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Post by Discoalucard on Jul 21, 2017 8:20:11 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/hinotori/hinotori.htmA duo of games from Konami, for the Famicom and MSX2, (very loosely) based on Osamu Tezuka's manga, also known as Phoenix. The MSX2 shooter was previously covered here in the Konami shooters article/book, but this covers the side-scrolling Famicom game too.
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Post by wyrdwad on Jul 21, 2017 14:04:55 GMT -5
Very curious to play the Famicom game. Absolutely love the MSX2 shooter, though! Really unique game, with its adventure game-like maze structure and backtracking.
-Tom
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Post by kingmike on Jul 21, 2017 21:07:50 GMT -5
I remember watching the Game Center CX about the Famicom game. Ridiculous that the final stage can ONLY be reached by warping.
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Post by risingpheonix on Jul 27, 2017 18:51:13 GMT -5
Wait what?
The article author is correct up to the point that Gao decided to atone for his sins, he would spend his life carving and helping the community he settled into, in part also to atone for the many killings he made. But Gao and Akanemaru's stories are intertwined at the beginning and ending of this particular chapter of the series and both share the protagonist aspect of the story, certainly in the Manga the framing of Tezuka's work suggests that Gao is supposed to be the main (anti) hero of the story.
I could go into deep detail but to keep it simple. While Gao is a terrible person (and knows it after being led to slay the woman he loved due to insecurity) - he spends the latter years following a priest and learning to carve buddahs and gargoyles to bring some level of hope and comfort to others. It's implied that Gao's carvings come from a very genuine desire to create and help others - while Akanemaru somewhat spurns the natural gifts (including Buchi, a woman who is implied to have some link to the phoenix) for the material ones, and his own religious carvings in fact play a part in allowing the government to wrest more control over people rather than giving them spiritual comfort and support.
Gao and Akanemaru present their carvings, but where Aknemaru has grace and beauty in his carving, Gao's reflects far more emotion and almost looks alive. The upperclassmen have almost ruled in favour of Gao when Akanemaru in desperation interjects. Informing them that Gao was the man who injured him. So now rather than purely judging the men on the basis of the work done, it's now judged on a crime long committed. The crimes punishment calls for cutting the perpetrators arm off, so Gao loses his sole arm and is cast out.
While Gao lives on, Akanemaru's Phoenix statue bursts into flame while in storage, he rushes in to save the carving and mural that inspired him, only to die in vain. The Phoenix arrives to inform him that while he might want another go at being human, he's coming back as a fish. Gao has to live on with all the burdens and suffering he holds.
Anyway point being - Gao is ordered to carve the Phoenix. It's quite a central part to Karma's story - though yes the NES game warps it because trying to discuss the state using religion to control, karmic retribution and the concept of suffering playing a role in the creation of art is a mite much for the 8-bit era. Also a bit off when you consider Gao was never actively looking for salvation in the way Akanemaru did. Ah well.
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Post by pennywise on Jul 30, 2017 14:32:27 GMT -5
Yeah, I know all that. The NES portion of the article and part of the introduction was written when I was under the assumption that the game was based on the manga, which wasn't quite correct. It's actually based on the anime, which not only being an abbreviated version of the manga, but also alters what Gao and Akanemaru carve in competition.
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