Tenchu

Last updated

Tenchu
Tenchu logo.png
Genre(s) Action-adventure, stealth
Developer(s) Acquire, K2 LLC, FromSoftware
Publisher(s) Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Activision, Acquire, FromSoftware, Sega, Nintendo, Microsoft Game Studios, Ubisoft
Creator(s)Takuma Endo
Platform(s) PlayStation
PlayStation 2
Xbox
PlayStation Portable
Nintendo DS
Xbox 360
Wii
First release Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
February 26, 1998
Latest release Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
February 2009

Tenchu [a] is an action-adventure stealth video game series owned by Japanese game publisher FromSoftware, where the player assumes the role of a ninja in 16th-century feudal Japan. The first game in the series titled Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was developed by Japanese developer Acquire and published in 1998. Later games have also been developed by K2 LLC and FromSoftware. The current rightsholder to the series is FromSoftware who bought the rights from Activision in 2004.

Contents

The title in Japanese literally translates in English as "Divine Retribution", with 天 (ten) meaning heaven and 誅 (chū) meaning death penalty (another translation of this phrase, Wrath of Heaven, is the title of the first PlayStation 2 entry in the series).

Plot

The series takes place in 16th-century feudal Japan. The original story (Stealth Assassins) revolves around two ninjas, Rikimaru and Ayame, who have both been members of the Azuma Ninja Clan since childhood. The two ninjas serve the benevolent Lord Gohda and work for him as his secret spies to root out corruption and gather intelligence in his province. However, the evil demonic sorcerer Lord Mei-Oh sought to destroy Lord Gohda, and using his demon warrior Onikage, wreaked havoc throughout Lord Gohda's province. Although Lord Mei-Oh was killed in the first game, Onikage appeared in all subsequent games (except Fatal Shadows and Tenchu Z ) as the archenemy of the two ninja, especially Rikimaru. Another major character who shows up frequently is Princess Kiku, Lord Gohda's daughter who often needs to be saved.

Gameplay

The game perspective is third-person. There are numerous items to help the ninja on his/her mission, but unlockable items can be acquired if the player gets a "Grand Master" rating at the end of the level by being as stealthy as possible. Items and controls vary from game to game, but the gameplay is essentially the same throughout except Tenchu: Shadow Assassins. Stealth is a very important element in the game, where players have to duck, crouch, and hide behind walls to avoid detection. Enemies can be killed with one maneuver by using Stealth Kills, and a player can avoid detection by using the Ki meter. The larger the number, the closer the player's position to an enemy. If a player is spotted, the Ki meter will turn red, the enemy will alert everyone in the area, and the player is forced to fight hand-to-hand or hide somewhere until the enemies give up their search and resume their patrol routes.

Characters

The main characters of the Tenchu series are Rikimaru, Ayame, Tesshu and Rin. Rikimaru is a tall, white-haired shinobi with a single ninjatō named "Izayoi" and a scar over his right eye. He is physically stronger than Ayame and Rin, but relatively slower. Ayame is a kunoichi (female ninja) who wears black (sometimes dark purple) clothing, with long pants, a loose belt, arm armor that goes to halfway from the elbow and shoulder, and a ring that surrounds her neck, with her midriff exposed and carries a pair of kodachi. She is faster and can perform more combos than Rikimaru and Tesshu, but is weaker than them. Tesshu is a vigilante who wears blue doctor's clothes and fights bare-handed with acupuncture needles; he is strong like Rikimaru, but slower than Ayame and Rin. His appearance is heavily based on the character "Baian Fujieda". Rin is a young kunoichi who carries a large katana called Natsume. Despite wielding a sword, she prefers to use hand-to-hand combat, relying on fast combos like Ayame.

Development

Release timeline
1998 Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
1999
2000 Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
2001–2002
2003 Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven
2004 Tenchu: Fatal Shadows
2005 Tenchu: Time of the Assassins
2006 Tenchu: Dark Secret
Tenchu Z
2007
2008 Shadow Assault: Tenchu
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (1998) and Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins (2000) were both developed by Acquire. Activision purchased the international publishing rights to the games from Sony Music Entertainment, who originally published the first game in Japan. The third game, Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (2003) was developed by K2 LLC and published by FromSoftware in Japan and Activision internationally. Activision sold the rights to the series, excluding the first two games, to FromSoftware in 2004, [1] [2] who then together with K2 developed six future games, released from 2004 to 2008, which were international distributed by various publisher.

There is an additional Japan-exclusive release for Tenchu: Stealth Assassins on the PlayStation. One hundred of the best competing levels designed with the level editor of Tenchu: Shinobi Gaisen (an expanded version of Tenchu re-released in Japan) were put together to form a stand-alone, non-story based expansion set called Tenchu: Shinobi Hyakusen . The engine and game fundamentals remained unchanged. Shinobi Hyakusen is famous for the hardest level settings among Tenchu fans, especially because of the tight time limits and the overall lack of the items, excluding the caltrops and the throwing stars. No North American or European versions were released however.

