[Found: Tensai] Vague memories of an unknown game... Can anyone help?

Firstly, hello I have just registered with this fine form. Thanks for having me!

I have many nostalgic memories of Amiga games. My family had an A500+, starting in 1991 or early 1992 (I was 8 or 9 years old) and I made heavy use of it right through until christmas 1995, when we finally entered the PC era.

I've tracked down all the games I can remember, but one still bugs me... Vague memories, but something haunting about it.

It was a game I played on a demo disk from a magazine.

Side-scrolling, some sort of ninja-warrior theme, but also post-apocalyptic (I remember there being broken electricity pylons in the background).

It wasn't your usual platformer in that it had a darker, more serious tone, and the landscape was more 'realistic' in that it didn't have floating platforms everywhere. I remember the demo level being a series of rolling hills.

It was quite empty from what I remember. The enemies may have been mutant creatures.

I think you may have been able to collect items and solve puzzles.

At the end of the demo level, I remember you jumped down onto flat ground to find a cage behind you. A giant monster promptly broke out and started chasing you. It was faster than you, and I think you were 'supposed' to die at the end of the demo. But I found a way to outpace it by making use of running jumps. The demo would then glitch out and crash. At least, that's the way I remember it

I recall it was reviewed in one magazine, but it can't have been a popular game as I've never seen it again in my travels online in all these years.

Given my lack of clear memory I'd place it earlier in the Amiga lifespan, no later than 1993.

If anyone can help me track down this final piece of nostalgia, I shall be very grateful!

PS it was definately NOT First Samurai NOR Assasin, NOR any of the Shadow of the Beast series (or at least I'm 99% sure).

[s2325]

try Ninja Warriors http://hol.abime.net/984 or category http://hol.abime.net/hol_search.php?...subcategory=29

[CodyJarrett]

Tensai. It was never released.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by CodyJarrett

Tensai. It was never released.

I remember reading about that one. I had the magazine but not the coverdisk since by then they only started to include one disc with overseas shipments :/ Pissed me off quite a bit since the game looked awesome.

[ransom1122]

Cool. It looks like torvak the warrior. Is the demo downloadable?
Was there ever a reason why it was unreleased?

[s2325]

Preview is here http://amr.abime.net/issue_121_coverdisks It's short but fun [ Show youtube player ]

[Galder]

I'd say Ninja Warriors too. Tensai looks cool btw, pity that it was never released.

[Muzkat]

Never heard of Tensai before. A shame it wasn't completed - what was made looks fantastic.

Gentlemen, thankyou very much (!!). Tensai is indeed the game I was thinking of. I just watched the YouTube vid. Its amazing how much I remembered from 22 years ago (and good god, that makes me feel old . Great to finally see it again.

I forgot about the complete lack of sound in the demo, makes it all the more mysterious. I can understand why it lodged in my memory. And agreed, it does look great. Quality of the graphics is right up there with the best, IMO. If they'd polished the gameplay it could've been a classic.

I wonder if it was canned due to the economics or releasing an Amiga game or some other internal issue? As I recall, '93 was still a pretty good year for new Amiga games...