Hissatsu Shigoto Nin

Hissatsu Shigotonin roughly translates to Deadly Work People. I found this name to be pretty strange, but once I started understanding what this game was all about, it made sense. It was released December 15, 1990 exclusively in Japan for the Famicom. It turns out Hissatsu Shigotonin is actually biased off of the popular Japanese historical drama TV series of the same name. The story of both focus on a group of ordinary "work people" who live double lives as assassins. It is an alternate Feudal Japan history (1603-1863) featuring fictional characters with elements of a parallel world. You must uncover a mystery though out the game, which comes though the story in episodes like the TV show. The player controls Nakamura Mondo, a fictional character who is also the star of the TV show. The game is biased on the original 84 episode run/first season of the TV series from 1979-1981 but features characters all the way up to the game’s release date. The show continues to this day with Assassins as a subtitle. This seems like a really cool concept for a weekly episodic series. The story has an almost assassins creed feel. I’m sure the idea of everyday people turned into warriors has been around in stories forever, but the setting and time period makes it stand out. Japan’s feudal era is one of the most intense of all the time periods in earth’s history. It was a time of Samurai, Ninja and technology that eventually killed off said Samurai and Ninja. One of the biggest draws of the era is the is the fantastic culture that knew of the outside world, but worked hard in maintaining isolation making them truly unique. The main character, Nakamura Mondo, is a corrupt cop known for accepting bribes who is disrespected by his superiors, and mother-in-law. He ends up bringing together a group of people that have all been wronged in some way, formed to solve mysteries and assassinate targets. The heroes play by the same rules as the villains, as they are not afraid to use underhanded tactics to get the job done. Each episode of the show usually climaxes with the killing of the target, sometimes in an almost humorous manner such as a flower through the skull. I was able to find a random episode but no dubs or subs, which is a bummer since I wanted to learn more of the story. It seems to hold up well to time, has a campy feel to it and comes off like a live action anime. Check out this trailer for one of their many movies to get a better idea of the style, think Al Bundy the Samuri and his gang of misfits.