Tengai Makyo

Tengai Makyo (天外魔境, Tengai Makyō, lit. "The Realm of Demons Outside Heaven") is a series of role-playing video games released in Japan and Taiwan. The series was conceived by Oji Hiroi and developed by Red Company, debuting on the PC Engine CD-ROM² System in 1989.[1]

Tengai Makyo
Genre(s)Role-playing
Developer(s)Red Company
Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)Hudson Soft
Creator(s)Oji Hiroi

The series became popular in Japan, where it was one of the most popular RPG series during the 16-bit era, along with Enix's Dragon Quest and Squaresoft's Final Fantasy. Its success was partly because the original Tengai Makyou was the first RPG released for the new CD-ROM format, which it utilized to create a bigger game and introduce fully voiced animated cut scenes and CD music to the genre.

Though originally intended to be only three games, it has grown to encompass a number of remakes, gaidens and genre spin-offs across a variety of platforms. Despite its relative popularity in Asian countries, the series is largely unknown in other territories, with only one game released overseas.

Overview

The main series is composed of three separate games within the land of 'Jipang' (a fictional feudal Japan using the name given by Italian merchant Marco Polo), each follows a descendant of the 'Fire Clan' and supporting cast in battles against a range of often comical villains. The stories of the games, though primarily of 'fantasy' fare, are inspired by and a parody of misconceptions about Japanese culture by Western societies.

The first game Tengai Makyo: Ziria, released for the PC Engine CD-ROM² System in 1989, was notable as the first RPG released on CD-ROM and the first in the genre to feature animated cut scenes and voice acting. The plot and characters were inspired by the Japanese folk tale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (with the protagonist's name deliberately misspelled, per the fantastic theme). The music for the game was also composed by the Academy Award winning musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.[1]

The game was previewed in the November 1990 issue of Computer Gaming World. The writer Roe R. Adams (also a co-developer for the Wizardry games) described it as "a truly gigantic game" that "seems to be about the size of 2 or 3 Ultimas put together." He suggested that, if "NEC can handle the mammoth translating job, Ziria could be the game hit of 1991" unless, "of course, Nintendo counters with Zelda III or Dragon Warrior III, and Sega with Phantasy Star III."[2] There were also plans to release the sequel Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru (1992) in North America, but due to the TurboGrafx-16's failure in that market, no Tengai Makyou games would be released there up until Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash (1995).[1]

Creators

The games are largely the creation of Hiroshi Adachi (under the nickname "Oji Hiroi") and Red Company (today Red Entertainment). Virtually all publishing tasks have been handled by Hudson Soft.

The series is purported to be based on a book entitled "Far East of Eden" written by a Paul Hieronymus Chada (typically written as P.H. Chada), who is presented as a 19th-century Smithsonian professor of oriental studies. The book and P.H. Chada do not exist, and 'P.H. Chada' is actually derived from 'Prince (Ouji) Hiroi Adachi'. This is part of how the setting is supposed based on the misconceptions Western societies held with regard to Japan in the past.

Oji Hiroi and Red Company would later become known for creating the Sakura Wars series for the Sega Saturn.[1]

Games in the series
Core Games
  • Tengai Makyō: Ziria - (PC Engine CD-ROM² - June 30, 1989)
    • Tengai Makyō: Ziria (iOS)
    • Tengai Makyou Ziria: Haruka naru Jipang- (Xbox 360 - March 23, 2006)
  • Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru - (PC Engine Super CD-ROM² - March 26, 1992)
    • Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru (PlayStation 2 - October 2, 2006)
    • Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru (Nintendo GameCube - Sept. 25, 2003)
    • Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru (Nintendo DS - March 9, 2006)
  • Tengai Makyō: Daiyon no Mokushiroku (trans: 'The 4th Apocalypse') - (Sega Saturn - January 14, 1997)
  • Tengai Makyō III: Namida (ja:天外魔境III NAMIDA) - (PlayStation 2 - April 14, 2005)
Other Games
  • Tengai Makyō: Fuun Kabukiden - (PC Engine Super CD-ROM² - July 10, 1993)
  • Tengai Makyō: Deden no Den - (PC Engine Super CD-ROM² - 1994) (based on Bomberman '94[3])
  • Tengai Makyō Zero - (Super Famicom - December 22, 1995)
  • Tengai Makyō Shin Den - (ARCADE, NeoGeo - July 28, 1995 (NeoGeo), December 8, 1995 (NeoGeo CD))
  • Tengai Makyou: Dennou Karakuri Kakutouden - (PC-FX - July 28, 1995)
  • Tengai Makyō: Kabuki Ittou Ryoudan - (PC Engine Arcade CD-ROM² - February 24, 1995)
  • Oriental Blue: Ao no Tengai - (Game Boy Advance - October 24, 2003)
  • Tengai Makyō Mobile - (iPhone)
Canceled Games
  • Untitled Tengai Makyo action/slash-em-up
  • Tengai Makyō: Jipang Seven (Browser based game)[4]

Other media
  • Tengai Makyō Jiraia Oboro Hen (天外魔境 自来也おぼろ変) (OVA)
  • The event of Gate of Thunder, was adapted by the manga as part for the Hudson characters titled Hudson Makyou (ハドソン魔境) by Minori Shobo on 1992.

Reception

The series sold over 2.2 million copies.[5]

References
  1. Kalata, Kurt. "Tengai Makyou: Ziria". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  2. Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), "Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines", Computer Gaming World (76), pp. 83–84 [84], In Japan, there are currently 26 CD-ROM based games already available for this machine, including Ys I & II (scheduled for Christmas release in the U.S. on one disk) and a truly gigantic game, Ziria, which seems to be about the size of 2 or 3 Ultimas put together. IF NEC can handle the mammoth translating job, Ziria could be the game hit of 1991 on the game machines (unless, of course, Nintendo counters with Zelda III or Dragon Warrior III, and Sega with Phantasy Star III).
  3. Tengai Makyou: Deden no Den
  4. Tengai Makyō: Jipang Seven cancellation notice
  5. "あの「天外魔境」シリーズの最新作が，ついに！". 4Gamer.net. Aetas. 2010-09-13. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
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