Still, nothing quite matched the magnificence of Bushido Blade, a game that sold almost half a million copies in Japan, and not just because it was the first.
![epsxe chrono cross slow during combat epsxe chrono cross slow during combat](https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/e/eb/Ccproject5kd3.jpg)
#Epsxe chrono cross slow during combat series
Others followed, from its somewhat lacklustre sequel (also developed by Lightweight, a developer part owned by RPG-creator Squaresoft) to the Kengo series of fighters to, most recently, Divekick, a 2D fighting game, which borrowed Bushido Blade's stakes, but framed them with comedy, rather than tragedy. While you choose not only your character but also their primary weapon, each character has a specific sub-weapon that cannot be changed. Then, at last, nothing but the high-pressure hissing of lifeblood, spilled from a wound, misting the air. Bushido Blade is the ultimate one-hit kill combat simulator, where the stakes are stretched so high, that a round (there's only ever one round you fight to death) offers the medium's most intense and memorable competitive face-offs. Here, in feudal Japan, with the shaft of a cold blade pressed in your palm, a single swipe is enough to bring everything to an end.
![epsxe chrono cross slow during combat epsxe chrono cross slow during combat](https://psxdatacenter.com/images/screens/U/C/SLUS-01041/ss10.jpg)
Instead, slow the fighting game to reality's pace, where violence is typically preceded by a lengthy coiling of springs, its sudden release then followed by the brittle silence of the aftermath. Forget about screen-filling flaming uppercuts, magical fireballs and those screen-straddling health bars.
![epsxe chrono cross slow during combat epsxe chrono cross slow during combat](https://r.mprd.se/media/images/36679-Chrono_Cross_[Disc1of2]_[U]-12.jpg)
Shun the comic book fracases that littered the bountiful arcades of the day. Its grand invention was hiding in plain sight all along, of course. Even today, on the 20th anniversary of its Japanese launch, Bushido Blade feels surprising, revolutionary.