Jinmu Denshou

Jinmu Denshou (神武伝承) is an action game developed by Manjyudo and Wolf Team for the PC Engine, and published in Japan by Big Club in 1989. In this game, the player character marches towards the horizon while enemies fly towards him. It bears a strong resemblance to Sega's Space Harrier, though a major difference is that the main character is a samurai-like figure who is usually limited to attacking incoming enemies with his sword. After an upgrade, he is able to fire projectiles and he can also charge up an attack and unleash it to cause a significant amount of damage. The game has a few superficial platforming elements as well.

The game's scrolling presentation is impressive given the nature of the PC Engine's hardware, although the game slows down considerably when there are too many enemies and projectiles present. Unlike in Space Harrier, the player actually has some degree over the motion of the player, enabling him to stop, and even run backwards to collect missed items. Items are usually power-ups which are necessary to make progress in the game, as without a projectile power-up, it is exceedingly difficult to defeat any enemy in the game. While your weapon can be powered up by holding down the attack button, the power is limited by your level of health, making the game progressively more difficult as you get weaker. Overall, the game's difficult is unbalanced, and actually discourages you from engaging with too many enemies, in order to preserve power for the difficult boss fights at the end of each of the game's eight stages.