Retrospective: Bushido Blade

By Quintin Smith Published 17 October, 2009

There should be blood.

For those who realised what was going on, the 1997 release of Bushido Blade was a scary time. This was a fork in the road for fighting games. This title was taking a stand against everything we knew, and with luck it could have torn a rift in the entire genre. We watched Bushido Blade leap forward, beginning its attack. A bird took flight from a tree. The breeze stilled as we held our breath. All was silence.

Over the next year we watched Bushido Blade fail to muster the attention it should have - we saw the game drop its sword, fall to its knees, and cough out a crap sequel. That was that. All of Bushido Blade's training and secret techniques would be lost forever to the games industry.

And that hurt. Lord, it still hurts to this day. Every Tekken and Virtua Fighter brings a little soul-sting of what could have been. If one of your flatmates comes home to see you playing the new Soul Calibur and you notice the faintest hint of a tear forming in his eye, you know you're looking at a Bushido Blade fan.

Let me tell you what could have been.

'Retrospective: Bushido Blade' Screenshot 1

If a tree falls in the forest and you're fighting desperately to keep your guts inside your belly, does anybody realise how awesome it is?

Bushido Blade was a 'realistic' 3D weapon-based fighting game for the PSX with no health bars, and it's an idea realised with such confidence and ability that even today it's almost impossible to play Bushido Blade with a friend and not wonder how on earth health bars and combos became ubiquitous in fighting games and beat-'em-ups. Again, going back to Bushido Blade today what's also confusing is how developer LightWeight Co. managed to produce this and then follow it with as many as nine individual pieces of trash.

Bushido Blade works like this: If somebody scores a glancing blow on you, you're slowed. If somebody hits your arm, you fight on one-handed. If somebody hits your leg, you go down to one knee. If somebody hits you hard, anywhere at all, there is a horrible crunch or spurt of blood and you die.

You know, as if someone hits you very hard with a deadly weapon or something

So, you know how tense a fighting game gets when both of you only have a scrap of health left? That's Bushido Blade all the time!

'Retrospective: Bushido Blade' Screenshot 2

You know you can kowtow in Bushido Blade? You assume the position and let your opponent end you. It's a like picking Dan in SF, except morbid.

And yeah, it's possible for any match to be over in three seconds, but that's less common and funnier than you'd expect. The characters in the game act with a distinctly human speed, and while most fighting games tend to funnel their complexity into aggression, Bushido Blade's depth all lies in dodging, staggering and blocking. This produces a game that's as much about waiting and cunning as it is about attacking, where knowing when to counterattack is as much about getting inside your opponent's head as reading his animations.

Advocates of more traditional fighting games might claim that's true of their chosen series, but it's just not. Those games all bear the millstone of being built for an arcade machine first and a home console second, and so they need to provide an instant thrill that lasts for at least 90 seconds. When a round of Bushido Blade starts the instinctive response is not to start spazzing about like a child riding the sugar high of a lifetime and go pummel your money's worth out of your opponent. The instinctive response from your very first match is to watch, and wait. Change your stance. Shuffle forward.

Your opponent drops down, maybe into a run, and you leap backwards. But it wasn't a run, and he was just psyching you out. So you send a taunt his way, then prove you're not scared by making your character sit his ass down on the ground.

Fundamentally, Bushido Blade was a fighting game which tried to remember why fighting was awesome in the first place. Instead of abstracting it with weirdly boring features like super-combos, or air juggling, or special abilities, or cancelling, Bushido Blade chose to simulate what was already beautiful about fighting. Unbearable tension. Moments of stillness, to exaggerate moments of action. Making a mockery of death by blocking a killing blow, and another, and another. Trying to lock your opponent into the weakness of his chosen weapon. The dilemma of whether to fight dirty, and throw handfuls of sand at your opponent. The chance to mess with the other guy, the chance to keep your cool, and the chance to run away.

God, that's another thing. Even the big arena fighting game of this generation, Ultimate Ninja Storm, doesn't come close to matching Bushido Blade's levels. These were huge areas where being backed up against a wall or knocked down a tier was just the start. In any match you were free to enforce a change of scene by running off into a nearby forest, say, where each missed sword-swipe would send enormous poles of bamboo tumbling to the ground. It was what kept those rare, epic five-minute duels interesting.

'Retrospective: Bushido Blade' Screenshot 3

I wonder how much memory all the combined file sizes of all the panty textures that have ever appeared in a Japanese videogame would take up.

