Here's where you can leave your thoughts regarding Tenchu: Stealth Assassins for possible inclusion in the podcast when it's recorded.

We've had multiple requests to cover this game, so now we'd love to hear why it meant so much to people!

my biggest memory of this game is the boss screaming what sounded like "Mayo!" as you hit him, that and the grappling hook. oh and the advert on the tv was awesome

I'm generally not much of a fan of stealth-em-ups, but I remember Tenchu as a good example of how to make stealth fun (see also, the Arkham series and Mark of the Ninja- games with more than some Tenchu DNA in them).
I played it shortly after release at the behest of a friend who was obsessed with it, and while it was obvious that it's ambition outstripped the host system's graphical capabilities, a compelling core gamplay loop quickly shone through. I think the ease of traversal (thanks to the grappling hook) as well as the characters' responsiveness and speed contributed in this regard. Unlike the slow and deliberate pace stealth games normally demand, it was possible (as well as rewarding) to play fast AND well. I also remember the environments being managably sized and well designed, which aided experimentation and took a lot of the sting out of restarting (of which there was plenty). All this, without even mentioning the silent, violent takedowns being a gory reward for a job well done.
The game I'm sure looks like an eyesore these days, but I remember it fondly, and would venture that many of it's innovations are still present in modern action / stealth titles.

I’m going to be quite clear from the outset. I don’t like the first Tenchu game. Maybe it was timing, being released around the arrival of metal gear solid. Maybe it was the tank controls which made it very very frustrating. Maybe it was that I simply wasn’t very good at it.

I’m probably being unfair but I remember seeing metal gear solid as a vision of the future of the medium and Tenchu was rooted in the past.

Despite my overall impression the grappling hook was enjoyable to use and the mechanics did improve incrementally with each iteration even though any charm the original possessed quickly faded.

I toyed with the idea of digging out my copy and playing it again for the show but I really couldn’t bring myself to do that. Instead I looked at whether it would fetch a good price on eBay. I look forward to the show and will hold off selling it in case I’m making a mistake

The original Tenchu is a game that holds a great number of memories for me for a combination of the game itself and some of the social memories that I have tied to playing it.

In all honesty, I don't recall which member of our group of friends actually owned the copy of the original Tenchu that passed through all of our collective hands during the year of it's release, but the game did spend an extended period of time in the Playstation in my, long suffering, parents' house which a group of anything between 3-8 of my friends, all sofa runing, snack devouring 13 -15 year olds at the time would descend upon most evenings and for the entire duration of most school holidays. While I don't recall when exactly one of us obtained a copy of Tenchu it soon became a group favourite to play collectively / cooperatively, taking turns in missions in attempts to get the perfect Master Ninja rating and unlock new tools and abilities for the following levels while spectators watched for guards and gave, largely unhelpful, combat advice.

Rikimaru was almost eveyone's character of choice and while I don't recall much of the game content beyond the level quite early in the game where you need to assassinate a pirate captain (Stealth and the combat that occured when you failed said stealth seemed to get harder after that) I have very strong and fond recollections of the early levels, especially the first where your assassin of choice was tasked with "Punishing the Evil Merchant" which we may or may not have played on a demo disc prior to getting our hands on the full game.

This mission in particular took on a life of its own as we'd compete for the fastest time, best ranking and most stealth kills before moving on to meta challenges of taunting guards into chasing us before disappearing up to the rooftops by grappling hook in the type of gameplay that, these days, you'd capture and share clips of but at the time we'd just make sure that ALL of the people you'd share the moment with were there to see first hand. Needless to say it wasn't long before local evil merchant Echigoya had no chance of survival regardless of who was playing, and regardless of what stupid self imposed rules we'd given ourselves, resulting in unfathomable gallons of aterial spray splattering onto the ornate flooring of feudal Japan with the over the top water sounds which we imagined were generated from spraying a hosepipe onto a patio and most importantly triggering the "Incredible" (Awful but we loved it) voice acting lamentations of "M-My M-M-Money" which remains to this day, within that group of friends at very least, the first phrase which is to be uttered (or text as geography dictates) to one another to signal a crippling hangover or a night which has ruined one or more of us physically, emotionally or financially.

