, also known as ''Tenchi Muyo! RPG'', is a Japanese

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

strategy game developed by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game video game development, developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in t ...

for the

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

, released on October 27, 1995. It was licensed by AIC and the now former

Pioneer LDC (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. The ...

. While ''Tenchi Muyou! Game Hen'' was never officially translated and released for international consoles, the latter dumped

ROM image A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, or used to contain a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board. The term is frequen ...

of the game was hacked and translated into English on two occasions. ''Lina`chan, Nuku-Nuku & Filia's Translations'', or ''LNF'', released their functional iteration in 2000, albeit some bugs and textual imperfections.

Gameplay

''Tenchi Muyou! Game Hen'' is a

turn-based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...

game played from an isometric perspective. The game focuses entirely on fighting monsters within progressive worlds, all of which contain linear paths with predetermined battles. As such, the player does not freely roam or interact with the world. There are a total of 12 playable characters in the game: Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi,

Sasami Sasami Ashworth (born June 23, 1990), known mononymously as Sasami, is an American musician who records music in a variety of styles, from singer-songwriter ballads to heavy metal and industrial. She began her career as a member of Cherry Gla ...

, Shitsuki, Ryo-Ohki, Katsuhito, Yukinojyo, Azaka, Kamidake and Washu. The player starts with the beginning four, acquires the subsequent two later, and, by visiting more varied locations, can acquire the remaining six. In prototypical role-playing fashion, each character has different movements, skills, personal advantages, attacking power, health and defense. Unlike the commonly instituted

experience points An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

system, however, characters level up by the accumulated number of monsters they defeat in battles. There is a cap of eight levels that each player character can earn. Up to four characters can be brought into combat at once and matches continue until all members of either side are eliminated.

Synopsis

Setting and plot

Like the other mediums of the series, ''Tenchi Muyou! Game Hen'' begins on the Masaki residence, progressively branching from the property to

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

and other

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s. The characters Shitsuki and Kusumi, new to the franchise, make an only appearance in the game. On an otherwise ordinary sunny morning, Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi and Ryo-Ohki sit to breakfast as Sasami finishes serving food. Realizing that Washu is not present, Sasami and Ryo-Ohki go to fetch her. Shortly after leaving, the house begins to wavily glow; ghastly monsters appearing in the hall. Fighting and defeating the intruders, the group is approached by Shitsuki, a mysterious girl who explains the obscure reason for her visit: test and measure the strengths of everyone. All but Ryoko take her objective with any real care until Shitsuki presents Sasami as a hostage, garnering the now dire attention of the group. Acting the sportsman however, Shitsuki agrees to surrender her captive in return for any one of the group injuring her in a fight. Much to her angst, Shitsuki loses; refusing to go through with her end of the deal. She offers the group a future rematch as compensation and, leaving them with her next location, teleports Sasami and herself to her outbound spaceship.

References

Notes

External links

FantasyAnime: Tenchi Muyo RPG for SNES
{{Tenchi Muyo! 1995 video games Banpresto games Japan-exclusive video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Tenchi Muyo! Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Video games with isometric graphics