So very much not a fanfic! Let's Play Shaman King: Master of Spirits!

Welcome, folks, to my first LP: Shaman King: Master of Spirits! Released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, this is the ninth game released for the franchise. Shaman King itself is a mangá and animé series created, written, and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei, which... well, is essentially the combination of Yu Yu Hakusho, Samurai X, and drug use. I wish I could be making that one up.

The plot of the series, as far as all different versions are concerned, deals with the same aspects: a youth named Yoh Asakura wants to become Shaman King so he can live happily ever after. The title of Shaman King can be earned through the victory at a tournament referred to as Shaman Fight, which happens once every 500 years. With the help of his faithful samurai spirit Amidamaru and the mighty sword Harusame, he is decided to win this tournament, become Shaman King, and give his wife a happy lifelive happily ever after!

Of course, as this is a tournament, there are many others who wish to become the Shaman King, for their own reasons. Chief among these are two groups: the X-Laws, a religious bunch whose objective is to end all that is evil in the world, and a strange youth named Hao, who leads a group of people with far less morals than average and great power, and if Yoh wants to become Shaman King, then he has to do it! He has to defeat them! Or Anna will hurt him...

...yes, I use the Japanese names extensively. Please get used to it. (I'll add translations at any rate, just... some names are just...)

But wait! What's with the thread title?

Good question! And the answer is... a bit complicated, especially because this is where the continuity is going to get awkward. Due to several circumstances, the animé and the mangá went their separate ways during the story, and originally it resulted in a cliffhanger ending and a non-ending respectively. It wasn't until 2008 that the mangá received its actual ending.

Where does this leave this game? Well, while there are some circumstances that could lead the plot to take place in some alternate version of the second half of the series, or even be a deviation from that... in all honesty? I prefer to chalk this game up to being the 'third season' of the animé. It requires a bit of effort to fit in, but it's much easier to do so than the alternatives... and at any rate, trying to fit this somewhere in the series requires the same level of effort as the Dragon Ball Z movies. It doesn't help that this is a purely Western project, which surprises me given how much Shaman King was mistreated by 4Kids.

That said, the original plot's wording requires so much OoCness that I'll be trying an experiment.

How so?

Basically, every major update will be treated as an episode of the animé, with images mixed with narration. My lack of art quality means that whatever drawings I create will be so inferior you'll hate it, so I won't try that way. Anyone who wants to draw anything in particular... well, I'll appreciate it.

After major scenes, I'll put the 'original scenario' in spoilers, explaining just why I changed it, and you'll all get to enjoy the whole she-bang. These will come with the whole English translation. Elements that require explanations will be here as well (we'll be seeing a lot of these in the stages themselves, I imagine).

Due to this, I'd like to ask all of you to not spoil game elements. Spoilers for the mangá and animé (especially about characters' fates) are not as 'banned' but are definitely frowned upon by me, though it does not mean you can't ask around.

Also, while I'm going to answer most animé questions, the mangá is... not exactly something I had access to. So if someone wants to supply help about that, please do.

Episode List
Episode 1: A new enemy appears?! The mysterious sealer.../Enter Magister!
Intermission!
Tobey continued!

I gave Shaman King: Master of Spirits a shot when I heard it was some kinda Metroidvania-ish deal. From what I played of the game, enemies deal and take way too much damage and it's a terrible introduction to the characters because it expects you to already know them.

Still like the Clash at Demonhead-esque map progression, though.

I gave this a play a few years ago. It's in that slightly awkward place of definitely not being one of the greats of its generation, but still being far better than you expect. I had a good amount of fun with it despite it being kind of cheap at the end.

I did ignore pretty much anything to do with story though, as I've never seen the anime or manga.

I played it for a little bit and enjoyed it, but I played it because I liked Castlevania and heard this was a clone, and was kinda dissapointed to find out that the game doesn't take place in one huge "castle".

