The Last Blade (series)

The Last Blade (幕末浪漫 月華の剣士, Bakumatsu Rōman: Gekka no Kenshi), is a fighting game series created by SNK for the Neo-Geo system. The title in Japanese roughly means Romance of the Bakumatsu: The Swordsman of Moonlight. The first game in the series is also the first game that Daisuke Ishiwatari (of Guilty Gear fame) worked on. The Last Blade and its sequel are widely considered to be two of the most accomplished games available for the Neo Geo system, with fan opinion divided as to which is the better installment.

The game takes place during the late Tokugawa shogunate era in Japan, and incorporates various elements of Japanese mythology. As such, the background music generally incorporates synthesized instruments simulating a sound appropriate to the 19th century setting, in a Western classical, pseudo-Romantic style (unusual for a fighting game).

Story
Long before humanity existed, in a far off time of myth, death was an unknown, equally distant concept, but when death first came to the world, the "Messenger from Afar" was born.

With time, the Sealing Rite was held in order to seal Death behind Hell's Gate. At that time, two worlds, one near and one far, were born. Thus the history of life and death began.

Half a year has passed since Suzaku's madness, and the underworld is still linked by a great portal. Kagami's great sin is still heard as if ringing from the heavens. Our world has been called upon. Legends of long ago told of the sealing of the boundary between the two worlds. The Sealing Rite would be necessary to hold back the spirits of that far away world.

However, the Sealing Rite brings together the power of the Four Gods and Sealing Maiden, for the first time properly completing the ritual.

To find the Sealing Maiden, Genbu began searching in the center of the world, from which all things begin. At the same time in the underworld, in the depths of darkness, many spirits conspired, plotting to hinder the Sealing Rite. They had but one wish, to be reborn into our world.

Key Concepts

 * Bakumatsu - Pivotal movement in Japan's history which literally means "explosion". It refers to the growing acceptance of European culture and the subsequent decline of the shogunate and samurai class.
 * Four Gods - Interpretation of the same gods in Japanese mythology (adapted from the same Chinese myth). Each god represents a particular color, season, element, and direction of the sky's constellations. There are actually five gods -the missing one being Kirin- though this is touched upon in the sequel.
 * The four gods in the original myth and their associated symbols are as follows: Seiryu - a blue dragon (East, Spring, Wood), Suzaku - a red phoenix (South, Summer, Fire), Byakko - a white tiger (West, Autumn, Metal), and Genbu - a black tortoise entwined with a snake (North, Winter, Water).


 * Shinsengumi - Special police force that kept the peace in the name of the shogunate. Members were devote believers in bushido (samurai code of honor) though a majority of them were not from samurai families. When the emperor regained control over the country and the last Tokugawa shogun stepped down from power, a brief civil war erupted between the Shinseigumi and the pro-Imperialist (the newer governed) rule; the former lost to the Gatling gun. They are often romanticized as tragic heroes of Japan.

Gameplay
The Last Blade series is seen as a spiritual successor to SNK's popular Samurai Shodown series, due to it being a similar 2D weapons-based fighting game. The gameplay is characterised by two selectable fighting styles, and a unique combo system along with a "deflect" system which involves pressing the D button at an opponents attack. Upon deflecting, the opponent is left open to attack.

The two styles consist of two modes: “Speed” mode and “Power” mode; Speed mode allows players to chain several normal attacks into a special or desperation/super move, as well as execute a "Speed Combo". Power mode on the other hand, grants the player increased damage potential exponentially and giving access to "Super Desperation Moves" which inflict an exorbitant amount of damage (the recommendations to performing them however, requires the player's life bar to flash and have a full power bar). Power mode also allows the player to perform Super Cancels; canceling a special move into a desperation/super move (but not a desperation move, with the sole exception of Awakened Kaede in the first game).

Interestingly enough, the first Last Blade game is probably the first SNK fighter to incorporate Super Cancels into it's gameplay.

Games

 * The Last Blade (幕末浪漫 月華の剣士, Bakumatsu Rōman: Gekka no Kenshi “Romance of the Bakumatsu: Swordsman of the Moonlight”)
 * The Last Blade 2 (幕末浪漫第二幕 月華の剣士 ～月に咲く華、散りゆく花～, Bakumatsu Rōman Dai Ni Maku: Gekka no Kenshi - Tsuki ni Saku Hana, Chiri Yuku Hana, “Romance of the Bakumatsu Act II: Swordsman of the Moonlight - On the Moon a Flower Blooming, a Petal Falling”)
 * The Last Blade - Beyond the Destiny (幕末浪漫特別編 月華の剣士 ～月に咲く華、散りゆく花～, Bakumatsu Rōman Tokubetsu: Gekka no Kenshi - Tsuki ni Saku Hana, Chiri Yuku Hana, “Romance of the Bakumatsu Special: Swordsman of the Moonlight - On the Moon a Flower Blooming, a Petal Falling”), a Neo Geo Pocket Color conversion of The Last Blade 2.

Introduced in The Last Blade

 * Kaede
 * Moriya Minakata
 * Yuki
 * Keiichiro Washizuka
 * Shikyoh
 * Lee Rekka
 * Zantetsu
 * Akari Ichijou
 * Juzoh Kanzaki
 * Okina no Genbu
 * Shigen Naoe
 * Hyo Amano
 * Musashi Akatsuki
 * Shinnosuke Kagami
 * Awakened Kagami
 * Kojiroh Sanada

Introduced in The Last Blade 2

 * Awakened Kaede
 * Mukuro
 * Hibiki Takane
 * Kaori Sanada
 * Setsuna
 * Kouryu
 * Hagure