Onimusha - Blade Warriors

Soul absorption, the mechanic that gave the main Onimusha games their rhythm of risk and reward, turns out to work surprisingly well as a party-fighting hook. Kill something on screen and the glowing orbs scatter; whoever hoovers them up first charges their gauge and buys access to the Onimusha transformation. Suddenly a four-player scrap is not just about whose sword connects, but who is paying attention to the floor.

This is a 2D-plane arena fighter rather than a conventional one-on-one duel, closer in spirit to a side-scrolling brawler with platforms than to Street Fighter. Characters run along a flat track, jump between tiers, and clash with the familiar sword attacks and one-button critical strikes of the series, trimmed down for speed. The roster pulls from across the first two games — Samanosuke, Jubei, Oyu, a handful of demons — and Capcom gleefully pushed in guests from elsewhere in the house, Viewtiful Joe among them. Those cameos are the part people still remember.

The single-player side is a story mode strung together with branching map progression, which gives you a reason to unlock the rest of the cast, but it is thin stuff. Combat depth is the real issue: with only a few attack options per fighter, long sessions flatten out, and the AI does not pressure you enough to make mastery feel necessary. Where it works is four controllers and short rounds, the chaos covering for the simplicity.

It arrived in 2003 as a spin-off nobody had asked for, at a moment when Capcom was happily experimenting with its own catalogue, and it was received politely rather than warmly. Reviewers at the time were right that it does not hold a candle to the mainline games. But it also was not trying to, and judged as a sixth-generation couch fighter made from leftovers, it is more charming than it has any right to be.

Twenty years on, the appeal is mostly curiosity and company. Play it alone and you will see the edges within an hour. Play it with three friends who have no particular reverence for the series, and the red souls start mattering in a way that briefly justifies the whole odd detour.