Miyamoto Musashi is the legendary
samurai. Many samurai fellows, whether enemy or friend acknowledge him for his
uncanny swordsmanship and his brave. Are said greatness of him, enough to slay
demons and save the world from evil darkness? We shall see in Visco's Ganryu/Mushashi
Ganryuki (1999).
Quick translate of word
"Ganryu" from Google translate, resulting in "Cancer" . Well,
that didn't go well, did it?! What a damn embarrassing. I leave the translation
to those who's expert at Japanese vocabulary, then. Before we jump into
demon-slaying action, let's listen to the backstory first!
After faithful duel with Sasaki
Kojiro (in which Kojiro ends up dead), Musashi's about to meet his girlfriend,
Otsu in Kyoto. What else better refreshment than a date with his lover? Making video
game article, perhaps. As i'm single, i prefer that.
Here's Otsu herself. She's pretty fair and has sweet smile. AAAH!
My eyes are having diabetic symptom. Engineer_helpme02.wav
Otsu isn't alone. She brought her
younger sister, Suzume as both companion and bodyguard. Because she's ninja,
you see. It's very convenience having your sibling adept at
killing/assassination art so he/she can be your personal bodyguard for
absolutely free (without wage/salary/etc) beside can protect you from bullies.
Alas, Kyoto has problematic incident.
Mysterious ninjas have abducted lots of its denizens. They're mysterious
because they wear hooded mask to cover their identity unlike Suzume. The lass
is really unconvincing ninja.
Moreover her elder sister got
kidnapped while she's presumably taking a leak. You have much to learn, lass. The ninja knows that
Otsu's smile is so enchantingly sweet, subdues her from behind and shuts her
mouth. That's clearly professional kidnapping. The backstory is narrated in two
perspective: Musashi's and Suzume's. That backstory was comprehension from two
stories. What a state of the art by me.
As Kyoto isn't in Gensokyo which
means it's out of Reimu Hakurei's territory occupation. So, i have to make
choice between the legendary samurai who saves his ladylove or a ninja who have
to rescue her sister as amend of her clumsiness her duty/obligation. Pow
is measure of attacking power, Dex
measure of movement speed while Vit measure of damage resistance. I go with
Musashi because he's famous also i believe he's the main character as indicated
by the game's Japan version. But don't worry! I'll tell about the differences
of playing as Suzume much much later.
The game kindly tells you
"How to play". Joystick to move, 1st button to attack, 2nd button to
jump, and 3rd button to throw grappling hook. The grappling hook is obviously
extraordinary feature in most platform game ever. Beside to attack foes from limited
distance, it can latch into pillars/columns so Musashi/Suzume can swings around
like Medieval Japan Tarzan. You don't see Musashi doing Tarzan-esque swing
everyday.
Pardon me! I believe i play a
game about Musashi right now, not Captain America and Co.
Here we go! Musashi start minces
the demon ninja (judging by green blood that they spill) without asking where
Otsu being held or sort like that. Cut the enemies first, ask question later.
Such is way of Musashi Miyamoto, the greatest samurai of all time. Anyway, the
demon ninjas can spawn out of thin air but with decent warning. The ninja start
as figure-y shadow like the one near the roof. After a bit moment, he's
materialized and ready to rumble or die trying.
There's also female captive that
you can free by slashing her (binding rope). As token of gratefulness, she bows
gracefully also gives you health-restoring food, extra time, score-up items, or
weapon. In this case she gives me shurikens, the basic projectile weapon with
limited number.
Here the swinging action of
Musashi that i promised. It doesn't look nice (as if he hold the grappling hook
with his feet). But he swing faster and farther than early bionic commando.
Plus he can kick ninjas while doing so. Neat!
Lo, I'm stealthmaster. No, seriously. I'm definitely stealthier
than these ninjutsu gits.
If you think slashing ninjas is too trivial. You can try sliding
kick them. By crouching and then pressing jump button, Musashi will stretching
his legs and slides forward. It deals minimum damage but still can one-hit kill
lowest rank ninja (dark blue ones). You can also stomp the ninjas on their head
to kill them like moustacheless Japanese Mario.
