Genpei Touma Den

Overview

Genpei Touma Den is a Namco brawler that was originally released in the Arcade in 1987. In it, the player controls Taira no Kagekiyo, a famous samurai that died during the Genpei War. In the game's fictionalized universe, he is given the opportunity to come back to life and wreak his revenge on the various generals (and mortal enemies) of the clan at the opposing side of the conflict. This original game would be later released onto the PC Engine in Japan and eventually make its way to the Namco compilation Namco Museum Vol. 4, with the localized name The Genji and the Heike Clans for its European and North American releases of that compilation.

The sequel, Genpei Touma Den: Kan no Ni, was a PC Engine/Turbografx-16 exclusive that received a US release as Samurai Ghost. The game plays similarly to the original. This game would also see a much later rerelease, this time on the Wii Virtual Console.

There is also a NES version of the original game called Genpei Touma Den: Computer Boardgame that was heavily modified, becoming more like a Dragon Quest style RPG.

While there were no additional Genpei Touma Den games, their protagonist Kagekiyo would pop up in various other Namco properties including Namco Super Wars, Namco X Capcom and a small cameo in Tales of Eternia.