Toshinden (闘真伝 Tōshinden, lit. Fighting True Legend), also known as War Budokai, is an action fighting game developed by DreamFactory and published by Takara Tomy in December 10, 2009 for Nintendo Wii, only in Japan. The game has no known connection to the previous games' storyline by Tamsoft.
The character design and official illustration in the reboot is done by freelance artist Yoshizumi Kazuyuki, who is known for his work on the Mana Khemia RPG series.
Story[]
In a mysterious world which mankind exists, humanity into this era lives on by engaging in a worldwide event known as the "True Martial Arts Season", where periodically every few decades, fighters of all walks of life stake their lives pitted against each other for the promise of fame, fortune, and glory, and where the world becomes their battlefield. With fighting being the driving force which brings progress and advancement, in turn, all people in the world are taught fighting and the martial arts, becoming a part of daily life in the human condition.
The "True Martial Arts Season".... No one knows how or who started this phenomena that the world has agreed to engage in since time immemorial. An ancient tradition now followed into the present day, those who have fought their way through to survive and win by their might and prowess are those considered to have reached the escalations of fighting divinity, embodying the title of Toshinki (闘真器, lit. Fighting True/Ultimate Weapon) and enter into the heavens themselves. With such winners having gone into the divine beyond, so are their representative benefactors blessed with the graces of the heavens themselves, and are free to do as they will with the world....
In the eastern nations known as the Seiryuu-Kai, a teenage boy by the name of Toji Shinjo, spends his youth under his master and guardian Shouki, in the way of the sword, hoping to become a master swordsman. On what would be another uneventful everyday, Toji encounters a mysterious young girl who has passed out on the streets. This young girl would reveal her name as Lilith. As orphans themselves, and with nowhere else to go, Toji decides to take Lilith under his wing, adopting her as a little sister.
Little does he know, upon the nearing of the next "True Martial Arts Season", the truth of Lilith and her past will reveal themselves- And eventually, to the truth of this world that thrives on battle and combat.
Gameplay[]
The Toshinden reboot is a one on one versus fighting video game like its predecessors, but diverges from its originating series by being more akin to arena fighting video games that focuses on larger scale tactical approaches and where players are given both ranged and close quarters capabilities than traditional fighting games that concentrate on spacing and attack intervals for close range fights and having the advantage by one's attacks in confrontations and clashes. Exclusive to the Nintendo Wii, the Toshinden reboot can be played with a Wiimote and Nunchuck setup or a Wiimote and Classic Controller setup.
Like the original Toshinden, all fights take place in various arenas of different sizes and locations. What differs is that there are no environmental interactions like ring outs or walls, making entirely for player damage output.
There are three kinds of attacks, being a close range attack that can be chained into combos, a strong attack that also segues combo chain branches, and a long range attack that allows the player to launch projectiles and attack from afar.
Blocking allows for players to mitigate attacks, and when pressed with other buttons in combination, allows for overdrives and Toshinki form. Dashing allows characters to dodge and close in range onto the opponent, and if one is knocked down, can allow one to make a retreating recovery. Dashing is managed by a Dash Gauge that ensures cooldown and refills a short period when depleted. While player characters are engaged like in fighting video games, movement is free range.
One's Touki Gauge or overdrive meter is split into threes, and has additional trumping uses like in other fighting games. The Touki Gauge increases when one performs attacks or takes damage. Each filled section of the gauge can be utilized to execute a Touki Burst, which acts as both a combo breaker if one is overwhelmed by opponent combos and a guard breaker that launches opponents if they are on a constant defensive, an Armbreak, which temporarily destroys the opponent's weapon and forces them to fight unarmed, or an overdrive move.
When one's Touki meter reaches full capacity, the player can unleash their character's Toshinki form, which powers up their character in a specific way that gives them a considerable advantage. When in Toshinki form, one's Touki Gauge gradually drains as a time limit. Touki Bursts, Armbreaks, and Overdrives can be performed at their usual cost as long as there is enough active Touki Gauge remaining to the active Toshiki form. Overdrives in Toshinki form also are more powerful and have their executions and properties changed, differing them from normal overdrives and requiring different strategies to be built around them.
Periodically, spheres of fighting energy will appear onto the field, allowing one to regain health, replenish their Touki Gauge, or replenish their Dash Gauge. Fighting energy manifests from players as they fight, from landing damage and blocking attacks. The colors of the spheres of fighting energy correspond with their respective effects. Larger sized and prominently emanating spheres indicate greater effects.
