The Nintendo Wii was not a powerhouse compared to the bigger home consoles, but as sales figures have proven, the average consumer doesn't care about the raw numbers under the hood. They want a damn good time, and for many, that meant waggling a Wiimote controller.
You'd think that having players waggling a Wiimote in the same way as they'd waggle a sword would make for some great gameplay, but the developers behind Muramasa: The Demon Blade knew better than to churn out a crappy waggler. There are basically only two buttons in this game, and just look at what you can do with them.
Look. Up there.
There's a lot to look at.
Fun Times
It's hard to not notice how heavy Muramasa is on the artwork, and the reason for it is because that's what Vanillaware do best. They don't have too many titles to their name, but we've already come across two of them for this 1001 list in GrimGrimoire and Odin Sphere, and it is the latter title that most resembles Muramasa, a 2D sidescrolling beat 'em up set in old Japan.
Anyway, as such, I'm emulating the original Wii release, with its dead-simple control scheme: The A button.
I know what you're thinking. "What on Earth am I looking at?" I'm thinking it too. That was a 17-second fight against multiple opponents, all cut down to size using various context-specific presses of the A button to slash, slice, and stab whatever dared to emerge from this forest and confront me.
You can keep jabbing the button to swipe like a maniac. You can hold the button down for a more powerful attack. You can combine it with jumping or diving. You can even use it for defence, pinging incoming projectiles back like a pro.
I button mashed. In every single fight you see in the post, imagine me button mashing. There's just so much you can do with the A button that actually learning the differences is something I'll leave for another day.
Muramasa is a 2D side-scroller that takes you through repetitive but undeniably detailed works of art depicting the Japanese countryside and villages. There's usually not much to do other than wait for the almost inevitable fight to trigger, but some screens will have some items hidden away for you to make use of - healing items, and the like.
A map is available as well, which shows you roughly where you are in the room, as well as whether the exit you're sprinting towards is up high or down low, and huge floaty double jumps make vertical traversal no real trouble at all.
It's quite linear so far, but we are still getting warmed up, and are yet to learn of what it is that we're even doing here.
The story does appear under a spooky green moon. I certainly can't answer the question of where we are, and the locals don't seem too friendly either. They're all voiced, though. In very wordy Japanese, but they're voiced.
It's hard to tell a story in two dimensions. Well, no, that's clearly not true. It's hard to tell a story when you don't allow yourself to break free of the two-dimensional plane that the entire game is locked to. These people are just a few feet away from an evil spirit, just chilling out here, making threats to possess my body.
Oh, damn. One short fade to black later and he has possessed my body, kicking my own soul out of the way to do so. What a dick. Anyone engaged with the story yet?
I must admit, the way it's presented to us does suck, and the story - or its translation at least - is a little odd. It's not quite clichéd, it's not quite stereotypical, I'm failing to find the words I want... I've not been sucked into this game thanks to the story, put it that way. It's the gameplay and the artwork that interests me, and what better way to show them both off than a boss fight?
Gah, lost the combo. Still, 95 hits in a row without failure, all from just mashing the A button while jumping and dashing around this giant as though I actually had a plan? You might not be able to actually see what you're doing through all of the visual effects, but you know you're doing something.
This guy's health bar just goes on and on, though, and eventually, you're going to run into the trouble of some damaged weaponry, which is where we get to introduce the second button that Muramasa makes use of, the left shoulder button.
You have three different blades on your person, and through hard use, they'll break in two and be rendered rather useless. The left shoulder button switches to your next blade, allowing the previous blade to repair and recharge, but that's not cool enough for Muramasa.
In true samurai-movie fashion, as soon as you switch and unsheath a blade, all hell breaks loose. Every enemy on the screen gets hit, at least, if not killed outright - the action is usually too fast and chaotic to check.
It doesn't do a whole lot to bosses, granted, but this weapon switching mechanic can be used as both a quick screen cleaner and a valid strategy to keep up with the onslaught against whatever foes you face.
Just under three minutes of non-stop action later, and we've a new sword to play around with. This one comes with better stats - I didn't even know Muramasa had stats up until now - and the ability to cut through magical red barriers, which is how new areas are opened up to us.
