Double Dragon II - the Sengoku edition.
Takeda Shingen (also known as Shingen Samurai Fighter) is a 1988 arcade action game released by Jaleco, loosely (very, very loosely) based on the myth of Takeda Shingen.
Set in the Sengoku period, a time of great internal conflicts, players assume the role of the titular daimyo, Takeda Shingen, on a quest to reclaim his territory by taking down enemy warlords on his own.
Not to be confused with Takeda Shingen for the Turbografx-16.
Takeda Shingen contain examples of:
- Autoscrolling Level: The levels on horseback where Shingen moves forward while shooting targets with his trusty bow. Be wary of logs and obstacles that needs to be jumped over, though.
- Charged Attack: An extra-powered slash can be executed by holding down the attack button.
- Cool Helmet: Shingen wears his oni-inspired helmet for the entirety of the game, which remains on him at all times even when he's in a furious horseback chase, running all over the arena, or dying.
- Dual Wielding: Some of the higher-level mooks will use two swords at the same time.
- Duel Boss: All the bosses are enemy warlords and samurai, whose sprite size are the same as Shingen's, which he will battle them in a direct, straightforward weapon duel.
- Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: One of the reasons why Shingen would rely entirely on his trusty katana, without using rifles from slain mooks.
- Epic Flail: The second most common enemy type are flail-wielding mooks, who puts up a slightly better fight than the goomba-type foot soldiers.
- The Goomba: The lowest-ranked foot soldiers who wields katana as their weapons are the first mooks to show up, usually in large numbers and serving as a distraction for bosses.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: One of the power-ups in the game increases the attack power of Shingen's katana, and enemies finished off will split from their waist. In a non-graphic manner however, due to the 8-bit graphic limitations.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Takeda Shingen from history went from a cunning strategist to a full-blown badass war hero and One-Man Army who goes around killing mooks left and right.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Regardless of the availability of weapons like spears, flails, or even rifles, Shingen spends the entirety of the game kicking ass solely with his katana.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Played straight, unfortunately - there are rifle mooks later in the game, and their bullets actually deals far greater damage than swords, though Shingen can knock them down and cut their health away before they recover. Expect to lose a lot of health when riflemen are around.
- Ninja: Being a game set in the Meiji-Era, there are ninja enemies encountered, but oddly enough only in one of the optional bonus stages.
- Samurai: The very first boss is a samurai warrior. And of course Shingen himself also counts, befitting the myth.
- Staircase Tumble: The stage leading to the top of a temple have Shingen fighting enemy soldiers on a tall set of steps, with added animation where slain mooks will roll down the stairs and out of the screen.
- Take It to the Bridge: One of the stages have Shingen crossing a bridge and fending off hordes of enemies on it. There's a broken section on said bridge which costs a life if Shingen fell through, but in typical video game fashion he can knock mooks to their deaths too.
