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Tenchu Community Thread: "I see you have come to meet your fate".

B

Bulbasaur

Banned
latest




Tenchū (天誅?) is the title of a popular series of stealth games where the player assumes the role of a ninja. The title is a Japanese term whose English translation is heaven's punishment or well-deserved punishment; with 天 (ten) meaning heaven and 誅 (chū) meaning death penalty (it is notable that a localized translation of this phrase, "Wrath of Heaven" is the title of the first PlayStation 2 entry in the series).

Aside from its stealth gameplay, the series is known for it's setting of feudal Japan, which incorporates Japanese mythology and other fantasy elements. The first Tenchu game was the first 3D stealth video game. Likewise, the series was the first mainstream ninja game series to be based around stealth, a crucial aspect of ninjutsu, historic ninjas, and the ninja mythos.

There have been 8 unique titles across several home and portable game consoles, 2 for mobile phones, with 14 titles in total when including ports and re-releases. Tenchu games have been published for the Playstation, Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, and DS gamings systems.
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I know there are many here on GAF who hold this series in high regard and hope that it will one day rise from the ashes. I figure there's no harm in creating a community thread to discuss the series and the increasingly rare news regarding it.

The last real news I'm aware of was last year (2015) when Activison lost the rights to the franchise after failing to provide evidence that the firm is actively continuing to use the trademark in a commercial setting, and I'm still not sure if that's really a bad thing!


Please feel free to share and discuss!
 
X

xRaizen

Member
I will forever rank Tenchu Z as one of my top 10 games of last gen simply because of how awesome it was.

I would absolutely KILL for a remaster. LOVED the gameplay, the customization, the progression was great (you felt like a badass ninja by the end if you invested in the correct skills). The missions were pretty damn great as well. Co-Op was amazing too.

I will fight anyone that says it's bad.
 
T

Trago

Member
Now that From Software are done serving us 31 flavors of Souls, there might be a chance we could actually get a new entry in the next decade.

BennyBlanco said:
Underrated series. Too bad about those later entries.
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Hey hey, Tenchu Z wasn't god awful. And the Wii game had its moments.
 
S

SatoAilDarko

Member
Activision lost it last year?

Wikipedia says this:

Activision purchased the rights to this game from Sony Music Entertainment, who originally published the game in Japan. However, Activision sold the rights to the Japanese game publisher FromSoftware in 2004. FromSoftware's rights agreement does not include games previously published by Activision. FromSoftware licensed distribution of Fatal Shadows to Sega. Tenchu Z was the only game in the series published by FromSoftware worldwide.
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Which makes much more sense as they didn't publish any of the six games after the third one on PS2.
 
A

Alric

Member
I remember the first time I played Tenchu on my PS1. I played through the first few levels as each Rikimaru and Ayame. What really stood out and was really cool to me was the difference of that first boss.
In Rikimaru's playthrough the boss would accept his fate and allow Rikimaru in taking his life to restore his honor. While plaything through as Ayame he was offended a woman would try to punish him and fight her instead. That just seemed really awesome to me for some reason.

Also, Tenchu 2's level editor was so much fun for me and my friend to abuse each other with. Making stupid levels that were impossible to complete basically.
 
bender

bender

What time is it?
Negaduck said:
The first tenchu was such a damn good game.
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It's my favorite in the series but it's hard to go back to because of the draw distance. I was really disappointed with the sequel but for the life of me, I don't recall why.

I loved baiting enemies with rice wine and going in for the stealth kill before they could consume the item.
 
sleepnaught

sleepnaught

Member
Loved the first 3, especially 1&2. So many memories of my brother and I making ridiculous levels on the map editor, that was game changing shit in those days. The music was godlike as well, I really miss that series, but not sure how it would fit in these days.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
The only Tenchu game I played was the Tenchu Z demo.

I liked it.

It's a pretty cool series to read about though, would be interested in a modern game.
 
C

Cave Johnson

Member
The original Tenchu had both the satisfaction of both stealth sandbox and CQC. Other than stealth kills (which you had to be precise) is implemented better than the context trigger you are in every other modern gaming systems.

It made used the fighting style macro-input for special moves without disrupting the flow of control. Hit detection was accurate based on the swing of the sword and the feedback/recovery time was sufficient for the risk factor based on approach. It's amazing how many modern games feel more mechanic despite the tech overhead compared its organic counterpart in the PS1 era. This was the one game series where I actually felt like a ninja. The amount of design Easter eggs where a joy to discover like the Beehive trap. Environmental damage like insta-death water drowning, emergent environmental approach all breathes life into this game. The game was articulate with the well made level design that blends well with the aesthetic, a sickass soundtrack and a ranking system that encourages replayability.

