Muramasa - The Demon Blade

Vanillaware makes great games, Muramasa being one of them, but their games never achieve mainstream popularity. There are lots of games, series and even companies that are like that. Sepewrath

I agree tc, it's a shame that both Demon Balde and Odin Sphere didn't receive the attention they both deserve.

Vanillaware makes great games, Muramasa being one of them, but their games never achieve mainstream popularity. There are lots of games, series and even companies that are like that. Sepewrath

Why isnt Muramasa so popular. OpenCloset

Because it's a very Japanese game. Western kids play Western games (and even then, if they spot a primary color in there, they may shun the game) and Japanese guys play on handhelds. That's what this generation has been all about.

is it a really good game?ChunkyBoy13

Yes, it really is.

is it a really good game?ChunkyBoy13

[QUOTE="Sepewrath"]Vanillaware makes great games, Muramasa being one of them, but their games never achieve mainstream popularity. There are lots of games, series and even companies that are like that. OpenCloset

That's business. It typically takes creating awareness and promoting a game in order to make it popular, and Muramasa wasn't really in the position to really make a lot of buzz to the mainstream audience. It also doesn't help that its very Japanese look and lack of familiar branding was also part of the territory; it's hard to sell a product to the average consumer when he/she has no idea of what's to be expected.

Heck, not even Nintendo can sell everything. The most recent example would probably be how Sin&Punishment 2 is doing right now.

In any case, I'd like to get Muramasa one day. It's on my backlog of Wii games, but I just don't have the money for it. :|

Easily one of, if not my favorite Wii title.

This game rules.

Why isnt Muramasa so popular. Its a great game. It has sick art style, easy controls that require no movement. The Boss fights are really fun, each unique. Its a RPG 2D side scroller set in Japan. The only problem of the game is the backtracking. You have to run a lot of screens to get places. And only once and while youll get a fight. Other than that the game is pretty good. If you have played Muramasa, did you like it? If not why didnt you?OpenCloset

to start off, i never knew about this game until a few months ago. i also never even saw it in stores before, its never there for some reason. i also dont have the cash to get every good game out there, threre are a lot of games i would like to get but cant, i have 2 systems (WII, PS3) which means a lot for games to choose from, and i need to save some money so i have to buy games that i really want.

^ It's my favorite Wii title so far.

Was only able to play it for a but, was fun, will buy it when I go to the stores next week.

I enjoyed Muramasa very much; however, I can't shake the feeling that it is missing something. I like in Odin Sphere where you could plant seeds, make potions, gather phozons by actually doing it yourself. It added something to the action. I know doing that sort of stuff probably is dull to a lot of people, but I enjoyed it. Of course, Kamitani's aim was to make this game more action focused, and doing that other stuff would have obviously slowed down the pace of the action.

And I must say, I dare to dream of the masterpiece Vanillaware could make if money and time wasn't an issue. Kamitani said in an interview that they had to cut several bosses and a good bit of story for Muramasa. It makes me wonder what they could create if they had a budget of a Mario or Zelda game. Man, if I was billionaire, I would help finance their game to make that happen. Even if it meant I wouldn't receive a penny of profit, they so deserve the chance to make a game without being hindered by a low budget and a short development time.

It's a pretty cool game. The graphics are a 10, no doubt, but it is a bit repetitive. If you're getting this game thinking there might be more to it than to slice monsters, level up, then slice some more monsters, you might end up dissapointed.

I wasn't really dissapointed, personally, but I've stopped playing the game twice now. Because of boredom/more interesting games I'd rather play instead, probably, but I might get back to it someday if I'll feel like playing a quality hack'n'slash.

Muramasa is a very fun game. The graphics are beautiful, the music is good, and the combat is very satisfying.

This game is repeatative, because it mimmocs early arcade games. Arcade games are repeatative by nature because of their playing format that is designed for the user to pick up on it immediately.

