Remembering Tenchu

08/25/15

The previous weekend had me playing old games I hadn't played in a long, long time. One such game was Tenchu, an old PS1 game. I may have not played it since New Year's Eve 1999. That's my last memory of playing it. Though, that may have been Tenchu 2. In any case, it's likely I hadn't played it since the last century.

The game has not aged well. At all. Bad voice-acting and a penetrating darkness trying to hide an incredibly short draw-distance. Also, the controls use the d-pad, as this game was before analog controls (even before the Playstation controller had analog sticks). Basically, controlling the character is like controlling a tank.

And yet, it was so unlike anything I play. I want to play it more. It was clunky and awkward, but getting the perfect kill felt properly ninja-esque. Like, a ninja would only be strong against a trained samurai in that specific circumstance.

Maybe I'll play more soon.