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| MUSASHI
GANRYUKI |
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| System: ARCADE (MVS) |
| Format: 177Mb ROM CASSETTE |
| Hardware: MVS |
| Released: ??.??.1999 |
| Label: VISCO |
| Developer:
VISCO | |
It wasn't easy to release at the end of the '90s a title
belonging to a genre completely forgotten by the public almost a decade ago, and for it to garner even
minimum acceptance. Even less so if it repeated a more than exploited approach without providing any
innovations, not only mechanically, but also technically or aesthetically.
Although, in point of fact, Visco has never stood out for innovating in any of its products, rather the
opposite, especially as regards the ones destined for the Neo-Geo hardware. Musashi Ganryuki drinks
directly from myths like Saigo no Nindou, Strider Hiryu or Mirai Ninja, that is to
say it presents itself as a two-dimensional lateral-perspective action game involving short-range
weapon-based combat and the ninja theme as scenographic excuse. A genre that had its spot in the limelight
in the early part of the decade and that, with the advent of polygonal-based games, had practically
disappeared both from the arcade and domestic scenes. In the style of the classic action games then,
Musashi Ganryuki has a very linear development, with one on-screen player as the sole option and a
main sprite of modest dimensions, which allows the visualization of a generous play-area, emphasizing,
somewhat, the exploration factor. And the fact is that, despite the game's linearity, the stages are
usually structured around two different routes and they hide some secret corners, besides accommodating
numerous traps or elements to jump over, avoid or destroy.
What isn't so habitual in this kind of game is to stumble upon two distinct characters to choose from.
Basically, they differentiate themselves on strength and speed, given that the number of possible actions
for both is exactly the same: basic attack, ranged attack (which is performed by hitting and
charging the attack button), jump, slide and chain-throw. The chain is ejected with the third
button and, thanks to its claw-shaped ending, allows the climbing of poles and trees, reminding,
perhaps with excessive obviousness, of Capcom's legendary Top Secret. A series of weapons that will
vary depending on the chosen character and are always located in the same places will also be available,
hidden in the interior of chests or watched over by beautiful maidens who will offer them to us
after we set them free from their tight bindings.
This is Musashi Ganryuki. One of the few titles of the Neo-Geo hardware that did not get a home
version, which demonstrates the scarce pretensions with which it was released. The game was, of course,
massively ignored (if not reviled) for adopting more of a Mega Drive - 1991 look than a Neo-Geo
– 1999 one. It served Visco for definitively abandoning the Neo-Geo system, which it had been
populating since its 1992 Andro Dunos with impudent and irrelevant copies of prestigious games.
Without pity. Without glory. c
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Let's set it straight from the
beginning: Musashi Ganryuki doesn't reach, not by a long shot, the quality that the great
ones of the genre had offered ten years before this game made its |
appearance. Not only that,
technically it's one of the weakest titles of the entire Neo-Geo catalogue and possesses some of
the most undesirable mechanical ticks I had the disgrace of suffering in a long time.
But even though I tried, I haven't managed to unglue myself from it for three weeks straight. The
Visco people are wiser than they seem. They haven't tried very hard to create a spectacular, or
perhaps even merely graphically catchy game. Neither, as it has already been said, did they split
their heads open in order to introduce some minimally innovative element. In exchange, they have
millimetrically measured the game's difficulty curve, the stages' duration and variety and, above
all, the design of some final bosses which represent, by far, the game's biggest attraction. You
quickly forget how maladjusted the sliding command's response is (which usually makes you
jump instead, given that both actions are executed with the same button), how much the
action's dynamism is broken each time you are hit, or how absolutely useless all the special
weapons are. Musashi Ganryuki's development is surprisingly addictive and absorbing, almost
as much as that of the old glories of the late '80s, although at first it appears to be a dully
realized game incapable of even offering a decent level of control over the main character.
Some details do seem more fitting of the modern creations, like the introductory sequences and the
dialogue scenes that take place before the important clashes (although the cartoonist's style is a
bit questionable), as well as the use of flat or semi-flat shadings in the majority of the sprites
and stages. It's a pity that the scarce variety of basic enemies (who, apart from some animals,
are all the same ninja with different colors) contrasts so much with the repertory of final
bosses, although both the maidens we set free and the villagers that run by aghast in some stages
introduce a certain humour and diversity to the development. The backgrounds are weak, although
very evocative. Perhaps they suffer from excessive darkness, forcing you to turn up the monitor's
brightness in order to fully visualize them. Even more evocative turn out to be the melodies that
accompany each of the stages and boss fights, as is usual in the titles that carry Visco's
seal.
Rendering, ultimately, an objective judgement of Musashi Ganryuki has turned out to be
complicated. It's true that, leaving its mechanics aside, it's an inappropriate game for the year
in which it was released, not only because of a technical component quite below of its time's
standards, but because of insufficiently worked-out and charisma-lacking aesthetics. But it isn't
any less true that the mere fact of rescuing a genre so fallen into oblivion but at the same time
so important and enriching is always a laudable labour that we here want to applaud. Ideally it
would have served, as Metal Slug had already done in its time, to revive interest for the
classic conception games based on two-dimensional formulas, but we are afraid that it not only
remained a timid attempt within the domain of the MVS hardware, but it could well represent the
last example of its genre on any arcade platform.
Recap
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