Bushido Blade 2

Bushido Blade 2 is a fighting game developed by Squaresoft and released in Japan and North America in 1998. It is the sequel to Bushido Blade, which was released the previous year.

Gameplay

Bushido Blade 2 expanded on some of the aspects of the first Bushido Blade, while limiting or removing others. The story mode was also changed, from being one large connected level to a series of skirmishes, each set on a different map. The fights followed the progress of the chosen character, who will either be fighting to regain a legendary sword, or destroy an opposing school of ninja, depending on the character. Levels follow the format of fighting several generic ninja, followed by a "boss" character, which will be one of the playable characters from the opposing school.

The exceptions to this format are the two gun-wielding characters, Tsubame and Katze. One each are on the fighting list for each school, and provide a higher level of difficulty to battle, considering playable characters are only armed with swords or polearms of varying types. (However, with proper tactics such as monitoring the opponent's remaining ammunition, the player can defend just as well, if not better, against the firearms than the melee weapons.) The final battles in either story arc involve killing the clan leader of one ninja school, and, if the player is one of the Shainto, killing the guardian of the last descendant, and subsequently the last descendant herself. This is done with the legendary sword, the Yugiri, the obtaining of which is an earlier task for that story arc. In this final scenario, the player is given the choice of either killing the descendant(a helpless girl who waits for death), or running away. Different endings, that are cutscenes, set on the game's engine, rather than FMV, are available for either course of action.

Story

In XIII century, on the island of Konoshima, stationed in Seto Naikai in Japan, there existed two feudal clans, the Kagami and the Sue, both aligned to the same Daimyo. They lived in peace, until in the war on the mainland Japan crushed the Daimyo... Kagami left for the winning Daimyo, But Sue were loyal to their master until the end. The conflict arose with Kagami winning and drawing Sue out of the island. Sue lost their sacred sword, the Yugiri. Secretive battles were fought, though fierce, yet not global. 800 years after, Remaining of Sue, that formed the Shainto school, attacked the Narukagami Shintoryu, the school of Kagami clan headquarters, the Meikyokan, claiming to redeem their honor by stealing the Sacred Sword Yugiri and wiping out all, but the last descendant of the Kagami family. That is the point from which the FMV begins, covering the assault, which will be later fully seen in the Story Mode.

Characters

Overall Description

Most PCs from the first game have returned, such as Red Shadow, Mikado, Kannuki, Tatsumi and Utsusemi. They all belong to the the Narukagami clan, while Kannuki, Mikado and Tatsumi are in the starting roster and featured in the opening FMV, as are Kaun, Gengoro and Jo of the Shainto. The game also features uncommon fighter unlocking system. During the Story Mode, each of the main PCs will face two "bonus battles", when a player temporary (for one battle) is given a new character. If it dies in a level, then the main character jumps in and the story is progressing normally, but if player manages to complete a level with a new character, he/she will be unlocked in the character roster, and one of their story "bonus battles" will be with a main character, they are unlocked with help of. As in BB1, All the main characters have got separate outfits - one for the Story mode and second for the other regimes, while unlockable fighters share single costume for entire game. Through special means SPOILER ALERT unlockable by completing 100 battles mode without dying, other by completing it in a certain time SPOILER END "clown character" for each clan, and a gunman can be opened.

The character roster, grouped by their connections and unlocking means:

Legend:

Name, unlock means, first appearance, special ability (if blank, it exists, but I need to check to be sure)

Narukagami

Kannuki, starting, returning, proficient with heavy weapons Red Shadow, unlockable, returning, can use dual battle swords Matsumushi, unlockable, new, can use dual katana blades

Tatsumi, starting, returning, can use dual katana blades Utsusemi, unlockable, returning, can use dual katana blades Night Stalker, unlockable, new, very fast

Mikado, starting, returning, proficient with naginata Suminagashi, unlockable, new Sazanka, unlockable, new

Tsubame, special, new, gunman (wields an M-16) "Clown", special, new

"Boss", not playable, new, teleports on being hit "the last of the Kagami clan", not playable, new, cannot fight

Shainto

Gengoro, starting, new, proficient with heavy weapons Isohachi, unlockable, new, special "yell" attack, that stuns an enemy, instead of sub-weapon Chihiro, unlockable, new, sub-weapon is a frog, which moves by itself when dropped

Kaun, starting, new, proficient with spear Utamaru, starting, new Highway Man, unlockable, returning?, can dual battle sword with the rapier carries, advanced in battle sword, very special character

Joe starting, new, acrobatic, proficient with light weapons Takeru, unlockable, new, subweapon is a deadly throwable axe Tony, unlockable, new, has the sheathered stance with katana blade

Katze, special, returning, gunman (wields a revolver) "Clown", special, new

"Boss", not playable, new?, wears a full suit of armor

Weapons

Each non-unique weapon has unique design for each dojo. As well, most weapons are straight from the first game, excluding the spear, M-16 and the Yugiri, which is only accessible in the final battle versus the unarmed "last member of the Kagami clan", so it really doesn't matter at all. The Yugiri is essentially a Nodachi-clone, as is the M-16 of the Revolver. (Though the revolver fires faster from the crouching position, and the M-16 while standing.) So tactically, the original Bushido Blade's choosable Rapier, Sledgehammer and Ninjato (last one dubbed in Bushido Blade as the Sabre), as well as the boss-specific "Double-Bladed Sword-Staff" and "Special Sabre" have been eliminated, whereas the only new weapon available is the Spear, so in this aspect, Bushido Blade 2 is less variable when it comes to weapon and fighting style selection. Here's the list:

Light:

Heavy:

Long:

Naginata - unique to Narukagami

Spear - unique to Shainto

Firearms:

M-16 - unique to Tsubame

Revolver - Unique to Katze