I remember one match where my friend and I traded cautious blows in six or seven different locales across three loading zones, until we ended up at the top of a ridge. It was there that we each went for a heavy attack and bounced off one another's weapons, sending us both tumbling off the ledge and into the mud fifteen feet below.

But neither of us stood back up. We just lay there, faces down. We waited for three seconds. Five seconds. We were so close our legs were touching. 10 seconds, with no movement, and no button presses. An eternity. I couldn't stand it anymore. In a heartbeat and in one movement my character scrambled to his feet and swung his hammer back down towards my opponent's prostrate form. In that instant the other man darted up towards me in an even quicker motion, and dug his sword into my chest. I watched the blood erupt from my muddied, broken character as he went stumbling backwards into the mud, his hammer falling harmlessly to one side.

Pretty sure it's one of the single coolest things I've ever seen a videogame do.

'Retrospective: Bushido Blade' Screenshot 4

The naginta! The jerk's unfair, unbalanced weapon of choice. See also the rapier, the short sword, or anything you get killed with which is not the weapon you're currently using. You know the drill.

I bet they're having fun in the detestable alternate universe where Bushido Blade took off. I bet they're playing all kinds of fighting games with no health bars, which manage to look cool without the benefit of special moves choked with ethereal pyrotechnics or astonishingly detailed sprites. I bet they have at least a couple of fighting games each generation which make sense.

In closing, let me point out that I love Street Fighter IV as much as the next man. Which is to say I love it enough to decide to get good at it, find out that performing the cancels on a d-pad is like closing a hardback book on your testicles, look into buying an arcade stick, find out they're kind of expensive, and give up.

I guess I love Bushido Blade a little bit more than the next man. But you know what? I'm really okay with that. This game deserves a little bit more than what it got.

Picture of Quintin.

About Quintin Smith

Read more articles from Quintin by visiting the Quintin Smith archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • chronom4n #1 2 years ago

    Damn, I remember this game as it was the first game I imported for my US NTSC PS1. It took me a while to get the hang of it but i kinda got there. Loved the idea and it was a breath of fresh air for me because at the time the rage was tekken or soul blade. Quality game mind.

  • JHuxley #2 2 years ago

    I guess I love Bushido Blade a little bit more than the next man

    Not if that next man is me.

    I remember distinctly the elation of winning a match against the odds, hobbling around on a busted leg waiting for the unlikely chance to strike back.

    I also remember the disappointment of finding out that Way of the Samurai was nothing at all like Bushido Blade when I had secretly hoped it was just a free-roaming version with more of a plot. How awesome would that have been?

  • Jamiesan #3 2 years ago

    so many awesome memories of this game, still have it sitting on my shelf to this day...

  • carrotcake #4 2 years ago

    these images bringing back memories. 100% purchase if it appears on the PS Store. gosh why is it so hard to put PS1 classics on the store, zero code altered from the originals. side note: crash 1 and 3 on the euro psn, but not crash 2. what could possibly be preventing that game being sold in europe.

  • El_MUERkO #5 2 years ago

    this was mentioned only the other day on the forum, a brilliant game, i waited for a combination of it and Tenchu, i felt sure someone would see the logic in it... i waited





    :*(

  • IneptPercy #6 2 years ago

    I got this when it first came out and loved it (still do).

    I also remember me and a mate with 2 tv's back to back with 2 ps1's and a link cable, anybody try that? you played the game in in first person, it was something else. We spent all weekend playing it.

  • udat #7 2 years ago

    Didn't one character have a throwing weapon that was lethal rather than just damaging?

    The caption on the last screenshot wins.

  • TheRealBadabing #8 2 years ago

    Remember Way of the Exploding Fist? One hit=one point is what I grew up with, so for old bastards like me the health bar is as unnatural as respawning enemies and regenerating limbs.

    Bought this on a whim and it ended up devouring whole afternoons when friends came round. This and games like Carnage Heart (gotta have a retrospective on that one EG) made the PS1 for me. Pity very few genuinely original ideas made the cut to the next gen.

  • udat #9 2 years ago

    I was playing Way of the Exploding Fist just the other day - great game.

  • TheLittlestHobo #10 2 years ago

    Great game. I still have my copy. This game or the mechanics it explores definitely needs a rebirth. I'd like to see someone like From Software have a crack.

  • brider #11 2 years ago

    Ive still got bushido blade 1 and 2 I might crack em open again.

