GamesRadar - Muramasa: The Demon Blade

The 7 most beautifully animated 2D games (Feature)

20 Nov 2009

There’s something very special about the process of old-fashioned, frame-by-frame, 2D animation. In the old days, the only way to get your animated character to wave his or her arm was to spend hours upon hours painstakingly crafting each frame and constantly readjusting your work to make sure everything flowed correctly. Now you just set a couple of keyframes and let a computer do it all for you. ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade characters list (News)

5 Nov 2009

Muramasa: The Demon Blade has a cast of 10+ characters and is a highly artistic, beautifully drawn, side-scrolling action RPG that is exclusive to the Wii. VGB runs you through both the main characters and their enemies.

Ignition Confirms Muramasa Sept Sales Numbers, Expects Strong Sales Through the Holidays (News)

24 Oct 2009

Gamer Investments writes: "In a statement provided to Gamer Investments today from Ignition the company confirmed that the rumored September NPD sales data for Muramasa: The Demon Blade, which was reported to be 35k, is accurate and in line with their expectations."

Rising Star Games Partners with NAMCO BANDAI for French Distribution (News)

22 Oct 2009

NAMCO BANDAI Partners France today announced a new partnership with Rising Star Games for the distribution of all the titles coming within the next six months. This deal includes, amongst others, the already acclaimed Muramasa: The Demon Blade and the innovative fright simulator JU-ON: The Grudge.

Eight amazing games that prove Wii isn't dead (Feature)

14 Oct 2009

Wii is the punching bag of the games industry, regularly (though not undeservedly) saddled with the “kiddie crap” moniker and more associated with forgettable shovelware than legitimately good games. Those of us who own and actively play Wii obviously don’t share this view, but it’s almost impossible to read any piece of Wii news, be it feature, review or just straight reporting, without weeding out the “Wii sux who cares" crowd. ...

Nintendo Reveal Autumn/Winter Release Schedule (News)

1 Oct 2009

The schedule heralds the return of some old friends with a brand new instalment in the The Legend of Zelda series for Nintendo DS and a totally new take on the Super Mario Bros. games which sees the dawn of simultaneous multi-player action in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Muramasa - Launch trailer (Video)

29 Sep 2009

Featuring lovely hand-drawn 2D art, Muramasa transports players into a little known mythology envisioned by the creators of Odin Sphere. Take on the role of a male ninja or female kunoichi and traverse the side-scrolling levels with crazy combos and scads of old-school action.

Rising Star Games Reveal Final 2009 Release Dates (News)

21 Sep 2009

The irrepressible UK publisher Rising Star Games have revealed the release dates of the remaining titles on their 2010, including fantastically original games for both Nintendo DS and Wii. Including a number of titles from Rising Star Games' "The Home of Japanese Games" range, Rising Star Games are set to prove that, once again, they are one of the leading third-party publishers for traditional gaming on Nintendo consoles.

Rising Star Games Partner with Cidiverte S.p.a for Italian Distribution (News)

17 Sep 2009

Rising Star Games today announced a new partnership with Cidiverte S.p.a, providing a renewed focus on the company's product and respected brands throughout Italy.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade's Tentacle filled T-shirt (News)

16 Sep 2009

Ignition gave these out as gifts to some sites.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade Gorges on Japanese Food Porn (News)

15 Sep 2009

The edible videogame power-up is as old as Pac-Man. But few games linger so longingly on food as Vanillaware's Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

Between swordfights in this 2-D brawler for the Wii, protagonist Kisuke can take a lunch break in an old-school Japanese noodle house. Players fork over dough for different dishes that grant in-game bonuses. The main dishes are served with a hot, steaming bowl of soba - all rendered in the same lovely, hand-drawn art as the rest of the game.

Servings can't be gobbled up in one bite: It takes a series of button-presses to slurp down every bit of these virtual meals. With each swoop of the chopstick, the contents of the laquerware bowl slowly disappear until the entire dish has been polished off.

