BUSHIDO. BLADE.

Though the fact that the 3 of us are so stoked about this game perhaps reveals the real problem with BB. It does have skill components to it, and certainly plenty of strategy is involved with the running around all over the place trying to get and maintain the high ground etc., but the nature of the fighting itself, the one-shot-all-you-got life-meters-are-for-pansies thing going on, it just strips naked the button-mashing conundrum of all fighting games and gets rid of the superfluous ultra-destructive repetitive-combo gameplay aspect that seems to make the most popular fighting games popular among the people who really really love fighting games like Capcom vs. SNK or Marvel vs. Capcom or etc.: munchkin-minded douchebags who seem to have no concept of fun beyond beating the living shit out of their friends over and over again.

"I spent about an hour trying to find out what EO meant in the title. At first I thought it meant “edition online”—online edition reversed (just because those Japanese are so different), but apparently it means Easy Operation mode, which was first introduced with the GameCube version of Capcom vs. SNK 2. This basically allows gamers to pull off long-chain combos and strings of moves with a simple touch of the right analog stick. This makes the game a lot more fun, especially for less…how do you say, “button mashing” people like myself. I could never remember any combos for more than ten seconds, so this is a nice addition for gamers like myself."

Bushido Blade and Bushido Blade 2 were both ridiculously awesome. SHOCK HORROR ACTUAL STRATEGY IN A FIGHTING GAME! Scraping through one fight completely fucks you over for the next fight! GIVE ME MORE PLZ

I need a PS1 memory card to save (playing on a PS2) though, right?

where is BUSHWIIDO BLADE

i still feel sick to my stomach to think thasquare is remaking every game in their library for the 30432rd time and not sequeling this incredible game. bushido blade was flawed, but SO innovative at the time, and SO FUN. a bit of tweaking and bushido blade 3 could be the best game ever! STILL nobody has taken their idea and run with it, which blows my mind. if i were any other japanese video game company, i would make a bushido blade knockoff that is awesome and roll in $s!

the fucking wiimote is basically made for this game

wikipedia shows that in 1999 the development studio for BB was bought by Genki, who seem to not care about localizing anything they produce for the rest of the world, except that Majesco is going to be publishing this for the 360 at some point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kengo:_Legend_of_the_9

That Kengo game has been out for a couple months. Bad reviews, but a guy I know was able to get into it.

Gawd, I really really loved this game. Great environments, fun collision detection and the silliest one hit matches ever.

oh man. nothing much to add here. i love just THINKING about this game. i remember showing this to my mother of all people, in like 1997.

one thing i really liked was how you could change your stance, and that would in turn change all the moves, i.e. the same button presses would result in different moves depending on whether you had your sword low, regular or raised up in the air.

did you guys ever get into the first-person mode? it was hard because the button presses were totally different -- they were rotated 45 degrees -- but man, can you imagine doing an online multiplayer version of this?

BB2 was good although there was something missing from it, i'm not sure what.

awesome, i just bought this! i had no idea there was a PAL version in the UK. i think you had to have a modchip to play the japanese version of first one in the US? (which i had of course)

I'm coming to your house

I forgot there were guns in BB2! How weird was that?

the ps2 sequel to this got panned. any good?

There was a PS2 sequel? What was it called?

BUSHIDO. BLADE.

i dont get it

slash mode is a bitch.. just realized i need a PS1 memory card in order to save this mutha

it's just as wonky and awkward and difficult as i remember. (however, it is the first ever video game that the lovely emma b has wanted to play with me)

so many of the long moves leave you so terrifyingly exposed.. it's all about flicking their blade out of the way with short moves and then going in

the graphics are a little dated (and the story mode costumes are totally ridiculous) but there's something so lovely and of a piece about the characters and (tense) mood

BUSHIDO. BLADE.

this is helpful -

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/196844/23447

http://forum.saiyaman.info/index.php?showtopic=6205

LINKS TO BUSHIDO BLADE EMULATOR

Probably 25% of the best times I've ever spent hunkered down in front of a tv/console with some damies was Bushido Blade. It is so much more satisfying to come from behind to win when it's not just oh no the meter is all red vs oh no I am fighting on one good arm and neither leg.

Tracer OTM about the stance shifts and WTF why did other games never use that?

I think I played as a guy with a big spear sometimes? I can't believe it's been so long since I've even thought about this game.

Everytime I see the first post in this thread, I think it says "Why not this popular franchise?" which makes me laugh a lot-- I think it's because it reminds me of "Why not take a break?"

Prices on amazon go from ten dollars all the way up to eighty-five (ok, one crazy person). Anyway, I just ordered a copy so hopefully it arrives playable and lives up to all your hype!

be forewarned:

1) this game requires a lot of practice to get good at
2) despite this, you can get some cheap kills without even knowing how to play
3) by far the best experience is to play 1-on-1 with someone else

I wonder if in this VF5 era of being super aware in fighting games of body position and timing whether Bushido Blade is still as hard to get good at as it once was.

you tell us!!

i don't know anything about virtua fighter 5. however, i would be willing to bet that it moves a lot faster than BB. which would make it easier in some ways.

This finally arrived today (a bit scratched up, but so far it seems to work ok). Tried out some of the single player stuff and I'm liking it. Appreciating not to have to try to learn a million different combos - tho there does seem to be some complexity there too.

A little confused in the story mode - I assume I'm doing something "dishonorable" as I've had a go at it a few times and always end up at a black screen with some difficult to understand quote five or six fights in & then get dumped back to the title screen. Or is the story mode supposed to be short?