  • Nephirion #12 2 years ago

    Does anyone remember " bruce lee " on the specturm 48k was my first ever experience of martial arts game lol, was a huge fan of " way of the exploding fist " " international karate " and " yie ar kung-fu ". I wish they would remake the exploding fist though it was so awesome in its day :D

  • KujiGhost #13 2 years ago

    I have too many good memories of playing this game with my brother all those years ago. Thank you for allowing me to relive those memories.

    You did forget to mention one awesome option; hitting 'Select' at any time allowed you to honourably surrender and allow your opponent to strike you down. However, more often than not, when I did this my brother would then proceed to kill me then continue to hack into my corpse until I hit continue.

    There was also a hilarious bug when using the broadsword where if you positioned yourself correctly above your fallen opponent before your victory pose, the sword would make contact with the corpse and cause a constant fountain of blood to erupt. To my brother and I, this was the ultimate humiliation.

    If this came out on XBLA, I would buy it in a flash. Just imagine online Bushido Blade!

    EDIT: Oops, I see you did mention the surrender thing. My apologies... I was just so excited at seeing Bushido Blade again!
    Edited by 1 at 18/10/09 @ 01:05

  • KujiGhost #14 2 years ago

    I just had a thought...

    Imagine the first person mode IN 3D USING NATAL!!!

    (@_@)!!

  • BigJonno #15 2 years ago

    I subscribed to some Playstation magazine that I hardly read because it came with a free copy of this game. My gran had bought me a monthly computer magazine ever since my first copy of Your Sinclair at the tender age of five (how I managed to load games from tape without getting incredibly frustrated and screwing it up I'll never know) and switched to subscriptions at some point in my Amiga years. I didn't get to buy many games outside of Christmas and birthdays back then, so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on this amazing sounding fighting game. I can actually remember hoping that it would arrive before we went on holiday and being really disappointed that the package that arrived the day before we left was just the free controller that was part of the deal and not the game.

    It really is the only beat 'em up I've played that really felt like it was all about skill and not some kind of controlled button mashage. Calmly deflecting my friends' mad hacks and slashes before delivering that single, precise, perfect death blow is a singular gaming experience that I will never forget.

  • Obiwanshinobi #16 2 years ago

    Die by the Sword, anyone? At least they tried.

  • Slipstream #17 2 years ago

    Wow nice Retrospective xD

    I even unlocked the gun dude who loves trips to the "Cinema" so much that he says it ALL THE GOD DAMN TIME!

    Seriously though, I have fond memories of this game, I remember discovering for the first time how open the game really was when I 'accidently' was forced into the following screen, amazing. Getting mody, certain parts of your body completly altering your movelist should a certain part of the body become incapacitated...Being so close to death that you could press the select button to 'Give up'....your character would sit there to die honorably, and even say something tear jerking and then...SLASH lol tricked ya xD

    Characters even had unique moves with certain weapons they had a high affinity too...mechanics truly ahead of its time that, as stated earlier, really need to be explored again!

  • sirtacos #18 2 years ago

    I have fond memories of this. Unfortunately I lost my copy years ago. If it appeared on the online store I would buy it in an instant. (I can only hope Sony does this)

    Despite being a huge Tekken fan, I can't recall a single moment that was as tense or exciting to me as Bushido Blade. I'm also surprised and disappointed that not a single fighting game since has adopted the concept. Brilliant game that was ahead of its time.

  • Stoatboy #19 2 years ago

    Awesome game. The honour system was ace. One of my favourite memories in gaming is the first time I got to the final boss character, after quite a few failed attempts. I finally get there and at the start of the fight you get an in-game cutscene of him having a bit of a chinwag to set the scene. Blah, blah blah... (never been a fan of story in games, even back then). So I went for the neck-chop move, and cut the silly bugger's head off whilst he was still talking. Brilliant!

    Failure! My character commited suicide in shame, so I lost (which I kinda knew would happen, but had to try it regardless), but the fact that the game let me do it is one of the reasons I love it so much.

    A game presenting the ultimate bad guy as completely defenceless, except for the notion of honour is top notch. If I played it again today I'd probably kill the bugger before he was ready again just to relive that moment. :)

  • Collymilad #20 2 years ago

    Superb game.

    I never had it personally, but a mate of mine did - I always remember playing it at his and being amazed how you could cut down the trees. Stupid I know but...

  • sonsonate #21 2 years ago

    Really loved playing this game with my friends back in the day! I really hoped there'd be more fighting games like this.