Shock! Kojiro is alive and he's
behind this incident. He abducts Otsu to lure Musashi. How about the other
people? He feels abduct a person is waste so he think "Might as well as
kidnap dozen peoples". So, he's clearly become evil jerk. By the way,
giant figure in the background is Hime-Yasha (means demon princess), the 1st
boss. Let's rumble!
Hime-Yasha has porcelain-doll
face but also purple demonic flesh. You can say that she's creepiest and biggest
demon doll ever. She can emits firebreath and fires machinegun arm. Both attack
can be avoided by jumping. Do note that: all of the bosses have post-hit
invincibility. So you have to delay your weapon throwing, lest the projectile
flies through them without making any harm.
After her life's depleted to 50%.
Her body is gone but her head still wants you dead and it's flying. At this
point, you most likely out of shuriken so harming her become challenging. She
spews blue bullets or she try to swoop you and incinerate you with firebreath
at point-blank. During this second attack is good opportunity to hack her. You
can avoid her by sliding and immediately slash her at the back of her head
which is totally chivalrous. *much sarcasm*
Musashi sad knowing that he
couldn't find Otsu. Yes. He rescued lots of damsel-in-distresses. But none of
them are Otsu or those who have the same bright smile as her. The poor guy's
journey continues...
Hey, you aren't supposed to throw
boulder at me! You're ninja, not cavemen or gorilla for God sake. 3:
Beside female hostage, pick-up item can be obtained from these box
chests. But you don't get extra score at the end of stage for opening them
unlike rescuing hostage.
Kaguya Houraisen! Why are you here? Iseng, you said?! Oh, okay.
Return to Eientei as soon as i free you, please! Eirin Yagokoro and other must
be worried about you.
Kaguya gave me dynamites. Where
the hell she got that? Must be Yukari Yakumo, said "It's dangerous to go
alone take these!" or sort like that. Anyway, dynamites are quite difficult
to use. Musashi throws dynamite in short arc but enemy can runs pass it
harmlessly and slashes him. So Musashi have to crouch first so the dynamite can
lands more accurately. Also it inflict hefty damage and make enemy dies in crispy
agony. So there's that.
There's zip line section. Wheeee!
This screenshot doesn't shows you
that the ninja's farting. Instead, i got Ninja Gaiden'd by that ninja. You can't see Musashi because
he's blinking when taking damage. A ninja
that successfully Ninja Gaidening.
Very funny.
Kojiro is already gone. So this
tubehead monk will be Musashi's opponent. Hah! Ludicrous.
Ok. You transform into genie-esque
demon that can spawns tracking tops. Fine, cool. Actually this attack is the
most difficult of his. The tops will launch at you in order: the closest from
him to the farthest from him. So to dodge this attack: move away from him and
start sliding toward him and occasionally jump. He can also throw fireballs
vertically while flying to the other side and summons vile spirits diagonally.
The latter is golden opportunity to hurt him big time by crouching very near
his fiery legs and rapidly slashing them.
When the genie demon suffers certain damage, he start to summon 4 homing
evil spirit along his attacks that i mentioned before. The battle start to feel
aggravating at this point. Even though the quartet spirits can be destroyed by
your attack.
Next stage takes place in some
kind of well built cavern or mine. There's swords thrusting from ceiling and
lava ponds to hamper your progress. Quite funny thing is: the ninjas often walk
into the lava and die. I tend to travel in circle in this stage. Probably
there's less direction sign than other stage. Rule of thumb: the end of stage
is in lowest level.
This must be the grossest slide. Nonetheless, it's still slide.
Wheeeee!
Then give me some of the cookies,
you greedy sod! Everyone loves cookie with chocolate chip and Arnot's Good Time
is quite the preferable ones.
