General Analysis
Sengoku Blade is a horizontal side-scrolling shoot’em up game, which was released in Japan in 1996 by Psikyo.
The player can move up, down, right or left, but his movement was affected by the speed of the screen's movement.
The game also pertains to the bullet hell genre that consists in in dodging many enemies and bullets.
In the genre Shoot'em up is about defeating all the enemies that appear by shooting them to be able to advance to the next level that is more difficult than the previous one.
The game takes place in futuristic Japan, with ninjas mixed with steam engines. Normally, you usually find elements that will help you complete the different scenarios and defeat each type of enemy that sells in your path.
There are usually several types of elements, speed boosters, attack, defense, improvements to make more effective attacks, extra special attacks…
The genre Shoot'em up arose with the game Spacewar in 1978. Thanks to him, Arcade games gained much popularity. This game was the precursor and the model to follow for other later games such as:
- Space Invaders
- Samurai Aces
- Strikers 1945 (1 and 2)
- Gunbird 2
- Last Resort
- Terra Diver
The games was released for arcade Machines, so it was positioned as a challenging game that could make a lot of people leave all their coins into the machine. Tengai was launched on the market at a time when shoot'em up games decreased in popularity because of the emergence of a new genre, the bullet hell genre, that consisted basically in dodging many enemies and bullets. Despite this social situation, Tengai had a great success during its first years of departure
Sengoku Blade was released for the arcade machines of the arcades in 1996, that same year it was taken to the Sega Saturn console. Psikyo was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1992. Most of developed arcade games of Psikyo team were vertically scrolling shoot'em ups like sengoku ace I and horizontally scrolling shoot'em game like sengoku ace II (blade) but also they made erotic mah-jong games.
Arcade: Japan, Psikyo, 1996
Sega Saturn: Japan, Psikyo, 1996
Also in 1996, it was adapted to manga, including the commercialization of several PVC figures.
In 2004, the game was released for PlayStation 2 included in the Psikyo Shooting Collection vol. 2: Sengoku Ace and Sengoku Blade de Taito.
PlayStation 2: Japan, Taito, 2004
In 2005 the company Psikyo disappeared.
In 2014, the game was remastered and launched for iOS and Android mobile devices.
iOS and Android mobile devices: Mobirix, 2014
The most popular magazines of the moment gave him a score of 8 out of 10, comparing his unique and retail graphic style with the game Gunbird. It was a highly valued game whose content inspired many other games of the same style.
Of the first generation of games of the company Pshikyo, the game arose for the recreational machines of that moment, between 1993 and 1996.
- Arcade CPU:
These arcade machines, worked with two processors:
The 68EC020 and as optional MCU, the PIC16C57.
On this CPU only 5 titles worked:
- Battle K-Road
- Gunbird
- Sengoku Ace / Samurai Aces
- Sengoku Blade: Sengoku Ace Episode II / Tengai
- 1945 Strikers
CPU Image
- Microprocessor:
As a microprocessor, they used the Z80, an 8-bit microprocessor, register-memory, designed to be compatible with a level of code with Intel 8080, so that most of the programs for the 8080 worked on it, especially the operating system CP / M.
The first versions worked at 2.5 MHz. The most used version was the Z80A operating at 3.58 MHz (one quarter of the PAL or NTSC frequency) being the factory speed of 4.2 MHz.
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Z80 Image
The Z80 had eight fundamental improvements over the Intel 8080:
- An improved set of instructions, including the new IX and IY index registers and the instructions needed to manage them.
- Two registers banks that can be changed quickly to accelerate the response to interruptions.
- Instructions for block movement, block I / O and byte search.
- Bit manipulation instructions.
- An address counter for the integrated DRAM refresh, which in the 8080 had to be provided by the support circuitry.
- Single supply of 5 volts.
- Necessity of less auxiliary circuits, both for the generation of the clock signal and for the link with memory and I / O
- Cheaper than the Intel 8080.
- A special type of reboot that only restarts the program counter so that the Z80 can be used in an ICE development system (circuit emulator).
- Sound chip:
The sound chips are about two combinations:
The Z80A + YM2610 or the LZ8420M (Z80 core) + YMF286-K
For example, the Yamaha YM2151, also known as the OP-M (M-Type FM Operator), has eight voices, with four operators per voice.
The sound chip could be customized with other sound chips like:
- PS2001B
- PS3103
- PS3204
- PS3305
Currently there are several versions of the original game, although this can be played through the MAME emulator.
- Cabinet Machine:
When we talk about machines that work by inserting coins to play the game we are referring to the cabinet style, very common in video games of the 80s-90s. The size ranges from 5 to 6 feet tall (1.5 to 1.8 meters). Controls are set perpendicular to the monitor and at waistline level. A coin hole is found below the control panel. The sides of the cabinet often display themed art. In the following image we can see Sengoku Blade in a cabinet machine in 1996.