Foxtrots Franchises Which Need Games #1: Tenchi Muyo

I decided to start writing this blog after having a long binge watching session, this is where I would finish off the last of my work and decide to watch something I need to watch or haven't watched in ages, this week I decided to binge watch Tenchi Muyo.

As I sat in my room and watched the very first episode to it's last it got me thinking about one thing "DAMN, this universe is perfect for a video game". After that I started to think about other franchises out there in the world which haven't had much exposure when it came to video games. So I will now present to you a little blog series of mine of the franchises I think deserve to have video games starting with the Japanese anime, light novel, and manga series Tenchi Muyo.

For those who are not aware of the franchise Tenchi Muyo is about a young teenager, Tenchi Masaki, who one day accidentally releases an alien space pirate, Ryoko. This action sends out a ripple effect which goes on to change his life forever because with the recent release of Ryoko it ends up drawing the attention of other space travellers across the universe starting with the highly respectable Jurai Royal Family Princess Ayeka who is travelling the universe searching for her brother Yosho who left their planet after it was attacked by the space Pirate Ryoko. This leads her and her younger sister Sasami to Planet Earth 700 years later where she ends up in her meeting not only Ryoko but Tenchi aswell. This is just the tip of the iceberg within the Tenchi universe and is the start up point for it's huge story which goes on to change Tenchi's life forever.

I feel like with the massive universe in Tenchi it could easily become a space exploration game such as Mass Effect and it would most likely the main inspiration for the game. When Tenchi accidentally releases Ryoko he also releases Ryokos ship Ryo-Ohki, with the ship it could offer the player ways to travel from planet to planet.

With the many characters of Tenchi it could also take another piece of inspiration from Mass Effect, the team squads. In Mass Effect each character has it's own special abilities they can use on the battlefield and with Tenchi's many characters in the show they could easily do a party of three people where players can use different ways to overcome an objective.

Tenchi Masaki - Continuing on from above Tenchi might seem like a normal teenager but he is in fact a very powerful swordsman who was taught by his grandfather who came from the Planet Jurai. He has links to the planet as well and uses a sword called "Tenchi" which in appearance has a lightsaber look to it. Obviously if a game was made Tenchi's primary weapon would be his sword adding a hack and slash type of gameplay to it, however it's not all it can do, the sword and even Tenchi's Jurai power can block attacks using a shield for example. The best power Tenchi has is to summon a power called "the light hawk wings", usually the LHW are only able to be used by powerful Jurai ships for defence purposes but somehow Tenchi manages to use this power himself.

Ryoko - The space pirate, Ryoko uses her gems on her wrists to form energy together in the shape of a sword, her gameplay could be similar to Tenchi's but unlike Tenchi Ryoko can also fire this pockets of energy in the form of projectiles. Ryoko can also teleport, walk through walls, levitate but I'm sure these types of moves would have to be dumbed down for a video game, we don't want this to get too easy.

Ayeka - The princess of Jurai. Ayeka, despite being a princess is still capable of fighting and is even more powerful then Tenchi in his normal form, she can also fend herself off from Ryoko when they get into their small fights while competing for Tenchi's affections. Ayeka has Jurai technology in her hands so when it battle she would use a powerful force field to defend herself and for offensive attacks she would use an energy blast less powerful then Ryoko's, an Entrapment Field to stun enemies and when in her Jurai Battlesuit she can also fly.

Sasami - Ayekas sister, another princess of Jurai, unlike the other characters mentioned so far Sasami is not much of a fighter although she holds tremendous power with her bounded with one of the universes three goddesses as a child. As for what she could do in a video game I suppose she could offer you assistance over communications, she could fill you in of your objectives and tell you where you need to go. She would stay on the ship when your out travelling so she can help you there. Sasami is also a great cook aswell so it should be noted that getting her to prepare food for you would be a good way at earn health back or maybe improve it if the game turns towards traditional JRPGs, for example collecting one of a kind items could be mixed together to form a dish to boost your stats.

Mihoshi - A detective at the Galaxy Police, Mihoshi is often seen as a bumbling fool as she always seems to mess up even with the most simple tasks, despite this is seen as one of the best detectives in the police force. Her standard weapon is a police blaster so her gameplay would focus more on shooting. Mihoshi also carriers a pink control cube which is operated by turning its sections much like a Rubiks cube, the Control Cube's functions, at least in the first continuity, seem to revolve around small warps in space, apparently to easily access equipment and ships. This cube could be used as a way on storing items you find in the game and would be great to use as a support mechanic when in battle if you need to heal yourself.

"Little" Washu - Little Washu is a brilliant scientist who houses a range of technology she could use in battle. She could be used as a way to craft things you find in the game and also a way of upgrading your weapons, armour or even the ship. Despite this she can be seen as a fighter aswell but would rely more on her technology devices, much like how in Mass Effect you have biotic users which favour those powers over weapons.

So as you can see a squad based gameplay mechanic such as the one in Mass Effect would be perfect for a Tenchi game, it would allow us to choose our team wisely and have a range of different battle styles to choose from. Now I don't know if it would be a good idea to allow us to play as other characters but obviously Tenchi would be the main one as he is the star of the franchise.

Overall I think Tenchi would be a fantastic game to see developed, who would actually make it would be up for grabs, there's so many talented devs out there but for a game like this you would need to see have a great developer to see this pulled off. I've never understood why no one has touched this franchise when it's universe is so rich, the planets, their customs, the characters etc are all their it's just a shame to see it go to waste.

So what do you guys think?

If you haven't seen the show give is a shot. Be warned though if you watch it in English be prepared to watch it with dubs.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[randomass171]

Dude, I would so play this. And just for arguments' sake, I'm actually kind of hoping for an action game tie-in to the new Sailor Moon show this summer, because why the heck not?

[mydyingparadiselost]

Your hopes were answered a long time ago on the SNES by at least one Tenchi Muyo Strategy game ala FF Tactics. It was of course never localized but translations were easy enough to find when I checked it out in the late 90's. I would love a more recent game though, Tenchi Muyo is one of the shows that got me into anime and is still the only harem comedy that makes me laugh AND gives me lots of feels for the characters.
I would prefer a character action game though, something with Tenchi and Ryuko as the main characters in a Bayonetta styled fast paced game. Tenchi would have the light hawk, Ryuko would have her energy powers and an option for bathing suit dressed combat and there could be a battle between Tenchi and his father over Dad trying to catch pervy peeks and.... Well it would just be awesome

[Deadpool616]

I would buy that game in an instant.

Another anime that surprisingly never got a video game was Yoroiden Samurai Trooper (aka Ronin Warriors). Just get the Sengoku Basura engine, put the Ronin Warriors in, go through the anime's story, have upgrades/unlockable characters and you got the game. Ronin Warrior would be a fun co-op crowd fighting game.