Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin (released in Japan in February 2014) is a spin-off game set at the end of the Edo period of Japanese history (known as the Bakumatsu period), a period when the Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end and imperial rule was restored (Meiji Restoration).
Sakamoto Ryoma is living undercover, with a false identity, as "Saito Hajime" in Kyoto. One year earlier, on the eve of the coup d'état of Tosa, Ryoma's foster father, the man who raised him, was murdered before his eyes. The only lead he had to discover who the killer was is that he used the Tennen Rishin style of fighting. This is a style used by the Shinsengumi, so Ryoma infiltrates their ranks, becoming captain of the 3rd Shinsengumi unit, in attempt to find the killer.
Big thanks to Kevin Debrabandere for creating a PDF for the entire Ishin guide. You can download the PDF version of the guide here. Please be advised that the PDF is outdated now, but still contains information for the whole game.
Defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have a minute and a half to defeat 15 enemies. Very simple challenge, so you can use whatever fighting style you want.
Defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have a minute and a half to defeat 30 enemies. Tougher than the first one, but still shouldn't be a problem. Best style to use is probably wild dance.
Using the Hand-to-Hand fighting style, defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have a minute and a half to defeat 10 enemies. You are limited to using the hand-to-hand style for this, so just keep using combo attacks and using the swing mastery heat move when you build up the heat gauge.
Using the Sword fighting style, defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have 40 seconds to defeat 12 enemies. Enemies here don't have much health, so a simple square-triangle attack will take out most of them, then for the ones who have slightly more health, another square attack will finish them off.
Using the Pistol fighting style, defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have 1 minute to defeat 9 enemies. Using the square-triangle(x3) attack works well here. It's easy to get swamped by enemies because the room isn't too big, so be careful.
Using the Wild Dance fighting style, defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have 1 and a half minutes to defeat 12 enemies. Keep mashing that square button and do not stop until all enemies are defeated!
Defeat all enemies within 15 seconds. There are 7 enemies. This can be very difficult and may require several attempts because it requires luck as well. Using the triangle kick attack works well here. Just run up to enemies and press triangle and hope they don't dodge out of the way (that's the luck part... the enemies often dodge your attacks, so you need luck on your side if you want to hit them!)
Defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have 1 minute to defeat 21 enemies. Start off by using the pistol style (left directional button). After you get through to the centre and need to track back to the beginning, switch to the hand-to-hand style (down directional button) and use the tuna on the tables to finish off the remaining enemies (these enemies have a lot more health and take a LOT of pistol shots to take down).
Escape Kochi Castle within the time limit. I used my sword for this (right directional button). You really want to get through the fights as quickly as possible, so only use as many sword swings as you need or you'll waste valuable seconds (don't spam square against an enemy that will only take 2 hits to defeat with the sword, for example). Against the strong opponents (mini-bosses), use the charged triangle attacks (square-square-square-hold triangle-triangle) and heat actions to take them down quickly.
Defeat all enemies within the time limit. You have 2 minutes to defeat 50 enemies. This one is no joke - if you take just one hit, you lose (and enemies show up from all directions, which doesn't help). Use the pistol fighting style (left directional button) and take down everyone from a distance. If anyone with a gun shows up, make sure you take them down fast!
Defeat the enemies using only heat actions. However, you cannot deal damage with the same heat actions twice. There are 6 enemies to defeat. Considering you have access to all your heat actions and can switch between all fighting styles, this shouldn't be a problem.
Defeat the enemies using only special techniques. This is an extremely easy one. You have infinite heat, so just use Wild Dance (up directional button) and keep using the R2 spin attack until all enemies are defeated.
Destroy all the scarecrows. You have 3 minutes to destroy them all. Another easy one. Just switch to Wild Dance (up directional button) and mash the square button against all enemies. There are 2 golden scarecrows that require you to use the triangle attack (pistol) because they are behind cover.
Also, you have just 1 hit point in this, yet you do not die when you take any hits (from red scarecrows). I don't know if that's a bug or if they did it on purpose, but whatever...
Get a 99 hit combo. There is a 1 minute time limit. Switch to Wild Dance (up directional button), keep mashing the square button and do not stop! Make sure you keep yourself surrounded by enemies, so if you kill one enemy you can quickly switch to another and not lose your combo.
