A while back now, I saw International Karate + as worthy of a top ten inclusion. Its move set was deep and your timing had to be right as it'd be over for you in a single move if it wasn't. Fast forward to 1997 and Bushido Blade arrives into the 3D fighting scene with a similar philosophy.
Put simply, when you're fighting someone with a sword and you button mash like a maniac, you should be punished severely for a single mistake, just like in life. Bushido Blade aims to bring realistic sword fighting into gaming, complete with tense moments of studying your opponents stance and lighting quick fountains of blood that signal a clear winner.
I can't wait to get into this one.
Fun Times
What Bushido Blade clearly lacks in presentation, it more than makes up for in gameplay. To test the waters, I set up a training match between Red Shadow and Utsusemi to see who would come out on top.
There are a number of weapons available to each fighter, and when you see a sledgehammer sticking out of the list, you pick it, because everyone knows you're going over when you bring it out. Each weapon will come with its own strengths and weaknesses, notably in their range and weight, which will change up the way you approach any given fight.
Scene set, fighters ready, one hit kill. I'm just gonna try that again...
Bushido Blade is as punishing as you think it is - as it should be - but it's not punishing for the sake of thinking its better than the player and always will be. It's punishing because you're clearly making the wrong decisions in the fight, and if there's an opening to be exploited, your opponent will exploit it, often for the kill.
A few kills later and I had learned a few things: the sledgehammer doesn't suit my style and the Hard difficulty might be switched to Easy.
But I'd gotten in my training, as was the plan. Your attacks are mapped to the Triangle, Circle, and Cross button, attacking high, middle, and low respectively. You can parry with the Square button, though I never knowingly managed this, so didn't bother using it too often.
You can switch stances with the R1 and R2 buttons, and doing so might at the very least give your opponent something extra to think about. It's a little slow to switch, so you'll want to do so carefully, but catching someone off guard by switching in the middle of a fight is certainly something you can aim for.
Finally, you can sprint like a nutter with the L1 button, should you need to alarmingly close the gap on someone in order to get a hit in. Some hits will only cripple a body part, which will slow your foe down or force them to the ground, but the fight will still continue until one of you dies.
It was time for the story mode to welcome its next challenger.
Frustrations
To say the story is weak is an understatement. It's laughably poor. 3D fighting games don't appear to be great in the story department, owing to the fact that a string of one on one fights doesn't always make much sense when it comes to developing a story.
You are a member of a secret assassin society taking up residence in a dojo somewhere, and you've decided to escape - I think - taking the secrets of the society with you. Maybe you're a whistleblower. Anyway, to survive your escape you have to kill everyone trying to stop you.
If at any point you die like a chump, you get to restart that match with no penalty, though I believe the various wounds you receive as the fights go on will accumulate, which is pretty neat. You don't recover from a crippled leg in five minutes now, do you?
The gameplay can be both agonisingly slow and astonishingly quick. You move like you're stuck in molasses unless you sprint, in which case you move faster than you expect, and yet your attacks are lightning fast and, if chained together, can look phenomenal - as though you meant to do that...
You've got to see it in motion, but imagine sidestepping your foe, slicing their leg from the back then swinging your sword through their face on the way down, before seeing a brief cutscene saying you didn't want to kill.
Bushido Blade is laugh-out-loud awesome.
Further Fun Times
After a few more fights in a few more locations, we arrive at the end boss, on a helicopter landing pad, for some reason, and he seemingly has two attacks: Backflipping to the edge of the stage and pulling out his pistol to shoot you.
Who the hell brings a pistol to a knife fight? Why the hell does a backflip make you invincible to sword slashes? Just who are you?!
After the story, you get some life advice and then nothing. I don't know anything about the plot at this point. I think I know less than what I knew at the start, to be honest. It makes no sense.
I hopped into the story mode again with another character, and it's still golden.
I've no idea if you have to go through the story with everybody in order to get a 'true ending' or anything resembling a sensible plot, but to be fair, the story clearly isn't the attraction to Bushido Blade, with the other modes taking centre stage in either multiplayer or singleplayer contests.
Multiplayer plays as you'd expect - as brutal as singleplayer fights, but now you're actively trying to outsmart your opponent because humans behave differently to a computer. With fights that can last for seconds and instant rematches to get your revenge, you can spend a while in this game, especially experimenting with different characters, weapons and stances.
But if you're on your own, then maybe the POV mode is for you...
I actually stopped and said "Wut?" when I first saw this on the menu and decided to leave the best til last. At least I hope it's the best.
Your controls are the same and a little man in the corner will show you what your body and stance is like when - not if, when - you lose track. It's hard to tell where you are, especially when you're crippled and on the floor.
With floating arms and difficult movement, it's not the best mode, but what a wonderful inclusion to a pretty sizable offering from the rest of the game.
Final Word
It's not a looker, but Bushido Blade simply has to be played. It's sequel got more characters, including one with a machine gun, so whichever version you like the sound of, hunt it down and give it a whirl.
Better in multiplayer, it nonetheless gives you a great feeling of accomplishment when you swiftly slice down an opponent that has been bothering you for a while. It'll make you laugh when you cut someone down in a single move, it'll make you cry out when a downed and clearly defeated enemy still manages to kill you first.
Bushido Blade is, ultimately, fun despite its flaws.
Fun Facts
I never encountered this myself, but there's apparently an honour system in the story mode, where acting dishonourably - attacking people from behind or throwing dust in their eyes (yeah, apparently that's a move too. I know so little now) will cause the story to come to a halt. Why, if you're the one escaping an assassin society, would acting dishonourably be bad?
Bushido Blade, developed by Light Weight, first released in 1997.
Version played: PlayStation, 1997, via emulation.
Version watched: PlayStation, 1997 (TheSw1tcher)