It's kind of funny to sit through ten seconds of load, ten seconds of cut screen, and then get into a fight that lasts two seconds! I also really like the drum beat sound as the continues count down

yeah story mode doesn't really "work" i don't think.. you may be getting a game over because you're attacking before the person has finished speaking to you

big tip for those playing this on a flat-screen TV - use composite cables instead of component, so that the jaggies get softened a little.

by the way, tobal no. 1 just arrived in the mail (tobal 2 never released in the west i don't think) so that means (i think) that i own all squaresoft fighting games that it's possible for me to own

^^^ hate u

What are the other (good?) Squaresoft fighting games?

So I was giving story mode another try - playing as the first character, and using the katana, and I beat the guy with a gun, he tells me the name of his boss and then I get a black screen that says "cowards can go no further." ?!? which eventually leads me back to the title screen. So is my copy of the game scratched and erroring out to the title screen? or do you play through the story mode with various characters and not the same one? or is that the true "end" for story mode - just a set of five or six fights? Like a different story for each character - like in DoA or something - except this black screen just doesn't feel like a proper end...

p.s. I was playing this on my psp via remote play (and after switching to the second control set-up (select + R1 = R2 for the second stance) it seemed to work great

I think that's the screen you get it if you hit someone while they're talking, or with their back turned, or something.

jeff i seem to remember something extremely stupid about needing to jump into a well in order to get the real ending, which takes place in the practice dojo

haha this thread already in google's top 10 for "squaresoft 'fighting game'"

i forgot "ehrgeiz" which i think i actually played at some point but about which i remember 0

also "the bouncer"

best way to play bushido blade is definitely against another human being, forget story mode, it's just not that interesting

also, turn off the music, and set the backgrounds to "light" instead of "dark"

actually, practice mode is pretty good too, especially if you give yourself a bit of a handicap with character/weapon selection and pit yourself against, say, tatsumi with the katana

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0dFirsxYNCQ&mode=related&search=

DUDE the reason you're itting that is because you're playing on easy!!!!

hitting that*

(the coward screen)

Actually I was playing on normal (hard?) I think (will double check tonight), but watching some of that video - I saw a lot of running and exploring - which I wasn't doing, just fighting. And I definitely didn't strike anybody in the back or while they were talking - so I guess I was playing wrong maybe? I thought it was just fighting, so maybe I got the black screen for not getting to the proper areas before fighting?

I found this-- i remember now

"When playing through the story mode in Bushido Blade, players are expected to fight honourable or they will be unable to continue. After a certain number of fights, a black screen will pop up with the text: "Cowards Will Go No Further," and the game must be start over.

Essentially, no cheap moves are allowed.

No killing an enemy while they are down
Do not attack your enemy until they are ready
And no attacking an enemy while they are running away"

wow, yeah, what was i thinknig of? maybe there was a difficulty-related thing in BB2.

So do you have to explore and get to some specific part of each level too, or just fight "honorably" to advance? Confused...

god this game was awesome

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/06/column_why_we_play_honorable_f.php

Unsurprisingly, Bushido Blade prevents in-game suicide, but if you press select during a match your player will drop to his knees and prompt an uncontrollable cut-scene where your fighter allows the opponent to deal a fatal blow.

omg i completely forgot about this!

I just bought this off eBay last night!

invite a friend over!

james u got it yet?

yeah - playing it on a PS3 is kind of a mistake

because it looks like ASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

hahaha - use a yellow composite video cable to hook it to your (probably HD?) tv - it'll smooth out the jaggies a little

i had a retake year of university where i had basically no classes to go to and i played this SO MUCH. i think it might make me feel a little ill, now, if i were to play it again.

the survival mode is a blast.

holy shit @ BB2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2MwDno4W64&feature=related

there was grappling??

will ps1 discs from the USA play on a UK ps3? hmm

:(

http://www.psu.com/forums/threads/194062-US-PS1-games-on-UK-PS3-60gb?p=4041852&viewfull=1#post4041852

man, bushido blade and tobal 2 are prob my fave ps1 fighting games.

einhander is also a pretty sick sidescrolling shmup with a killer techno soundtrack iirc.

enjoyed the days when square were diversifying their in house dev portfolio. does this still happen or are they mostly pumping out rpgs these days? haven't really been paying attention.

Me neither. Kinda pissed off that I lost my old pirated Tobal 2 disc. There's no way to play it on a PS3 that I know of. Never got the hang of "quest mode" or whatever though, did you? Seemed like an idea that they didn't have time to flesh out. The fighting, though.... good god I could play that game for hours

I seem to remember you could play as a Chocobo

I was into quest mode for sure. japanese menus were the only hurdle for me but I used faqs to putz my way through.

even sunk a bunch of hours into the way stripped-down quest mode in tobal 1. the brawler/rpg combo hit a real sweet spot.

you could play as any enemy you fought/or captured/or something else I'm forgetting in quest mode, right? including chocobos. that was great!

yes! Did you ever play The Bouncer? I never managed to get ahold of it. Seemed like a further fusion of RPG/fighter, with maybe a dose of Double Dragin thrown in there

DragOn

http://www.top40db.net/img/artist/9573.jpg

nah, never played the bouncer either. I think it was a US launch title and I didn't get a ps2 until a few years later. stubborn dreamcast partisan.

didn't realize there were rpg elements in it tho.