Eventually a , perhaps smaller, group of us did finish the game and reach that devastating ending but I seemed to recall it was with the aid of a cheat device and whoever the player was simply went through the motions of marching through the levels slaughtering foes with unlimited health and items and as such the gameplay hasn't stayed with me, although the ending and the sacricfice of noble Rikimaru did - at least until he came back to life.

Years later I picked up Tenchu Z on the 360 and had a similar relationship with it, playing through the early levels (and killing a merchant called Echigoya) once again but never having the drive or patience to carry on once the game began to demand more focussed attention and the punishment for non-perfect stealth became incresingly difficult combat.

Does it hold up today? Maybe not, Will I ever dust off the old copy of even Z on a console I still have plugged in? Also probably not but would I be straight back on board for punishing a new evil merchant perhaps in a game structured like the latest Hitman offering where I have a large feudal town to use as a playground? Shut up and take M- M- My M-M-Monn Money! (If read must be done in best / worst impression possible, ideally while someone runs a tap onto the floor)

I agree with other posters here that the game's ambition somewhat outstripped its ability, but I still think of this game fondly.

The one thing that set it apart from other stealth games at the time was your ability to hide on a different level from your enemies. Moving around with the grappling hook was genuinely fun and looking down from your perch waiting for the perfect moment to strike made you feel like a genuine bad ass. This couldn't even be done in Metal Gear Solid, which Tenchu gets compared to a lot.

I know the show is going to give a drubbing to the voice acting (and rightfully so) but I will say that I wish the rest of the voice acting was as good as the narrator that describes your missions. He and the soundtrack set the tone wonderfully.

Speaking of the soundtrack, it's one of my favourites from the PS1 era and one that I still listen to fairly regularly, particularly if I am in Japan.

Overall, it's not a perfect game. While it's mechanics are primitive, it's a good fore bearer of games to come in the future, much like the first Resident Evil.

Hey C&R team
Tenchu wow. I completely forgot about this game must have been maybe 15 years, most likely more. This game had me hooked it was my first ninja experience. The ablity to sneak climb on roofs. Id just finished watching ninja scroll at the time witch is a anime. Timing could not have been better. I was looking to shinobi at the time to get my fix. I was round a friends house, looking though games when i came across tenchu. My friend didn't have much aperiatation for this title, so i had to borrow it. I fell in love in an instant the opening scene, long grass swaying trees, and an unbeliveable sound track. The music in this game daaaaaaaanm (said like chris tucker in friday) the voice acting is awful, and unskippable cutscenes but that was the time.also what with the limitations of the hardware with all the black. But for me that added to the game play stick to the shadows. I hope that tenchu leaves the shadows, i believe from software has the ip. I can dig that a real hard rewarding game in a ninja setting. All in all this is a great game, and without it metal gear solid may not be my favarate game, this desevers a sound of play
Thanks lads

While I have fond memories of the original Tenchu playing through it as a group in a college dorm, I have thought little of the series over the past two decades. Although they are very different games, it is inexorably linked in my mind to Metal Gear Solid, which I also picked up at the same time. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the two, but when I think of my first foray into 3D stealth, I instantly think of MGS, and Tenchu not at all. I pecked around a little in Tenchu 2, but have never played any of the subsequent games. By contrast, I have not only played every game in the mainline Metal Gear franchise, but also had the pleasure of returning to Shadow Moses Island in the beautiful remake of MGS1, The Twin Snakes, for the GameCube, as well as in a memorable flashback scene in MGS4.

1998 was a watershed for gaming. Bushido Blade 2 had come out with its hardcore, nuanced fighting mechanics, and the monolithic Ocarina of Time had a hookshot that made Tenchu’s grappling hook, one of its defining features, seem pale in comparison.

One thing that has held up is Tenchu’s soundtrack. I gave it a listen recently, and it still sounds good 20 years on.

Nostalgia is always a tricky business, but looking back, it’s hard for me to see past this game’s muddy graphics, clumsy controls, and atrocious voice acting.