Tenchu: Shadow Assassins
Encyclopedia
Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (known in Japan as Tenchu 4) is a stealth game developed by Acquire
for the Wii and From Software
for the PSP and published by From Software in Japan and Ubisoft
in North America and Europe for Wii
and the PlayStation Portable
in 2008.
and Ayame
, to investigate. Rikimaru soon discovers that someone is planning to start a war. Meanwhile, Counselor Sekiya, Gohda's right hand man, arranges for a fortune-teller to predict the future of Gohda's kingdom. Unfortunately, the fortune-teller turns out to be an imposter and kidnaps Princess Kiku, Lord Gohda's daughter.
Ayame chases after her without hesitation, while Rikimaru goes on another mission for lord Gohda instead: resume the investigation on the nuisances that have been troubling the land. He then discovers that Daimyo Tado is the one behind all this. Gohda then decides to declare war on Tado and travels to his land with Rikimaru. After Rikimaru succeeds in taking Daimyo Tado's life, the woman who posed as the fortune-teller, a Kunoichi named Rinshi, appears and tries to kill Rikimaru, but fails thanks to the intervention of Tachibana Hyakubei, who was hired by Gohda. After Lord Gohda's order, Rikimaru heads back to the castle. When he arrives however, he is attacked by the guards, who were ordered to consider him a traitor by Sekiya. Ayame had actually succeeded in rescuing the princess but had been attacked by someone who seemed to be Rikimaru, who was actually Rinshi in disguise. Ayame and Kiku then flee the castle as the real Rikimaru arrives, and the two women head for a secret hideout suggested by Sekiya. The Princess then reveals to be Rinshi in disguise and wounds Ayame, but Rikimaru arrives just in time to save her and kills Rinshi.
Gohda, noticing his castle in flames, realizes that it was all Sekiya's doing and orders Rikimaru to get back there and eliminate him. After he seemingly takes Sekiya's life and saves Kiku, Sekiya rises again and reveals himself to be Onikage, who then challenges Rikimaru to a duel. Rikimaru ultimately gains the upper hand but Onikage uses the princess as a shield, forcing Rikimaru to drive his sword through her to get to Onikage and kill him. Ayame, who had followed Rikimaru, cries upon Kiku's death. The extended ending (attained by collecting all of the map pieces in normal mode) shows Ayame speaking in Onikage's voice, suggesting his hatred survived in her since Rikimaru murdered her best friend.
Ayame is faster but weaker, making it harder for her to hide bodies. According to From Software
, their stages are also completely different, Rikimaru's more straightforward, while Ayame's being "a little trickier, she can use the environment more." There are about 10 multi-purpose items in the game, for example a cat can be used as distraction or as a scout.
On Wii, players use the Wii Remote
's analog stick to move, A button for actions, holding B button while moving forward to run or while moving sideways to strafe and uses the C button for jumping (a long jump can be performed while running). Wii Remote is also used for first-person perspective sword fighting.
The gameplay of the PlayStation Portable version is generally the same. However, controls have been altered to fit the console's functionalities, thus removing the motion controls, although some similar controls have been retained such as moving the analog stick of the PSP to move forward and pressing the D-pad to choose between items in the player's arsenal (same functions as the Wii Remote). The controls for doing a stealth kill have been slightly changed; the player now has to press the face buttons of the PSP console to trigger it and moving the analog stick.
Acquire (game developer)
is a video game developer based in Japan, mainly known for their Tenchu and Way of the Samurai series.-Tenchu series:*Dimensional Ninja Action Movie: Tenchu *Tenchu: Stealth Assassins *Tenchu: Shinobi Gaisen...
for the Wii and From Software
From Software
is a Japanese video game company founded in November 1986 known primarily for being the developers of the Armored Core, Demon's Souls, King's Field, Otogi and Tenchu series.-Games:...
for the PSP and published by From Software in Japan and Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
in North America and Europe for Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
in 2008.
Story
In the land of Lord Gohda, peace has not been fully restored and rumors of betrayal have been swirling around the lord and his subjects. As a result, Lord Gohda calls upon the Azuma Ninja, RikimaruRikimaru
Rikimaru is a fictional character in the Tenchu video game series. He is featured in every game in the series, including as a player character in most of them...
and Ayame
Ayame (Tenchu)
Ayame is a player character in the Tenchu video game series, and on of its two main characters along with Rikimaru. She is featured in all Tenchu games except of Tenchu Z.-Character biography:...
, to investigate. Rikimaru soon discovers that someone is planning to start a war. Meanwhile, Counselor Sekiya, Gohda's right hand man, arranges for a fortune-teller to predict the future of Gohda's kingdom. Unfortunately, the fortune-teller turns out to be an imposter and kidnaps Princess Kiku, Lord Gohda's daughter.
