PC Engine Review: Kabuki Itoryudan
Publisher: Hudson Soft
Genre: Fighting
Game Type: PCE Arcade CD

Yes…another fighting game. Also, another Far East of Eden Game! We in America have never really experienced the RPG cult phenomenon as the Japanese have. The only series’ that have are Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) and Final Fantasy. Now imagine that there are 20 franchises like those. Well, there are in Japan. And one of the biggest is Tengai Makyou (aka Far East of Eden). This series has generated many spin-off games and gained a huge following, both in Japan and in North America a bit as well. Kabuki Itaryodan is a fighting game based in the Far East of Eden series.

The game is named for it’s main character, a wild blue/green haired man named Kabuki Den. All the characters are from the series as well. Kabuki Itaryodan utilizes the Arcade Card for the PCE to give an excellent cartoony feel to the whole game. Rather than trying to make realistic looking characters a la Street Fighter, Itaryodan more resembles a fighting game ripped directly from the cinemas of a game! Your characters are almost animation cels in quality, and the gameplay is very good.

While I am impressively bad at fighting games, I did manage to best a few of the opponents in this game, and I have to say I had fun. The controls are pretty good by PCE standards, and the opponents are just about right in difficulty. The special moves are excellent as well, and while I dind’t manage to pull many off myself, I sure did have fun watching my ass get kicked with them. I told you I was bad at fighting games.

Anyway, the game is designed well, the backgrounds for the arenas are great, the characters unique, and the fighting is stylish and high caliber. I’d recommend this fighter to all of you who love the Far East of Eden series or want a good fighting game.

This review is © Max's Game Corner 2002. Please do not use this review without permission. If you wish to use or link to this review, please email a request to maxlords@hotmail.com