Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Now that the Usagi Yojimbo TV Series has been optioned, how about a video game? It would definitely have to be an open-world style gameplay.

There was a VR game in development a few years back and an early preview shown at San Diego Comic Con in 2016 (I think that was the year), but I haven't heard about any developments for a long time. I'm not sure if it's still being developed.

Besides the VR game preview, there is an iOS/Android game (Way of the Ronin), a side scroller. The graphics are nice, but gameplay is awful. As much as I like Usagi, I didn't find it to be any fun.

I'd also love to see an open world style game. I'm not much of a gamer, but I'd totally play that.

jabba359 wrote:Besides the VR game preview, there is an iOS/Android game (Way of the Ronin), a side scroller. The graphics are nice, but gameplay is awful. As much as I like Usagi, I didn't find it to be any fun.

Played that one for a video I made this summer. It's really, REALLY not good. Its' about as bare bones and untested as it gets, and its only real draw is that it involves almost every recurring UY character and has nice art, really.

There was the Commodore 64 game which was actually pretty good, aside from being insanely hard (and VERY short if you could beat it), but that actually had a pretty cool combination of sidescrolling beat 'em up and open-world exploration... by 1988 standards, anyway. Basically, you had to actually unsheathe and sheathe your sword depending on wether you were running into enemies or friendly NPCs, and could do things like bow to peasants, and different characters reacted differently depending on wether you approached them peacefully or violently, all with a "Karma Meter" functioning as your score - if it dropped to zero (dishonorable behavior), you committed Seppuku. Again, also covered this one in my video.

There IS this video of a fan GBA ROM remake of that game that could have been pretty friggin' glorious, but it got scrapped as far as I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n6d4rR3KQE

Eshbaal wrote:There was the Commodore 64 game...also covered this one in my video.

And your very NSFW review was hilarious.

I actually gifted Stan copies of the C64 and Spectrum versions of that late 80s game a few years back as he did not have them. The game artwork is the piece featured on Anything Goes #6, and the C64 loading screen is the opener to A Quiet Meal.

IMHO it would be only logical to make an Usagi iteration of the Way of the Samurai series (albeit more family-friendly and without the lewder/wackier humor of that franchise). Gameplay's a perfect fit (although it might be hard to explain why Usagi, a trained samurai with decades under his belt, would start as a 'blank slate' of techniques).

Chopalong Slashity wrote:IMHO it would be only logical to make an Usagi iteration of the Way of the Samurai series (albeit more family-friendly and without the lewder/wackier humor of that franchise). Gameplay's a perfect fit (although it might be hard to explain why Usagi, a trained samurai with decades under his belt, would start as a 'blank slate' of techniques).

Well, there ARE early stories of his childhood under Katsuichi. Potentially, there could be a short series of tutorials stating various techniques there akin to what was done in the original Fable, with Usagi growing a bit older between lessons - and then, once the Battle of Adachi Plains happens, you have a set of base swordfighting technique, and may pick up various tricks on the way. Usagi is shown on occasion to not use very traditional swordfighting techniques and be willing to adapt and use his environment, so further advanced skills could be more based on that.

Eshbaal wrote:

Chopalong Slashity wrote:IMHO it would be only logical to make an Usagi iteration of the Way of the Samurai series (albeit more family-friendly and without the lewder/wackier humor of that franchise). Gameplay's a perfect fit (although it might be hard to explain why Usagi, a trained samurai with decades under his belt, would start as a 'blank slate' of techniques).

Well, there ARE early stories of his childhood under Katsuichi. Potentially, there could be a short series of tutorials stating various techniques there akin to what was done in the original Fable, with Usagi growing a bit older between lessons - and then, once the Battle of Adachi Plains happens, you have a set of base swordfighting technique, and may pick up various tricks on the way. Usagi is shown on occasion to not use very traditional swordfighting techniques and be willing to adapt and use his environment, so further advanced skills could be more based on that.

True. I just sorta assumed a dual-wielding style (which was NOT default amongst samurai back in the day) would be default for him, what with his namesake and all.