Line #2 VideoGame/FlashOfTheBlade


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_704.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'', in Feudal Japan.]]
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4	---> "[[https://www.reddit.com/r/arcade/comments/iadxbb/mazan_flash_of_the_blade_arcade_review/ The best arcade workout that doesn't involve dancing like a loon]]"\
5	''[=GamesTM=] Magazine UK, February 2003 Edition''
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7	--> '''Soulstealer''': A cursed blade possessed by maleovalent darkness.\
8	Despite being forged in the fires of hell, the blade is as cold as ice.\
9	Eventually, the bearer of the sword will transform into a monster and be ruled by the lust of the blade.\
10	'''Lightbringer''': A divine blade possessed by Holy Radiance.\
11	Imbued with the power of Holy Light, it counters the powers of darkness.
12
13	And thus begins the battle between the two blades, in ''Flash of the Blade'' (also known as ''MAZAN: Flash of the Blade'' in it's original release), a 2002 [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]] action game made for the arcades, chronicling the adventures of the PlayerCharacter Genma Tachibana, a MasterSwordsman armed with the Lightbringer, wandering across Feudal Japan while battling the forces of darkness brought forth by the EvilOverlord Gen Busai and his Soulstealer, from zombies to {{Yokai}} to rogue samurai minions.
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15	The game is played from a first-person perspective similar to {{Light Gun Game}}s, but with it's controller shaped like a sword (much like the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} Remote) and the player taking out onscreen enemies using slashing movements within time limits ala ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis''. The arcade console is notably made based on the Sega Naomi hardware using electromagnetic trackers for accurate motion-sensing to track down the player's movements, making it one of Namco's more advanced hardware and considerably ahead of its time.
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17	See ''VideoGame/BladeOfHonor'' for a similar game, or ''VideoGame/Police911'' for a gun-based game running on similar motion-sensor technology.
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20	!! "I have waited centuries for this moment...":
21
22	* AmbushingEnemy: The fish-headed humanoids who pounces out the river to attack you, hands infested with eyes suddenly crawling on your boat, ghosts which literally tepeorts in front of you from nowhere, among others. Be on full alert and ready to parry at all times!
23	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: While the time limit system is lifted from the first ''Time Crisis'', the time limit has been capped at 99 as opposed to 60, due to needing more time to parry enemy attacks with swords. In addition, more enemies drop time extensions.
24	* BakenekoAndNekomata: There's a bakeneko serving as a boss, who appears to be humanoid, [[LittleBitBeastly save for having paws, fox-ears and a tail]], and has a {{Boss Subtitle\|s}} "Demon Lynx". His real name though happens to be Ashiya Ryunojin.
25	* BadWithTheBone: Some enemies, like the demonic ninja, will throw ''skulls'' at you as projectiles. Which you can parry out the air.
26	* BellyMouth: Headless samurai whose faces are located on their bare torsos are a recurring enemy.
27	* {{BFS}}: The EvilOverlord Gen Busai can turn his Soulstealer into this to cut you down if you can't block his attack right.
28	* BossSubtitles: {{Stage Name}}s Demon Lynx (Nekoyasha) and Nefarious Arachnid (Yami-Gumo), [[AllThereInTheManual whose their real names are Ashiya Ryunojin and Kumo-Onna Yatsude respectively]].
29	* CoolSword: The plot revolves around ''two'' of these, on different sides, called the Lightbringer and Soulstealer. You wield the former and spends the whole game using it to kick ass and destroy enemies.
30	* CreepyCentipedes: One stage have Ōmukades as enemies, where they appear crawling through the mouth of ''a living face growing from a wall''. They reappear in River Styx, this time crawling out the lava river which they're somehow immune towards.
31	* DemBones: Living skeletons are one of the most frequent enemies spawned by the Soulstraler. No word if they're brought back from the dead or corrupted living folk, though.
32	* DualWielding: So many of your enemies...
33	** Oni enemies uses two [[CarryABigStick gigantic spiked clubs]] in tandem.
