Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins

Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
File:Tenchu 2 - Birth of the Stealth Assassins Coverart.png
Developer(s)	Acquire
Publisher(s)
Director(s)	Takuma Endo
Producer(s)	Yutaka Hoshina Masami Yamamoto
Designer(s)	Nobuhito Kuramochi Yoshiaki Arimura
Programmer(s)	Daisuke Hisamatsu
Artist(s)	Koshi Nakanishi
Writer(s)	Mikasa Hiragi
Composer(s)	Noriyuki Asakura
Series	Tenchu
Platforms	PlayStation
Release date(s)	NA 20000807August 7, 2000 EU 20000908September 8, 2000 JP 20001130November 30, 2000
Genre(s)	Stealth
Mode(s)	Single-player

Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins is a stealth game developed by Acquire and published by Activision worldwide and Sony Music Entertainment in Japan for the PlayStation in 2000. The game is intended as a prequel to the game Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and depicts the series' heroes Rikimaru and Ayame as teens, being taught by their elderly master named Shiunsai as well as another Azuma ninja named Tatsumaru.

Gameplay

One of the game's most acclaimed features was the Mission Editor. It gave the player the opportunity to create their own mission, including level layout, deciding which characters to put in, and mission objective. It spawned a tournament in North America to find the best created mission. Due to this acclaim the Mission Editor was later brought back and revamped for the PSP installment, Tenchu: Time of the Assassins.

Plot

The Azuma Ninja have served the House of Gohda for countless generations. Now three young ninja, Rikimaru, Ayame, and Tatsumaru, must protect Lord Gohda Matsunoshin against a coup d'état attempt and a mysterious ninja group calling themselves the Burning Dawn.

After the three ninja are accepted into the Azuma clan, they are called to Gohda castle, which is under attack by Lord Gohda's uncle, Motohide. After a bloody battle, which includes the death of Lady Kei, Lord Gohda's wife, and the kidnapping of Princess Kiku, Lord Gohda's daughter, Rikimaru stops Motohide from killing Lord Gohda, but can't stop Motohide from escaping. It turns out that Motohide was working for a rival Lord, Lord Toda. Toda kills Motohide, only to be killed himself and decapitated by Lady Kagami, the leader of Lord Toda's ninja. She is leading a group of rebel ninja group calling themselves the Burning Dawn, consisting of Suzaku, Genbu, Seiryu, and Byakko, the four Lords of the Burning Dawn, and led by Lady Kagami. To make matters worse, the recently made leader of the Azuma Ninja, Tatsumaru, has gone missing. It is later revealed that Tatsumaru has lost his memory and is now part of the Burning Dawn. Rikimaru and Ayame now have to save Lord Gohda, and stop a ninja uprising intended to plunge the country back into the civil war.

The Burning Dawn has its origins when Lord Gohda's uncle Motohide allied himself with a warlord called Toda Yoshisada in order take control over his kingdom. Toda launched an attack against Gohda castle which resulted in the death of Lord Gohda's wife Lady Kei and the kidnapping of his daughter Princess Kiku. Motohide is later betrayed and killed by Toda, only to be betrayed and killed himself by his chief assassin Lady Kagami: the founder of the Burning Dawn. Over an unknown period of time following the death of Lord Toda, the Burning Dawn partake in a series of underground criminal activities such as kidnapping, theft, forced labor, smuggling and murder. This in turn attracts the attention of Lord Gohda and the Azuma Ninja, who make efforts to end the illegal activities of the organization.

The end finally arrives when the Burning Dawns hierarchy and its flagship 'Fire Demon' are destroyed by the combined efforts of Rikimaru and Ayame, as well as naval elements of the Gohda army.

Characters

Protagonists:

• Rikimaru - An extremely skilled and hard working ninja, Rikimaru has worked since childhood to become a shadow warrior. Rikimaru had emulated Tatsumaru as a role model and was much like an older brother to him. Initially Rikimaru was a weak child, but due to his discipline he became strong, but at his young age in this game he is too overconfident for his own good at times. It becomes clear during the game that he is a born leader and later overcomes his weaknesses of character through the tragic life lessons of a ninja in the game. His weapon is a ninjatō.
• Ayame - The youngest of the Azuma Ninja, Ayame is wild and rebellious. As the story progresses, she develops a strong bond with princess Kiku, and we find out that she has loved Tatsumaru since a child romantically, causing further conflict between both their fates. As the game progresses, Ayame is forced to become much more mature and independent while dealing with the pain and tragedies she experiences. She is partial comic relief in the game and has a comical rivalry with antagonist Genbu the Wise. For weapons, Ayame wields dual tantō.
• Tatsumaru - The eldest of Azuma Shiunsai's students, the main antagonist on Ayame's story. Tatsumaru is chosen to succeed Master Shiunsai, the leader of the Azuma clan. Though he is older than both Rikimaru and Ayame, he has trained with both for years. After defeating Seiryu "The Blue Dragon", Tatsumaru fought a great fight against Lady Kagami, ending with both of them falling into the sea. Kagami woke up first when the two were washed ashore, but she did not kill Tatsumaru and instead saved him. Tatsumaru lost his memory of his former life and fell in love with Lady Kagami, convinced that he is Seiryu, and thus became one of the four lords of the Burning Dawn, replacing the real Blue Dragon whom he killed. After brutally killing Master Shiunsai in the attack at the ninja village, he regains his lost memory. Rikimaru, upon seeing his master's body, attacked Tatsumaru, but hesitated to kill his former friend. Tatsumaru took this opportunity to scar Rikimaru's eye and flee with Lady Kagami. Knowing that his crimes are unforgivable, he understands that he deserves death, but his love for Kagami and belief in her cause makes him remain by her side, even though he disagrees with her methods. Tatsumaru then followed Lady Kagami on her final assault on Gohda's castle. Although Tatsumaru has a sword, he mostly uses unarmed attacks. His final battle with Ayame resulted in his death, when he committed suicide by impaling himself his own blade Izayoi, the ninjatō passed down only to the Master of the Azuma Ninja clan.

