The series grew to encompass a number of remakes, gaidens and genre spin-offs across a variety of platforms. Despite selling over 2.2 million copies in Japan,[3] the series is largely unknown in other territories, with only one game released overseas.
Overview
The main series is composed of three separate games within the land of 'Jipang' (a fictional feudal Japan using the name given by Italian merchant Marco Polo), each follows a descendant of the 'Fire Clan' and supporting cast in battles against a range of often comical villains. The stories of the games, though primarily of 'fantasy' fare, are inspired by and a parody of misconceptions about Japanese culture by Western societies.
The first game Tengai Makyō: Ziria (1989), released for the PC Engine CD-ROM² system, was notable as the first RPG released on CD-ROM and the first in the genre to feature animated cut scenes and voice acting. The plot and characters were inspired by the Japanese folk tale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (with the protagonist's name deliberately misspelled, per the fantastic theme). The music for the game was also composed by the Academy Award winning musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.[1] The game was previewed in the November 1990 issue of Computer Gaming World. The writer Roe R. Adams (also a co-developer for the Wizardry games) described it as "a truly gigantic game" that "seems to be about the size of 2 or 3 Ultimas put together." He suggested that, if "NEC can handle the mammoth translating job, Ziria could be the game hit of 1991" unless, "of course, Nintendo counters with Zelda III or Dragon Warrior III, and Sega with Phantasy Star III."[4]
The games are largely the creation of Oji Hiroi and Red Company (today Red Entertainment). Virtually all publishing tasks have been handled by Hudson Soft.
The series is purported to be based on a book entitled "Far East of Eden" written by a Paul Hieronymus Chada (typically written as P.H. Chada), who is presented as a 19th-century Smithsonian professor of oriental studies. The book and P.H. Chada do not exist, and 'P.H. Chada' is actually derived from 'Prince (Oji) Hiroi'. This is part of how the setting is supposed based on the misconceptions Western societies held with regard to Japan in the past. The person "Hiroshi Adachi" credited as creating the series is also fictional, with the roles he is credited for actually being performed by Hiroi. "Adachi"/"Chada" also had a personal website which was actually run by Hiroi.[7]
Oji Hiroi and Red Company would later become known for creating the Sakura Wars series for the Sega Saturn.[1]Sakura Wars adopted various elements from the series, including a pre-modern Japanese setting and the use of animated cutscenes and voice acting.[8]
Games
Entries in the franchise have been released for several different console and mobile platforms, including remakes for newer systems, such as the PSP compilation Tengai Makyō Collection, which contains the main four PC Engine titles.
A two-episode OVA titled Tengai Makyō Ziria Oboro-hen[b] was made in 1990.[11]
Tengai Makyō was also included in the two volumes of the 1992 manga anthology Hudson Makyō[c] by Minori Shobo, which featured stories about different Hudson franchises.[12]
Tengai Makyō II protagonist Manjimaru Sengoku appears as a playable character in the 2003 crossover fighting game DreamMix TV World Fighters.
^Adams, Roe R. (November 1990), "Westward Ho! (Toward Japan, That Is): An Overview of the Evolution of CRPGs on Dedicated Game Machines", Computer Gaming World, no. 76, pp. 83–84 [84], In Japan, there are currently 26 CD-ROM based games already available for this machine, including Ys I & II (scheduled for Christmas release in the U.S. on one disk) and a truly gigantic game, Ziria, which seems to be about the size of 2 or 3 Ultimas put together. IF NEC can handle the mammoth translating job, Ziria could be the game hit of 1991 on the game machines (unless, of course, Nintendo counters with Zelda III or Dragon Warrior III, and Sega with Phantasy Star III).
^"Tengai Makyou II (Ziria: Far East of Eden 2)". TurboPlay. No. 12 (April/May 1992). 1992. p. 19.
^Szczepaniak, John (November 2015). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Monochrome. SMG Szczepaniak. pp. 85, 97–8. ISBN978-1518818745. Flagship title for the updated PC-Engine CD-ROM, this was one of (if not the) most expensive game of its day; think of it as Hudson's analogue to Shenmue. (...) Tengai Makyou II was a really big project and perhaps also the first triple-A title on CD. (...) Because at that time, for Tengai Makyou II, we used almost (...) 500,000,000 yen (...) $4,000,000 (...) And perhaps the salaries of these people are not contained within this [original] 500 million figure. (...) So it's even more expensive!
^"あ氏の部屋". www006.upp.so-net.ne.jp. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
