Legend of Raven / Yatagarasu
  

   
STORY:  The year was December 25th, 1926. Japan was on the verge of welcoming a new era... the era of "Koubun". Instead, a revolution broke out, led by those who hoped to revive the Land of the Gods, Japan, and return her to its former glory. The Prime Minister's cabinet, the police department, the Zaibatsu families, the mass media... the flow of information to the outside world was immediately suppressed. Out of options, the old government resorted to creating a group of elite assassins, called the "Yatagarasu" in order to maintain order and suppress the rebellion. These government agents have become known as the "Government's Dogs" by the general populace. Now, they are on the move towards "Iga-sei", which is said to still function as the government's intelligence hub.

 

  
PREVIEW:  Originally a Japan-only 2D fighting game, Yatagarasu was first released for PC in 2011. The game was created by Circle Edge, a 3-person team made up of former SNK talents, which include: Kotani Tomoyuki (art director & 2D sprite artist), Umezono (designer), and Shiza (game engine designer).


In early 2013, Nicalis (publisher of indie titles such as Cave Story & La Mulana) announced Yatagarasu for the Nintendo 3DS, but then decided to move the project over to the PS Vita due to an "overwhelming response from the fighting game community". In August 2013, Nicalis announced Yatagarasu will arrive on Vita under the new name, Legend of Raven. The portable version will include updated features such as GGPO netcode, an original soundtrack (created by The Dirty Youth), new parallaxing backgrounds, and ad-hoc versus play. In November 2013, Legend of Raven was announced for PS4 and Xbox One, complete with GGPO netcode. For the PS4/Vita versions, Legend of Raven will be a Cross Buy / Cross Play enabled title. That means you'll get both versions for the price of one and can play others online across systems.

 

 

Yatagarasu's gameplay is comparable to King of Fighters and especially Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, with user-selectable super moves, EX special moves which extend juggles, an innovative "button locking" parry system, and similar pacing (even a few of the movesets seem to resemble some familiar characters we know and love). The game has a 6-button layout: 2 punches, 2 kicks, and 2 parries (high & low) and features 8 selectable characters. Also featured in the gameplay system are super jumps, dashes, chain combos (with light attacks), LP+LK throws, and a universal slow unblockable move (HP+HK). The game also introduces a unique damage mitigation system, where tapping the attack buttons to correspond with incoming attacks limits damage taken.

In 2013, the original developers of Yatagarasu held a successful Indiegogo campaign, raising enough to release a sequel called Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm. Three new characters, balance changes and updated gameplay systems appear in the sequel.
 

Page Updated: September 22nd, 2017 Developer(s): Circle Edge Publisher(s): Nicalis   Console Rice Digital  PC Designer(s): Kotani Tomoyuki, Umezono, Shiza Platform(s): Arcade, PC, PS4, Playstation Vita, Xbox One, Steam Release Date(s): Aug. 13th, 2011        PC Feb. 12th, 2015         Arcade - Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm July 7th, 2015           Steam - Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm TBA(?)                            PS4, Vita, Xbox One Characters:  Crow, Kou, Jet, Chadha, Jyuzumaru, Hina, Shimo, Hanzo Featured Video: Related Games: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Chaos Code, Skullgirls, Arcana Heart 3, Persona 4 Arena, Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend, Blazblue: Chrono Phantasma, Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Aquapazza, King of Fighters XIII, Xuan Dou Zhi Wang, Under Night In-Birth, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, Akatsuki Blitzkampf, Daraku Tenshi - The Fallen Angels, Martial Masters    Gameplay Engine   Story / Theme   Overall Graphics   Animation   Music / Sound Effects   Innovation   Art Direction   Customization   Options / Extras   Intro / Presentation   Replayability / Fun   "Ouch" Factor   Characters   BOTTOM LINE       First Impression: Since 2012, the developers weren't too consistent announcing release dates (and platforms)... alas, the game was delayed many many times, with added confusion surrounding its localized release.  The last I heard, it's unknown if Yatagarasu is ever going to come out for PS4, Vita & XB1. I'm looking forward to trying it out someday if I can easily download it on PS4 or PS5... someday.  ~TFG Webmaster