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Tenchu 4 sneaks onto Wii

Ubisoft brings Acquire's latest ninja stealth action game to North America and Europe early next year.

After Tenchu 2, series developer Acquire parted ways with the stealth action series, and the franchise parted ways with numerical order. Tenchu 3 became Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, and the line of games has since experimented with subtitles and even stray letters (Tenchu Z).

Things are coming full circle, given that Ubisoft announced today that Tenchu will be returning to its numerical progression with Tenchu 4 for the Wii, and original developer Acquire is at the helm. Ubisoft has licensed the right to publish the game in North America and Europe from the current owner of the Tenchu brand, From Software.

For the fourth full installment in the series, Acquire will pick up the feudal Japanese tale of Rikimaru and Ayame as they work from the shadows to preserve peace. The main game will stretch across 10 missions, but Ubisoft is promising an extra 50 side quests for players to sneak through.

Tenchu 4 is scheduled for release early next year.

Brendan Sinclair
By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

32 comments
lowkey254
lowkey254

i used to love tenchu but z ruined it for me.

Shadow5fall
Shadow5fall

It looks like WII is beginning to turn to more "edgy" titles with "M" ratings possibly in an attempt to appeal to more mature gamers with titles like Tenchu, Dead rising, and the upcoming, ultra-violent Madworld. I hope they work well with the WII controls and deliver graphics that look at least post-N64 quality, as I have finished the 5 games in the WII's library that are worth playing to date.

vietboi89
vietboi89

i have a feeling this game is gonna do bad regardless i will probably buy it because i love tenchu too much

RubedoXT
RubedoXT

I was devastated when I found out this was going to be made by the original developers. I thought it would continue to flop since Tenchus downfall in Tenchu Z and Shadow Assault (WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!) Anyways, Tenchu has always been THE stealth ninja game so it has a huge responsibility to impress the rare fanbase of the genre. When they switched developers it gave it a dramatic shift. Wrath of Heaven lacked a real ninja story, it seemed like a Saturday morning cartoon, but I liked how they improved the controls by a whole lot. Fatal Shadows gave it a return to the authentic Japanese ninja revenge story and also faired way better than the games prior to it in terms of level design and epic philosophical story telling before each mission. Then we fast forward to today with the next gen consoles (dont we mean NOW gen?) and we get the total sh*tbomb Tenchu Z that made the game go downhill. It was an ok game, in fact had the best controls the series ever had, but the level design was sooo half assed. In a way its good that they f'ed this game up so that the original developer can step up and make a proper Tenchu game. Though what I would like to see in the future: a combination with Tenchu 2's story quality mixed with Fatal Shadows intricate level design and Tenchu Z's controls (minus the clunky combat) set with the original Rikimaru and Ayame storyline on 360 with some work done to it to look and feel the way Tenchu's potential has been aching to shower the gamers with since its invention. That would make the perfect Tenchu game.

CTXXXEDGE
CTXXXEDGE

this looks awesome but too bad its not coming to xbox or ps3

Abrahamito
Abrahamito

i think this could work from what i've seen

capitalthoughts
capitalthoughts

I hope Jack Thompson doesn't get upset when he see's the movement mimmicking killing with the wiimote..oohhhh, that's right, he was disbarred. SNAP.

weaponmaster01
weaponmaster01

Hopefully Ubisoft notices the improvements needed to be made, from the previous tenchu release.

ctg867
ctg867

Any chance we can get that Tenchu PSP game Ubi rather then a Wii-hash? *Sigh*

siLVURcross
siLVURcross

Prefer it to be on the PS3. The Wii will just make it have some weird gimmicky controls.

centuryslayer
centuryslayer

argh, I'd rather see this game for the 360/ps3. don't get me wrong, I have a Wii. I just see more potential in this game on a more powerful machine. still keeping an eye on this one (of course)

PixyMisao
PixyMisao

I've seen some of the game play for Tenchu 4, and trust me... ya'll are in for a treat! Somehow without hardly even drawing their weapons, Acquire have created an all new variety of stealth kills for Rikimaru and Ayame that will make Sam Fisher & Solid Snake scared to leave the house! And the combat has been totally redone from the ground up!

Dualmask
Dualmask

The last Tenchu game I played was Wrath of Heaven, which was actually a cool game. I know the development teams are different, but if it's anything like that, I think I might be interested. Is this Wii-exclusive?

Kiaininja
Kiaininja

Yes! The original devs are making Tenchu4. I didn't buy another Tenchu game since the last game Acquire developed Tenchu2. Didn't like much the other Tenchu's since they cut stuff out and the story wasn't as good as the originals.

kavadias1981
kavadias1981

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

gevans1989
gevans1989

i loved tenchu z on 360 now i have to get a wii to play the next oh well could be worse i could be out on ps3

padouke
padouke

sweet, sounds like it will be a long game, lets just hope its satisfying...

CTBradums
CTBradums

Tenchu Z wasn't THAT bad. Granted, it felt...meh, but the character customization and unlockables gave an added feeling of accomplishment and personalization to the story. Now, if we could get old-fashioned Tenchu quality with character customization...perfect.

kingtrewq
kingtrewq

i remember running through stages even in the original games, but it was a bit harder and funner than

KamikazeDonut
KamikazeDonut

Cool any other game to add to my tiny collection of Wii games.

Pangster007
Pangster007

Just the news i've been wanting to hear! More publishers should get cracking and release those unique japanese titles elsewhere. I'll be sure to get this game once i've completed my other games.

Salehjamal
Salehjamal

Agreed, Wrath of Heaven was an awesome game. Hope this one is as good or even better!

skate_n_game
skate_n_game

I hope this doesn't flop or get half-assed. I adored Wrath of Heaven (A classic, and one of the best Ninja games ever IMHO), and would love to see this series restored to the quality it was before Shadows and Z.

dn3datomiced
dn3datomiced

*bites lip* Dammit. That's probably the first game I've seen for Wii that makes me itch to buy one...

HyruleanLink
HyruleanLink

Great to hear. I just hope that the game turns out well and not a flop.

Mush_Mouth
Mush_Mouth

I just hope this one doesn't put me to sleep like the last three. The first 2 were the best (in my opinion).

UltraCell
UltraCell

Awesome!... Something I have been looking forward too! The first Tenchu game is still my favorite of the bunch. But, this one might take the top spot! Glad it made the move to the Wii!

EXxile
EXxile

It would be great to see a franchise like Tenchu return to its former glory. I guess I will be getting some use out of my Wii for sure when this releases. Though I would've prefered the game to make a home on the 360 or PS3 due to more powerful hardware.

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