  • frankfurter209 #22 2 years ago

    "In closing, let me point out that I love Street Fighter IV as much as the next man. Which is to say I love it enough to decide to get good at it, find out that performing the cancels on a d-pad is like closing a hardback book on your testicles, look into buying an arcade stick, find out they're kind of expensive, and give up."

    So hilariously true. I was one lured by the siren call of SF4, thinking I could "get into it" and learn the ridiculous combos and cancels because this one was user-friendly. Nope, not at all. Any mention of cancels or juggle combos is an instant turnoff because of the unreasonable difficulty curve in most every fighting game. Never played Bushido Blade, but it sounds revelatory.

  • bad09 #23 2 years ago

    Loved the first BB awesome game. Loved that challenge were you faced enemy after enemy and 2 player was funny if you off someone straight away! 2nd game was a bit poo though. A sequel with lovely new graphics would be nice!

    This would be be perfect for my PSP actually! Now if only there was a "store" to buy classic PS1 games....Oh yeah there is EBAY! \o/

  • raion #24 2 years ago

    I was so moved by this retrospective I almost cried. yes, I love it. yes, it needs to be brought back with online support. and yes, we need someone to pick up the concept again.
    ... wait. thinking about the kengo series... eh. you know what? just relive the original, that'll do, thank you.
    *thinks of all the times he left himself open to a one hit kill. eh, if there ever was a game that really taught you, it was bb*

  • samaran #25 2 years ago

    this game is actually on the japanese PSN, incidentally. it is great.

  • driptray #26 2 years ago


    +1 to TheRealBadaBing: This and Carnage Heart were 2 of my favourite ps1 games. Developers, are you listening? Remakes please, and soon!!

  • kingsuperspecial #27 2 years ago

    Absolutely spot on Retrospective and it has inspired me to play it again (I still have the game - as do many others it seems - but I never obtained the sequel). I remember having whole nights playing it with friends. And who remembers the agony of the days spent trying to beat all 100 opponents in slash mode without getting killed. Good times!

  • TheJuriel #28 2 years ago

    Yeah, I remember Bushido Blade, and damn how I miss it. It should have gotten a proper sequel, and I still hope today that someone makes a similar 'realistic' weapon fighting game. Since there's games like UFC out there, there is some hope of this, but still... I cannot realize why no-one's tried it again.

  • tenebrae #29 2 years ago

    I remember this game! I still have it in fact, with a crack on the plastic cover though. One of the reasons I liked Bushido Blade so much was the absolute lethality of the strikes. Perhaps I'll go check if my PS1 is still in working condition...

  • neonemesis #30 2 years ago

    A really 'different' fighting game. Was never one of my favourites but the unique gameplay made it stand out. Also loved the whole Japanese 'feel' to the game. Can't properly describe that last bit in words though.

    I still have my copy too in amongst my numerous well-looked after PS1 games. Like others, I'm tempted to get it out again too.

  • jonbwfc #31 2 years ago

    Fundamentally, playing Bushido Blade is like playing a character in an Aki Kurosawa film, whereas every other fighting game is like playing a character in a cartoon in comparison. Everything that is different and great about samurai drama in a game. Just unique, and just brilliant.

    I used to play with Photek's 'Ni Ten Ichi Ryu' on repeat for a soundtrack.


    Jon

  • Atropos #32 2 years ago

    I used to be a great fan of fighting games, your MK's and your SF's, and of course Tekken and the like on the PS1, and then I played Bushido Blade. I still haven't been able to get into any other fighting games since, however hard I try. They just can't recapture the pure tension of a duel in this game, or the elation when your opponent has hacked off both your legs and one of your arms, but you time that fishy-flop lunge you could still do perfectly and impale him as he rushes in for the kill.
    This is crying out for a remake, or at least a PSN release. I would buy it in a heart beat... Anyone know of a way to get it from Japanese PSN...? Hmm... maybe google will be my friend...

  • schnide #33 2 years ago

    Did I just read the word 'spazzing'? Like it or not, this is not cool.

  • Atropos #34 2 years ago

    Google was my friend!

  • Crazyreyn #35 2 years ago

    Excellent retrospective.

  • Smugglarn #36 2 years ago

    Too bad Bushido Blade 2 was such a mess. The Kengo games are pretty cool though, but not one comes close to the brilliance of this classic. Way of the Samurai is OK but htat's it.

    Ah, to think of what could have been.

  • DDevil #37 2 years ago

    I used to love Bushido Blade, until my brother gave it without my permission to his druggie mate. He then proceeded to sell it to Game for a quid.