Achieve a battle rank of "Peerless". The battle ranks are the screens you see after winning a fight. You are graded based on what you do in the fight (for example, dodging enemy attacks boosts up your rank, as does using heat actions, but each thing only works a few times before it stops giving you rank boosts).
The battle ranks go from Amateur - Expert - Master - Grandmaster - Hero - Veteran - Peerless.
First, dodge enemy attacks 2 times to get your rank up to Expert. Your timing has to be quite precise for it to count. Then dodge a third time to get up to Master. Dodging enemy attacks after this has no effect on rank.
Next, switch to Wild Dance (up directional button) and use the square attack to get a 5 hit combo, then STOP. Then get a 10 hit combo and STOP to advance to the Grandmaster rank. Then get a 20 hit combo and stop to advance to Hero. It won't count if you just get 20 straight away. You have to do it in stages.
Next, use a heat action to advance to Veteran. Then use another 2 DIFFERENT heat actions (won't work if you use the same one more than once) to get to Peerless.
You'll know if you advance to peerless rank, because you'll see a gold rank show up at the top right area of the screen. If you do not see it after doing another 2 heat actions, try another one. If you still don't see it then something may have gone wrong earlier on (during the dodging or combo).
After all that, finish off the enemies in whatever way you like.
Protect Akimoto from the Shinsengumi. You have 2 minutes to defeat 10 enemies. Be careful, because Akimoto dies EXTREMELY easily... Switch to Wild Dance (up directional button), stay near Akimoto and keep using the circle attacks.
Defeat 100 enemies using a cannon. There is a time limit of 2 and a half minutes. This is the same as the part in the main story when Okita Soji and Sakamoto Ryoma raid the castle in Edo to confront the Shogun, except the enemies don't come up to you. This shouldn't be any trouble - just keep firing cannons at the enemies and they should all be taken out with plenty of time to spare. One thing to watch out for - a few enemies can attack you from distance, knocking you off the cannon, which wastes a few seconds.
Defeat the Red Ninja, the Yellow Ninja and the Blue Ninja in that order. You are not allowed to damage any other enemies.
There's no time limit and the enemies hardly do any damage to you, so there's no need to rush this. Just follow the Ninja around until they are clear of other enemies and try to sneak a few punches inbetween their jumps.
Defeat the enemies using only area weapons. Meaning weapons lying around on the ground. This is a nice easy one - start off by using the tuna. There are 3 of them - 2 in the room you start in and 1 in the room with the enemies. By the time you've used up all 3 of the tuna, you should have taken out most of the enemies (or at least done a lot of damage), so just finish the rest off with whatever is lying around.
Defeat the enemies. There is no time limit for this. Considering this is the final Trial challenge, it's EXTREMELY easy. Start of by using one of the machine guns (there is one either side of you when you start) and deal as much damage as you can. When they get too close, get off the machine gun and switch to Wild Dance (up directional button) and mash the square button until they are all taken out.
Get to the destination within the 50 second time limit.
Ryoma can't sprint for very long before he gets tired. Follow the route in the picture below and sprint as often as you can and this shouldn't be a problem.
Collect 10 eggs while running from chickens.
The red dots on the map below indicate egg locations. Make sure the chickens don't touch you or you lose!
Lose the Shinsengumi and get to the destination within the 2 minute time limit.
There are LOADS of Shinsengumi guys wandering around so it's tricky. Follow the route on the map below and you should be able to get to the goal without too much trouble.
If you are still being chased by the time you get right near the finish, there is a palanquin right next to the final corner (to the right of the finish area) you can jump into. Just turn the corner and jump into the palanquin.
Get to the destination without being seen.
A tricky one, since you cannot be seen by any of the Shinsengumi members. You have upgraded sprint for this one. Use the map below:
[1]
Sprint as fast as you can to this area from the starting point. If you go too slow you will be seen by a patrolling Shinsengumi soldier in the top left area.
When you get here, stop and wait for the Shinsengumi soldier patrolling the main street to walk past, then follow him slowly (don't get too close). He will walk past location number 2 on the map above and cross the bridge to the left hand side.
[2]
Stop here and wait for the Shinsengumi soldier patrolling the street on the right hand side of the map (your left hand side when the camera is facing towards the docks) to face the other way.
