Yatagarasu is a 2D Japanese fighting game for PC, created by Circle Edge, a three-person team made up of former SNK talents including art director Styleos and designer Umezono. (The designers also worked on the Psikyo game Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels, with which this game shares aesthetic similarities.) The gameplay holds parallels to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, with a parry mechanic, user-selectable super moves, and similar pacing (up to and including characters sharing move sets with characters from said game). The character illustrations come from Styleos of Ibara and Mushihime Sama fame.
An interesting feature of this game are the selectable real-time color commentaries similar to the optional announcers in later Virtua Fighter games. The commentator voices are provided by well-know YouTube and Nico Nico Douga tournament personalities Tokido, KSK, and Kokujin.
The game was released in Japan on August 15th, 2009. NICALiS, the company behind the localization of Cave Story, is currently working on bringing Yatagarasu overseas on the Play Station Vita, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One under the title Legend of Raven - the project was originally planned for a release on Nintendo 3DS via the Nintendo eShop, but changed platforms due to fan demand. In mid-2013, Nyu Media ran an Indiegogo fundraiser
to pay for a sequel, Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm. Among the new features in Attack on Cataclysm include three new characters, an English localization and English commentator voices from noted American tournament personalities Maximilian Christiansen, James Chen and UltraDavid. The fundraiser ended with the goal of $68,000 reached and surpassed with a final total of $118,243 raised against the main goal as well as fulfilling 4 of its stretch goals as well.
This game features examples of:
- Announcer Chatter: An optional feature, meant to emulate the hyped-up commentary of tournament play.
- Big Bad: Aja, by virtue of being possessed by Masanari Hanzo Hattori
- Boxing Battler: JET.
- Counter-Attack: 3rd Strike fans rejoice!
- Dance Battler: Many of Kotaro's moves involve graceful spins or pirouettes; it makes sense she specializes in song and dance.
- The Faceless: Chadha.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Hanzo's... one bare leg jumpsuit outfit.
- Femme Fatale: Hanzo.
- Flash Step: Both Hanzo and Azure possess one.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Hanzo; Azure, in the updated release.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Shimo and Hina.
- Leotard of Power: Kou and Crow (both male examples) wear a leotard, though with pants over it. Kotaro Kazama wears a more revealing one underneath her kimono.
- Mighty Glacier: Chadha is about as slow as a tractor and hits equally hard.
- Moveset Clone: Kou and Crow, expected since they are the Ryu and Ken of the game.
- Played with Hina and Shimo. While they share animations and moves, the inputs for each, and therefore the way they work, is quite is different.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's the 13th Generation Hattori Hanzō. She is the 3rd female High-ninja in the history of Hattori Hanzo, (although some would argue that she is in fact the 2nd).
- The Quiet One: The stoic Juzumaru.
-
Spiritual Successor: Of Psikyo's Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels, created by the same team behind this game. - Statuesque Stunner: Aja; at 6 feet tall, the only taller character is the inhumanely large Chadha. Also Hanzo; who is at 171cm (5'7"), but qualifies due to being Japanese.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Chadha is the resident grappler.