    Twat.

  • Cappy #38 2 years ago

    Great feature. Bushido Blade is one of the only fighting games I've ever liked. It felt open and thoughtful.

    The majority of others, based on the Street Fighter model have never hit it off with me. US and Japanese copies of Bushido Blade take pride of place amongst my collection of PS1 games.

  • Caspar_Esq. #39 2 years ago

    Why is the icon for the review an xbox?

  • thesombrerokid #40 2 years ago

    didn't play it much, but it remains the only fighting game that ever interested me, a world where this was successful would be interesting and maybe would be one where i was interested in fighting games.

  • king_ghidra #41 2 years ago

    A great, great game.

  • BTBAM #42 2 years ago

    I've never even heard of the game, but I love the article. More of these Retrospectives!

  • rogueJT #43 2 years ago

    I rented this out for a night but never got the hang of it.

  • old_skool #44 2 years ago

    I still got my copy, a game with maybe a bit too complicated control system for the average joe and you really needed a skilled opponent to get the satisfaction out of it.

  • Camorrista #45 2 years ago

    Know what else was cool? No music. Just detailed ambient sounds. Sounds of rain, wind in the bamboo forest, sounds of rivers when you were close... It was mesmerizing.

    Duel fighter of the century.

  • KujiGhost #46 2 years ago

    The option to play it in B&W like some old Kurosawa film was also a nice touch.

  • HermitArcader #47 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • schnide #48 2 years ago

    +1 old skool

    I think if the control system was that little bit more accessible, this really would have taken off in a big way.

  • Dirtybaz #49 2 years ago

    Stunning game......my younger brother and i could fight for 5-10minutes with no one landing a killer blow. Got BB2 on import and i didn't think it was that bad.....balancing was Waaaaaaaaay off but still good.

  • Futaba #50 2 years ago

    It would be cool if they remade it for this gen, I'd buy it.

    I wish my PS1 copy wasn't broken though...

  • TONYgr #51 2 years ago

    epic games 1 and 2!i think there was a spiritual sequel in ps2,kengo masters was it?

  • jaguarwong #52 2 years ago

    Just wanted to add to the old skool love.
    Way of the Exploding Fist is the first computer game I ever played, I love it to this day.
    IK+ was also the balls.

    Bushido Blade is a flat out masterpiece, one of the finest games ever created.


  • The_Inquisitor #53 2 years ago

    I remember playing it with 2 TV's and with 2 Playstations linked together, in first-person mode against my mate. Those were epic, tense and special battles.

    Sadly there hasn't been anything close to it since (unless you count a one on one match in CoD4 with knifes only, that also has 1 hit kills :-D

  • Tiger_Walts #54 2 years ago

    Remember the bit in Kill Bill, The Bride and Oren Ishii running parallel on either side of a fence and when they get to the end they both stike and someone loses part of their body. Something similar happened to me in Bushido Blade, it felt awesome.

  • WladTapas #55 2 years ago

    When I sold my PS1 to a mate, I kept one game. You can surely guess which one it is.

  • FenderMaster #56 2 years ago

    Great retrospective! If they ever release this on PSN I'll definitely check it out!

    In closing, let me point out that I love Street Fighter IV as much as the next man. Which is to say I love it enough to decide to get good at it, find out that performing the cancels on a d-pad is like closing a hardback book on your testicles, look into buying an arcade stick, find out they're kind of expensive, and give up.

    this is lame though... performing FADC's on a PS3 pad at least, is very doable, sounds like an excuse to me...

  • rogueJT #57 2 years ago

    My previous comment:
    "I rented this out for a night but never got the hang of it." - minus 2

    I get negged twice for being brutally honest?

    What's wrong with you people?

  • Rens11 #58 2 years ago

    outstanding game loved the tension of knowing you was only ever a second from death and that you were punished for fighting dirty and the thrill of beatin a mate while your crippled on the floor was amazin gotta dig this outta the loft me thinks!

  • CloudXIV #59 2 years ago

    This was a truly brilliant fighting game. I remember we played BB with my friend as much as we played tekken and soul blade. I also remeber how disappointed I was when I picked up Kengo for ps2...

  • taran0 #60 2 years ago

    WOW ! they dont make games like that any more..... its a shame... but long live BUSHIDO BLADE HIYAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!1 me and my mates had soem of the best times playign this game, i guess we always thought it woudl be inmproved and better ones would come out, but it never did!