34	** Fish-headed monsters have sharpened marlin snouts in place of arms, and will use them to slice you up.
35	** There are small, masked demonic critters who uses two knives to stab at you repeatedly.
36	** Finally, the Soulstealer, possessing it's ex-owner's corpse as the FinalBoss in name of Gen Busai. Where the Soulstealer turns into a FlamingSword held by it's ex-owner on one hand and the other holding a hammer.
37	* DubNameChange: Regarding weapons, Soulstealer and Lightbringer are called "Kuro-homura" (Black Flame) and "Mazan" (Demon Slayer) respectively.
38	* EvilWeapon: The Soulstealer, a wholly-sentient cursed sword that brings forth all sorts of monsters and demons across the land. And even the weapon's ex-owner trying to kill himself with the weapon to end it's reign isn't enough to stop it, turning himself into an EvilOverlord in the process! Even its Japanese name "Kuro-homura" goes into RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver territory.
39	* {{Expy}}:
40	** Genma Tachibana, the main protagonist, is basically Richard Miller if he's given a voice instead.
41	** The FinalBoss, Gen Busai, is basically Wild Dog with sword. He even considers Genma as [[YouFool a fool]], similar to how Wild Dog says to VSSE agents.
42	* EyesDoNotBelongThere:
43	** You'll see plenty of eyes growing on walls and ceilings, as a result of Soulstealer's evil energy. Which creepily observes you from the background as you fight assorted enemies.
44	** The hands crawling out the waters in Goblin Cave are coverted in eyes.
45	* EyeScream: The game's final cutscene - when the Soulstealer reveals it's true form as a FacelessEye, after you defeat it's host, you then [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throw the Lightbringer]] at it, embedding the sacred weapon into the Soulstealer's pupil. The eye then cracks apart, dissolves into nothingness, and the source of all evil is gone.
46	* FacelessEye: After defeating it's host body the first time, the Soulstealer then reveals it's true form - as a gigantic floating eye in a red realm, before animating it's host body for another battle.
47	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: River Styx, the hell level, where the entire cavern area is coated in flames and you're on a river moving atop a lava stream.
48	* FishPeople: One area where you cross a stream will have large number of fish-headed humanoid creatures pouncing out the water to attack. Whose hands are sharpened, pointed blades appearing to be a marlin's snout.
49	* FlechetteStorm:
50	** The Demon Lynx can summon a mass of spinning blades at you as a ranged attack. Which you need to slash out the air rapidly to avoid getting hit.
51	** The game's FinalBoss - Soulstealer's true form, wielded by EvilOverlord Gen Busai - can perform several gigantic flying swords to [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation materialize from thin air]] and send them flying at you.
52	* GiantMook:
53	** The overweight, headless samurai are much larger than regular skeletons, and requires multiple slashes to kill.
54	** Among the Nefarious Arachnid's spawns, the largest of them are easily the size of carriages, and absorb far more damage than other spider-based enemies.
55	** River Styx have gigantic fish-monsters twice your size.
56	* GiantSpider: The Nefarious Arachnid, naturally, have a swarm of these as her brood. You encounter her in a cobweb-covered room full of eggs, and then they hatch and release hordes and hordes of oversized arachnids on you, the largest ones [[BeastWithAHumanFace having green human faces]] growing from their heads.
57	* HelpingHands: An area with you on a boat have multiple disembodied hands sticking out the water, all of them ''covered in eyes'', making a grab at you.
58	* LifeMeter: Lifting from ''VideoGame/NinjaAssault'', the player is given one; either running out of it or time counter leads to a ContinueCountdown.
59	* LivingClothes: The Soulstealer will animate dresses to attack you, where they float around the area while somehow growing a pair of thin, skeletal arms.
60	* LivingDrawing: You might come across paintings of demons and ghosts, which will come to life the moment you're near. These enemies have an ehtereal, two-dimensional appearance, floating around you to attack.
