Killer7 SINdicate

[Deep]

So, recently for some reason I've decided to give another watch to Samurai Champloo anime as well as give another walkthrough to Samurai Champloo game. As far as I know, there is only one game was made based on that thing (take it or leave it). When it comes to SC, I don't see a lot of traction among ghm fans, in fact I think most of you people, don't even care about it, haha. Regardless of what you may or may not think, this is, in fact, a hidden gem as some might say. Now, I know the actual quality of the game, but if it's more fun to play than TSA and has more content than NMHIII - I'll take it any day of the week. So, here we go.

Game has a lot of stuff to do, explore and collect. First of all, we have 3 playable characters (2 at the start). Jin and Mugen stories are basically the same, with different bosses to fight, visiting same locations most of the time. After beating the one story, it's only 8 missions, it can take from 6 to 10 hours, i think. You'll then get Worso story (local fella from Ezo place). Now, Worso story is half the size and have only 4 missions, but it's not easy by any means. Apart from endless NMH-style gameplay (fight enemies - kill the boss), there is a free roam city we can visit before each mission. There are few shops: music shops to get your vinyls for combos (they actually matter), sword shop (there are some many swords, I've beat the game twice, or trice (?) and I haven't obtained all of the swords, damn), food shop (you can buff yourself before the mission), ice cream eating contest (you get art pictures from it) and beetle wrestling (local gambling). Most of the unlockable combo music you'll get during the regular walkthrough, so it's no big deal. But you need to buy them in the shop, because it's 15th century capitalism. Now, picking two tracks makes you have two sets of combos in missions, some more effective than others during different situations. Same with swords, you'll unlock them during gameplay, but you need to buy them as well. They also break quite fast, and you'll need to repair them (with your money of course!). I have no idea what is the best sword and which one to get, since all of them are killing enemies, some faster, some not so fast. Your default sword is unbreakable and works the same as any other, so I have no idea what's the point in getting all that additional garbage. Maybe there is a chart on gayfaqs, I haven't checked.

Game has collectable art (one that you see in cutscenes, during loading and art from manga), it's total of 100 pictures you can get. You can eat ice cream (my record is 352, try me, haha). Or get in TATE mode (when enemy has yellow star above the head, "DANCING ALL NIGHT" stuff). They're cool to look at, there is also some commentary about the art on some of them. That beetle wrestle game isn't even a game, you just bet on the bug you think that will win and hope for the best random outcome. It styilized as Pokemon battle GBA or something, but you're not controlling it at all. All you can control is volume on your TV when dude screams "BRYYYGAAAAARRRR" when you win, shit's annoying AF, lemme tell ya. Same for enemies in the game. They'll constantly rip your ears with my favorite "HALT, HALT" and "WHY YOU'RE CRIMINAL, WHY YOU'RE CRIMINAL" shouting all the game. Kinda like "MY SPLEEN" in NMH games. But music is great, so it's not as bad as you might think it is. When it comes to the actual gameplay, it's not that bad as people say. It's lesser version of DMC1 I'd say, if you can call it that. You have different paths in chart on top of the screen with turntables, that you can go to. Get to red pointer and keep rasing your tension gauge (bouncing white guy on the left). Or just mash square all you want. Later on in the game you'll breeze through the enemies, but on bosses you'd better use some swords and different music tracks, because not all of them are equally good for those. Bosses sometimes can be quite annoying as well. And if you die - you die.

Gameplay is nowhere near close to NMH standards, but it's playable, unlike Blood+. All of the people who shit on SC game clearly haven't tried ghm best B+ :lol: Anyway, being anime game, there is practically no "kill the past" stuff, aside from few nodes here and there (that we'll see more of in NMH and future games). Such as some item in game called "Heaven's Smile", i dunno why they did it, aside from small reference. In TATE mode you'll get extra hit when you kill 51 enemy. In the end of the game you fight giant bear and mecha-gorilla which is clearly some kaiju reference of some sort. There is also some 4th wall breaking going on in the end of the game, when characters talk to the player. Now, one more thing. During the game, especially in Worso story, there are of mentioning of "kamui" going on. I highly doubt it has anything to with TSC Kamui's, and it sticks out because it's in English version of the game. Well, there is also "oni" thing also being kept as is, without proper translation. My take is that "kamui" is just another word for "god", so they can differentiate all the gods mentioned in the game. It's sticks out to me in 2022, but I doubt any western player at the time would even have a clue about TSC Kamui stuff (aside from one guy, haha), so I have no idea why they didn't properly translated "oni" into demon and "kamui" into god. Who knows, maybe some raging chistians wouldn't agree with those statements said in the game, haha. Oh, and Holly Summers boss fight is just a rip-off from one bomberman boss in the beginning of the game.

In any case, Supreme Champloo game is cool and reeks with ghm style of the time (put it next to michigan and you'll feel same vibes).

[player1]

About that kamui stuff. While I think it's true that kamui is used as a reference to Ainu's mythology, as I presume Worso is one of Ainu people (though there's a theory that Mugen is somewhat belongs to Ainu too), it's not that far-fetched to call it a subtle reference to TSC. I can't recall anything related to kamui in SC anime, so I guess they intentionally made one character an Ainu representative to use word kamui one more time. As for why they used oni and kamui and not localized them as demon and gods... Maybe they thought that Onigami as Demon God would sound kinda stupid and decided to settle with Japanese terms as they are... Idk, I guess I should play the game.

[Deep]

Onigami as Demon God would sound kinda stupid

I guess something along those lines, maybe they did it to avoid further confusion with the game (however to a regular person, who have zero knowledge of japanese, "oni" and "kamui" would stick out as a sore thumb, thus makes even less sense towards the end of the game's story). There are some Gods being mentioned throughout the game, yet for variety of reasons they decided not to talk in English about THAT god, I have no idea about this one.

Also, I forgot to mention. Game uses 3 different appeals in graphics for character's design. It's wild. I guess 2 is common sense, like render and in-game, but there is total of three (mainly because 3D OP was re-created by different studio). Fuu looks nothing like in manga\anime in 3D OP, but more alike in in-game cutscenes.



Hahaha, wtf is that face, it's nothing like her at all:


In cutscenes and in-game it's more akin to anime\manga:



Jin and Mugen are all look good, but Fuu is little off.

[player1]

If they referenced gods like Izanagi, Izanami, Amaterasu, it's kinda appropriate to keep Kamui like Kamui. Though I still stand that they kept Onigami just because Demon God is 2edgy&stupid.
Still, if they referenced Judeo-Christian God in Japanese script, then it's kinda funny, yes. I dunno, it's not like Christians care so much when someone says something about God. Not like usage of Biblical references in Xenogears were met negatively. If it's not about burning churches then not a lot of people would care.