  • FenderMaster #61 2 years ago

    My previous comment:
    "I rented this out for a night but never got the hang of it." - minus 2

    I get negged twice for being brutally honest?

    What's wrong with you people?


    it's moronic really, it supposed to be a system for self moderation, but instead people seem to think it's a system for agreeing/disagreeing with comments...

    imo EG needs to ditch it, the system blatantly isn't working, with intelligent, insightful comments often getting buried because a few morons disagree with/don't like the post...

  • The-Bodybuilder #62 2 years ago

    OH MY DAYS, BUSHIDO BLADE.
    I thought I was the only man alive that remembered and loved this game. I will never forget the first time I played it, I thought to myself "this is how all fighting games should be like".

  • actionfitz #63 2 years ago

    this game was brutal. and epic.
    those 3 sec kills were the ultimate 'fuck you!' :D aside from methodically wounding your opponent till all they could do was roll around in circles swiping their weapon :p

  • ShiroBen #64 2 years ago

    I don't really like fighting games at all, but I loved Bushido Blade. I'm still disappointed it didn't start some kind of revolution.

  • mika1h #65 2 years ago

    Just to point out to those who are wishing the game was on PSN: Both Bushido Blade games are on Japanese PSN and you don't really need to know the language to play these games.

  • samaran #66 2 years ago

    i should point out that the japanese version inexplicably has no blood. i'm not a bloodthirsty sort, really, but this is a game where you kind of need the visual feedback.

  • Stompy #67 2 years ago

    "...intelligent, insightful comments often getting buried because a few morons disagree with/don't like the post..."

    'I never got the hang of this game' is not an intelligent or insightful comment.

  • woodyrulesok #68 2 years ago

    Damn, I had completely forgotten about this game!
    It really was good. I remember the single player being short though

  • Zebula77 #69 2 years ago

    I remember this. Absolutely loved the idea of "realistic" samurai scrapping, one-hit kills and potentially long, epic fights across several playing areas. Sadly, none of my buddies could get into it and I was left playing against the cpu. Fun, but it didn't last, and ultimately I stopped playing it.

    A reboot of the series would be effing fantastic. Same basic principles, but perhaps add story, free-roaming and stealth perhaps. Like a combo of this and Tenchu, thank you very much. :)

  • Toothball #70 2 years ago

    I enjoyed many evenings of Bushido Blade. A friend brought his Playstation round with this. We'd pick characters and such and then we'd play winner stays on for hours. Sometimes people would last for ages, other times less so. We even went to the effort of getting two of them together in once place to have a duel in that first person mode. That was pretty crazy too. Years later I got hold of my own copy but didn't really get very far into the story. Still worth the effort it took to find it.

  • mingster #71 2 years ago

    Excellent retrospective article .. very well written.

  • mr_boogedy #72 2 years ago

    Got this! And the sequel plus the 'spiritual successors' all on the shelf... Pity they ended up getting worse (IMHO) as they went along -though there were some nice ideas. This game was awesome & should have been massive. And we should have an updated version, please.

    This thread seems to be preaching to the converted though...

  • UberChew #73 2 years ago

    great articule, I have never really been into fighting games, too many moves to learn, but Bushido struck a cord with me I thought it was truly amazing. Like you say the tension was almost unbearable at times and chopping down an enemy within seconds of the fight made you feel like a god.

    My favourite memory of the game was running around the level like an idiot to confuse the opponent then BAM ninja style one strike and their body flops to the floor.

    This game polished up for XBLA would be an instant buy for me.

    Also someone talked about IK+ in the comments. That game needs to be remade badly, Xbox live, 4 player YES PLZ!!!!!!
    Edited by 2 at 19/10/09 @ 15:47

  • Chufty #74 2 years ago

    Oh! Bushido Blade! So many memories. I hope this comes out on PSN, I really do.

  • Lingmops #75 2 years ago

    I still dig out and play this game every so often, it's still bloody fantastic. Always loved how the designers decided to fuck with you by giving one boss a gun.

  • DugBriderider #76 2 years ago

    Loved this and I'm glad so many others do, at the time it seemed like no one else knew about it. Also at the time I never considered that it wouldn't be bettered in the future, goes to show that you never know what you've got till it's gone.

    I was terrible at the single player game, I never got past the guy with the gun honorably, loved the 1v100 minigame, and had endless fun with 2 player mode, it seemed that the more you tried to do something skillful the more likely an amateur would get an instant kill, spent most of my time charging around the bamboo forest.