“A unicorn is worth more than riches”.
In 2009, in the run-up to Christmas, I remember poring over a recent issue of Official Nintendo Magazine looking for games I might want for the holiday season. Flicking through the pages and taking in every single word, one review in particular jumped out at me. The art style was something I’d never seen in a video game before. I was obsessed with Japanese folklore at the time. And, even though the gameplay sounded like nothing new, it scratched my 2D action-platformer itch.
That review was for Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and this was my first brush with Vanillaware. My love of the Osaka-based developer, and this game in particular, is documented, but it was established at the very moment I saw Muramasa on the TV screen, with Edo Japan rendered in beautiful watercolour visuals. Vanillaware has always been known as the studio that makes pretty games with pretty food – and, sometimes, the studio that gives us, um, very exaggerated art – but over the past four years, I’ve seen a real shift in appreciation that I’ve been hoping for.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
