Bun Bun Samurai
by tmirobot
BUN BUN SAMURAI
Overview
The Hero, weary of fighting in the endless wars fueled by squabbling nobility, wanders across
a countryside overridden by bandits and wild ronin. He hopes only to return to the peaceful
village he once called home. Wherever he goes, he protects the weak and helpless, leaving no
evil unbloodied.
Gameplay
Movement - Directional buttons.
Attack - Press direction and [O] button.
Attacking and Combos
Killing an enemy grants the Hero Prestige.
Enemies are not killed by direct attacks - only by knocking them into other enemies or
objects. Knocking an enemy into more enemies or objects causes a combo chain worth more
Prestige for each impact.
After an attack, the Hero must recover for a moment before another attack can be performed. He
will raise his sword when he is ready to attack again.
If only one enemy remains, the Hero can kill them with a direct attack (Final Strike).
Damage
The Hero can take two hits before dying.
If the Hero finishes a season undamaged, bonus Prestige is granted.
Enemies
Enemies seek to kill the Hero.
As years pass, new enemy types appear and more enemies roam the countryside at once.
Enemies that are impacted but not killed grow angrier, increasing their movement and attack
speed until they settle down.
Enemy Types
Orange Bandit - (Year 1) - Wanders randomly. Will strike if the Hero is nearby.
Yellow Ronin - (Year 1) - Seeks the Hero, striking if he is nearby.
Pink Ronin - (Year 2) - Throws daggers at the Hero.
Red Bandit - (Year 3) - Wanders until the Hero is near, then lights his bomb and chases the
Hero. Explodes if hit, so indirect attacks are best.
Grey Boss - (Year 7) - Seeks the Hero speedily. Can only be killed with a Final Strike at the
end of a level.
Villagers
Villagers wear green clothing, and run in panic through the countryside.
If touched, the villager will be saved, granting Prestige.
Villagers that have been bumped into grow more upset, and are worth less points until they
settle down.
If a villager is killed by an enemy, the Hero loses Prestige.
Objects
A variety of objects can be found across the countryside.
White Hazard Spikes - Damage the Hero.
Chests, rocks, and vases - Can be kicked into enemies, or used to damage enemies that are
kicked into them. Some objects break when impacted.
Melons - Regenerate the Hero's lost health, as well as giving Prestige.
Difficulty Levels
Difficulty Level can be adjusted on the title menu.
Easy - Enemies only damage Hero during their attack animation.
Normal - Enemy touches now also deal damage to Hero.
Hard - Hero can only take one hit before being defeated.
Insane - If a villager is killed, the Hero is defeated.
Rush Mode
Each Difficulty Level can be played in Standard Mode, or Rush Mode. In Rush Mode, the Hero
only has a set amount of time to defeat the enemies in each season. Separate High Scores are
saved for Rush Mode.
Version History
1.3a [Save Games Reset]
Changed score internally to use smaller numbers, to make sure very high scores don't overrun
pico-8 integer limit.
Added bonus prestige for reaching Home, to ensure returns Home have higher prestige score than
base runs.
Changed dagger graphics back to arrows
Added more sounds and polished others.
1.2b
Removed penalty to movement speed and recovery when injured, as it was subtle and just felt
like lag or delay to the normal pacing feel.
Removed short ramp up time on movement, for more reactive controls
Slightly increased invulnerability time after taking damage.
Adjusted colors for indoor daytime maps.
Added some more sound effects (in progress)
1.2a
Added Rush Mode for each Difficulty Level. In Rush Mode, the Hero only has a set amount of
time to defeat the enemies in each season.
Invalidated save data, due to restructuring saves to accommodate Rush Mode saves for each
Difficulty Level.
1.1a
Changed Hero's movement so that he immediately stops after directional input is released,
making for more precise controls.
Added a new Enemy Type - Grey Boss (Chance to spawn starting in year 7, can only be killed by
a final strike at the end of a level).
Reduced the amount of enemies and villagers that are added per year, to make it easier to
reach later years and make progression feel like less of a slog.
Increased the size of Melon collision to make it easier to grab on the go.
Lowered Indoor Chance from 50% to 25%, giving the Hero more room to breathe.
Lowered Weather Chance from 50% to 25%, making it more of a unique event.
Removed Weather and Indoor areas from Year 1, so players get to see all the clean levels
before adding complexity.
Removed Lightning Flashes from the rain Weather type, as it can be irritating visually and
spends a fair amount of tokens for a rare event.
Fixed a bug where thrown daggers could hit flying enemies, causing a combo interrupt.
1.0a
Fixed a bug where unbreakable objects in a combo chain would reset the chain, instead of just
not counting as part of the combo.
1.0
Added a proper end game screen, allowing the Hero to return home.
Added per-difficulty level high scores, which are now shown on page 3 of info screen.
Removed bonus score per enemy kill from difficulty setting.
Cleared previous versions high scores (balance and compatibility requirement)
Hazards now have the same wider collision that enemies do when checking against flying enemy
impacts.
Hazards and enemies retain their smaller collision when checking against player touch.
Added more gameplay info to the info screens.
Object now get bloodied when enemies are killed against them.
Fixed thrown daggers causing "stumbled into death" ending instead of "slain in combat".
0.6a
Adjusted spawn rates for villagers and enemies over the years so there's fewer base enemies,
making for faster early gameplay and less slog just to get to new enemy types.
Added bonus score for killing enemies based on difficulty level, so harder difficulties have
higher potential scores
Swapped the rules for Hard and Hell difficulties, so Hard is now 1 hit death for Hero, and
Hell adds game over for a villager getting killed.
Added high score saving
Added second page of Help screen, showing basic combat rules and difficulty settings
information
Added some placeholder music cues
Fixed a bug where starting a level with camera shake active could cause bad object positions
0.5b
Added first pass Help screen.
0.5a
Adjusted color schemes, added title screen, called out impacts and score text more clearly