Kabuki-Z

Kabuki-Z

released on Dec 31, 1988

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Kabuki-Z

released on Dec 31, 1988

In the 80s, Taito produced a lot of popular coin-ops – mostly shoot-em-ups, puzzle and platform games. However, their beat-em-ups were not among their best. Kabuki Z is one of them. Developed by Kaneko of Gals Panic fame/infamy, it can best be described as a “hack-n-slash”. The intro sequence gives a good idea of the game’s content: a man commits seppuku, and behind him our samurai hero with his katana. The samurai chops his head off while the rice paper doors close, the resulting blood spurt splashing over them and forming the “Z” in the “Kabuki Z” title. Charming.


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Kind of feels like a feudal-Japan themed ALTERED BEAST, except it's auto-scrolling and you can walk up and down too, like in a brawler. The art is pretty gnarly - ugly with lots of gore and disturbing demonic imagery happening. It's compelling in its own way, but doesn't help you make sense of whatever the hell is supposed to be going on. At some point your dude teleports into medieval times and becomes a knight? And then to Egypt? No matter what form you take, you've got a sword and two moves - slash and block, both with upper, mid, and lower versions. The levels are quick and kind of pointless as most of the mooks only take one hit, but then you get to the bosses which are supposed to be intense duels where you block a lot and wait for openings, but they don't work very well and are just frustrating. Die a couple of times to one of them and you'll probably be over it, as you have to repeat the whole level, which, to be fair, are blessedly short (like under a minute).

Weird, goopy, awkward, and brief.