Touhouken Bunroku
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| Tōhō Kenbun Roku | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Natsume |
| Publisher | Natsume |
| Programmer | Captain Tsubohachi |
| Artist | Keiichi Ōta |
| Writers | Ultra Kanshai Kohan |
| Composer | Hana Yamucha |
| Platform | Family Computer |
| Release |
|
| Genres | Adventure, interactive fiction |
| Mode | Single-player |
Touhouken Bunroku (Japanese: 東方見文録, Hepburn: Tōhōken Bunroku) is a text-based adventure game, released in 1988 by developer Natsume for the Family Computer. It centers on the titular character who was researching spatiotemporal travel via particle fission along the Silk Road to run Japan's best general store. After traveling back to Venice in 1275, Bunroku encounters his idol Marco Polo, and the two embark on a journey together to Japan, known as the Country of Gold.
The title of the game is a play on 東方見聞録 (The Travels of Marco Polo) with alters the fourth character so as to make the title nonsensical. The game is noted for its dark humour and absurdist textuality, gaining a cult following.[1]
Touhouken Bunroku is a fourth-year student in the Department of Chrono-Travel Studies at Southeast Asia University's College of Historical Engineering, specializing in spatiotemporal travel via particle fission along the Silk Road. Born into a family of merchants, Bunroku dreams of opening Japan's greatest general store in Daikanyama.
Inspired by Marco Polo's The Travels of Marco Polo, which describes Japan as “the Country of Gold,” Bunroku resolves to fund his dream by using a self-built time machine. He packs his backpack with bargain-bin daily goods bought in Akihabara and embarks on a "graduation trip" to Venice in 1275, hoping to meet his idol Marco Polo and join his expedition. However, he arrives precisely as Marco is departing, and through a twist of fate and a minor accident, Bunroku ends up joining Marco's historic journey.
Their perilous odyssey spans years and continents: encounters with Father Teobaldo who later become Pope, battles against the Old Man of the Mountain in Persia, conflicts over spinel in Badakhshan, and a vengeful showdown with Ahmad, the Yuan Dynasty noble who plots to assassinate Kublai Khan and eliminate Marco's crew in Xanadu. After six grueling years, Bunroku and Marco finally reach Dadu (the Yuan capital), where they secure passage on a Mongol armada bound for Japan.
Yet upon arrival, Bunroku grows suspicious when the Kamikaze, a historical typhoon that famously repelled Mongol invasions, fails to materialize. Remotely overloading his time machine, he artificially triggers a "kamikaze" storm. Tragically, this act summons not a natural disaster but a squadron of Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai from the future, who obliterate the Mongol fleet in an instant. Marco perishes in the crossfire.
Grief-stricken and adrift, Bunroku loses consciousness and washes ashore in a surreal landscape resembling a distorted blend of Nara, Kyoto, and Mount Fuji. This is the Chrono Complex, a prison for "temporal violators" who meddle with time. Trapped among deranged inmates and unable to return to his era, Bunroku descends into madness, endlessly calling for his mother as the story closes in bleak despair.