the hell do you hit the second form of the final boss? I tired everything, every strike and move I could think of. Speaking of which, that made the game splendid, how you get different strikes. I like the berserker run mode. That's totally boss.

Just keep whacking him in the face with your jumping overhead slash. He's got 3 faces/masks; the 3rd is the one you can damage.

Glad you like it Stan!

[Stan]

Awesome, thanks man! Going to hit this tonight when the wife goes to sleepy! I would have kept hitting him there since it's the most logical place, but all the other bosses gave you an indication that damage was being done. Tricky, and a bit annoying, but now that I know this game is just splendid. And, CRV, true, I did notice that afterwards, and I suppose it isn't ENTIRELY a cheat, but I still consider it one. They had some "cheats" listed in several of their manuals.

[Tonto]

This game is totally ace! It was on my get rid of list until I actually played it. I'm absolute bobbins at it though, piss poor honestly, really dreadful. I've been reduced to shouting out loud in frustration at my own crapness. My only problem with it is the way he walks. If a real ninja type chap walked like that he'd be killed for looking stupid, or at least heavily mocked. Either way, it doesn't detract much from the game.

Oh, and you can't change the way you're facing when you're jumping. That's not much cop either.