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.
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Yatagarasu
versus screen.
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PREVIEW:
Originally a Japan-only 2D fighting game, Yatagarasu
was first released on PC in 2011. The crowdfunded spride-based 2D fighting game was created by Circle
Edge — a
3-person team made up of former SNK talents, including: Kotani Tomoyuki (Art
Director and 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 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 was
coming to PlayStation Vita under the new name, Legend of Raven. The
localized portable version was said to 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 with GGPO netcode. For the PS4 / Vita versions, Legend
of Raven was intended to be a Cross Buy / Cross Play enabled title. However,
the console ports were canceled.
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Samurai
gal vs. boxer is a Cool Match-up.
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Yatagarasu's gameplay is said to be comparable to The
King of Fighters series and
especially Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
with user-selectable super moves, EX Specials which can extend combos, an
innovative "button locking" Parry System, and similar pacing to SFIII:
3rd Strike and traditional 2D fighters (even a
few of characters movesets resembling familiar fighting game characters we know and
love). The game features online play with Rank Matches and Lobby
Matches. However, the online community appears to be small, and joining the
Discord server is recommended to find matches. The netcode has been described as
bad unless players are close to each other. Some players feel the game is
"dead" due to a lack of further development and updates. The game's UI
and online setup were criticized. Despite these issues, the core gameplay of the
original PC version was well-received.
Yatagarasu / Legend of Raven 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, Dashing, Chain Combos (with light attacks), Throws
(LP+LK), and a universal slow Unblockable Attack (HP+HK). The SNK and
Capcom-inspired 2D fighter 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 were announced for the sequel. The game was
initially crowdfunded through Indiegogo and was expected to launch in the
Summer. However, the launch was delayed to Autumn. The game's development faced
issues, including a small development team and some Indiegogo backers did not
receive all the items they were promised. Unfortunately, the game's development
appears to have stalled, with no further updates or significant community
support.
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| Page Updated: |
June
30th, 2025 |
| 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
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| Release Date(s): |
Aug.
13th, 2011
 PC
Feb. 12th, 2015
Arcade -
Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm
July 7th, 2015
Steam -
Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm
2015
Limited Beta test - Canceled
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| Characters: |
Crow,
Hina, Shimo,
Hanzo, Kou, Jet,
Chadha, Jyuzumaru |
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Featured Video:
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| Related Games: |
Street
Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Chaos Code, Skullgirls, Arcana
Heart 3, Persona
4 Arena, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, BlazBlue:
Chrono Phantasma, Vampire Savior, Guilty Gear XX: Accent
Core Plus, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Garou:
Mark of the Wolves, Aquapazza, The
King of Fighters 2002, KOF 2002: UM, The
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, Blazing
Strike |
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Gameplay
Engine
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Story
/ Theme
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Overall
Graphics
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Animation
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Music
/ Sound Effects
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Innovation
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Art Direction
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Customization
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Options / Extras
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Intro / Presentation
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Replayability / Fun
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"Ouch" Factor
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Characters
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BOTTOM LINE
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| First
Impression: |
Yatagarasu looked pretty
interesting to me when I first saw it... especially the cool 2D sprite style.
The developers and small fanbase were talking it up like it was going to be a SFIII:
3rd Strike or Garou: Mark of the Wolves successor. The martial
arts-inspired characters looked colorful and interesting in the eyes of many
Capcom and SNK fans. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to play this one (like
most people).
After the original PC release in 2011, Yatagarasu was announced for 3DS,
PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. Due to the overwhelming response from the
fighting game community, the project was moved from the 3DS to the PS Vita and
renamed Legend of Raven. The game was also originally planned for release
on the Xbox One, with the same features as the PS4 version, including GGPO
netcode. It all sounded great on paper, but the game never released even after
crowdfunding support.
Beginning in 2012, the developers of Yatagarasu were not able to be consistent
with announcing release dates (and platforms) or development updates, and
development on the game stalled most likely due to the very small dev team.
Alas, the game was
delayed many times creating much confusion surrounding its originally
planned localized release. Will Yatagarasu ever see a full release... or
is this one cooked? 
~TFG Webmaster |
@Fighters_Gen
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