Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru

Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru (天外魔境II 卍MARU) is a role-playing video game and the second game in the Tengai Makyō series. It was first released in 1992 for the PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² by Hudson Soft and developed by Red Entertainment. It was remade in 2003 by Hudson for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, and a later version was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006. All versions of the game were released only in Japan.

Overview

Tengai Makyō II, previewed in a 1992 issue of TurboPlay magazine as Ziria: Far East of Eden 2, was reportedly the most expensive game ever made up until that time. The game world consists of over 20,000 screens of overworld maps. The game also features 300 types of enemies, 48 different boss characters, more than 90 minutes of cutscene animation, three hours of voiced speech, 24 CD music tracks, and over 80 PSG chiptune music tracks.^[3]

Story

The setting starts in a beautiful country named Jipang where the Fire clan and Roots clan have been rivals over centuries since the dawn of time, good versus evil. The home town of Manjimaru Sengoku, a descendent of the Fire clan, is attacked by the Roots clan and it's where he begins his long journey to save the world. Along the way he will meet Danjūrō Kabuki, Tarō Gokuraku and Kinu to help him in his quest.

Characters

• Manjimaru Sengoku (戦国卍丸 Sengoku Manjimaru): A playful kid that runs around his village with the other kids to discover new adventures around his hometown. It wasn't until the Roots clan army invades his village that his mother finally tells him the heroic past of about his father. His father was one of the legendary 7 swordsman of the Fire clan whom defeated the previous era of Roots clan's domination. And now it's his turn to become a heroic man like his father and save the world from the Roots clan once again.
• Danjūrō Kabuki (カブキ団十郎 Kabuki Danjūrō): A loud mouthed, goofy, bit narcissistic, ladies' man Japanese kabuki performer who would add a touch of "color" to Manjimaru's journey. Kabuki is an excellent swordsman who carries a pair of traditional Japanese swords (one long and one short).
• Tarō Gokuraku (極楽太郎 Gokuraku Tarō): A fire breathing joyful giant with a huge appetize. Gokuraku is over a thousand year old, and was living in Mermaid clan's captivity till Manjimaru comes along.
• Kinu (絹): An innocent quiet girl with a tragic past. Kinu is actually half demon that is in fear of the great power within her and what she is capable of. She asked Manjimaru to bring her a special magic seal wrist chains before she joins him on his journey. Kinu travels with a huge white fluffy dog named Shiro who's been with her since she was a kid, her only friend as a child.

Reception

In a 2006 poll, readers of Famitsu magazine voted it the 12th favorite video game of all time.^[4]

References

External links

• Tengai Makyou II: Manjimaru / Red Entertainment Website
• Hardcore Gaming 101's info of the Tengai Makyou series
• Tengai Makyo II: Manjimaru (GameCube, PlayStation 2) at MobyGames
• Tengai Makyo II: Manjimaru (Nintendo DS, TurboGrafx CD) at MobyGames