Name: Kaitouranma (30.00% in 7 votes) Type: STG Platform: WINDOWS Company: TGL - Japanese Release date: 1990 Reviewed by: Staisen
Kaitouranma is a game set in medieval Japan. Your father owns a dojo and has eight pupils under him, including five females and four males. One day your father suddenly decides to retire and orders you to take over the business, but none of the pupils are happy about this (in fact ALL of them leave after this.) Your goal is to increase the prestige of your dojo by honing the skills of your pupils (but you have to convince them to return first). You begin with three out of the eight pupils including yourself at the start of the game. Eventually, if your skills improve enough, all eight of them will return. Various tasks must be attended to every week that requires one person to perform. Thus, the more pupils you have the easier the game will be. Your ultimate goal is to win a competition held among all the dojos every few months. You only have to fight three dojos but the required skill level increases dramatically. The first round only requires a skill level of 150/999 to have a good chance of victory but thethird requires about 700/999 to even have a chance! Various skills can be learnt in the game that can boost your skills temporarily in battle as well, and they often prove crucial to success. The game lasts for two years after which your father will return and judge your performance. Reactions range from pride at your success to disgust at your incompetence. The game is organised into weeks, with training occuring for six days. At the end of the week, you can choose to converse with one of the pupils under you and if you do this often enough, their expression will change into a smile, indicating they are pleased with you. You will see special events of the pupils who are happy with you as time passes. In addition, you will only see the endings of pupils who are happy with you at game end. A string of murders will occur during the game as well and part of your job is to discover who is behind them. There is an omake function once you finish the game which allows you to see all the special pictures that you earned. There are several endings for each character, depending on their skill level at game end as well as their relations with you.
There are many skills to improve in order to win, including accuracy, agility and strength. A high strength value allows you to deal more damage with each succesful hit, but a low accuracy ensures that you don't hit often! A low agility statistic implies that you won't avoid many blows in combat, which will seriously decrease your chances of winning. A balanced approach to skill improvement is crucial to win the championship in the competition. You get a break from training every sunday, and you can wander wherever you like around town throughout the day. Interesting events may happen during this time although more often than not they don't.
Ratings
Storyline: 8/10 The story is quite rich and there are many events to discover depending on which pupil you talk to. This adds to the replay value as well as it's just about impossible to keep all of them happy with you all of the time. There are multiple endings for every character to get as well.
Graphics: 7.5/10 The 'normal' graphics in the game are quite simple but most of the special pictures are beautiful.
Music: 7/10 The music in the game suits the mood of the game but it's not outstanding. There is a voice feature though for all of the eight pupils. (none for your alterego however.)
