Microsoft entered the console gaming arena on November 15th, 2001 when it released the
Xbox 1. NO, not that! The REAL Xbox 1, this thing. The following year it brought its A-game
to Japan, where the behemoth black box took the country by storm and was a roaring success,
quickly becoming as commonly found in Japanese households as rice makers, kotatsu, and used
panty vending machines.
Jay: Uh, excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but I never heard that before...is this really
true?
NO!
Jay: Ohh....
Unfortunately, despite its relative success in North America, Microsoft's original Xbox
bombed horribly in Japan, selling under 500,000 units. The failure of the system can be made
even more apparent when comparing this amount to over 21 million PlayStation 2 systems sold
by Sony in the same market. Ouch.
The Xbox is known for its great Western-developed games like Knights of the Old Republic, Forza,
Morrowind, and of course, Halo. But a lot of great exclusive games for the system came
from Japan, like Dead or Alive 3, Breakdown, and pretty much anything put out by Sega after
the demise of the Dreamcast. Smilebit, you were the greatest...
Among these Japanese-developed titles were two really great action game series' that
were steeped in Japanese history and mythology--Otogi and Ninja Gaiden. These games gained quite
a bit of popularity domestically and worldwide, but there was another high-profile, Xbox-exclusive
action game heavily influenced by Japanese history and mythology that most people never
heard of. And that was the Microsoft Studios-published Magatama.
Developed by Team Breakout, a dev I hadn't heard of before previous to playing this game,
Magatama takes place in feudal Japan in the midst of a war between the Yamato clan and
the Japanese shogunate. In a move of desperation, the evil high priest of the Yamato, a man
named Monkan, summons demons and other unreal creatures to crush the army of Ashikaga, shogun
of Japan. The divine forces of Izumo send a brave warrior to aid the shogunate and defeat
Monkan and his unearthly legion. This warrior is Shinato, the protagonist of the game, who
wields two swords infused with the power of Yin and Yang, and was trained since birth
to slay gods. The higher beings of Izumo don't send him alone however, as he is accompanied
by Orochi, a legendary mythical serpentine beast with the power to kill gods and gain
their powers.
Magatama is broken up into several stages, most of which will have to be revisited later
in the game as you find different mirrors, which act as keys and look almost exactly
like the Phoenix and Dragon Mirrors from Shenmue. While the stages are basically still the same
on their second playthrough, item placement changes and enemies become much stronger.
Additionally, the stages are expanded, as areas that were previously inaccessible because
of locked doors can be opened up with the correct mirror.
After a stage is completed, you are ranked on things like the number of enemies killed
and completion time, and are returned to a hub world. In this area, there are no items
or opponents to deal with, and it's just a nice place to explore while moving in between
stages...or at least it would be, if it wasn't for a companion character literally reminding
you every ten seconds of where the next mission takes place.
*Annoying voice example*
This young girl is Kureha, who has been ordered to accompany Shinato by the shogunate to aid
him because of her knowledge of the land. She looks like a badass ninja chick, and if
you didn't know any better you'd think her role was to aid you in battle...but no, she's
just a dancer. Basically, her role is to brief you on your objectives before and after each
stage, as well as making traversing the hub world an audible nightmare.
Thankfully, you can fast-travel to any stage and avoid a lot of the unpleasant noise. It
should also be noted that the hub world is where you can save the game.
Shinato controls much like the heroes in other 3rd-person action games, where the left stick
handles movement, the right stick controls the camera, the L trigger is used to guard,
and holding down the right trigger locks onto enemies. The A button makes the character
jump, and pressing it while locked on to an enemy results in some fancy dodge moves and
a sweet backwards somersault. Only the B button is used to execute sword attacks, which can
also be charged by holding down slightly longer before releasing, indicated by a glimmer that
runs down each blade. Mixing regular and charged attacks is the only way to perform different
combos, and if feels a bit awkward at first, but you'll get used to it in no time.
I know it sounds really simple with this one button setup, I mean, even the king of all
button mashers, the Dynasty Warriors-slash-Musou series, has two dedicated buttons for attacking.
But what sets Magatama apart from other similar action games comes in the form of the aforementioned
Orochi companion. There's a meter above the player health gauge that fills up as sword
attacks connect to enemies. Once this starts blinking red, it means you can press the X
button to command Orochi to attack. As long as the meter is filled up enough, Orochi can
be summoned to strike, even in the middle of a combo. It's a good idea to keep mashing
that B button when enemies are around, as this meter is constantly draining, and also
depletes a bit each time Orochi is called into action.
Orochi is used to activate switches and other items, and becomes a huge part of combat later
in the game, when Shinato's swords start to become less effective in damaging enemies.
This game's swordplay looks majestic and graceful enough on its own, but the addition of Orochi's
sweeping attacks makes combat in Magatama truly a feast for the eyes. You can also enter
first-person mode to aim and shoot out Orochi like a projectile, but this is mainly used
only to fetch items and reach faraway switches. One more thing that Orochi can do is a frenzy
attack, basically a "super attack," which is executed by pressing the Y button when
a frenzy meter is filled up completely. The frenzy meter fills up as Orochi damages enemies,
and when the move begins, time slows down and the beast will unleash a barrage of attacks
for a short time. There are several different kinds of attacks you can perform, which are
determined by how you customize Orochi. Yes, this game allows you to change Orochi's attributes,
which can also add elemental properties to the beast and modify Shinato's sword attacks.
New customization options can be found hidden in stages and by defeating certain boss characters,
and you can test out the effects of different combinations in a practice mode. Unfortunately,
you can't change Orochi's attributes in the middle of a stage, and all customization must
be made in the hub world.
Magatama is a fun, fast-paced action game with beautiful graphics and a truly stellar
soundtrack. I'd say visually and audibly, it's one of the Xbox's best. Magatama starts
off pretty easy, but it does get challenging later on. Most boss fights in Magatama are
pretty straightforward, requiring pattern memorization and player skill to succeed.
Take this one battle, where you must fight Kirin, the mythical creature that most alcoholics
may recognize from their favorite Japanese beer. Anyway, you learn its attack patterns,
find its weakpoint, and...
PS3 Guy: ...you attack its weakpoint for massive damage.
But near the end of the game, Magatama suddenly becomes difficult to the point of being unfair
and nearly impossible, thanks to a terrible decision to stray from this formula with two
boss fights that play out almost like puzzles, which the game system just isn't a fit for.
As a matter of principle, I try to fully complete all of the games I cover with Import Gaming
FTW, but I'll be honest, I couldn't beat this one because of one of these boss fights. Despite
this frustrating aspect of the game, however, I still wholeheartedly recommend Magatama
to Xbox and action game fans, as it's one of the better titles for the system, and one
of a handful Japanese exclusives worth playing.
I thought about not making this Magatama video since I couldn't complete it, but in the end,
I decided to make it to show my good friend Jay Hicks, aka The Dali Popka, a part of the
history of the Xbox mostly unknown to gamers--Western or otherwise. Jay is the creator of Viridian
Flashback, a series that showcases all the best--and worst--of the original Xbox. He's
a good guy and makes great videos, so I hope you'll check out his channel and show this
"Xbro" some love. For those of you interested in more Japanese Xbox games, my coverage for
the system doesn't end here. I also have one more game that I'd like to talk about, but
that's gonna have to wait for quite some time.
Jay: Son of a BITCH!
Anyway, as always, thank you for watching Import Gaming FTW! Take care.