Antagonists:

• Lady Kagami: Leader of the Burning Dawn, and also Lord Toda's head ninja, the main antagonist of the game. Kagami dreams of a world where the ninja don't have to live in the shadows. To do this, she has plots to bring down the reign of the samurai. She develops a strong romantic relationship with Tatsumaru. She was mortally wounded by Rikimaru, who used Tatsumaru's sword Izayoi, and died at the explosion of her ship, the Fire Demon, holding Tatsumaru's body near her.

The Four Lords of the Burning Dawn are Genbu "the Green Titan", Byakko "the White Tiger", Suzaku "the Red Sparrow" and Seiryu "the Blue Dragon", representing the Four Guardians of Chinese and Japanese mythology.

• Byakko - a midget who guards the entrance to the Burning Dawn's hideout. He has a pet tiger called Kotaro. Byakko is killed by Rikimaru and the tiger by Ayame.
• Genbu - a big man with a small brain and a child's innocence. Kagami gave him his nickname "the wise". He is killed by Ayame, who is visibly saddened by his death (one of the very few times she shows any sympathy for an enemy).
• Seiryu - carries a kusarigama. He is killed by Tatsumaru on the roof of Goda castle.
• Suzaku - he is actually Onikage in disguise. He is killed by Rikimaru, only to be later revived by Lord Mei-Oh.

One of the Four Lords of the Burning Dawn, Suzaku is later revealed to be Onikage, who appears in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. Throughout the game he confronts Rikimaru and constantly challenges and mocks him (even though Rikimaru always wins in their battles), often comparing himself to the young ninja. He also initially wore a mask, but is later revealed to be wearing a blindfold over them, making it seem he was blind. He is eventually revealed to be Onikage in the secret ending after Tatsumaru's storyline. He seemed to have some sort of strange romance with Yukihotaru, the Princess of the Fireflies, but later killed her, stating, "I have no love for weakness, only power." He is brutal and heartless, even killing his lover off much to the shock of her and Rikimaru.

Other characters:

• Shiunsai Azuma: The leader of the Azuma Ninja, Master Shiunsai raised and taught Rikimaru, Ayame, and Tatsumaru to be ninja. He revealed that he killed Tatsumaru's father before he fought Tatsumaru at the attack at the ninja village. Before this, he had chosen Tatsumaru to his successor before Tatsumaru disappeared and later reappeared to kill him.
• Lord Matsunoshin Gohda: The current leader of the House of Gohda. Gohda's family has relied upon the Azuma Ninja for years, and he trusts them with his life. He forms a special bond with Rikimaru, treating him more like a friend and confident then just a mere ninja, and even covers up the fact that Rikimaru wounded him unintentionally (though it was himself who leaped in to absorb the attack). He is shown to be just and honourable, but his actions to protect his traitorous uncle results in the death of his wife and kidnapping of his daughter and subsequent destruction of his castle. As a result, at one point of the game he wants to lead a suicidal charge into battle against Lord Toda who was now posed to attack his now weakened territory, but is convinced by Rikimaru and others to allow his Azuma Ninja to stop Toda and live on.

Cast

Character	Voice actor (Japanese)	Voice actor (English)
Rikimaru	Tomohiro Tsuboi	Rino Romano
Ayame	Masako Inui	Debi Mae West
Tatsumaru	Kenji Hamada	David Moore
Azuma Shiunsai	Masaaki Tsukada	Paul Eiding
Lord Matsunoshin Gohda	Yousuke Akimoto	Michael Gough
Lady Kagami	Atsuko Tanaka	Mary Kay Bergman
Suzaku	Nakao Egawa	Greg Eagles
Genbu	Mitsuaki Hoshino	Jordan Lund
Princess Kiku	Ikue Ohtani	Renee Raudman
Narration	Rokuro Naya	Earl Boen

Many of the voice talents in the game also voice characters in the Metal Gear Solid series, including Debi Mae West, Paul Eiding, Greg Eagles, Quinton Flynn, Earl Boen, Michael Gough, and Doug Stone. The game featured the voice of Mary Kay Bergman, who committed suicide on November 11, 1999, and was released nearly a year after her death.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 77/100 Review scores Publication Score AllGame Edge 6/10 GameFan 72% GamePro Game Revolution B− GameSpot 8.3/10 IGN 9.1/10 Maxim 6/10

Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins received "favorable" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

External links

• Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Assassins at MobyGames