Still, interested in seeing how the game turns out. And I enjoyed the manga, so I'm curious as to what this game did differently than the anime (which I know the differences, but I never actually watched it).

Ah, Shaman King! I kind of like the manga & anime, although not enough to bother reading it all the way to the end (stopped somewhere around the tournament arc). I never heard there is a GBA game for it in English, I'll be watching this with interest.

There's three GBA Shaman King games in English, actually. This one, its sequel, and Legacy of the Spirits, which is split into Soaring Hawk and Sprinting Wolf variants. I haven't played the others, but going by Gamefaqs screenshots Master of Spirits 2 looks like it plays the same as this one while Legacy seems to be something of a Pokemon clone.

Huh, I had no idea there were any games for this. I didn't watch very much of the anime, but I did read and do possess 31 of 32 volumes of the manga (though I have... er.... misplaced three or four of the volumes). This will be curious to watch, to be certain, since I didn't see much of the anime.

Episode 1: A New enemy appears?! The mysterious sealer...
Episode 1: Enter Magister!

The day when everything began was calm and peaceful. Everyone had come by to visit, even the folks from other countries, which was pretty interesting... we hadn't had such a confraternization in a long time. Lyserg, Chocolove... even Silva had come by, this time. The only ones who hadn't appeared were the Lily 5, Jeanne and Marco, but they probably had their own business. Besides... we kind of met them later, anyway.


Yoh was lying on the ground, as usual, relaxing against a tree. Ryū had taken to making some American-styled barbecue for once, even though the others had tried to give their own input. At least nothing had burned yet.


- Fight?"

I was sitting by his side, a bit worried. After all, while it had been some time since such a big meeting, the fact was that the Shaman Fight could restart at any moment. And there were still other Shamans out there who could cause trouble.


Anna said, her arms crossed with an unamused expression. "First thing tomorrow morning, it's back to training."

Of course, she wasn't interested at all in letting that pass. Sometimes she's really annoying, but I wasn't about to let that out this time, not when Yoh simply laughed awkwardly at that. I couldn't help but laugh as well, feeling sorry for him.


Horohoro had taken the chance to mock Yoh, though, as he felt oh-so-proud of not having to deal with someone like Anna. Sometimes I wonder if he just doesn't have much common sense since a moment later Pirika came up from behind him, scaring him enough.

"Big brother, you're also going to train harder!" she said, pulling on his ear.

As she admonished him, Jun couldn't help but giggle a bit, while glancing at Ren. She was sitting with Pai-Long by the table, and it kind of hit me then that I didn't really know if zombies needed to eat or not.

"Sounds like everyone's in fighting spirits... you had better not fall behind, Ren," she said, smiling at him. Ren was sitting by her other side, frowning now.



Overall, Ren seemed particularly angry today, though I couldn't exactly tell why... he just wasn't happy. Of course, maybe it was because Horohoro, Chocolove, and Pirika had played some pranks on him earlier that day.

Who knew Pirika liked playing practical jokes so much?

However, Chocolove was looking at the porch, at that point.


As we looked in the same direction, someone... strange was out there. He resembled Lee Pai-Long a lot, what with having his skin pale and discolored, but he wasn't a kyonshi. He did not wear much, either, beyond some pants, a shawl on his waist, and a strange hat on his head.


Anna glared at him, not very amused. "Maybe... depends what you want with her," she replied, apparently not into ignoring him right now. "Who are you?"

"So you're Anna..." he seemed surprised, but shook it off after a moment. "I've come for something you have: the Chō Senji Ryakketsu." His tone was somewhat pleasant, but he also had a no-nonsense kind of behavior. "It is necessary for me to possess it. If you would kindly give it to me..."


The way he spoke, at that moment, to answer Amidamaru's request... I couldn't help but feel creeped out by it, and I noticed the others seemed uneasy as well. And while at first he didn't seem to be concerned about it, he turned to face us again.

"My name is Magister," he said, crossing his arms.

"If you can see Amidamaru, then... you must be a Shaman!" I let out, surprised. Silva frowned, however.

