Hinotori : Houou Hen, Gaou no Bouken

Based on the Osamu Tezuka's manga "Phoenix", this platformer is mostly based on the fifth volume, "Hō-ō" (later called "Karma" when it reached North America in May 2004). Here you play as the bandit Gaou, who lost an arm and eye as a baby and as such was scorned by his peers. Since then he has resorted to various tactics, not least murder, to survive. However, one day he fought a monk who encouraged him to change his ways and follow his unfound natural talent to sculpt, which is thus put to good use in a variety of sculptures unique in their raw emotion. And then, he meets a fellow sculptor, Akanemaru, who once was attacked by him, and the two engage in encounters with a phoenix, who, it is said, will grant to those who drink its blood eternal life - and the rest is history.