Muramasa: The Demon Blade (2009)

☆Not a review.

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Vanillaware at home. It was such a breath fresh of air at the time for me. Breathtaking, stylish, and a gem in my memories.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂ ★ Favorites ▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

❶ My favorite character is Momohime~<3

❷ The gameplay wasn't the strongest, but the bosses were quite creative fights.

❸ The OST & VISUALS in their traditional style will be forever memorable to me.

Vita Memories from the 10s

Part 3: I see you're a man of culture as well

I'll be sharing some of my favorite Vita memories of this past decade. I talked about the game that made me buy a Vita, as well as my first fave I played on the Vita. Now I'm just going to cover various games I particularly loved over the years to follow.

Question! What is the most beautiful game ever made? (beep beep beep) Time's up. The answer is Muramasa Rebirth, a fantastic 2D hack-and-slash action platformer set in a fantasy world of traditional Japanese folklore. Samurai, ninja, yokai creatures, oni demons, vengeful ghosts, Buddhist deities, lucky gods -- what's not to love?

This game was originally released on the Wii, but was improved in various ways for the Vita, including adjusted controls and a vastly improved translation that's more faithful to the original script and to the setting. Four DLC packs were also released for the Vita version, each of which added a new character, a campaign for that character, and new bosses for them to defeat. I almost never say this, but here the DLC is an absolute must-buy.

Muramasa Rebirth is one of those rare games where, as I played it, I loved every single thing about it. The game controls wonderfully, and it feels awesome to take down waves of enemies with your ever-growing collection of swords. Some people call the game repetitive (such is the eternal dilemma of the hack-and-slash or beat-em-up), but at no point did I feel bored in my playthrough. Each sword has a unique skill, and I enjoyed working out what set of swords worked best for each area I traveled through. Different enemies call for different tactics -- or at least, I preferred that to just brute-forcing my way through the entire game.

But on top of just being a fun game, Muramasa Rebirth stands out for being jaw-dropping gorgeous. Every time I went to a new area, I was taking screenshot after screenshot of those lovely landscapes. And you better believe I used them for Vita home screen wallpapers. New enemy -- screenshot. New character -- screenshot. New food -- screenshot. DAMN that food looks amazing! But seriously, every frame of this game is a work of art, and those colors absolutely POP on the Vita's OLED screen. In fact, that was the exact reason Vanillaware chose to put this game on the Vita in the first place -- they knew Muramasa's art style and color scheme would be a perfect fit on the system. I wish that there was a way, in 2013, to get gamers at every video game store to take a few minutes and try out an original model Vita with this game running on it. It's something you have to see to believe -- it is such a fine-looking game.

All of Vanillaware's stuff looks fantastic of course, but I definitely have a soft spot for this title in particular. I'm a fan of the setting, I guess is what it primarily boils down to. Despite Japan being the origin for so many great games, it's much less common for their fantasy settings to be traditionally Eastern-themed (as opposed to going with a Dungeons and Dragons style "swords and sorcery" medieval Europe). Interestingly, the Vita happened to get a good number of games like Muramasa that were set in ancient/feudal Japan -- most of them more under-the-radar, but still very enjoyable. (One in particular, I'll be sure to do a write-up for!)

Incidentally, Muramasa Rebirth Complete Collection (includes all the DLC) is on sale for about $10 right now! Go get your Vita, and go get this A+ game.