"official tournament entry list."

Ren stepped forward, angrily. "Enough!" he declared, then. "You may speak nicely, but you don't fool me. I'll be seeing you off now!" He had his grip on his weapon, but before he could go on, Lyserg stood up.

"Everyone, please calm down..." he requested, trying to amenize the situation. "He is unusual, yes, but... he doesn't feel like such a bad guy to me."


"You should listen to that girl, yes," Magister said, making Lyserg blush.

"But I'm not a-" he tried to say, but was interrupted as Magister went on, ignoring him.

"I have come for the Chō Senji Ryakketsu. That is all that needs to be said," he repeated, and Yoh finally stood up again.

"What do you want with it, anyway?" he asked, not smiling. "It's not exactly something most people know about... even among us." 'Us' in this case meaning Shamans.


That caused a general confusion among mostly everyone, as nobody knew who this 'Mephias' guy was...

...nobody, that is, except for Silva. And given the way he paled, and almost flinched from the word...


That... really made everyone freeze, one way or another. I found myself standing up, shocked - funny how that happens, isn't it?

"D-did you say 'demons'?!" I asked, trying not to tremble any more than I already was. A whole year dealing with Shamans, and I still could get so scared my head could fall off my body and roll about.

"What kind of guy is that?" Anna asked, frowning.


"Then... he must have been Shaman King!" I let out, completely impressed, and Ryū frowned.

"What does that have to do with the Chō Senji Ryakketsu?" he asked, only for Ren's grip on his weapon to grow even harder, if that was possible.

"Don't you get it?" he asked, not facing us. "He wants to summon this Mephias person, but since he became Shaman King, he's incredibly powerful."

"I'm right, aren't I?!" That last question was pretty challenging, as if Ren was daring Magister to say he was wrong.

There was a nod, in response.





Given the way Faust and Lyserg were staring at him, they were pretty impressed by his words. Faust looked at Eliza, who was sitting by him, for a moment, and I wasn't able to guess what they were thinking.


"one!" Chocolove summarized, then. That also was the point where Magister lost his patience.

"I have stated what I came here for. The least you can do is obey my request." There was no kindness in his voice. In fact... now he seemed to be barely restraining his hatred. "Hand over the Chō Senji Ryakketsu!"


"I've got better things to do with it than let you have it." As Anna taunted him, Magister's frown deepened.

"We're not going to let you do that!"

Both Yoh and Ren took out their weapons, channeling their spirits into them and preparing their strikes. Ryū, Horohoro, and Chocolove also were preparing themselves, while Faust simply gave a glance at Eliza, who prepared to summon her weapon. Lee Pai-Long jumped up, preparing a strong kick as well.

However, as Yoh and Ren both struck Magister, something strange happened.

Before their very eyes, his body spun and formed a card, which was sliced in half by their attacks and burned into black fire. The flames themselves did not creep over to them, but they flinched even then; nobody had expected that.

A card the same size appeared a moment later, behind everyone. As it spun around again, Magister reappeared, throwing small playing cards at them, which they barely had any time to dodge. Yoh and Ren tried to cut through them, but...

"Our-our Furyoku!" Yoh let out, as the spiritual flames that covered Harusame - the indication that they were being used to channel a spirit's power - started to dissipate. "What are you-"

"YOH!" I and Anna ended up crying out, a moment later; Magister had dashed towards him while he was shocked, and threw a bunch of cards at his direction. The cards slammed themselves onto his body, like paper talismans, and he yelled out in pain.

As he fell on the ground, Amidamaru was pushed out of the sword, the Oversoul process clearly interrupted now. The others stared in awe, at that, leading to a pause in their reactions.

"...this should be enough. Do not force my hand further," Magister stated, turning towards Anna once more. "Give me the Chō Senji Ryakketsu. Now."

"What did you do to him?!" I demanded, shocked, as I watched Yoh groan from his position on the ground.

