Hokkyoku Tsubame (Bushido Blade)

Hokkyoku Tsubame: The Flaming-red Toenails of Death!

Bushido Blade on the original Playstation was a revolutionary game. It did something that no other fighting game dared during the time- take away the life bars. As in real life, one hit, if delivered accurately and decisively, could kill. It also gave players huge environments to run around in, and a pretty complex control scheme which handled everything from striking with your weapons to throwing sand into your opponent's face.

But still, Bushido Blade was a flawed classic- there were things that had to be scrapped eventually in favor of better fun and playability- like the ability to get wounded in the leg, forcing you to fight impaired from that point on- it was an idea better on paper rather than actual gameplay. Flaws aside, I love this title to pieces, for the cool animations (particularly the various KO/death animations) and the sexy ladies.

Now, there were only two playable babes in BB- Hotarubi (Red Shadow in the English version) was the more obvious sexy femme fatale, dressed in a panty-flashing yukata/kimono and strappy sandals that showed off her sexy feet and painted toenails (although she was never really barefoot). The other babe was the fighting miko, Mikado, whom I liked more since she fought without sandals, but still wearing tabi (the Japanese traditional toed-sock).

Even with these two hotties, it was ironic that the best babe in the game was a non-playable (unless with a cheat device) boss character. She was Hokkyoku Tsubame, a sexy, mature (she's in her 40s) swordswoman from Korea who serves as the bodyguard and right-hand woman of the game's final boss. Of course, the most significant feature of her sexy, leather armor outfit were her leggings which bared the front part of her feet, including her sexy toes with bright red nail polish.

Tsubame was fast and furious, but eventually you brought her down. As one player character would say afterwards, looking down on her motionless body, "What a waste." Surely a hot, barefoot (well, half-barefoot at least) beauty like this should not suffer a needless death. I'd much rather she just be rendered unconscious, and later nursed back to health with a soothing foot massage that will both cure her of her injuries and hostility.

If only for this formidable hottie, Bushido Blade is a worthy collection to any serious barefoot babe fan's game library. Seek it out for classic swordfighting, barefoot babe action. Enjoy this montage clip showing off this hot boss.