Hello all, Back at it with another podcast this month about a game that blew my mind in 2012 and all these years later, it still blows my mind. There is nothing quite like ASURA’S WRATH - it’s a game, an anime, and all around rage simulator. You watch it more than you play it and clocking in at about 6 hours, it strikes prefect balance. The game also sections itself out into episodes with breaks and catch-up vignettes. It’s refreshing to this day with great pacing and characters who you are invested in even with all the silly over-the-top anime tropes. ASURA’S WRATH was a Gamefly rental for me back in 2012 and I went in blind. Artistically, it looked like a game I would vibe with. But little did I know I would take part in absolute cinema - a game where a fight has a sword go through a moon and for the titular character Asura has to stop the sword with his HANDS. Outrageous. But as beloved as the game was by folks who did play it, it didn’t sell well. A tale as old as time, I know. Capcom, who published it, didn’t see the need to expand on this formula and Cyberconnect 2, the developers, went back to making games for NARUTO and DRAGONBALL. There are a couple of smoking guns here. It was hard to sell a $60 game that was over in 6 hours and didn’t require that much playtime from the player. It was also an original IP and public awareness on WHAT this game entailed felt muddy. Was it a brawler? sorta. Was it an area fighter? sorta. Was it an interactive anime? sorta. It failed to find a wide market instead it rocket-punched its way to niche. The other issue was the DLC. The REAL ENDNG could be unlocked if you payed more money for the other episodes. Yay! That’s what consumers want to hear. I’ve heard there was development issues getting the game done in time but with Capcom at the wheel in 2012 one can assume they were interfering. Many reviewers at the time agreed that this might’ve flourished as a digital purchase where you could buy chapters at a clip. It would’ve been a better format. And then later follow up with a physical release of EVERYTHING included. As such, ASURA’S WRATH is now relegated to popping up on HIDDEN GEM lists and WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT…videos. As long as it keeps finding an audience, I can’t be mad but I wish my boy Asura wasn’t done so dirty. I watched this fun video on YouTube which I’ll post below and in the comment section, there was a great summation of the game that I found so sidesplitting hilarious, I’ll share with you. Let me get this straight. Asura got framed for murdering the emperor, his wife got murdered and his daughter got kidnapped, then he got sent to hell for 12,000 years just because he wasn’t ok with the deities using his only child, and then he climbed back out so casually out of hell, punched a planet-sized person’s finger so hard he exploded, got killed again for another 500 years, crushed an old guy in his escape shuttle, spent time with baddies in a hot spring and fought his master on the moon, whose katana can go through the planet, got so angry over a little girl’s death he pulled his devil trigger so hard that he destroyed a bunch of spaceships and slashed the queer Shakespeare in half, while his voice actor screamed so hard that he started coughing blood(thank you for your sacrifice,) teamed up with the intentionally blind guy to break into the planet sized man that is actually a machine and proceed to flip Zeus with nunchucks like Two-face’s coin and kills him with a DBZ blast, killed the lava earth kraken who used the earth as his crab shell, and killed the devil lookin dude in control who copied Asura’s giant arms, then payed DLC to watch a spider kill the simp woman and possessed his daughter to become god, who I originally thought was a woman, then Kratos but more powerful became the size of the planet, flies to the center of the universe as his wife and victims cheer him on, and “god” wipes out reality and fights Asura in the void and turns into a freak, then Asura got his daughter back and he punched the fraud god so hard he fades out of existence, and somehow all of this inspires Mortal Kombat before Mortal Kombat. Why would he do all of this? They made his daughter cry. This is from user hottopichotsauce who we will give all the credit to. We are taking a break this month for the holidays and will return at the end of January to talk about an absolute banger from Platinum Games. Stay Tuned! Get full access to Damage Per Second at jessebartel.substack.com/subscribe
