Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru [T-4804G]

Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru started life on Sega’s ST-V arcade format.

Sega were able to secure games like this by offering publishers affordable licensing deals in exchange for home conversion exclusivity. Time Warner Interactive signed on the dotted line and the project was born.

However, the project encountered many hurdles when Midway took control of Time Warner Interactive in 1996. They changed the direction of the business by merging and axing various studios, ultimately the home conversion of Taromaru suffered, and the scheduled release was pushed back to January 1997.

Due to poor advertising nobody really knew about the game when it released. It was eventually relegated to clearance aisles, with some importers assuming it was a Mahjong title based on the cover-art.

The division responsible for Taromaru were disbanded shortly after its launch.

The print run for this game is said to be somewhere between 5000-7500 - depending on who you speak to. This game used to run $400 on eBay in 2009, and a mint copy hovers around the 1k mark in 2020.

In terms of in hand presentation, the manual is colour and it features a few pages covering battle strategies, concluding with a few wise words from your sensei. Complete copies should come with a full size sticker and registration card.

The story is a tried and tested revenge drama which focuses on rescuing the girl.

A short graphical intro eases you into the main menu where you choose between one player, two players, and options. There are two assassins to choose from before starting your quest.

What really sets this game apart is the marker system which hovers around your character until it locks onto an enemy for you to attack. There are issues with this though. At times the marker refuses to lock onto enemies which is annoying.

The ace up its sleeve excels is revealed about half way through the first level. The polygon backdrop scales and rotates to give the illusion of a 90 degree turn into an intersecting street. The complex Saturn architecture has been used to good effect.

Taromaru's soundtrack is impressive. The mood is set perfectly with flutes, drums and, at times, eerie music.

Treasure were rumoured to have been involved in the project. As such there are Strategic elements as you cling onto the rafters of a building to make it out alive, and frequent boss battles keep the action coming. It feels like someone took Shinobi and wanted to make a shoot'em up hybrid.

This game is fairly easy to pick up but near impossible to master. Zen like assassins will unlock a Ranking Mode upon completing the game.

I assume the source code for this game has been lost and, given the studio disappeared from existence a quarter of a century ago, a digital release on modern formats is highly unlikely.

Saturn collecting has become prohibitive over the years. It's now hip to have a game older than you sat on the shelf, which leaves gamers who want to play the genuine article at a disadvantage. You could argue there are other avenues (albeit unethical) to play these rare games - high quality reproductions and drive emulation is continually improving with each passing year. But for some people only the genuine article will do.