A Series in Decline: Tenchu

In this article from GamingUnwrapped, the author will be taking a look back at a stealth series that held prominence in the PS1 and PS2 days: Tenchu. The article explores why the series has gone through a steady decline and what directions could be taken to bring the series back in today's gaming market. This article is opinion-based.

[GuruGavrill]

This article makes me want to try the Tenchu Series.

[himdeel]

Tenchu was a good series. It if you are going to try the original, hasn't aged well. I imported the JP version and still have it with the Ninja Scroll it came packed with :) I'm surprised we haven't seen a next gen version yet and maybe we never will.

It was an awesome game where you could go through the entire levels only killing the bosses. I remember the first time I used the grappling hook to escape to the roof tops and thought to myself, this is about to be one hell of an game.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

Ayame and Rickimaru were badass ninjas back in the day. I miss them :'(

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

I thought Tenchu 2 was the best, used to spend hours on the level editor and making my friends play my levels with about a 100 hidden traps in them lol.

[srcBFMVBMTH]

Same here haha. Tenchu is a freakin classic man.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

What makes me respect Rikimaru is that even though he wasn't blessed withe the talent as Ayame and Tatsumaru is was his hard work that still made him rise to their level in skill and in some instances surpass it.

Rikimaru is as traditional as a classic shinobi can get.....

[Unlimax]

A Series in Decline : Activi$ion !

[DudeJets]

I loved them on the old playstations they were such fun titles. Trying to complete levels without being seen was awesome

[SnakeCQC]

i miss tenchu and onimusha

[Bathyj]

I much would have preferred an Onimusha HD collection than DMC.

[Bathyj]

Anyone whose read any of my posts in the 5 years I've been on N4G knows I looove Tenchu. I go on about it quite a bit, but this time its on topic, so bare with me.

I know its repetitive, has poor graphics, poor controls, poor camera, no story or character development to speak of, but theres just something about it.

I love stealth, and remember, this game came out before MGS. I love feudal Japan. It had great music, and I just never get sick of slitting throats from behind. Plus its THE ONLY game (aside from possibly The Last Ninja) to give Ninjas the reverence they deserve. Theres no other game like it.

And I have a thousand good ideas for this series, and you hit on quite a few in this well written article. I agree with just about everything you said except the online. Its a single player game and I think they should just concentrate on that.

Adding MP diverts resources. Its unavoidable, its impossible not too much like filling a cup from another cup will mean the first cup is no longer full. The only way would be if it was completely funded by kickstarter or something and developed by a completely separate team.

Anyway, I digress. The problem is this game has never been given the AAA treatment and budget it deserves. Probably because it will never be that popular. It just isnt action packed enough and perhaps gamers these days dont have the patience to just wait around for the right time to strike.

Lastly I wish Tenchu Z would get the credit it deserves. Its my favourite 360 game, (relax, I never said it was the best). I really think fans of the series should like it since it has the best controls and camera in the series and the levels are are return to the open levels of the PS1 days, thankfully getting away from the corridor crap of the PS2 days. Bottomline is, it plays better than any other Tenchu game.

Sadly but, there is nothing there to win over any new fans. Its quality doesnt stack up to other games around today, the series definitely needs an overhaul by someone with passion and no one is doing that. Hell at this point I'd just about settle for the level editor to come to Tenchu Z and be happy with that.

Please someone make it happen.

[SaiyanFury]

I, like you, am a huge Tenchu fan. As such, Tenchu Z, aside from Tales of Vesperia, is really the only game I play on my 360 anymore. I'd love to see Z come to the PS3 with some enhancements, which ones I don't really know. I just wish FROM Software would get the ball rolling with another PS3/360 Tenchu.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

I found it hilarious that you mentioned Last Ninja because I just ran into that yesterday while listening to one of my Youtube subscriptions. The game play looked fun and I found the soundtrack one of the best I have heard ever (my favourite being the Central Park Loader track) I am still looking up what ever happened to Matt Gray's career as a composer.

Back in topic, I am currently playing Shadow Assassins for the PSP and I really liked the stealth elements in the series such as the opportunity to douse lanterns, the ability to choose the direction of the stealth kill via the analog nub, the large amount of stealth kill animations from almost every angle is impressive and the level of enemy difficulty depending on their battle experience (ronin are much easier to kill than seasoned samurai who are damn good at detecting your whereabouts). However, it lacked the open world of past Tenchu games, the ability of non-lethal takedowns of civilians have been removed plus the combat was an obvious gimmick for the Wii motion controller.

Have you played it Bathy J?

[Bathyj]

No, didnt play the Wii or PSP version.

[silentmanjay]

Hey everyone. Thanks for taking the time to read my article here. I really put a lot of work into it, so I'm glad I got as much positive feedback as I did. ^-^