Tossed 'Brave Fencer Musashi' PlayStation

1998 Squaresoft Video Games Comic Ad

ブレイヴフェンサー 武蔵伝 Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1, 1998)

Brave Fencer Musashi (1998)

Some style test commission stuff!

Bianca at the top is @tg-anon44's Musashi is from the Square PS1 game of the same name

Thanks for commissioning me! This has been fun so far :D

If you'd like one of these style test commissions check out the bottom section of this post here! (limited time only!)

While it's on my mind, here's a crackship that lasted for about a week.

Music from Musashi: Samurai Legend (PS2) Track: A New Hope

D-KICK! Pretty much having fun with all the Fusion abilities Musashi can assimilate while also having fun with prismacolors!

Brave Fencer Musashi ブレイヴフェンサー 武蔵伝 1998

Brave Fencer Musashi (1998) was never released here in Europe, but somehow a pirated copy found its way to me as a kid. My dad had at some point gotten my PS1 modded with some kind of multi-X chip and sometimes brought home curiosities burnt onto discs. We didn't have a lot of them, but I remember some very fondly because of how elusive these copies felt without a box or even official cover art to speak of. Only the distinct allure of titles in black sharpie graced the discs, making them feel strangely mystical in a way. One of these games was Brave Fencer Musashi.

I was the only kid that knew about this game. Of course I didn't know that it was never released here at the time, but it sure felt like a special game that only I was privy to. I suppose this was partly why I went back to it over and over again, despite not knowing much English at all. I did not even understand how to save. I basically replayed the opening several times and just basked in everything that snippet of the game had to give me. It was fantastic, amazing even. It had such an impact on me that to this day I still remember the opening cutscenes and set pieces more vividly than most other games I played at the time. I hum the music of the first level sometimes. Lines of dialogue burned into my mind, even though my Swedish kid brain didn't grasp most of it.

Over 20 years later, I finally finished it.

It's interesting to go back to a game that was made almost mythical in my mind as a kid, one that has stuck with me even though I never really played through it. There was a risk that experiencing it for real would somehow taint that perfect imagination of it, but I think it was worth it in the end. Brave Fencer Musashi might not be as fantastical to me as a grown adult with understanding of English and a vast knowledge of video games, but I still appreciate it for what it ended up being. It's a simple platforming action game with light RPG mechanics, stunning graphics and some silly humour sprinkled in. It's certainly not ground breaking by any means, but I'd say it still sticks out as a solid little gem on the platform despite that. I was most definitely entertained throughout my 16 hours of playing, enough so that I collected all the splangos as well as all the bobbins – and that's more than I can say for most games. I even maxed out my stats, and it didn't even take that long. That's the mark of a pretty good game right there.

I really like the environments, the simple platforming combat, the toys of all the characters that you can collect and the goofs and gags that the rather conventional story presented to me. I liked that all the characters are named after food and drinks, and I think it's brilliant that one of them is inexplicably just called Jon and has a dog named Leno. It has tons of secrets to find and collect and pretty much everything feels rewarding and fun to do. It's good is what I am saying.

I will say though that the shogi puzzle could've used another pass through the localization (if you know you know), and the fact that they put a memorization rhythm game right at the very end almost made me quit playing. The only reason I got through that segment was because Kiki helped me with her extremely powerful short term memory. I am good at 3D platforming and actions shenanigans, but memorizing long strings of patterns that are also sensitive to rhythm just makes my brain shut off. I am glad that that character got danced to death by the end of that segment, because she certainly deserved it – Mickey Mouse looking shit.

Anyway, Brave Fencer Musashi is a pretty good platforming action game that reminds me quite a bit about Monster World IV, which might coincidently be the best game ever made, so that's a big A+ in my book. My childhood memories have finally been redeemed and can now rest in peace.

Next up from the pirated Playstation collection that stuck in the depths of my kid brain - Team Losi RC Racer

Kinda late. It was Brave Fencer Musashi's 25th anniversary. (07/16)

ムサシチビ

ブレイヴフェンサー 武蔵伝 Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1, 1998)

Brave Fencer Musashi (1998)