"I merely sealed his Furyoku." The explanation was succinct, but it drove more glares from everyone. "Between that, and this useless sword... he should be no more problem."

"Damn you!" Ren yelled, dashing at him for his Chūka Zanmai attack. "I won't let you-"

Magister jumped high, evading the attack, before throwing cards at everyone. Horohoro and the others attempted to stop him, but attempting to strike the cards, with their abilities, did not quite work. The cards latched onto their weapons, if they were not bladed, and began draining their Furyoku as well. The drain was much stronger than those they cut, because soon the spiritual flames of their weapons were gone. Chocolove had it worse, being as easily incapacitated as Yoh was as cards struck him easily, and was brought down easily.

Magister landed, once more. "Why do you continue fighting?" he asked, watching as the cards they could not destroy had broken apart their Oversouls, leaving them tired. Even Silva had not managed to evade them completely, and yet had remained in-between him and Anna. "You should realize by now how pointless it is."

"SHUT UP!" Pai-Long suddenly cried out, dashing forward. "Your tricks cannot affect me! Therefore, I WILL stopp you!"

I couldn't help but feel ecstatic now. Pai-Long himself managed to deliver a series of hits on Magister, who could barely avoid them. The others were smiling as well, as even the attempts to seal his Furyoku did not seem to work.

But then Magister struck, by throwing a set of cards at Jun. They barely grazed her... but left thin cuts that looked pretty painful. The scream she let out then distracted Pai-Long for just a moment, but it was enough for him to lose his focus.

Before he knew it, Magister delivered a kick that sent him flying backwards, and the cards that he threw next turned into chains that wrapped around his limbs.

"...so my powers are no good against Kyonshis... interesting," he said, before facing Anna once more. "You have seen that I have defeated all of you. If you will simply allow me the use of the Chō Senji Ryakketsu now, I will leave without taking a single life."

"A-Anna..." I let out, trembling, while Silva steeled himself to fight, even knowing he was at a disadvantage...

"...fine, whatever," she said, surprising everyone.

"Anna, no! You must not let him have it!" Amidamaru warned, but she simply stepped forward, producing the book - an ancestral tome that had belonged in the Asakura family line for generations, ever since Hao created it.

"Are you even going away, if you had this?" she asked, frowning, passing by Silva now. "What if you just kill everyone anyway?"

"Are you doubting my intentions?" Magister growled, as he grabbed onto the book.

"Yes."

With that simple word, the book started to shine brightly, blinding both Anna and Magister, and forcing them to step back. Their grip on it loosened, yet the book did not fall; instead, it floated in the air for several moments.

Then, before any of us knew it, the book disappeared.

The light was gone as fast as it had appeared, but as it did there was no more book to look at: the ancient tome had somehow disappeared in the shuffle.

"What... what have you done?!" he let out, astonished.

"The book is gone," Anna stated, simply. "You will not be able to put your hands on it, now."

"You... that is meaningless!" Magister almost yelled, as he lost his cool. Still, he managed to restrain himself. "The book still exists. I can sense its energy... it cannot be gone! I will find it, and then I will be able to bring back Mephias!"


Amidamaru's summation of the events was simplistic, but true; Magister had run away, the rest of the group preparing to pursue. Anna, however, interrupted all that.

"Stop now," she said, without a clear expression in her face. "Let him go."

"But, Mistress Anna-!" Ryū tried to say, but was stopped by a glare.

"What do you lot expect to do, with your Furyoku sealed?" she asked, mocking their general behavior. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I am the only one in this group that actually thinks things through."

"But, the Chō Senji Ryakketsu-" I began to argue, only for her to shake her head.

"-is perfectly safe." That did not seem to give Yoh and the others much confidence. "There was a spell in it - one of the many that Hao put in the book - and I merely triggered it. It won't take long before I can locate it... but first, I am going to remove the seals on your bodies."

"Wow, thanks, Anna..." Yoh said, smiling from his place on the ground.