Now that I think about it, this is probably the reason why I like the game so much. I really miss arcades. I built a joystick to play fighting games on and I already have plans for a cocktail arcade in my near future.

I wanna' get it but for some reason it's one of the most expensive Wii games on the shelf! I'm waiting for it to be reduced down to AAA game pricing at least.so_hai

[QUOTE="so_hai"]I wanna' get it but for some reason it's one of the most expensive Wii games on the shelf! I'm waiting for it to be reduced down to AAA game pricing at least.locopatho

[QUOTE="locopatho"][QUOTE="so_hai"]I wanna' get it but for some reason it's one of the most expensive Wii games on the shelf! I'm waiting for it to be reduced down to AAA game pricing at least.so_hai

[QUOTE="locopatho"][QUOTE="so_hai"]I wanna' get it but for some reason it's one of the most expensive Wii games on the shelf! I'm waiting for it to be reduced down to AAA game pricing at least.so_hai

I am strongly considering picking this up because I keep hearing good things about it. It seems to be one of those hidden gems if you can get past some minor flaws.

I am strongly considering picking this up because I keep hearing good things about it. It seems to be one of those hidden gems if you can get past some minor flaws.

whosgotthe311

from everything i have read and seen on gamewebsites and stuff it seems like the game companies just do not like australia i feel sorry for you guyselbert_b_23

I really liked Muramasa. It's a top 5 Wii game for me, but let's face it. The game is pretty niche and odds were it wasn't going to sell very well. Doesn't mean it's a bad game, but those types of games never sell great.

I've actually taking a liking into Muramasa The Demon Blade because you soley have to understand that this game isn't for every RPG fan. And It's not going to appeal to every freaking person that looks at the cover, but the game is in well needed stardom because of the uniqueness and the architechure of the game in general. People just don't understand that plenty of games now a days have really good Capabilities of being well known but the general audience of any game wants to see it in front of their face and in action, but knowing Muramasa had no commercials, no airtime, and no type of previews for it at all, not many people were aware that the game even existed. Maybe if the owner of the company that made this game, stopped being cheap and put a little more time into getting the game "known" or advertised right, they would've sold plenty of games and people would think about buying Muramasa, but since there is no type of evidence on National T.V in America that the game exist, many people just don't know it does.

~End of Story~

Without question Muramasa is one of my top five games of the entire generation. I just love it to death!

Muramasa isn't popular because its artstyle is so far from non-mainstream acceptance.

Mainstream is bleeding edge realism, extremely barebones basic, hulking brute killer, or muscular action hero.

Muramasa was a resounding success though. I'm pretty sure it managed 300,000 and some company said it succeeded.

Here are the words from a Marvelous president himself, Yasuhiro Wada:

"Muramasa: The Demon Blade was about the best 2D graphics you could deliver. Getting that wide variety of contents on the market is the only way you can appeal to a variety of people that are into videogaming.

Take the example of the 2D graphics which are at the core of Muramasa. I don't think many companies are still interested in developing such title based on high quality 2D graphics. You would find all the game using 3D graphics. But there are qualities that are unique to 2D like the level of details, colors, etc… Also, should the market be exclusively about 3D graphics, then some who are very talented in 2D would not feel the need for them to get involved in the industry. This would indeed impact on the industry's creative ability overall. Of course the way to originality is a risky one, commercially. You need sells to keep making those original titles."

Here's the link saying it performed well, at least in the UK:

http://www.cubed3.com/news/13548

Iv never been able to find the dang game. when it came out i hunted every wallmart and gamestop in my area and have yet to see it on the shelves :(

Mainstream certainly doesn't equate to quality and that doesn't just apply to games but pretty much everything in life. Its a shame it doesn't get recognition but at least you can be proud you are one of the few that searched through and found this gem :).

Easily one of, if not my favorite Wii title.

This game rules.

Dave_Bonds

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Got meplaying my Wii again.