And then Kojiro leaves and makes
me fight this monster. According to his words, this monstrosity is some of the
captives. That's really grim, man. Besides being the most grotesque boss stage,
it's probably the hardest ones. Its attacks: 1) Its head become has 3 eyes
(like in screenshot), tracks you and pukes poison breath 2) It's head become
like vertical Venus flytrap and shoots bouncy spiked balls. The first ones can
be dodged by luring his attack in perfect time. The last ones can be dodged by
crouching near its base (which happens to be its weak point). Probably not 100%
safe at all time but still lazier better way than try to perfectly
position yourself beneath arcing line of the spiked balls.
"Is that the boss can
do?" No. After every attack, it summons 4 homing centipedes which
strangely sound like frogs. Even though they can be destroyed, Combination of
one of the attacks and these centipedes can be very difficult to deal. Plus the
interlude between these two attack, is very short. By now i realize that, even
though having shuriken can allow you to dispatch enemies from afar, it's still
better to stick to the katanas because you can slash easily those centipedes
than throw them with shuriken because their movement is pretty erratic. Also
shuriken deals less damage like 50% or maybe 30% to bosses than with katana
slashes. So i suggest you rescue the lady but don't take her shuriken offering
in this stage.
Next stage takes place in another
town. This lady's hair reminds me of Akari in "Hitsugime no Chaika" anime
which is a saboteur. That's term for western medieval version of ninja.
In this stage, there's section where trunks emerge from water that
can be hooked with my grappling hook so i can move further. Thank you, Groot!
Kojiro has new type of minions
here: the demonic eagles. Luckily i was given mystic orbs weapon by not-Akari
back there. It's quite similar to the ones in Sengoku 2. With one press attack button,
i conjure the mystic orb around me and act like offensive shield. If i press
the attack button again, the orbs will be shot in front of me. If i don't press
it within certain period, they fly away with radial motion. This weapon is
certainly the heaviest of all, cumbersome yet deal massive damage.
Another shock! Actually Kojiro is
emerged within an evil god named (so commonly) Chaos. You had one job, Musashi.
Finish your enemy with your katana instead of wooden sword made from an oar.
That way, he will die peacefully not holding grudge against you and be assimilated
within an evil god. Finish your job properly, now!
Or let him escapes so you fight him another time. Good job! *very
intense sarcasm*. Luckily this boss is much easier than previous ones. He can
do either firebreath or summon meteor. Both of his attack can be avoided by
quickly move to the direction where he come from. Then you can start attacking
his head pretty safely.
"Behold my mighty
hand!" I bet i'm not the only one who can imagine that Onslaught's speech
(in Marvel Vs. Capcom) whenever this boss doing swift clothesline toward me.
Just duck under his fist and you'll be fine
This fight start getting harder
when his life down to 50% or so (and his head starting to get flayed). His
forehead gem will glows yellow and soon shoot fireballs that will create fire
pillar upon impact with the ground. Again, this attack tracks you so you have
to lure it somehow so you can be safe. Also he will try to combine this move
with another attacks that are previously mentioned.
The beginning is the ending. Once again, Musashi goes to
Ganryujima Island to defeat Kojiro. But this time, it's not duel. It's war!
Against demon god or whatever that malevolent being is.
Ganryujima island is different
from Musashi's last visit. Besides there's demonic eagles and demonic ninjas,
there's also fierce animal with glowing eyes from Goro's lair apparently.
2 things that i want to say here: 1) There's no hostage here so
you have to rely on these chests 2) There's floating island up there. It's
islandception!
In final conversation, Musashi
debates with Chaos about power. You know the stuff with "A person becomes
stronger if he/she is altruistic/selfless" or sort like that. Whatever.
Final fight?! That's makes sense.
You kidnap someone's (and probably other's) girlfriend like Mad Gear. But instead of dozens of street
thugs, you have demon ninjas and greater demon at your command. Very clever. I
wish i can suplex you as token of congratulatory, Chaos.
You looks like generic devil king
except you got flame hair like Hades in Disney's Hercules. His attack: spawning
demon heads is actually easy to dodge. You have to stay away from him and jump.
But i wasn't fast enough. Also i think i skip chests that contain
health-restoring item so short moment after this i lost my live.