"And you're going back to training as soon as you get off the floor," she added, serious. "As for the rest of you, start cleaning up. I do not need those stupid cards ruining my garden."

The way she said that...

"And why should we-" Horohoro tried to argue, but was hit by a sandal.

"I'm telling you to. Now hurry up!" she ordered.


The ritual Anna performed was pretty impressive, overall. As the cards that sealed their Furyoku were stuck on their bodies, she had to spread some sort of lotion on their clothes first, a lotion she had first purified through a series of prayers to several Shinto deities. After that step, she began chanting in some language I didn't know, but that probably was Sanskrit. It's Sanskrit what Buddhists chant, right?

Anyway, she used what remained of the lotion to form a circle around the group, who had had to huddle together, and then performed a series of handseals. Some of those, like the 'two fingers up from each hand' and the 'crossed fingers wrapping around each other' ones, had to be performed by Yoh and the others as well, in synch.

When she was done, another burst of light came up, before the cards were pulled out of their bodies and burst in black flames.

"There, it's done," she said, crossing her arms. "I took the time to give you all some protection from his powers, as well; it wouldn't do for you to be caught unaware like this again."

"Thanks, Anna!" Yoh replied, smiling... exhausted as he was; she wasn't kidding when she demanded he start training at once. The fact that he could stand at all after that was either proof of his strength or a miracle, and I hadn't doubted the latter much.

"Don't thank me yet," she said, serious enough. "We have a problem."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and she turned away.

"I can't find the Chō Senji Ryakketsu."

If we had wanted to be shocked, today seemed to be the best day for it. "W-what-" Silva let out, then.

"The spell I used was one that Hao put on the book, in case it was ever taken by someone not of the Asakura line. As Yoh's bride, and having conquered it when mister Yohmei took me to see it, I am considered its master," she explained. "By denying the book to that Magister guy, but knowing that the book would be out of my hands if he were allowed to, I caused the Chō Senji Ryakketsu to be teleported to a safe location, where it would not be found by him."

At that point, she frowned. "That damn Hao, however... he had prepared for it. Wherever the book is sealed, we won't be able to find it that easily, not without preparations and time. In that sense, we are just like Magister now..."

"But isn't that good?" Pirika asked, then. "Without the book, he can't summon that Mephias guy any longer!"

"There are far more secrets to be found within that book, and he is not the sole threat." Her cold answer made Pirika tremble a bit. "Countless other Shamans could find it. Many would be much less patient. We cannot allow a family possession to fall in their hands."

"Do not worry, Master Yoh and Mistress Anna!" Ryū claimed, then. "We will do our part to find the book, and we will remain in contact as much as possible."

Looking around, the others seemed confident as well. Ren was frowning, but then again, he was probably just mad that Magister made a fool out of everyone.

But then... Yoh closed his eyes.

"...I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much, however," he said, and that was when they noticed it. He didn't have Harusame in its scabbard anymore. "When Magister ran away, he... I think he took Harusame. I haven't found it ever since that moment."

There was general shock at that point. The hurry in Yoh going training, mostly by running outside town and all, with only myself and Amidamaru to watch him... and with Yoh having acted casual enough then...

He really hadn't wanted anyone to worry about it.

"Do not worry, Master Yoh," Ryū said, giving him his wooden sword. "Until you can find Harusame, then you may wield this spare weapon of mine."

"Hah, thanks, Ryū!" Yoh replied, smiling. He then turned to Anna. "At least now I can use something in case Magister or someone else appears, right?"

"Sure, I guess." If she was mad, she didn't show it. Bad sign. "Just remember that if the museum finds out about it..."

"Yeah, I know!" he replied again, trying not to sweat.

...and with that, the party was over. Everyone left, whether to go look for the Chō Senji Ryakketsu or to learn more about Magister. In the end, however, only two people really said things that felt important.


