InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale

When anime was making its big push into the West at the turn of the millennium, consoles filled up with fighters based on beloved series, and InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale is one of the kind that fans have not forgotten. It came out in 2003 under the Bandai banner, that is, at a moment when the PlayStation had long since been passing the torch to its successor the PS2, and yet this game found its audience.

It is a classic 2D fighter built on the characters from Rumiko Takahashi's series. Instead of trying to compete with technical 3D titles, it bets on what it does best: nice pixel-art graphics, a faithful rendering of the beloved heroes and one-on-one fights where timing, combos and knowledge of each fighter's move set matter. For viewers of the series it is a joy to see their favorites dish out special blows drawn directly from the source.

The fact that the game arrived so late in the life of the original PlayStation benefited it in a certain sense, the creators had the console's 2D graphics fully mastered and could squeeze detailed sprites and smooth animation out of the hardware. The result is a title that looks mature visually and respectful of the material it stands on.

To be straight: as a fighter, InuYasha does not rank among the tournament pillars of the genre such as the big series from specialized studios represented. Its value lies elsewhere, in how faithfully it transfers the anime's atmosphere into interactive form and gives fans the chance to control characters they had until then known only from the screen. That is exactly the kind of experience licensed games are meant to provide.

Today it is a collector's item of interest and a lovely reminder of the time when anime and video games were increasingly intertwining and every popular series longed for its own console adaptation.

Why play: For fans of InuYasha it is a faithful delight with nice 2D graphics; as a gateway to the fighting genre it will serve rather as a likable curiosity.