If a player's health is disproportionately low, the game and their respective Wiimote's speaker will signal an alert sound.
Typically, a round is won when a fighter's health drops to zero or when time runs out. When a fighter has won the set amount of rounds fought, they are declared the winner of the fight.
Modes[]
Story Mode is the Toshinden reboot installment's main game mode, focusing on the journey of Toji Shinjo and his battles into the world of the True Martial Arts Season to save his adoptive sister, Lilith. Story Mode plays akin to a mix of a fighting game arcade mode with story progression like in Battle Arena Toshinden Remix and an RPG, allowing one to save after each fight and respective scenario given.
Versus Mode is the two player fighting mode. There are nine initially available characters to play as in Versus Mode, being Toji Shinjo, Mamoru Fujimi, Carmine, Billy Rider, Idabel Florabel, Wino McGovern, Goyathlay, Sanae Tsukahara, and Silva Betty. Lilith, Dan McGovern, Moritz Ulrich, and Shouki can be unlocked by playing through Story Mode on harder difficulties.
Training Mode
Combo Make Mode is unique to the reboot, and is central to the reboot's mechanics and game progression. Combo Make Mode allows for the customization of individual character combo setups and chains, and to purchase and unlock new moves for that character. Points are the in-game currency used to purchase and invest in character customization and expansion, and are gained by winning fights. Bonus points can also be won by achieving various feats and accomplishments in that match, ie. having full health, winning with an overdrive move, achieving a combo of various high numbers, and so on.
Options help to set match settings and various configurations, while also containing the Collection option, which features unlockable bonus artwork and music.
Characters[]
- Toji Shinjo - The game's main protagonist. A teenage martial artist and swordsman from the nations of Seiryuu-Kai who studies and lives with his master Shouki, and trains in the Seiryuu School of Swordsmanship. He seeks to one day become a master swordsman.
- Mamoru Fujimi - A roguish wandering teenage swordsman. Once a student of the Seiryuu School, he left when Shouki discovered his true identity. His real identity is that of Fujimi no Kami, the designated heir of the nation level power and intelligence gathering espionage group Island.
- Carmine - A young quixotic teenage knightly swordsman of considerable skill. Though he claims to be engaged on the rightful path of knighthood with every battle he faces, his larger than life aloofness from the world makes him a most mysterious individual.
- Billy Rider - A rude and uncouth renegade cowboy gunfighter, his gunslinging skills are second to none and has made his name one to be reckoned with. With a love for money, booze, and anything that makes his life worth living, he enters into the fray hearing of luxuriant rewards that await him.
- Wino McGovern - An agent from the most powerful and technological advanced nation on Earth known as U-SAT. She is on the pursuit for her father to find him before her superiors and other fellow authorities do.
- Goyathlay - A tribesman from an unspecified nation, he seeks to enter and win the True Martial Arts Season as Toshinki to liberate his people's sacred ancestral lands from invading western powers.
- Idabel Florabel - Though she appears to be a young girl, she is infact older than she looks due to a magical incident involving tinkering with wish making by her beloved cat plushie and weapon, Nightmare.
- Sanae Tsukahara - A high ranking member of the shadowy nation power Island. She is looking for Mamoru Fujimi in order to prevent a crisis of succession and a revolt within Island's ranks.
- Silva Betty - A mysterious woman who makes herself known to Toji upon her kidnapping Lilith. She is a member of the secret society Ars Thirteen, who knows the truth behind the occurrence of the True Martial Arts Season.
- Lilith (unlockable) - A mysterious young girl who Toji adopted and lives with as an adoptive sibling. Kidnapped by Silva, her abduction will later be revealed of its importance to be central to the oncoming True Martial Arts Season.
- Dan McGovern (unlockable) - A renowned agent for the nation of U-SAT and Wino's father. Branded a fugitive, he is working undercover to trace a lead back to the weapons regulating power and weapons black market front Balancer.
- Moritz Ullrich (unlockable) - Once Dan's associate and partner, he is infact a spy for Balancer and seeks to silence him before evidence can be traced back to him as a suspect.
