Tengai Makyō - Far East of Eden

Fuun Kabukiden - translated roughly as "A Turbulent Kabuki Story", is a side story to the overall Tengai Makyō plot, but what a sidestory. Kabuki was apparently so popular that he gets a game all to himself. Intertwining characters from both previous games, Kabuki meets up with Orochimaru and begins to party, until all of the women are mysteriously lifted into the sky. Not pleased, Kabuki sets off to rescue them, only to find out the Daimon Cult is back in action. The resulting adventure plays and looks pretty much the same as Manjimaru.

Characters

Kabuki Danjirou

Kabuki's stupid (yet amusing) attitude make him a much more interesting protagonist than the mostly quiet Manjimaru. He parties, he makes up his own goofy prayers and laughs maniacally as it his own ingeniousness, and his rainbow hairdo betrays the manliness that lies within.

Zeami

This stoic fellow looks and acts more like a real kabuki than the hero does. His masks grant him a variety of powers.

Okuni

A friend of Kabuki's, and the group's requisite female member. Dislikes clothes that don't show her midriff.

Push Fujiyama

Until someone makes a Street Fighter RPG starring E. Honda, this is one of the few times you get to fight as a sumo wrestler.

The cutscenes are are gorgeous as ever, although the soundtrack lacks the high profile names of its predecessors. Overall the music isn't quite as good, as most of it is PSG, although there are several goofy vocal songs sung by the bosses, including a Japanese version of "London Bridge is Falling Down". Which makes sense, because for the first time, the characters leave the nation of Jipang for the outside world - in this case, jolly ol' England. The only real difference from its predecessors are the new side view battle scenes, making it look even more like Final Fantasy, although the mechanics are almost entirely the same as the previous games. Still, Kabukiden gets even goofier than before, especially with Kabuki being the main character - where else can you make a sword out of hydrocholoric acid? - and the game is full of wacky characters. Just take a look at two of the bad guys you'll face:

Usually when a CD format game gets translated to a cartridge system, things don't always go right (see: Dracula X and Ys IV.) Nevertheless, the fourth Tengai Makyō game actually manages to be a quality entry in the series. Most of this is due to a special graphics decompression chip (also used in Star Ocean) that allows a lot of data to fit be into a regular Super Famicom cart. It's hard to see where it's really going to use, but the graphics are easily some of the best on the Super Famicom. This time, the characters somewhat resemble Square's Chrono Trigger, especially with the spiky-haired hero, although the overworld scenes maintain the squat Final Fantasy IV-esque avatars. Despite the extra graphic space, there aren't any cutscenes, and they are most definitely missed.

Tengai Makyō Zero begins with an evil prince who wants to rule the country of Jipang by unleashing the demon Ninigi. The hero is a young boy named Higen, whose village is attack for unknown reason. In his slain grandfather's dying breath, Higen learns he is the legendary Fire Hero and must set off to save the country. It is, again, the usual RPG story, along with some wacky characters and amusing situations, although somewhat more restrained than Kabukiden.

Characters

Higen

The mostly silent, multi-colored hairdo Hero. Can set things on fire at his will.

Subaru

An adorable (or annoying, depending on your tastes) fairy.

Tenjin

An absurdly effiminate swordsman who, as it turns out, does harbor a strange secret...

Other than the graphics chip, Zero contains a battery that keeps track of time passing in the real world. Similar to the recent Animal Crossing, different special events happen at different times of day, and some even change throughout the year. So while the actual quest isn't too terribly long, all of the events and other subquests make Zero a fairly involved game. Which is good, because the battle system is, once again, pretty simplistic. It ditches the first person view in favor of an over-the-shoulder perspective (a la Phantasy Star II and IV), although the battles tend to be a little on the slow (and long) side. The real highlight, as it turns out, is probably the soundtrack - taking a departure from the western orchestral overtones of the previous games, Tengai Makyō Zero has a wide variety of music, ranging from Eastern-influenced town themes to light-hearted techno-ish battle themes. It's a consistently excellent soundtrack, with a lot of great variety. Despite its slow pace, it's every bit as good as Manjimaru.

A special edition of Tengai Makyō Zero also exists, with the subtitle "Shounen Jump no Shou". It appears to be a special promotional copy tied in with the popular manga magazine. Other than the title screen, it doesn't appear to be much different, although it's quite possibly the rarest (and thus most expensive) Super Famicom cart.