I would only wish there would be a design advancement over this template for any developer belay enough to do so.
 
F

Freddo

Member
The Tenchu games for PS1 and especially PS2 sure are awesome. Never played any Tenchu games after that though, even though I do have Tenchu 4 for the Wii which just been collecting dust. I should give it a try at some point.
 
Phoenix RISING

Phoenix RISING

Banned
OMG this topic gave me a heart attack. Made me think there was a sequel announced.

Too bad about the cliffhanger in the last game on the Wii. I really wanted to see if Ayame was going to turn. She's one of my favorite designs of any video game character ever.

It's been so long I can't even find any decent high-res artwork.
 
H

_h8bit

Banned
The PS2 entries i spent SO much time with. Until popping in Fatal Shadows like a month ago, I had no idea these were From Soft games and a lot of things started to make sense to me. I'd love a re-release or a new entry.
 
B

BanditoMac

Member
I lost countless hours designing my own levels in Tenchu 2, despite myself being the only one that would ever play them. And the original game's OST is something I still listen to on occasion.

atomic moth said:
If someone says "nice night" I can't help but hear it in the guard from T1's voice. That will always be with me.
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I do this as well! Also when I'm enticing my SO, I'll use the "Come on, come on" from the first mission's merchant.
 
L

Luminaire

Member
The first four were amazing. I remember counting down the days until Fatal Shadows came out. I played so much Wrath of Heaven as well. I never got around to Tenchu Z because I didn't own a 360, and I barely played the Wii (PSP?) one as well.

I'd love a new entry with modern mechanics. I quite enjoyed Shinobido 2, which scratched the itch a bit.
 
S

Samikaze

Member
I loved the co-op in Return From Darkness. Getting double executions on perfectly timed attacks. So much fun.

As much flak as I gave Tenchu Z, I still played through it on all 3 difficulties to get the 1000 gamerscore. Not only did I play through it 3 times, I enjoyed it.
 
F31 Leopard

F31 Leopard

Member
_h8bit said:
The PS2 entries i spent SO much time with. Until popping in Fatal Shadows like a month ago, I had no idea these were From Soft games and a lot of things started to make sense to me. I'd love a re-release or a new entry.
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PS2 entries were developed by K2. FromSoft just published and did the PSP version of Fatal Shadows. Shinobido was the real PS2 Tenchu sequel to the PS1 games imo. Acquire made Shinobido because they lost Tenchu to FromSoft.
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
kyored said:
Tenchu 1 ost is one of the Greatest of All Time. I Miss this this game series and game play.
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Chacranajxy said:
The soundtrack for the original Tenchu is one of the best soundtracks ever.
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These men speak the truth. Tenchu's soundtrack is as important as the visuals in setting the tone for the game. One of the reasons I couldn't get into Tenchu 2 was that there was no music in the stages.

I need awesome music to stab people to.

Music like this

Fun note. The composer for Tenchu, Noriyuki Asakura, also did the soundtrack for the Kyoto Arc of Rurouni Kenshin.
 
L

Loxley

Member
Wrath of Heaven will always be my favorite since that's the one that introduced me to the franchise. I wish the series would come back :(
 
V

VariantX

Member
I only played the first one extensively while dabbling in the sequels to come, but I played it damn near to death. Game also had a fucking amazing soundtrack that was damn near otherworldly when matched up with the gameplay and presentation( onikage especially). Debug mode added another 20 hours of shit to do in that game since it damn near let you play with anything in the game.
 
Leyasu

Leyasu

Banned
A new coop tenchu with timed coop kills and some great A.I would be a day one for me.

I often think about this series. Love tenchu
 
R

Rymuth

Member
I kept laughing how we assassinated members of the Echigoya family in every installment.

We've pretty much ended that line.
 
K

KingpinZero

Member
Those itching for some tenchu goodness should check Aragami. I've played thru it with a friend and lots of good memories came around.

It really resembles T1&2 in some parts. Has "dat feel" imho.
 
E

Evilmaus

Member
Absolutely love these games, but I don't have the hardware to play them anymore.

None of them made it to PC either as far as I know. I guess emulation is the only way I could really play them now. Or did they ever make it to the PS Store?
 
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