- Shouki (unlockable) - Toji's master and adoptive guardian. The current master of the Seiryuu School of Swordsmanship and a surviving veteran of the last True Martial Arts Season, he intitally objects to Toji's wish to engage in the next True Martial Arts Season until he issues him the right if he defeats him in combat.
- Visitor (boss character, unplayable) The otherworldly entity that lies beyond the Gate of the Heavens, and the originator of the True Martial Arts Season world phenomena. It is the final boss of the game.
Stages[]
Stages are ordered in their appearance in Story Mode.
- Seiryuu no Mori (蒼竜の森、Forest of the Blue Dragon): A subregion of the location known as Hyakki no Mori (Forest of One Hundred Demons) within the Seiryuu-Kai, a sacred place claimed by the Seiryuu School of Swordsmanship. Atop the towering structure that is the Seiryuu School's main dojo, is a level roof used to train. A mysterious tree has taken root nearby the roof, its size telling that it has grown for ages undisturbed. The arena is a fair round circle platform.
- The Promised Land (約束の蓆野)
- Wharf (波止場)
- Lion Statue City (獅子像の街)
- Slum of Secrets (暗躍のスラム):
- Throne Room (玉座の間)
- Distorted Space (歪曲空間)
- Megacity (巨大都市): A protected and fortified futuristic metropolis, comprising the main capitol of U-SAT. Located on the east coast of the U-SAT continent, it is a prosperous and bustling city, compared to the rest of the U-SAT continent on the outside. At the same time, conscription equals citizenship in the Megacity: all recognized citizens must dedicate themselves to the service of the state and must be of adequate fighting aptitude to live within its walls. The arena is a rectangular part of its skyway.
- Queen City: The ultimate destination for all of those who participate in the True Martial Arts Season seek, the location where the Gate of the Heavens reside. Darkened skies foretell the storm of violence that such a location brings. The ruined bridge that connects Queen City with the mainland appears to be sectioned off with blockades every several meters, ensuring no traffic by land vehicle and for all of those who journey to make it to its metropolis on foot. Despite being known as a city, it is an abandoned ruin, and despite its location being within U-SAT, it is kept as sacred ground for only those who seek to become Toshinki in respect of what the Gate of the Heavens means to the world. The arena is a sectioned part of the bridge.
- Eternal Corridor (無間回廊)
Thematic and spiritual connections to the original Toshinden series[]
While cited by Takara Tomy to not be a direct continuation nor related with the original Toshinden series, the reboot appears to spiritually carry on themes and in-series mythology from its predecessor.
Characters[]
- Toji Shinjo carries on the Shinjo protagonist name.
- Mamoru Fujimi is similar to Kayin Amoh, while with a backstory evocative of Mondo.
- Sanae brings to mind Miyabi.
- Lilith is similar to Ellis and Naru, while her importance brings to mind Master.
- Idabel Florabel's character design appears to take more after Ellis' design and her entertainer aspects.
- Billy Rider appears to take after Organization member Leon, while his corrigible nature, weapons and fighting style is evocative of Vermilion.
- Wino McGovern is similar to Tracy, while sharing Ellis' motivation of the pursuit of her real father.
- Dan McGovern is similar to Gaia's incarnation from the first Toshinden, suited with the Armor Basara. His fighting style brings to mind Balga and Mondo.
- Moritz Ulrich is similar to Vermilion, being a spy and a part of a criminal enterprise. His fighting style brings to mind Fo Fai, Bayhou, and Cuiling, while his name and focus on being cunning brings to mind Schultz.
- Goyathlay brings to mind Tau and Rungo.
- Carmine appears to be inspired by Duke, while also adapting Kayin's subtle "modern day knight" themes.
- Silva Betty is similar to Sofia, while her focus on magic brings to mind Zola and the Organization.
- Shouki is akin to Sho Shinjo, if only as Toji's master and guardian.
- Visitor brings to mind Agon Teos, an unseen yet central antagonistic entity.
World[]
- Island is similar to the Yaki onimitsu clan of Mondo.
- Wino's, Dan's, and Mortiz's armor exoskeleton body suit weapons are not only evocative of Ancient Greek values and celebration of the nude human form as perfection as found in Greek art of gods, Ancient Greek religion being a relevant theme in the first Toshinden series, but draws upon the Secret Society's and Gaia's Armor Basara in his boss incarnation in the first game.