Ayame chases after her without hesitation, while Rikimaru goes on another mission for lord Gohda instead: resume the investigation on the nuisances that have been troubling the land. He then discovers that Daimyo Tado is the one behind all this. Gohda then decides to declare war on Tado and travels to his land with Rikimaru. After Rikimaru succeeds in taking Daimyo Tado's life, the woman who posed as the fortune-teller, a Kunoichi named Rinshi, appears and tries to kill Rikimaru, but fails thanks to the intervention of Tachibana Hyakubei, who was hired by Gohda. After Lord Gohda's order, Rikimaru heads back to the castle. When he arrives however, he is attacked by the guards, who were ordered to consider him a traitor by Sekiya. Ayame had actually succeeded in rescuing the princess but had been attacked by someone who seemed to be Rikimaru, who was actually Rinshi in disguise. Ayame and Kiku then flee the castle as the real Rikimaru arrives, and the two women head for a secret hideout suggested by Sekiya. The Princess then reveals to be Rinshi in disguise and wounds Ayame, but Rikimaru arrives just in time to save her and kills Rinshi.
Gohda, noticing his castle in flames, realizes that it was all Sekiya's doing and orders Rikimaru to get back there and eliminate him. After he seemingly takes Sekiya's life and saves Kiku, Sekiya rises again and reveals himself to be Onikage, who then challenges Rikimaru to a duel. Rikimaru ultimately gains the upper hand but Onikage uses the princess as a shield, forcing Rikimaru to drive his sword through her to get to Onikage and kill him. Ayame, who had followed Rikimaru, cries upon Kiku's death. The extended ending (attained by collecting all of the map pieces in normal mode) shows Ayame speaking in Onikage's voice, suggesting his hatred survived in her since Rikimaru murdered her best friend.
Characters
- Rinshi - A mysterious kunoichiKunoichiis the term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu .-Etymology:The term is thought to derive from the names of characters that resemble the three strokes in the kanji character for ; said in the order they are written: ku - no - ichi...
who disguised herself as a fortune-teller during the first attempt of kidnapping Kiku. Sekiya was fooled by letting her inside the castle. Later on, she reveals that her motive is actually to avenge the deaths of her parents because of Gohda. - Sekiya - The trusted right-hand man of Gohda. It is noticeable that he could also give orders to the Azuma ninjas even without the accordance of Gohda. In Tenchu: Shadow Assassins, it is revealed that the Sekiya during those times was just an impostorImpostorAn impostor or imposter is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but just as often for purposes of espionage or law enforcement....
and turned out to be Onikage. It is not revealed where the real Sekiya is or if he was already dead during the events of Wrath of Heaven when he was attacked by a shikigamiShikigamiShikigami are a kind of spirit, found in Japanese Mythology summoned to serve a practitioner of onmyōdō, much like a western familiar. Shikigami cannot be seen by most people, but according to the Heian period onmyōji who were said to control them, shikigami often looked something like a...
. - Tado - A vicious daimyoDaimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
who wished to start a war with Lord Gohda. He later dies after Rikimaru poisons his sake. - Onikage - A mysterious, demonic ninja who seems to have some sort of past connection with the Azuma clan.
Gameplay
Shadow Assassins allows players to take control of both Rikimaru and Ayame. The camera is an over-the-shoulder point of view. All of the 10 missions are ground-based. Players will play the first five stages and the last one using Rikimaru and stages six to nine as Ayame. There are also 50 side missions called "Assignments".Ayame is faster but weaker, making it harder for her to hide bodies. According to From Software
From Software
is a Japanese video game company founded in November 1986 known primarily for being the developers of the Armored Core, Demon's Souls, King's Field, Otogi and Tenchu series.-Games:...
, their stages are also completely different, Rikimaru's more straightforward, while Ayame's being "a little trickier, she can use the environment more." There are about 10 multi-purpose items in the game, for example a cat can be used as distraction or as a scout.
On Wii, players use the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
's analog stick to move, A button for actions, holding B button while moving forward to run or while moving sideways to strafe and uses the C button for jumping (a long jump can be performed while running). Wii Remote is also used for first-person perspective sword fighting.
The gameplay of the PlayStation Portable version is generally the same. However, controls have been altered to fit the console's functionalities, thus removing the motion controls, although some similar controls have been retained such as moving the analog stick of the PSP to move forward and pressing the D-pad to choose between items in the player's arsenal (same functions as the Wii Remote). The controls for doing a stealth kill have been slightly changed; the player now has to press the face buttons of the PSP console to trigger it and moving the analog stick.