New Additions Announced for London MCM Expo Games Line-Up (News)

14 Sep 2009

As the grand opening of this year's London Games Festival, London MCM Expo was always going to be knee-deep in sweet gaming goodness, giving visitors hands-on experience with upcoming epic titles such as Bandai Namco's Tekken 6, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II and Monster Hunter Tri from Capcom. Now three more top developers give you a sneak peek at what they've got planned for October's Expo.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Review)

8 Sep 2009

Without question, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is the most beautiful game on Wii. Its lavish, superbly animated world shames the system's tepid 3D offerings to the point where "pretty for a Wii game" should be forever stricken from gaming phraseology. ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Moment in art (Video)

8 Sep 2009

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - Armory (Video)

8 Sep 2009

411mania: The Release List for the Week of August 31, 2009 (News)

1 Sep 2009

411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Fate/Unlimited Codes, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, and Magna Carta 2 (English language version).

Rising Star Games Partner with Koch Media (News)

1 Sep 2009

Rising Star Games today announced a new partnership with Koch Media, providing a renewed focus on the company's product and respected brands throughout the markets of the GAS (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) region.

One of the most provacative magazine covers for a Wii game (News)

27 Aug 2009

Muramasa: The Demon Blade focuses on RPG elements mixed in with a little bit of action. Sure, the game features a bath scene and some slightly undressed characters. That's about all there is in terms of any other provocativeness though.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - hands-on (Preview)

19 Aug 2009

We'll be honest, we've seen much better holiday line-ups than this year's. Seemingly every major release is getting delayed on other consoles, and although Nintendo has some good-looking games ready for winter, New Super Mario Bros. Wii has so far left us a tad disappointed (and let's just ignore Wii Fit Plus). ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Screenshots)

14 Aug 2009

Comic-Con 2009: The King of Fighters XII and Muramasa interview (Preview)

29 Jul 2009

Editors Brett Elston and Chris Antista took some time last week to interview representatives from some of the biggest games Comic-Con 2009 had to offer. ...

Comic-Con 2009: Interview Roundup (Feature)

28 Jul 2009

Editors Brett Elston and Chris Antista snuffed out the raging nerd-flames that demanded they stay on the move at last week's Comic-Con and sat down for some some 'professional' discourse with some of this year's biggest developers. The entire collection of interviews can be heard in the TalkRadar Comic-Con special, but if you're picky, you can listen to any of the individual interviews here. Allons-y! ...

New Vanillaware game coming (News)

18 Jun 2009

Vanillaware's Wii title Muramasa: The Demon Blade is still new in Japan and unreleased in the US, but that doesn't mean they get a break from making games. George Kamiytani, of Vanillaware, has recently announced (via Nintendo Power) that they are indeed making another 2D game.

Ignition Entertainment Shows Four Big Titles at E3 (News)

16 Jun 2009

Video game publisher Ignition Entertainment exhibited four different games at this year's E3. The lot includes a pair of fighters, an RPG for the Nintendo DS, and a side-scrolling adventure game for the Wii.

SNK's long-standing fighting franchise King of Fighters returns with "King of Fighters XII" for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The series' 15th anniversary is celebrated with a total of 26 characters, two of them being hidden. The game with feature the franchise's usual three-on-three fighting style over the course of five rounds, but the tactical shift feature which was introduced in "King of Fighters 2003" has been removed. King of Fighters XII is set for a July release.

The second fighting game exhibited at E3 was...

Being 2-D partly prevented Muramasa from coming to Ps3/360 (News)

15 Jun 2009

Muramasa: The Demon Blade almost came to an HD console instead of the Wii, states Vanillaware founder George Kamitani, but because of high dev costs and a 2-D game being hard to publish on the HD consoles, the decision was made to come to Wii.

E3 09: The 12 most overlooked games of E3 (Feature)

12 Jun 2009

Considering all the attention being directed toward huge, marquee juggernauts like Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Beatles: Rock Band, you’d think they were the only games at E3. Not true. Sure, those look fantastic, but we also saw piles and piles of great games that nobody is talking about. Nobody but us, that is. ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade only has japanese voice acting in US (News)

12 Jun 2009

"For Muramasa we decided to stick with the original Japanese voices and only localize the text," Shane Bettenhausen, Business Development Director at Ignition, told Siliconera in a post E3 phone interview. "We felt the game was deeply steeped in Japanese tradition, mythology, and culture that trying to dub it, trying to make something more Western is really not a service to the product."

