The OneChanbara

The cover of Simple 2000 Vol. 61: The OneChanbara

The OneChanbara (THE お姉チャンバラ^?) is a series of action games developed by Tamsoft for D3 Publisher's Simple 2000 series for the PlayStation 2 and later ported on cellular phones, Xbox 360 and Wii. The title is a portmanteau of the Japanese words onee-chan (お姉ちゃん^?, lit. "big sister", but also a colloquialism for a young adult woman) and chanbara (チャンバラ^?, "sword fighting").

In 2008, A film based on the game series was released in Japan titled OneChanbara.^[1] A straight to DVD film entitled お姉チャンバラ THE MOVIE vorteX was released in 2009.

Summary

The hack and slash gameplay involves the player controlling Aya, a Japanese cowgirl in a bikini who wears a scarf and wields a katana. The player is pitted against hordes of zombies and nightmarish boss creatures, who spill torrents of blood when they are attacked. Aya is often accompanied on her adventures by several other warrior women, such as her younger sister Saki, who appears in most titles in the series.

Gameplay

The OneeChanbara series puts players in control of a lone girl (or in later games, two girls with the ability to tag out) against a legion of the undead. Players guide their characters through the stages, completing tasks while hacking through enemies. The player-character's weapon becomes progressively covered in blood, causing their attacks to be slower and to inflict less damage, even getting stuck in enemies if it gets too bad. This is represented by a "Blood Meter" showing how dirty the weapon is. To prevent this, players must actively clean off their sword to keep the blood meter from filling up.

In addition, there is also the "Blood Lust" meter. As a character kills enemies, this meter starts to fill. Once the meter is full, the character will go into a "blood frenzy". This gives the character an increase in attack power, but drains health. To recover from a blood frenzy, the player must use statue items, which are dropped by dead enemies. Additionally each level will contain a large statue. Going to the large statue will remove the blood frenzy and also recover any lost health.

Unlike the stereotypical zombies, most of the undeads encountered in this game series are not automatically killed by decapitation; some would continue to attack even after losing their upper torsoes. This is briefly explained in OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers by the notion that, while humans killed due to infection with bodily fluid of the undead will be zombified, most undeads are not re-animated corpses but are merely made by some supernatural power that created them to look similar to humans.

Series

The OneeChanbara series includes several upgrades and sequels that have been released since the original game:

Region	Original Release Date	Platform	Title
	2004.08.26	PS2	Simple Series 2000 Vol. 61: The OneeChanbara (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.61 THE お姉チャンバラ), Zombie Zone in Europe
	2005.06.23 (JP), 2007.03.23 (EU)	PS2	Simple Series 2000 Vol. 80: The OneeChanpurū ~ The Onechan Special Chapter ~ (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.80 THE お姉チャンプルゥ ~THE 姉チャン 特別編~). The OneeChanpurū is an upgraded version of The OneeChanbara and includes two new characters: D3 Publisher idol Riho Futaba and her younger sister Makoto. Chanpurū is the name of an Okinawan meal, while oneechan means "big sister". Zombie Hunters in Europe.
	2005.12.22:	PS2	Simple Series 2000 Vol. 90: The OneeChanbara 2 (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.90 THE お姉チャンバラ2). A sequel to the original game, it features a new female playable character.
	2006.06.29 (JP), 2007.09.28 (EU)	PS2	Simple 2000 Series Vol. 101: The OneeChampon ~ The Onechan 2 Special Chapter ~ (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.101 THE お姉チャンポン THE姉チャン2特別編). An upgraded version of The OneeChanbara 2 featuring returning characters Riho and Makoto, as well as the female warriors Kiku and Hana, the stars of Simple 2000 Series Vol. 87: The Nadesico (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.87 THE 戦娘). Champon is the name of a Chinese meal. Zombie Hunters 2 in Europe.
	2006.12.14 (JP), 2009.02.10 (US)(EU)	Xbox 360	OneeChanbara VorteX ~ Imichi o tsugu mono tachi ~ (お姉チャンバラvorteX ~忌血を継ぐ者たち~). It was released on the Xbox 360 console and supported online features. Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad in US and Europe.
	2006	Mobile	The OneeChanbara Mobile (The お姉チャンバラモバイル). It was released on cellular phones and features illustrations by character designer Kengo Yonekura.
	2008.02.07 (JP), 2009.02.10 (US), 2009.02.27 (EU)	Wii	OneeChanbara Revolution (お姉チャンバラ Revolution). It was released on the Wii console and came packaged with a CD of music from the previous OneeChanbara games. OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers in US and Europe.
	2011.03.31 (JP)	PSP	OneeChanbara Special (お姉チャンバラ SPECIAL). a PlayStation Portable title.
	2011 Winter (JP)	Xbox 360	OneeChanbara Z ~ Kagura ~ (お姉チャンバラZ ~カグラ~). a Xbox 360 title.

Aya, the series' main character, has also appeared in Simple 2000 Series Vol. 91: The All*Star Kakutou Matsuri (released as All-Star Fighters in Europe in March 2007 ^[2]), a fighting game featuring characters from many different Simple 2000 Series releases. Saki has been featured in a cell phone D3 fighting game as well.

A set of 6 (8 if the 2 secret variations are counted) official gashapons was released in Japan on January 4, 2007 by Yujin. The set consists of characters from the series, including Aya and Saki from the first game, Reiko and Riho from the third and fourth games respectively, and Aya and Saki from the Mobile Game.

External links

• Official Oneechanbara page

References

1. ^ "ポロリもあるよ!? 『お姉チャンバラ』映画製作発表記者会見が開催」". http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1213429_1124.html. Retrieved 2008-02-13. 
2. ^ "GameFaqs - All Star Fighters for Playstation 2". http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/929385-all-star-fighters/data.