61	* ManOnFire: The game's major bosses, the Demon Lynx, Nefarious Arachnid and the Soulstealer's host inexplicably bursts into flames after being slain, with the subsequent cutscenes showing them burning into nothingness.
62	* MasterSwordsman: Genma Tachibana, the Master of the Lightbringer sword, which the player controls to rid the land of evil.
63	* MegaNeko: The first boss is a {{Bakeneko\|AndNekomata}} who introduces itself by crashing through the roof of a haunted inn, trying to crush you via GiantFootOfStomping. Which you need to slice up a bit to avoid getting damaged.
64	* {{Oni}}: Hellspawn Cavern have multiple gigantic red-skinned Onis, all of them DualWielding spiked clubs as enemies.
65	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: A lot of your enemies are ghosts, which can be harmed by the Lightbringer thanks to it's magical nature. More often than not ghost enemies will ''teleport'' from out of nowhere to attempt potshots at you.
66	* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: The goblin enemies in this game, for instance, looks like andromorphic [[MoleMen mole-people]] with glowing yellow eyes and constantly sporting a CheshireCatGrin across their face, 24-7, even as you cut them down.
67	* ParryingBullets: Your only method of dealing with ranged attacks, like arrows, flung blades, boulders or projectiles summoned by bosses, is by using the Lightbringer to block them.
68	* PlantMooks: The bamboo forest have sentient bamboo people enemies, with wooden faces growing on their barks. They have a habit of blending together with the environment's [[NobodyHereButUsStatues real bamboo trees]] before suddenly revealing themselves, and they somehow bleeds ''red'' when killed, despite being plants.
69	* PrepareToDie:
70	** Said by the Demon Lynx in his introduction cutscene, before the fight.
71	--> '''Demon Lynx''': You will get no closer to my master. Prepare to die!
72	** The Soulstealer, possessing it's ex-owner's corpse for a FinalBoss battle, delivers something similar.
73	--> "You have shown courage to come this far, so I will honor you with a quick death."
74	* ProtagonistTitle: Downplayed, "Mazan" is the Japanese name for the player character Genma's sword Lightbringer.
75	* {{Seppuku}}: The final stage, Hell, have you finding this as the fate of the Soulstealer's former wielder - a warrior overwhelmed by the blade's evil magic, and decides to ultimately shove the weapon into his torso to end it. But the blade's own dark magic is powerful enough to revive the wielder's corpse back to life, in the name of the EvilOverlord Gen Busai.
76	* SequentialBoss: The Soulstealer's host body needs to be defeated twice, where after you killed it the first time the evil sword then reveals his true form, teleports you with it to another realm, and revives the host to fight you again. The game ends when you defeat it a second time.
77	* SpinOff: Of ''VideoGame/NinjaAssault'' lore-wise, though its gameplay is more similar to ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis''.
78	* SwordFight:
79	** Most of the skeleton enemies are armed with swords, but they're hardly a match for the Lightbringer's powers as you hack them to bits with ease.
80	** The FinalBoss battle plays out as such, with you swinging the Lightbringer to combat Gen's Soulstealer
81	* TimedMission: Similar to the first ''Time Crisis'' game, you're on your own wiping the enemies within time limit. Even though you're given OverlyGenerousTimeLimit to parry enemy attacks, running out of time will still result in a ContinueCountdown.
82	* TsuchigumoAndJorogumo: The Jorōgumo shows up as a boss, under the {{Boss Subtitle\|s}} Nefarious Arachnid, firstly appearing as a woman playing a ''shamisen'' as you enter an abandoned house [[CobwebJungle full of cobwebs]]. And then she sheds her disguise by popping out gigantic spider-legs from her back.
83	* UnstoppableRage: When you trigger "Berserker" mode, which have you hacking through enemies nonstop like no tomorrow until your meter runs down.
84	* YouFool: Gen Busai taunts Genma with one of these during the final battle.
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Context VideoGame / FlashOfTheBlade