Tengai Makyō II: Manji Maru
A landmark RPG that set records for cost and sales.
Released in 1992 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM², Tengai Makyō II: Manji Maru is a role-playing game from Red Company and Hudson Soft. The second entry in the Tengai Makyō series, it was reportedly the priciest game ever made at launch. Critically acclaimed, it became Japan's all-time best-selling PC Engine title. A GameCube and PlayStation 2 remake arrived in 2003, followed by a 2006 Nintendo DS version, all exclusive to Japan.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Red Company
- Publisher
- Hudson Soft
- Director
- Shōji Masuda
- Designer
- Shōji Masuda; Oji Hiroi
- Producer
- Takeshi Takebe
- Programmer
- Hiromasa Iwasaki
- Composer
- Joe Hisaishi; Yasuhiko Fukuda
- Series
- Tengai Makyō
Facts from the source article.
Story
The land of Jipang is home to two ancient rival clans, the Fire clan and the Roots clan, locked in a struggle of good versus evil for centuries. Manjimaru Sengoku, a descendant of the Fire clan, sees his village attacked by the Roots clan and sets off on a long journey to save the world. He is joined by Danjūrō Kabuki, Tarō Gokuraku, and Kinu. Manjimaru is a playful boy who once spent his days exploring with friends, but after the invasion, his mother reveals his father’s heroic past as one of the legendary seven swordsmen of the Fire clan, who ended the Roots clan’s earlier reign. Now Manjimaru must follow in his father’s footsteps. Danjūrō Kabuki is a loud, goofy, and narcissistic kabuki performer who fancies himself a ladies’ man, but he is also a skilled swordsman wielding two traditional Japanese blades. Tarō Gokuraku is a joyful, fire-breathing giant over a thousand years old, held captive by the Mermaid clan until Manjimaru frees him. Kinu is a quiet, innocent girl with a tragic past; she is half-demon and fears the immense power inside her. Before joining Manjimaru, she asks him to bring her special magic seal wrist chains. She travels with a large white fluffy dog named Shiro, her only friend since childhood.
Development
Tengai Makyō II was developed by a team of over 100 people led by Oji Hiroi. He mentioned the concept of a grand multi-level story with over 50 endings but said it could not be realized with existing technology, so he preferred to write a story where the plot flows smoothly and naturally. The game world consists of over 20,000 screens of overworld maps. It features 300 types of enemies, 48 different boss characters, more than 90 minutes of cutscene animation, three hours of voiced speech, 24 CD music tracks, and over 80 PSG chiptune music tracks. The music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, known for composing soundtracks to Studio Ghibli's anime films. In 2015, lead programmer Hiromasa Iwasaki revealed the development budget was about ¥1 billion at the time, making it possibly the first AAA game production on CD-ROM.
Reception
After debuting at number three on the weekly Famitsu sales charts in early April 1992, Tengai Makyō II: Manji Maru stayed in the top 20 through June and remained in the top 30 until July of that year. It eventually became the best-selling PC Engine game ever in Japan. The 2003 PlayStation 2 and GameCube ports sold 197,010 copies domestically. Critics praised the game at launch. PC Engine Fan magazine gave it a score of 27.92 out of 30, beating its predecessor and earning the title of the publication's highest-rated game of all time. The magazine also honored it with awards for Best Game of All Time, Best Music & Sound Effects, Best Playability, Best Difficulty, and Best Value. Famitsu's cross review panel in April 1992 awarded scores of 9, 6, 9, and 8 out of 10, totaling 32 out of 40. Although never released outside Japan, Victor Ireland, head of Working Designs, personally ranked it as the greatest game ever made. In a 2006 Famitsu reader poll, it was voted the 12th favorite video game of all time.
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