- The world of the Toshinden reboot implies it is a future Earth shaped by the constant occurrence and effects of the True Martial Arts Season, with U-SAT being a clear analogy of the United States and the Seiryuu-Kai being East Asia, not unlike how the Secret Society and its will of "the creation and establishment of the ideal state" has ties behind the scenes of history.
- Queen City is likely the ruins of New York City, a prominent place of importance within Toshinden. While the Bronx and Jersey City was featured prominently, Queen City likely takes its name after Queens.
- Ars Thirteen and its relation with the world encompassing True Martial Arts Season fighting phenomena is similar to the conspiratorial relation of the Toshindaibukai fighting tournaments being hosted by the Secret Society and the Gerard Foundation.
- Caliburn, wielded by Kayin, is the sword wielded by Carmine.
- On a grimmer note, the world also appears to fit with the ideals of the Organization, "a world reborn" where battle and struggle is an everyday; if not exacerbated part of human life and ultimately determines its progress. The True Martial Arts Season appears to be a more lenient if exploitative version of The Legend of the Fighting God ritual.
- Lilith and Carmine being the result of Ars Thirteen's genetic engineering and to become either the sacrifice or victor of the True Martial Arts Season is evocative of both the Secret Society's S-Project and the Organization's Legend of the Fighting God intended experiments and remodeling surgical procedures on sacrifices.
Story Themes[]
- The Toshinden reboot has its kanji for "shin" to instead mean "true" or "ultimate" to differentiate itself from its predecessor. There are nevertheless still "transcendence of fighting divinity" themes throughout.
- The "transcendence of fighting divinity" themes is made a bit more apparent with the True Martial Arts Season's purpose of a trial by combat to find those who can become Toshinki and enter The Gate of the Heavens.
- The Four Sacred Beasts themes continue in the reboot, with the focus on Seiryuu than Byakko, from Toji and Shouki's Seiryuu School of swordsmanship and their home nation being Seiryuu-Kai.
- A world where hidden and secretly kept fantastical powers of legend exist in a world of technological innovation and progress and meet on the battlefield is made more drastically obvious yet explicitly diametrically existent, with the futuristic overtones of the reboot's world, the high technological weaponry and cities of U-SAT, and the proven existence of magic, ki, and esoteric powers.
- Like its predecessor, the reboot focuses on insight on the human condition with its relation with the martial arts and fighting through topical subjects; the tradition of finding Toshinki and them being allowed to enter the Gate of the Heavens is an exemplified conceptualization of reoccurring themes within founding myths and origin tales of the founders of nations and peoples being divine in origin or having attained divine transcendence after establishing their power, and to how these tales are also the crux of right to divine providence and divine right of kings to the point of war and conquest.
- A theme trending in the original Toshinden and its spinoffs was that of prominently showcasing Easter Island with moai heads, which was Ellis' stage in the first game. With the themes of the control of the flow of world resources by the Gerard Foundation in the original series, such a theme alluded Easter Island's history regarding its depletion of resources to where the Birdman competition tradition was started in ancient Rapa'Nui to determine who would have the first rights to the harvest of sooty tern eggs for sustenance and to bring to mind the world's consumption; into the Toshinden reboot, this continues in spirit with the True Martial Arts Season periodically occurring every few decades to determine not only who is strong enough to become Toshinki but to where their transcendence is taken by their associated nation and people as a sign of divine empowerment and right to expand their power in the world.
Trivia[]
- The Toshinden reboot appears to take after near post apocalyptic and fake world anime OVAs and series, from A Wind Called Amnesia and Megazone 23, and historic and alternative timeline fiction stories like The Dagger of Kamui and Code Geass. A similar story in themes and mood would be the later anime and manga series Plunderer.
- The Toshinden reboot was intended with an overseas release, being retitled Warbudokai.
- The gameplay and feel of the Toshinden Wii reboot appears to have been retooled in mind with the Wii's aim for "casual and family" audiences.
- Earlier beta footage of the Toshinden reboot showcased Touji fighting either an early version of Silva or Sanae, being a schoolgirl who looked like Rika from Nitoshinden, in a realistic civilian airport terminal hosting American military B-52 Bomber planes in the background. Toji was also depicted with a rougher and more broadsword like version of Daihakkuromaru. Gameplay was also more like a traditional fighting game, with overhead meters and the characters facing each other at a fixed angle.
- Originally, Toshiki forms disabled blocking, as according to the official Famitsu coverage page.