Vanillaware’s gorgeous side-scrolling action RPG is making the jump from a console often falsely accused of having no great games to a portable gaming machine wrongly bashed for the exact same thing.
Yes siree! Muramasa: The Demon Blade, first released on Nintendo Wii back in 2009, is being brought back to life on the PlayStation Vita as Muramasa Rebirth. A match made in heaven, I say, as the game’s luscious hand-drawn graphics are sure to look even more marvelous all hi-resed up on the Vita’s glorious OLED screen.
Muramasa‘s mythical Japanese tale is being completely relocalized in English for the Vita with original dual protagonists Momohime, a princess possessed by an evil spirit, and an amnesiac ninja named Kisuke. The game will also feature enhanced controls, including an actual jump button (on Wii jumping was awkwardly performed by pressing up on the D-pad/analog stick), as well as future access to four additional playable characters, each with new story scenarios, via DLC. (Bummer these new characters/scenarios aren’t included out of the box.)
Aksys Games has signed on to publish Muramasa Rebirth in the U.S., however a release date has not yet been announced. Hopefully it’s not too far off, especially with Dragon’s Crown still MIA and seemingly unlikely to surface any time soon. (It’d sure be nice to get Odin Sphere and Grand Knights History on the Vita too, but that’s just me dreaming of things that will never happen.)
Matt Litten is a 28 year old from-the-womb gamer turned video game reviewer/blogger and current editor/owner/operator of VGBlogger.com. Matt got his first taste of gaming as a youngster on the NES and Atari, and the rest is history from there.
In 2004, three years removed from high school and still looking for a career direction in life, Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com, and after a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez Matt turned his attention to VGBlogger, and to this day is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary. 