When Silva left, he sounded extremely worried, which made some sense; Mephias was called the 'Guardian of Demons', and there was probably an important reason for it. Lyserg, on the other hand... was starting to remind me of how he sounded, back before he encountered the X-Laws and all. I didn't like it at all.


Little did we know what was going to happen, from that day on...

NEXT TIME: Game explanations, and the first data entry!

Wow... That is incredibly racist...

Which part?

The opening cinematic really shows that Shaman King: Master of Spirits expects you to already know these characters from the anime or manga. Excluding Magister (because he's new), there's like ten people it throws in as talking head cutouts there.

It just feels awkward for a game to expect you to already know all these people, is all. Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure handled things more tactfully on that front and it was basically the Cliff's Notes of the Dragon Ball series.

So What Just Happened? (AKA Translation's Corner)

In the original game, Yoh Asakura, Mortimer "Morty", and everyone else were hanging out at the family inn during the Great Shaman Tournament when Magister walked inside, demanding the Tome of the Shaman, so he could summon Mephias back to life to do his bidding. Because Mephias was Shaman King, he would probably be very difficult to control, which is why Magister came to the inn so he could get the Tome of the Shaman from Anna Kyohyama.

Then things got... stupid.


I began my full deviation from this image on. While the meaning is obvious... what actually happens is that Yoh is given the Sword of Light by Morty to try and stop Magister, and... gets his ass kicked.

To be more specific, we just see the sword flying off, after a single attack. (Actually taking a picture of the thing was a pain so suffice to say it's really embarrassing a sight.) Considering how the rest of the game is, Konami REALLY screwed up the opening.

Still, the Tome of the Shaman did disappear... but the situation was ridiculous. In fact, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.



...yes. That is stupid, isn't it? This is what the plot of the game boils down to. We have to get the SCATTERED PAGES of the Tome of the Shaman.

...see, this is why I changed things.

At any rate, the first piece of evidence to support the post-Shaman King theory is the presence of the Chō Senji Ryakketsu. In the original series (or at least the animé), it was acquired by Anna during the second half of the series, when half the cast was in the United States of America to take part in the Shaman Fight proper - a tournament held by the Patch Village. Because of its importance later on, and given the thing was hidden away from most people, the fact that it was here can be made into a plothole, and it's why I don't support the alternative setup.

Odds & Ends, Part 1

Time to talk about the game itself.

First, upon choosing a save file, an option comes up where we can pick what difficulty level we want to play in. As far as I understand, the differences refer mostly to how much damage we do and take, and well... my test runs have proven to me that it makes a significant difference.

Once the introductory cutscene is over, we are greeted by this screen.

This is the World Map. Despite all appearances, the next four levels are not the four golden buttons on the distance. Instead, they are the four blue lines connecting us to the golden buttons.

I'll go into more detail as to how the controls work in the next update, but well... this is where the revelation would have come if nobody had said it before. This game is to Castlevania what Boktai is to Metal Gear Solid. That is, it's a simplified version of the game in most aspects. As such, we'll be traveling through a set order of levels, collecting new power-ups that will allow access to a new path whenever we clear a given path, opening more and more of the map for us to travel through.

"Oh, that's what happens in any game!" you may say. True. Except there's more details that make this game similar to Castlevania in particular... because it plays a lot like Aria of Sorrow.


This is the main menu screen. Here we can see Yoh's general stats, including his health and level of Furyoku. You'll notice we don't have anything but a Wooden Sword to defend ourselfs. Must be because of our game-starting situation. The little body icon to the side represents our status; we're 'Normal' because nothing bad has happened to us yet.

Rate is the 'game clear' percentage. The more we advance, the higher this number will increase. The other two icons to the side are not as important, at the moment.

Now, by pressing R as requested, we fall on this screen.

This is where we'll be spending much of the game. The Spirit Unity screen is representative of the Shaman's ability to fuse with spirits, something the Manjien will go on detail soon enough. Suffice to say, this is similar to the Soul Set System from Castlevania: Aria/Dawn of Sorrow. Later details will come once we can actually make use of it.

