Tenchu means Punishment from Heaven. Shinobi means Ninja/Stealth/Patience. Hyakusen translates to 100 Selection.
The game was released 1999 in Japan only, for a price of 2500 Yen (approx. $20 US)
Tenchu – Shinobi Hyakusen is a compilation of missions developed with the Tenchu: Shinobi Gaisen (Tenchu: Stealth Assassins) mission editor.Only the 2nd Japanese release version of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins has this editor. Acquire (developer of Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Tenchu: Shinobi Hyakusen and Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth Asassins) held a “Mission Editor Contest” and had people from all over Japan contribute their self made missions. Later on the best 100 missions of this contest were selected and released under the name Tenchu: Shinobi Hyakusen .There was no mission limit by participant and so some people have contribute more than 1 mission to Shinobi Hyakusen.
You can choose between 2 playable characters : Rikimaru and Ayame. They don’t have different missions though. Once you have selected your character you are taken to a screen which looks like a board game. On each screen of the selection board are 10 missions. Every 10th mission is more difficult than the previous, and by clearing that mission, you get a special video to enjoy later on. Although it is ideal to finish all 10 missions at a time, since the paths branch in various manners, it is possible to get to the 10th mission without exactly beating all 9 prior missions. Some particular stages even have a hidden mission, and these can only be selected once you clear that mission. Once cleared, a throwing star appears beside the mission enabling you to select that hidden mission. So in fact, if you include these hidden missions, there’s a total of 122 missions to play.
Mission objectives consist of “Find Lord Gohda”, “Assassinate”, “Eliminate”, “Protect the Princess” and “Find the cure for the Princess”. Now the “Find the cure for the Princess” is an objective where you just head out and find the healing herb, just like in the Tenchu: Stealth Assassins “Cure the Princess”.The controls are the same as in Tenchu: Stealth Assassins.You always have the same items in your inventory : grappling hook , 5 shuriken and 3 caltrops.Time limit for each mission is 59:59 minutes, unless the mission creator set a lower time limit. If you don’t finish a mission within time limit, you must replay that stage. By beating a mission within its time limit you get a rating of 1%. If you beat all missions within their time limits your rating is 100% and you unlock a hidden video.
Movies you acquire by finishing every 10th mission
01: Beta version TENCHU promotion video
02: Acquire infiltration report/interview #1
03: Basic actions of TENCHU
04: Acquire infiltration report/interview #2
05: Training Mission Time Attack video
06: Acquire infiltration report/interview #3
07: Tutor for clearing SHINOBI-GAISEN’s AD2030 mission
08: Motion capture video shoot footage of the Manji Cult monsters
09: Highly confidential! How it all started.
10: A slide show consisting of TENCHU artwork.
Written by Reimaru and Selenia.