Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Does anyone agree with me that Usagi Yojimbo should be created as a game to be on the consoles PS2, XBox and Gamecube? I just think it would make a fantastic game. Maybe in the same format as Onimusha?!?. I mean, they did it with TMNT, why not Usagi?

Link

I've been considering this for a while but in case you didn't notice TMNT sucked. Now if we got someone else to do it we might have a great game but we need something origanal. I can see it now Usagi starts out young and does simple jobs and training then you spring into the years when he served his Lord after that go to when he was a ronin. Only problem is it would be hard to think up an ending. It would be great publicity for usagi. If you ask me now is as good as a time as ever to make this think happen. I'll leave the rest to Stan.

You should read this, this and this thread (this last thread was started by Tycho from http://www.penny-arcade.com; being myself a fan from that website makes that somewhat of an honor, at least for me ). A UY videogame has been discussed and there are many ideas from Dojo members (I'd love to see a UY videogame for a console or PC!), but I guess that there are the licensing issues, or perhaps no studios are interested. I know that a company called C4 Digital was developing a game for cell phones, but I haven't heard from them in a while. Any news on that issue?

That would be very cool. Nothing better then a rabbit with cool shoes running around killing people.

*drools* Hack 'n' Slash Samurai Rabbit game... that just sounds sweet

Hack 'n' Slash?

Umm.. yeah.. do you not understand what hack 'n' slash is...

or do you not agree that it would be hack 'n' slash?

Hack 'n' slash? Too shallow man. If you only want to slap people around then get the latest TMNT videogame (which is pretty entertaining, BTW) or get the best beat'em up game of all time... Streets of Rage 2 for the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive (if I had spent all the hours I had with that game in studying instead, I'd be a rocket scientist by now). UY should be either an adventure game (Zelda) or an RPG (Final Fantasy). Or a completely new genre we're all unaware of .

I'm 16 already, and I live in Poland, not Belarussia...
In other words- yes I do know, no- I don't like the idea. Unless it would look as good as Neverwinter Nights. But I'm morelikely to lean to adventure game.

Just a few thoughts on this subject
There should be at least three different UY games (for different target audiences):

• Spot (lizard) game (side-scrolled) for younger children

• action/adventure game for older children and teenagers (and for adults too ), something like old Commodore64 game "Samurai Warrior"

• adventure/rpg or adventure for teenagers and adults

I'm specially interested in adventure/rpg UY game. Here are a few thoughts on what that game should look like (since I've never played any console adventure or rpg game it's possible that these thoughts are a little PC biased ):

• Usagi, Tomoe, Gen, Kitsune, Katsuichi, Chizu and other character from UY cast should be Non-Player Characters (NPCs).

• Player character should be created by choosing his/her name, anthropomorphic identity, appearance, caste, clan, attributes and skills.

• Comabt should be important part of game, but storytelling should be even more important!

• Game should not be of hack'n'slash type!

• Combat should be real-time and by rpg rules.

• Story development should be led by character actions and should be open ended. There should be more than one story-line involving standard UY cast and a lot of dynamically generated quests.

• There should be more than one solution for most challenges in game. Player should be able to solve almost any problem with talking, not only with fighting.

• Talking with NPCs should be important! Player could learn about past events (from UY books) through conversation with NPCs.

• Graphic should be isometric 3D (or 2D) and should be as close as possible to Mr. Sakai's artwork. Mr. Sakai's original way of showing that some character is death should be implemented. Graphic engine should support time of day (down, morning, midday, afternoon, sunset, night with moon, night without moon), seasons (winter, spring, summer, autumn), weather condition (clear, cloudy, rain, lighting, wind, snow, etc) on different terrain types (roads, forests, rice fields, grassland, hills and mountains, coast, etc) and places (small villages, towns, temples, palaces, etc).

• There should be lot ambiance sounds and it would be great if absence of background sounds (silence), along with music, would be used to show presence of danger.

• World should be populated by many animals (especially lizards ) and common people NPCs.

• Game should borrow good design ideas from Fallout 1&2, Planescape:Torment, Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and other great adventure/rpg games

• There should be both single player i MMORPG mode.

I hope that we will see UY game soon and not only cosole version, but also PC (Windows and Linux) and Mac versions.
Best regards,
Darko

Darko: nice insight. I'm more of a console RPG gamer (I dig old SNES classics), but your points are great. An MMORPG based on feudal Japan would rock, although it'd be kinda hard to sell the concept of anthropomorphic characters (I love them, but most people react against them, thinking that they're cute and childish but nothing else).

Now we should get Bioware, Square Enix or another game developer to this forum and convince them of this . Does anyone know any of those guys?

One more thing: C4 Digital is/was developing a cell phone game like the C64 "Samurai Warrior". Any news about the game?

looks good shame my mobile isn't new enough to play games. I'm currently downloading the trailer for the game but the little animated .gif reminds me so much of the old school game IK+ [International Karate Plus].

And BTW that isn't a bad thing ^_^

I spend more time on the PS1/2 with action/puzzle games (Res. Evil, Onimusha, Fatal Frame) as opposed to the RPGs. From what I've seen of things like Baldur's Gate, the characters are kind of wee for any detail in the rendering, whereas in the aforementioned games, you get some nice closeups.

Of course, the game I'm building in my head is something along the line of Jotaro being abducted into The Tangled Skein, and Usagi + supporting cast searching for him while dealing with the menacing creatures of Japanese myth: "They reached the ryokan, where they thought it was safe..."

I do worry about these MMORPORKS, tho'-- if I don't want to interact with actual people online, will the game still stand up?

A Fallout-like game setted in Feudal Japan... Hmmm... Sounds good!

ziritrion wrote:UY should be either an adventure game (Zelda) or an RPG (Final Fantasy).

Zelda is a hack 'n' slash.
And allthough Final Fantasy is good.. i dont really think it would suit Usagi Yojimbo much.. I just feel it should be something (not as violent as ofcourse) Dynasty warriors. It has the more samurai-ish feel to it.

I think Zelda 64 had a very good sword fighting system, the problem was that there weren't more than two sword fights in the whole game! I don't like onimusha, because of the whole magical item cast your spell, push this button and you've done a master samurai move thing!

If they do make an Usagi game, it would probably be best to incorparate Link's sword actions (Only in the hands of someone who knows what hes doing like Usagi) and final fantasy, except with out all the annoying movie seens. It's a big let down when the last three FF games you buy have less game play altogether than pong. I kid you not!

Or how about this, ever play conker's bad fur day for the nintendo 64???
TEDDIZ AND KATANAS!! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, OH YEAH!! KER-SLICE!!!