Our starting Spirit, Amidamaru, comes with the Gokōjin (Halo Bump) ability. It's unfortunately not the thing we can rely on right now, what with costing 25SP per use, but it will still prove useful in the near future.

After this screen, we jump to the next one.

This is the Item screen. We have up to ten spaces where we can store items we collect, which we can then use to heal ourselves. This is part of why I said this is Castlevania Lite; unlike those games, where there was a ton of items and equipment we could get, here we have very few items that will be mostly used for healing.

To get those items, we enter the shop... which we can access by pressing Start while outside levels.




This is what we have to buy. Unfortunately, it's ALL we have to buy; only healing items, thus far. To make things worse, the later items - Hamburgers and Ramen/Noodles - occupy a lot more space in the set, which won't grow any bigger.

Still, at least it's an easy way of getting items and, unlike Boktai, using items won't hurt us. So expect me to buy stuff.

Manjien/Encyclomanta

General Terms:
Characters:
Viewer's Reponses
First, thanks to everyone for posting! I'm sorry this hasn't been the speediest update speed ever... let's just say that becoming a teacher apprentice type hasn't helped me much/enough.

To those of you who haven't seen the series at all, or the animé, I'll try and add more information every so often to explain how things go, but I admit the way the story progresses may not allow for it. Hopefully the later episodes, with their combination of gameplay and environs, will actually draw people's interest!

Next up is a real episode, so wait for it!

Can't wait to see how the gameplay is, especially since I only have a vague recollection of it.

Also nice to see more story descriptions. I'm familiar with Shaman King, but not everyone is.

The reason why I'm taken to Shaman King at the first place is because I relate to Morty Manta so much. Not the being the heir of a multi-billionaire part, sadly, but I can understand what it's like being a hobbit. The part where HoroHoro's tiny spirit have a crush on him is funny as hell, though.

I like the format so far, keep it up.

Ehehe... it's been kind of a while, hasn't it? Hahaha!

...sorry about that, folks. I've been lacking in energy or will power to access the site for a while. I was supposed to post an update in October, but a combination of illness, exhaustion, university, Persona 4 The Animation, and Fantasy Maiden Wars left me unable to continue.

I already have all the images for the next update, but I don't have enough written material. But I don't feel like leaving you guys hanging either. So I'll explain how the basic controls work, in this post. (It'll be updated with images once I've edited all of them.)

Controls

A: Jump. There is little in terms of 'fine' control, but considering this is a Castlevania clone of sorts, it moves along the lines of Aria of Sorrow. This means that if you jump, you can move in either direction, based on how much you push it. Jumping does not carry complete inertia, meaning that you'll slow down your forward momentum when you stop holding the button. You also don't have much control over your height, unfortunately; a brief tap does have Yoh jump very low, but it's not enough overall.

B: Sword Attack. Yoh possesses a total of seven attacks with his non-powered sword, and you kind of have to use them to the fullest. There is a three-hit combo while standing, a three-hit combo while jumping, and a single hit attack while crouching. In Hard mode, your attacks deal 7-9-11 damage to your opponents, while Normal offers 8-10-12 damage. Crouching attacks in Normal deal 6 damage, as well.

L: Unused.

R: Spirit Attack. Based on the Spirit we have equipped on the Spirit Unity section, Yoh will perform an action with it. Amidamaru's Gokōjin is the default one, as indicated before; Yoh will perform a single, energy-powered slash that deals massive damage, at the cost of Furyoku. As we have 80 Furyoku at first, we can deliver up to three attacks before recovery.

Select: Deck Switch. Press it to switch between the four Decks of Spirits we have. At the moment, with only Amidamaru, it's useless, but it'll prove its value in the future. (People who played Dawn of Sorrow may recognize the mechanic.)

Start: Menu. It opens the same three-screen menu from last page. Not much else to add, beyond that it can be opened at any point, which is going to be very helpful in the future.

Expect the actual post of events soon.