"Who wants some goofy anime voices in this game?" Bettenhausen joked.

Longer interview at the link.

E3 09: Why wait? E3's hottest games reviewed NOW (Feature)

5 Jun 2009

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Getting one of the best platformers of all time with four player support should be a godsend, right? Sorta. And even though the game retains the DS’s impeccable tight and intuitive, the characters goofily occupy a physical space in a relatively small field. “Up To Four Friends!” can now halt your movement, ruin timed jumps, and even swallow you while riding on Yoshi. Furthermore, one player ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade trailer (News)

5 Jun 2009

The Examiner writes: The Nintendo Wii has had a very strong showing at E3. Nearly everything they showed was impressive. However, that doesn't mean that some of the smaller games should be overlooked.

MCM Expo Comes to Town (News)

24 May 2009

Thousands of gamers, anime fans and cosplayers of widely varying quality descended on ExCel, an exhibition centre in London, for one of the biggest events in the collective industrys' calendar today, the 15th MCM Expo. Running for two days, 23rd May and 24th May 2009, those few Electronic Theatre readers who managed to miss today's show may just have enough time to organise the necessary travelling arrangements, and grab that Bomberman outfit they've been saving for a special occasion.

Rising Star Games Unveil MCM Expo Line-Up (News)

19 May 2009

Rising Star Games will also be demonstrating upcoming titles including Avalon Code, Luminous Arc 2, Angel Cat Sugar and Happy Party with Hello Kitty & Friends, as well as conducting battle challenges on Valhalla Knights 2 and hands-on walkthroughs of the critically acclaimed Little King's Story.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade receives new publisher and release date (News)

21 Apr 2009

Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a UTV Enterprise, a worldwide publisher and developer of videogames, in conjunction with Marvelous Entertainment and Vanillaware, today announced the September 2009 U.S. release of the much-anticipated video game, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.

XSEED no longer publishing Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America (News)

20 Apr 2009

XSEED Games has confirmed today that the company no longer has plans to publish Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America.

411mania's Release List for the Week of April 6, 2009 (News)

9 Apr 2009

411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Oboro Muramasa, Suggoi! Arcana Heart 2, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Hammerin' Hero, Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity, and Rhythm Heaven.

Brand new Muramasa Trailer (3/10/09) (News)

11 Mar 2009

Gamer Limit writes: "Odin Sphere's spiritual successor is looking better by the day. The art style looks incredibly beautiful, I just hope that the gameplay will match whenever this game finds it's way into the Nintendo Wii's disc tray."

Muramasa: The Demon Blade - hands-on (Preview)

3 Feb 2009

Developers Vanillaware have created a mothers-lock-up-your-daughters looker; a rich, hand-drawn 2D world, a warm bath of colour that begs your eyes to soak in it. Like the recent Wario Land, 2D enables the kind of intricate art design that would crush a 3D game. The demo opens in a dark bamboo forest – pea-green stalks in the foreground parallax-scrolling against a static background to give the impression of depth. ...

Can Wii gamers be excited for 2009? (Feature)

22 Jan 2009

This time last year we only had Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii to fend off the baby sims and Mega Party Game Blasts. Nintendo was tight-lipped about E3 and the third party offerings were slim as usual – in other words, there was no respite from the casual flood in sight. ...

Muramasa: The Demon Blade Slicing Into Stores Soon (News)

16 Jan 2009

Siliconera: "Possibly sooner than expected. Marvelous covertly announced Japan will dice up Oni in Muramasa: The Demon Blade this April. Not bad timing for a game that went silent months after it was announced at Tokyo Game Show 2007."

GamesRadar's predictions for gaming in 2009 (Feature)

8 Jan 2009

Guaranteed 100% accurate unless wrong. ...