Suda51's Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

[out_of_touch]

Developed by Suda51 & Grasshopper Interactive, published by Bamco. Released in the west! There's not much to say other than its fucking awesome and you should play it. It's weird, stylish and OOZING with the Suda & Grasshopper charm we all know and love. Combos are guided by a "rhythm track" on top of the screen. Successfully following the rhythm track allows you to build up your tension gauge and activate Hyper Mode, counterattacks, parries, mini-games and QTE's keep combat fresh with some shops (weapons, food, rhythm tracks) along the way. Four playable characters are available for extra replay value. In many ways this game can be considered as the spiritual predecessor to the NO MORE HEROES series.

There's way too many loading screens, and the OST is very limited because BGM is tied to the rhythm track you have equipped. Some people may find the game too easy due to the linear corridors and basic combat. If you've played NMH you'll feel right at home. I'm not sure how faithful or not it is to the source material.

Is anyone familiar with SAMURAI CHAMPLOO: SIDETRACKED (2006)? Critics didn't do this game justice at all!

 

[vestan]

Loved this game.

Takada composed a few remixes based on tracks for this game and released it as part of "Samurai Champloo Rhythm Tracks". It's the rarest Samurai Champloo CD in existence as it was only given away as a promo. Sucks as I can't even find an album stream of it anywhere.

 

[Spamlynguist]

I would like to play it but it never came out in Europe sadly.

 

[TubaZef]

Damn, this look cool. Shame it's lost in the licensed game limbo.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Needs a rerelease.

The PS2 has so many gems that I want to replay. Hopefully the backwards compability rumors are true when PS5 comes so I can replay everything.

 

[RecRoulette]

Yes! Got this for $5 at a Half Price Books years ago and thought it was awesome

 

[Vash]

Needs a rerelease.

The PS2 has so many gems that I want to replay. Hopefully the backwards compability rumors are true when PS5 comes so I can replay everything.

Click to shrink...

If it is, I hope it's not region locked. Especially since I own a lot of US titles (like this one) and don't want to buy two PS5 systems. XD

That said, loved this game on PS2, it's a shame Jun Seba passed away. Loved his style.

 

[Deleted member 9305]

FFS, the PS2 got so many games I keep learning about new ones to this day D:

 

[Deleted member 16876]

If it is, I hope it's not region locked. Especially since I own a lot of US titles (like this one) and don't want to buy two PS5 systems. XD

Click to shrink...

Agreed.

It sucked last gen when PS3 wasn't region locked but PS1 and 2 discs couldn't if not from the same region. Not sure why they did that but it sucked a lot.

 

[Randam]

Looks weird.
Does it take place in some kind of parallel universe?

 

[out_of_touch]

Looks weird.
Does it take place in some kind of parallel universe?

Click to shrink...

Its a non-canon "lost chapter"

 

[CannonFodder52]

Yeah, I just tried this last month. The game has a ton of interesting and unique things going for it. I particularly really dug how the combo maps were tied to their own songs. It was also interesting seeing Killer7 font and nod with the reference to Heaven Smiles. And yeah, the visual style was awesome, it looks stunning when you cut enemies down.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I miss the PS2-era where there could just be a ton of 3D games for whatever reasoon and still turn out unique. You'd be hard-pressed for someone to say make a One Punch Man game on consoles just off the cuff of its popularity.

 

[Infinite Ukemi]

I loved this weird game. I remember some dude named Woolie saying something about a 3'rd dude never being able to work, but then again he's never seen Worso Tsurumaki.

 

[Deleted member 1190]

Why is Mugen voiced by Inuyasha tho

 

[Pariah]

Thanks for this thread. I had no idea a video game existed. A few years ago I watched the show and aside of the music, I forgot to search for any related product. Now I'd really like to try this.

 

[Phil32]

I knew of this game--ads in gaming magazines back in the day--but I had no clue Suda51 had anything to do with it. Awesome.

 

[Verelios]

Suda51 and Grasshopper made this? I never realized that, and I loved it on release. Dope game with great tracks and an amazingly fun combat system. Too bad it was so short.