Spy_Revenge02.wav. This time i'm
back with full health. Although, i'm return to the checkpoint where there's no extra weapon.
I'm fine with that. Because as i mentioned before, slashing bosses with katanas
is quite worthy. Also whenever i need to use ranged attack like in this
situation, i can rely on grappling hook. Yes, it's slow. But still reliable.
The fire dragon will spinning around the center and it will track on you. It's
easy to read attack pattern.
Other his attack: conjuring
traveling fire pillar and calling fiery meteor diagonally from above. You can
guess what i do when he do the latter attack. Crouch near his shin and start to
cut it like you want to clear jungle's vines. This is probably the fairly easy
boss. But do mind that when he's about to die, his attacks become faster in
execution.
With Chaos's death, Otsu and
other captives are free. Musashi loves Otsu's smile but as you can see he can't
see it directly so he hug her instead. Lest his eyes will start to swollen
within 15 mins.
I imagine that Otsu say
"Musashi! You forget the obento/lunch box that i made for you, again".
That's quite embarrassing if it's heard by his comrade. Overall, happy ending.
As i promised, i tell you about
Suzume's difference in gameplay compare to Musashi. For starter she moves
faster. She slashes once within single press of attack button instead of
twice like Musashi. He carries two katanas, you see. Musashi's extra
weapons are dynamite and shuriken, while Suzume are bomb and kunai. Suzume
throws the bomb beneath her feet and create fire wave along the ground, like in
screenshot. It's definitely better than dynamite. But on ground only. It's
really useless for aerial combat. While with kunais, Suzume can shoot them in
2-way: 1 straight forward and 1 in small degree above the other.
The ending pretty much same. It's
hugging scene. Because Otsu's married to Musashi, she lost right to be her
aristocrat family's head. So Suzume takes her place and become ninja no longer.
I hope the last part isn't entirely true, because it's shame to give up your
ninjutsu in order to be ordinary head family like that. I hope she's still
honing her ninja's skill for the sake of her family.
That's Ganryu/Mushashi Ganryuki
(1999). From how dynamic Musashi/Suzume as platformer game character, i regard
it as the best of its genre. They can swings with grappling hook, attack
enemies with it, grab on platform, thread on zip line, jump pretty high, attack
enemies with melee weapon at decent range, sliding kick, and wall kick to climb
higher level. I forget to show you the last ones. Unlike Megaman X, their wall
kick has too much kickback on it but still you can utilize it to reach height. There's
flaw on sliding kick. I intend to make Musashi/Suzume slide but instead hop
upwardly quite often, although i believe i have made them crouch for quite long
time before pressing jump button. The art style of anime are gorgeous. The
musics are pretty good. The graphics are wonderful. The non-boss sections are well made especially you can utilize
character's platforming capability to the fullest extent. The boss sections
have inconsistency on difficulty curve. Mainly how arduous the 3rd Boss battle.
Do note: you can run out of time during boss battle, moreover when you realize
too late that shuriken/kunai inflict reduced damage to boss's health. The extra
weapons are quite useful for ranged attack but less reliable for boss fight. The
captive-rescue assessment is akin to Metal Slug.
Overall i can recommend Ganryu/Mushashi
Ganryuki (1999), especially because how vast mobility that Musashi/Suzume has.
Also they're capable to slay giant demons like Dante from Capcom's Devil May
Cry. As per usual, i will analysis the hero's stats. This one is pretty easy
because the character selection helps me a bit.
Wielding 2 katanas needs strong
muscle so his primary stats: Strength (at 3.5/5). He slashes twice within short
time, IMO it's down to his fine technique rather than his quickness. So his
secondary stats: Dexterity (at 3/5). Musashi is portrayed as charismatic
swordsman who cares to other especially her girlfriend, Otsu. Also he seek to
hone his skill like Ryu in Capcom's Street Fighter. Now that i think, both of
them like to wear sleeveless cloth. Either because they care about their fashion
that show how awesome they are or they don't care to buy other cloth.
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