The Onee Chanbara (series)

nihongo|"The OneeChanbara"|THE お姉チャンバラ is an action game series developed by Tamsoft for D3's Simple 2000 series for the PlayStation 2 and later ported on cellular phones, Xbox 360 and Wii. Most of the titles are Japan-exclusives, but some have been released as "Zombie Zone" or "Zombie Hunters" by 505 GameStreet in Europe and are now starting to be released in the US. A Live Action movie based on the game series has been released in Japan titled OneChanbara. [cite web|url=http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1213429_1124.html|title=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」|accessdate=2008-02-13]

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The hack and slash gameplay is reminiscent of Capcom's "Devil May Cry" series, but 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 over the gameworld, screen and Aya when they are attacked. The title can be translated to English as "the big sister swordsman".

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. The gameplay is like a simplified version of "Devil May Cry", as players guide their characters through the stages, completing tasks whilst hacking through enemies. One big difference between these games and games like Devil May Cry is that 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" near the health bar, 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, their blood lust 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 it actively drains health. To recover from a blood frenzy, the player must use statue items, which are received as drops from 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.

eries

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

*flagicon|Japan 2004.08.26: "Simple Series 2000 Vol. 61: The OneeChanbara" (SIMPLE2000シリーズ Vol.61 THE お姉チャンバラ).
*flagicon|Europe 2004.08.26: "Zombie Zone".

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*flagicon|Japan 2005.06.23: "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".
*flagicon|Europe 2007.03.23: "Zombie Hunters".

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*flagicon|Japan 2005.12.22: "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 full sequel to the original game, it features a new female playable character clad in biker leathers.

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*flagicon|Japan 2006.06.29: "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.
*flagicon|Europe 2007.09.28: "Zombie Hunters 2".

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*flagicon|Japan 2006.12.14: . It was released on the Xbox 360 console and supported online features.
*flagicon|USA Q1 2009

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*flagicon|Japan 2006.late: "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.

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*flagicon|Japan 2008.02.07: "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. The title could be seen as a callback to when the Wii was codenamed the Revolution.
*flagicon|US 2009.early: "OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers"

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Aya, the series' main character, has also appeared in "Simple 2000 Series Vol. 91: The All*Star Kakutou Matsuri" (released as All-Star Fighting in Europe in March 2007), a fighting game featuring characters from many different Simple 2000 Series releases.Saki had 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

* [http://www.d3p.co.jp/one Official Oneechanbara page]
* [http://www.geocities.com/laceandsteel61 Lace and Steel, a fansite]
* [http://www.505gamestreet.com/gameinfo.htm?id=44&piat=PS2s20 505 Gamestreets Zombie Zone Page]
* [http://www.cubed3.com/news/8686/1/Babes_&_Gore_Come_to_Wii Cubed 3: Babes & Gore come to Wii]
* [http://www.onechanbara-movie.com/ Official Oneechanbara Movie Site]

References