Not quite Metroidvania, but there's plenty of backtracking.
Frustrations
Oh boy, is there plenty of backtracking. One of the monks has run off with Momohime's soul, which Jinkuro needs to ensure the stability of Momohime's body, in which he is currently sitting. That monk has run off somewhere, and the only pointers we have is that it's somewhere just to the left of the first screen we found ourselves in, and that means a lot of running left.
With barely any random encounters to fight through, or items to pick up on account of having grabbed them when running through here earlier, this was like slamming on the brakes to an otherwise interesting ride.
Sure, we get to admire the view again on our way back, but this is like dead air on the radio, you just don't want it.
Eventually, running so far left allows us to run right again, and we see some friendlier faces on our path, including traders that sell all sorts of items and accessories. I don't know what a Ninja Belt is, how to wear it, how much it costs, or where I get my money from, but it's nice to know that traders exist in this place, should I run out of healing items, for example.
Further Fun Times
It's also nice to know that this map is mighty fine looking and much bigger than I thought it would be. The various locations it depicts might end up being small, I don't know, but looking at this map, complete with its little animated boats sailing around the coast is just another example of the artwork flexing and showing off.
Is it readable and easy to use? Psch, don't worry about that. The game itself isn't too readable, not in the thick of combat at least, but when pressing A is all you do, you'll get by.
There are multiple enemy types you'll come across. I've no idea why any of them are out to get me, or how to adequately describe most of them, but each will task you with changing your style just a little bit to deal with them - flying enemies, for example, or those that like to hunker down and defend, and require you to break through before dishing out the damage.
It's almost like Devil May Cry. You're not scored on style points, but you can chain together so many moves (many of which I was definitely not intending to pull off at any given point), all of which look utterly devastating to whoever is on the receiving end. Muramasa makes you feel like a competent swordswoman, and finishing entire fights in twenty seconds helps, too.
Another boss fight looms around the corner - you'll know because it asks you whether you want to proceed before you set events into motion. First, we've got to find it. This incredible looking village has a few open rooms for us to enter, behind which are a few characters filling us in on the next part of the story, including this ghost.
We're looking for a soul, and a monster nearby is carrying souls away. Sounds like our target.
Sure looks like our target, too. A big ol' fiery wheel. I'm sure it has some significance in Japanese culture and history, but to me, it's a big ol' fiery wheel with a health bar and an attack pattern, so it must be defeated before it defeats me.
Another sword acquired, another barrier type we can cut through, and another chat with our own soul, who looks pretty miserable, and for good reason.
Jinkuro has plans, though I'm not quite sure what they are. I think he's looking for the Demon Blade to give him some power or something, but he already has the power to possess me, so what more does he want?
Alright then...
Final Word
That was where I called time on Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and much like Odin Sphere, I played it for far longer than I thought I initially would. If memory serves, Odin Sphere grew a bit too faffy for my liking, but so far the only major annoyance I've come across in Muramasa is getting lost, and having to run back through screen after screen to get to the other path at the junction instead.
Yeah, I'm not exactly following along with the story and can't really see what's going on during most of the combat, but is there a better looking game on the Wii? Genuine question, because my knowledge of Wii titles is woeful.
I never played Rebirth on the PS Vita because I assumed it would be a cheap little thing that wasn't worth my time. What an idiot. It may not be the kind of game that keeps me playing for multiple hours, but it's definitely something to look at to see if you like it, and with controls that are as simple as pressing A, you bet I like it.
Is it going to appeal to everyone? No, and there are definitely things here that don't appeal to me, but the presentation and ease of playing Muramasa make it something well worth checking out.
How far into it will I get before it becomes too difficult, too repetitive, too silly? I've absolutely no idea, but I'll be giving Muramasa some more attention for sure.
Fun Facts
One man's code is another man's "What the bloody hell is this? That can't be right.", as demonstrated by the accidental deletion of a system of attack cancelling, forcing a complete rebuild, all because one developer thought another dev's code looked like a fault.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade, developed by Vanillaware, first released in 2009.
Version played: Nintendo Wii, 2009, via emulation.