Musya is a 1992 action platformer game made by Jurudan, a relatively minor Japanese company (who helped developed Crazy Climber two years earlier - given their irregular output in the gaming industry that's pretty much all they're known for).
Set in Feudal Japan, the pike-man Imoto who serves in the shogun's army is the only survivor of his platoon in the aftermath of a massive battle. Fleeing the war-torn battlefield, Imoto collapses in exhaustion near a mountainside village, before awakening after an unspecified amount of time from being rescued by the village's mayor. Before he knew it, Imoto is promptly roped into a quest to rescue the mayor's daughter, Shizuka, who was abducted by the forces of darkness and imprisoned in the dreaded Tengumura Cavern, a place infested by various Yōkai and monsters from Japanese mythology.
"I know why I alone survived. My destiny lies within the Abyss!"
- And the Adventure Continues: After defeating Gobo the Demon Lord, rescuing Shizuka and escorting her back to the village, Imoto then sets off on another journey, one where he returns to his hometown to seek other members of his army. But that story remains untold.
- Animated Armor: One of the game's later bosses (second-to-last) is a gigantic living suit of samurai armor. It appears to be animated by some magical purple smoke which spews out of it once you defeat the boss.
- Beast with a Human Face: The Honengame - a yokai resembling a gigantic turtle with a human face - appears as an enemy.
- Blade Spam: Imoto's spear gains this new ability after a magical upgrade in the third stage, by tapping the attack button rapidly.
- Booby Trap: Tengumura Cavern is filled with traps and obstacles, from collapsing rocks to floors that gives way to hidden spikes and other dangers to Imoto's health, like every good platformer out there.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy:
- The kamaitachi boss is fought in an area containing multiple platforms for Imoto to jump on, making it's ranged attacks avoidable.
- Same goes for the kappa, whose stage contains stone platforms and barricades to take cover from it's slashing moves and wall of flames.
- Boss Tease:
- The tengu boss pops up near the ceiling of a cavern for a couple of seconds, before leaving and attacking you once you reached the area's end. You can't attack it at the time due to busy fighting animated jizo statues, the boss is just making an early cameo before facing you properly.
- The animated samurai armor first appears as a stationary statue. It's harmless when you walk past it, until you're a distance away - at which point it comes to life and attacks.
- Dub Name Change: Depending on the version, the game's protagonist is either Imoto (internationally), or Jinrai (Japan, and it translates as "God's Thunder" in Japanese - admittedly massive improvement compared to the foreign release).
- Enhanced Archaic Weapon: Halfway into the game (after the third stage), Imoto learns of the ancient threat of the demon Gobo's awakening, where his spear gets upgraded with an enchanted talisman turning it stronger and far more effective when used against monsters.
- Flying Face: The first form of Gobo the Demon Lord, depicted as a monstrous floating head with a Third Eye. Defeat it and Gobo then turns into a swirling mass of energy and continues fighting.
- Hitodama Light: Ghostly floating blue lights will menace Imoto inside the haunted caverns, though they can be extinguished with a single slash.
- Instant Flight: Just Add Spinning!: Imoto can actually float for a few seconds by spinning his trusty pike in mid-air. And use this ability to execute a longer jump, necessary for areas with wider pits he needs to cross.
- Kamaitachi: The game's first boss is one, depicted as a gigantic humanoid weasel who alternates between slashing Imoto with it's claws and breathing fire after chugging on a sake bottle.
- Kappa: Imoto fights one as the boss of an underground waterfall stage, with the kappa popping in and out the water to assault the hero. Oddly enough this kappa is "red" instead of green (but otherwise looks like typical depictions of kappa in media - webbed claws, beak, hole full of water on it's head, etc.)
- Living Statue:
- The second boss is a living jizo statue who spends the whole battle leaping up and down trying to crush Imoto underneath. It's also surprisingly fast despite being made of heavy rock. Later on minor jizo statues (whose design differs from the second boss) appear as mook enemies.
- A sentient dogu statue appears as one of the later bosses. It's attack pattern isn't any different than it's jizo counterpart (via hopping around the place trying to stomp Imoto) but after destroying it's statue form it then reveals itself to be a blue Blob Monster animating a dogu statue.
- Muck Monster: One of the bosses is a gigantic mud monster, which is fought in a pool of slime that stood to Imoto's knees. Said boss will appear and disappear repeatedly in and out of the slime to attack Imoto until it's health is depleted.
- Nothing but Skulls: One of the game's last areas, filled with skull platforms impaled on spikes. That Imoto needs to jump on to cross.
- Oculothorax: Giant bouncing eyeball monsters attacks Imoto in the last stage.
- One-Word Title: Musya, Japanese for "Warrior". Although some international versions will have the game released as Musha: Legend of the Brave Spearman Jinrai.
- Oni: One-eyed, one-horned oni wielding massive tetsubo appears in the stage outside Godo's personal quarters. They can somehow release a Sword Beam with their weapons.
- Recurring Boss: The tengu and the giant mud golem re-appears later on, back-to-back, as part of a Boss Bonanza with a new giant samurai armor boss
- Sole Survivor: Imoto is the only survivor from his unit after a massive war in the backstory.
- Spin to Deflect Stuff: Imoto can twirl his pike in circles to deflect enemy attacks.
- Tengu: One of the bosses fought halfway in the cavern, where it flies around trying to attack Imoto. It's a Recurring Boss that reappears in the Cursed Palace.
- Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: The former is a recurring enemy in the Catacombs of Akuma, depicted as a humanoid spider with a skeletal face and crawls around while attacking.
- Turns Red:
- The animated jizo statue boss, which literally glows red once it lose more than half it's health. It's stomping attacks are a lot faster in this state.
- Same goes for the giant mud golem, who spews it's mud projectiles faster when it starts glowing red in the second half of it's boss battle.
- Unlikely Hero: What makes this game different from others of it's type; the main hero isn't some powerful samurai, wandering ronin, a ninja or any hero that falls under The Chosen One; he's just some random soldier who's lucky enough to survive a war, and inevitably needs to save the world from an awakening demon.
- Waddling Head: The first enemies Imoto encounters are gigantic skulls on spindly, spider-like legs. Who attacks Imoto by trying to bite him until they're whacked aside.
- Yōkai: Most of the enemies and bosses fought by Imoto, from mainstream ones like the kappa and tengu to some really rare ones like the Honengame.
