Note: This review is based on the Japanese version of the game.
For those Tenchi Muyo fans out there who were lucky enough, like I was, to get a hold on this very old game, good for you! Released by Banpresto with the support and voice actors from Pioneer LDCA, this Strategy/RPG is one hell of a fun game.
The game takes place after the battle against Kagato from the Original Tenchi Muyo OVA and introduces two new characters unique only to the game. Kasumi, a green-haired and cute girl who uses dance moves to attack and a blue-haired female scientist whose name I have yet to translate (but from what I know, she and Washu are rivals and she is also the creator of Kasumi). The game starts off with a very nice, yet simple animation of Kasumi dancing around and we see portraits of all the characters. The start screen shows Ryo-Oh-Ki jumping around and is pretty funny. You can start a new game or load a previous saved game at the start screen. We begin with a scene with everyone enjoying some rest and relaxation in our hero Tenchi’s, living room. After some dialogue, weird things start to happen and monsters start popping out of nowhere. After a short battle, we are introduced to Kasumi and to make Tenchi’s life more miserable, Sasami gets kidnapped! Man, what’s a guy gonna do, especially when he has the affection of all 5 of the women he leaves with and one of them gets kidnapped? Rescue her of course! Thus begins a fun, monster-bashing adventure starting from the area around Tenchi’s house all the way to Outer Space!
The controls of the game are simple to master and learn, and not knowing a word of Japanese ain’t gonna stop any RPG player from getting into the game. The game is extremely simple, there are no items to find, no upgrading of equipment, just two screens to go through, a mini-map showing the locations you can go to and the battle screen. Battles are fought out on a small map and characters move a certain amount of grids to get within attack range. Most characters have the ability to change their form after they reach a certain level and when their MP gauge maxes out, it allows them to increase their stats and also learn new skills. For those Tenchi Muyo fans out there, it simply means Tenchi and Ayeka will get into their Jurai Battle Armor, Ryoko into her red and black battlesuit, Mihoshi into her bunny battlesuit, Washu into her nurse outfit, Sasami changes into Magic Pretty Girl Sammy, and some unique transformations for characters like Ryo-Oh-Ki and Yosho.
The graphics in the game are impressive! Battlefields are well colored and detailed and showcase many familiar ‘landmarks’ like Yosho’s spaceship tree! The sprites are well drawn and large and look cute, especially Ryo-Oh-Ki and Sasami. The sprites also show emotions and are sometimes humorous. The speech boxes show the character’s portrait and like the sprites, the portraits change along with the character’s feelings. The names of the characters are also shown and whatever they are talking about. The dialogue has its humorous moments and for those of you who understand Japanese, you’d probably be giggling away or wailing all over the floor.
The music is beautiful. Though the game boasts fewer than 10 different tunes, all of them are nice and pleasant to listen. Almost all the music has an Asian flavor and the fact that you’ll be listening to them a lot might make you seriously addicted to these pleasant, yet simple tunes.
The game is suffers from 3 flaws, though; the fact that it is incredibly old makes it nearly impossible to find these days, the game is in Japanese, and the fact that any veteran RPG player would be able complete it in less than 12 hours since this game is so short. The characters don’t develop much in terms of levels since they max out at Level 8, but the attacks they learn are spectacular, sometimes cute and funny or simply jaw-dropping powerful! Tenchi Muyo fans would weep for joy when Tenchi summons the Light-Hawk wings for his most powerful attack or snigger when they watch Sasami throw Woks, Kitchen Knives and even Ryo-Oh-Ki at the enemy!
Tenchi Muyo is a timeless classic with graphics way ahead of it’s time, not to mention it’s insanely fun to play! So, for all those RPG players out there who want to have the rank of having played it all or for diehard Tenchi Muyo fans out there who want to experience another chapter of Tenchi’s life, do yourself a favor and try to find this gem of a game like I did!