Several games were also ported to mobile phones with graphic changes. These include Tenchu: Ayame's Tale 3D which was released for the Sony Ericsson mobile phone series and Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven by TKO-Software and Digital Bridges which was released for mobile phones in 2005, although it used two-dimensional graphics. A Game Boy Advance version of the franchise was attempted by Classified Games in 2000, but it was scrapped due to the publisher's problems.

The video game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , developed by FromSoftware and published by Activision in 2019 was initially conceived as a new Tenchu game. [3]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
Game Metacritic
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS1) 87 [4]
Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins (PS1) 77 [5]
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (PS2) 79 [6]
(Xbox) 70 [7]
Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (PS2) 58 [8]
Tenchu: Time of the Assassins (PSP) 51% [9] [b]
Tenchu: Dark Secret (NDS) 37 [10]
Tenchu Z (X360) 56 [11]
Shadow Assault: Tenchu (X360) 46 [12]
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (Wii) 70 [13]
(PSP) 68 [14]

It's estimated that the whole series sales are at 10 million games sold worldwide as of 2018.[ citation needed ]

Other media

A stage play adaptation Tenchu Butai was performed in 2014.

See also

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<i>Tenchu: Stealth Assassins</i> 1998 video game

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is a 1998 stealth video game developed by Acquire for the PlayStation. The debut entry in the Tenchu series, it was published in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and by Activision in the West. Following Rikimaru and Ayame of the Azuma ninja clan as they complete missions for their employer Lord Gohda in Sengoku-era Japan, the gameplay involves the player guiding their chosen character through missions, the aim being to remain undetected while either avoiding or quietly killing enemies.

<i>Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins</i> 2000 video game

Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins is a 2000 stealth video game developed by Acquire for the PlayStation. The second entry in the Tenchu series, it was published in the West by Activision and in Japan by Acquire. Tenchu 2 is a prequel to Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (1998), following the early lives of Azuma ninja Rikimaru and Ayame as they and their fellow Tatsumaru must confront a militant force called the Burning Dawn. Gameplay follows the chosen protagonist as they complete missions, the goal being to remain undetected and either avoid or silently kill enemies.

<i>Tenchu: Dark Secret</i> 2006 video game

Tenchu: Dark Secret is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by Polygon Magic and published by FromSoftware in Japan and Nintendo worldwide for the Nintendo DS in 2006. It is also the first game in the Tenchu series to be released for the Nintendo system and not to have a Mature rating from the ESRB.

<i>Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven</i> 2003 action-adventure stealth video game

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by K2 and published by Activision for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. FromSoftware published the game in Japan as Tenchu 3. It was later ported to the Xbox in 2004 under the title Tenchu: Return from Darkness and to the PlayStation Portable in 2009 by FromSoftware under the title Tenchu 3 Portable. A mobile version featuring 2D side-scrolling action gameplay was developed by TKO Software and released in 2005.

<i>Tenchu: Fatal Shadows</i> 2004 video game

Tenchu: Fatal Shadows is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by K2 LLC and published by FromSoftware in Japan and Sega in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. The PlayStation Portable version of the game, Tenchu Kurenai Portable, was released in Japan in 2010.

<i>Tenchu: Time of the Assassins</i> 2005 video game

Tenchu: Time of the Assassins is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by K2 LLC and published by FromSoftware in Japan and Sega in Europe for the PlayStation Portable in 2005. This marks the first game in the series not to be released in North America.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acquire (company)</span> Japanese video game developer

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<i>Tenchu: Shadow Assassins</i> 2008 video game

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins is a stealth game developed by Acquire and published by FromSoftware in Japan and Ubisoft worldwide for the Wii in 2008 and the PlayStation Portable in 2009.

<i>Shadow Assault: Tenchu</i> 2008 video game

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References

  1. ↑ Japanese: 天誅, Hepburn: Tenchū, lit. Divine Retribution
  2. ↑ GameRankings score
  1. ↑ Fahey, Rob (July 7, 2004). "From Software buys Tenchu rights". GamesIndustry.biz . Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  2. ↑ Hirohiko Niizumi (July 6, 2004). "From Software acquires Tenchu brand". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Haydn (August 28, 2018). "Why From Software chose Activision to publish Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice". Gamesindustry.biz . Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Tenchu: Stealth Assassins Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Tenchu: Return From Darkness Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Tenchu: Fatal Shadows Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Tenchu: Time of the Assassins Reviews". GameRankings . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Tenchu: Dark Secret Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Tenchu Z Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Shadow Assault: Tenchu Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Tenchu: Shadow Assassins Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Tenchu: Shadow Assassins Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved July 27, 2013.
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