|
There are a few RPG series that have made token appearances in English, then remained in Japan forevermore. Others have had missing installments in English with the majority making it through. And still others have never shown up in English at all. Today I shall espouse the worthiness of one in the latter group, the Tengai Makyou series. Also known as Far East of Eden, the games are best-known for being wacky alternatives to the usually serious RPG genre. This may have something to do with its creators at Red Company being reputed to ingest copious amounts of alcohol prior to scripting the games...
Tengai Makyou is old enough to have begun early in the 16-bit era. But not on the Sega Genesis or the SNES (for the latter did not yet exist) - Tengai Makyou Ziria was released on the Turbo CD in 1989. This one is apparently more an artifact than a desirable game nowadays, thanks to its use of CD technology which was in its infancy. Its sequel, Tengai Makyou II, apparently sold well enough to prop the series up as a viable contender in the RPG annals of Japan. The side-story to that game, Tengai Makyou Kabukiden, demonstrated the outlandishness the series would bring to fruition later by setting the game in England and starring the Japanese fantasy-land equivalent of a constantly partying fraternity member, complete with singing bosses. As these are all on the Turbo CD, which I do not own, information on them is a bit scanty.
The Super Famicom (SNES) saw its own entry with Tengai Makyou Zero in 1995. This game I have just finished, and can offer a fair amount of commentary regarding. It isn't as wacky as the series is capable of being, but having a hero with half-blue and half-red hair is unique. Among the goofy elements present is a totally incongruous giant robot battle and an enemy who hosts a strange little game show where no matter what the player answers, she finds a way for it to be wrong. The game is fairly challenging and has a superb soundtrack. It lacks any voice-acting however, which makes it seem lesser compared to by far the most insane RPG ever created...
Tengai Makyou The Apocalypse IV, released on the Saturn in 1997, is the most outlandish thing I have ever played (and yes, I have played Earthbound). Prepare to ride the sacred Alaskan buffalo, fight beefy men armed with chainsaws named Smiley in Florida , challenge the King of Lake Tahoe to his Challenge the Trap IN USA!, preside over the transformation of Las Vegas from a sleepy desert town to Sin City, run around Mexico fighting zombies with the aid of Bob the Jamaican bobsleigh rider, see Ace the cowboy attack enemies with his Rodeo, stop the President of the United States's robot duplicate from blowing up half the country, and so much more. Utterly ludicrous, this is a game worth playing by anyone wanting to see just how twisted a manic version of the United States can possibly be (answer: incredibly so). The game does some interesting things with its mechanics also (battle is like fighting Japanimation), and is fun to play along with being completely insane.
I have in my possession, but have not yet begun, Aoi Tengai: Oriental Blue for the GBA. Flipping through the manual reveals that this game takes a decidedly more serious tone than any of the other titles in the series, though it does seem to take place in historical Mongolia, China, and Japan. Eventually, I can give a better analysis of this title, but for now can only presume it feels like a Tengai game playing it straight.
But all of these titles are on old systems that will have no official translation work done. Hope for those unwilling/unable to wade through Japanese games does still exist, however. Tengai Makyou III (why III came after IV is an oddity) was released on the PS2 in 2005. From what I can discern, the major difference in this game is its battle system which pits the party against double-digit numbers of enemies frequently with attacks that drop plenty of foes at once. Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru has also been re-released on the DS, and I anticipate grabbing a Japanese copy should it receive no translation. Tengai Makyou IV has been ported to the PSP, leaving yet another desirable title for the machine stranded across the Pacific. And the oddest absence of an English translation must belong to Tengai Makyou Ziria's reissue on the Xbox 360 in 2006, for Microsoft's system is hardly known for plenty of desirable Japan-exclusive titles. One of these can surely be given to the English-speaking world, and after its hopeful success, more will follow. At least, that's how I envision it working...
|
RSS feed
iTunes
