Getsu Fuuma Den [Model RC819]

月風魔伝 © 1987 Konami Industry Company, Limited.
(Getsu Fuuma Den)

Getsu Fuuma Den is an action/adventure game heavily based on classic Japanese mythology. The game takes place in Feudal Japan and follows the story of Getsu Fuuma, a demon-fighting samurai who journeys through hell to save the world. The mythical abode of the dead is in turmoil and a terrible enemy threatens the tenuous balance between the underworld and the world of men - a fierce hell demon called Ryuukotsuki (the 'bone dragon') has been resurrected by his minions and it now leads a war against humans. The two older F?ma brothers, armed with their legendary Wave Swords (the 'Hadoukens'), decide to travel to the underworld in an attempt to stop the undead monster - but their efforts are in vain and they both fall to their doom... Getsu Fuuma, the third and youngest brother (and hero of the game), vows to avenge them and to retrieve the missing blades (and combine them into the ultimate Hadouken). From a gameplay perspective, Getsu Fuuma Den doesn't follow the usual standards and is divided into three main phases - world-map exploration, straight-forward action and first-person perspective dungeon crawling. The player first guides Getsu Fuuma through the underworld, and the exploration of hell is done via an overhead map-like maze that features torii gates (traditional Japanese shrine gates), stores, houses (information and clues) and rare wandering enemies. In a nutshell, the world-map is the connecting cord between all the elements in the game, and torii gates lead to the game's various side-scrolling action stages (they interestingly act as 'bridges' and must be passed again in order to reach other areas on the map). There, the player can collect money, find items (such as lives, healing flames or special weapons and items) or boost his power. Interestingly, the sword becomes more powerful as Getsu Fuuma defeats more enemies (the sword's power is symbolized by a 'Ken' meter located right above the player's life). The samurai can also equip all kind of items and weapons (such as projectile weapons or new swords) and although some can be directly purchased in stores scattered around the world map, others are deviously hidden inside the action levels. Getsu Fuuma Den is a very vast game and a password system (in Japanese) allows players to save their progress.