[3]
There is a Shinsengumi soldier patrolling between the bottom of the main street and the finish location. Wait for him to head towards the finish location and follow him slowly. If necessary, there is a palanquin here at location 3.
[4]
Follow the Shinsengumi soldier till this point and then jump in the barrel. Wait for the guy to walk back to the bottom of the main street, jump out of the barrel when he has passed you and then go to your destination.
There is a Shinsengumi soldier standing around near the docks just by the destination, but all he does is stand around looking out into the sea, so you don't need to worry about him too much.
Catch the Supreme Shogun!
This guy is outrageously fast. If he gets too far away from you, you lose.
See the map below (it's not clear on the map, but you start by running to the right of the start location, not up):
The red line indicates where the Shogun runs, so follow the white line instead, through the shortcut and you can catch him just before you get to the starting location.
Sprint as often as you can and cut corners as quickly as possible.
It's not easy to catch him, but there is no time limit on this, so you can keep going until you win.
Defeat The Masked Man, The Man in White Clothes, and 8 tough enemies in a row. Your health restores by 25% each round.
It's pretty easy to take out the first 2 guys with the pistol fighting style (spam the square attack). The fight with the 8 guys is another story... The guy with the hammer has not come here to mess around - if he hits you he WILL fuck you up. He does some serious damage, so stay well clear of him. Using the heat gauge you built up from the first 2 rounds, use the Wild Dance "Crowd Dispersion" heat attack as much as you can. Focus on taking out all enemies except the guy with the hammer (using heat actions and square attacks) but watch out for the hammer guy! After taking out everyone else, use the pistol style to take out the hammer guy from distance (but for the love of god, dodge roll backwards if he gets too close or starts attacking).
Defeat the Komuso, Thomas Glover, and 10 British Soldiers plus a Bear in a row. Your health restores by 25% each round.
Defeating the Komuso and Thomas Glover is, again, pretty simple with the pistol. But... Holy fucking shit, if you are not prepared for the final fight you WILL get your ass handed to you almost instantly. AS SOON as the final fight starts, switch to Wild Dance and go over to a group of British soldiers and use the Crowd Dispersion heat action, like in the first challenge. Do this again to the other group and most of them should be taken out (you really do have to act fast though, you cannot fuck around admiring your work after taking out the first group). Finish any remaining soldiers with the square attacks (but watch out for that bear!). Take out the bear from distance with the pistol style.
Defeat Takeda, Harada, and Ito in a row. Your health restores by 25% each round.
Compared to the first 2 challenges, this is extremely easy. They can all be taken down pretty easily with the pistol fighting style (square spam).
Defeat Okita, Nagakura and Kondo in a row. Your health restores by 25% each round.
Again, like the previous challenge, easy compared to the first 2, but more difficult than the 3rd challenge (because the bosses themselves are tougher). Can all be taken out fairly easily with the pistol style.
Defeat Yoshida, Tokugawa, Okada, Katsura, Saigo, Akimoto, Sasaki, and Takechi in a row.
Unlike the previous challenges, your health does not restore after each fight.
You are forced to use hand-to-hand style against Saigo, but for everyone else just use the pistol style (got to love how broken that style is when you spam square). Be as careful as you can to avoid taking damage. There is no time limit, so there's no need to rush.
If you want to use heat actions, be careful, because some of the bosses have a quick-time event before you can pull off the heat action and if you fail it you will take a lot of damage.
The first fight is simple - use the pistol square attack and keep your distance - watch out for his swings.
In the second fight, watch out for the 2nd phase of the battle, because he starts throwing shit at you, which will lose you some health.
The Okada fight is another case of spamming square and keeping your distance.
Same again with Katsura, but be careful because the room is quite small.
The Saigo fight takes a while, but be as careful as you can and you won't lose much (if any) health - dodge his attacks and throw a few square attacks to chip away at his health.
The Akimoto fight is easy, even though the room is small. Just barrage him with square attacks and stay away from him.
Sasaki is another case of spamming square and keeping your distance.
For the final fight, Takechi, I certainly hope you saved as much health as possible. The first phase is easy - just spam square pistol attacks as usual. In the second phase it's very difficult to avoid taking damage, since he uses the Wild Dance style and will shoot at you with his pistol. The final phase shouldn't be much trouble - keep spamming square.
