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マジックソード
©Capcom 1990,1992
Release: 1992-05-09 (¥8500)
Cartridge SHVC-MD
Action / Platform game
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Released in America as
MAGIC SWORD
( SNS-MD-USA )
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Released in Europe as
MAGIC SWORD
( SNSP-MD-XXX )
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Magic Sword is a side-scrolling action game by Capcom and is the conversion
of their own arcade originally released in 1990. The player takes control of a
barbarian-looking warrior armed with a sword on a journey to defeat the evil
lord Drokmar. Things wouldn't be that difficult if he wasn't located at
the very top of a huge tower counting no less than fifty floors! Thankfully, an option
at the beginning of the game allows the player to start on a higher
storey if he wishes to. Keys are scattered along the way and can be used to
open a plethora of doors - some lead to the next floor staircase, others release
a companion who will help the barbarian on his quest, whereas others, for the
unlucky ones, release all kind of traps and surprise ambushes.
As mentioned, one originality of Magic Sword is the ability to rescue other fighters
who then follow the player around and shoot all kind of projectiles at
the enemies. Only one additional fighter can be active at once though, but there
is a grand total of eight of them, each with their own set of skills and
weapons (Big Man, Knight, Ninja, Priest, Amazon, Wizard,
Lizard Man and the Thief). A special attack can also be unleashed at any time
and damage all enemies on screen in exchange of some health.
The game is called Magic Sword and indeed, the barbarian's sword comes with
magic powers - it automatically charges up during
the game and can fire deadly fireballs at the enemy.
Also, after completing a few floors, the player has to defeat
an obligatory boss and, if victorious, is rewarded with a new and more powerful sword -
as long as he doesn't drop it by accident... Magic Sword
consists of fifty floors and is single player only.
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The original arcade game was released by Capcom in 1990 (picture on the right).
It featured more enemies and hazards that the Super Famicom version tested here,
as well as a two simultaneous player mode.
The Super Famicom port was curiously the only home
conversion of the game and players will have to wait more than fifteen years for the original
arcade game to be eventually included in compilations such as
the Capcom Classics Collection vol.2
(Playstation 2 & XBox, 2006) and the
Capcom Classics Collection Remixed (PSP, 2006).
Surprisingly, none of these compilations were released in Japan.
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Game Staff (Copied from the American version's end credits) :
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Consumer Staff
Planning
Bamboo
Character
Yamazou
Zizii
Hyper Bengie
Title Design
Ikki
Soft
Imo
Yoshilim
Kanekon
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Arcade Staff
Game Design
Y. Ohnishi
T. Sadamoto
Y. Okamoto
Character Design
Kurisan
K. Kitayama
E. Nishihara
T. Saramoto
Art
Y. Fukumoto
M. Kawamura
Y. Maruyama
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Title Design
S. Yamashita
English Story
S. Maxwell
Sound
M.Goton
Program
Y. Egawa
S. Okada
Y. Tsunazaki
Y. Oronishi
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Special Thanks
Poo
A. Yasuka
Nin Nin
K. Yokota
H. Minobe
Y. Ohji
T. Kuhara
Y. Matsunaga
Produced by ©Capcom
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G
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Japanese Phonecard
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Japanese Phonecard
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Japanese Phonecard
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O
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Click on picture to enlarge |
S
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Extra lives and floor select:
At the Title screen, enter the Options menu and move all the way down
in order to highlight the Exit option. When done, on the second controller,
press and hold Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder and Start. Then
finally press exit on the Option screen with the first controller. This
will activate an additional Option Mode (picture on the right) where you can increase the
player's amount of lives (up to nine) and select a floor. However, there
is a huge catch - you can only select a floor that you've already played...
so it is more a continue option than a true level selection option.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Magic Sword is a really good looking game, no doubt about it, with detailed graphics
and really smooth animation cycles - it definitively displays Capcom's
commitment to quality and excellence. I
also quite like how the game is structured, it somewhat reminds me of
classic Japanese heroic fantasy games such as the Tower of Druaga or
Dragon Buster; and Magic Sword
features fifty floors with treasure chests to loot and
literally tons of items and monsters. But this comes at a price and
although floors show some variation, the same designs are reused throughout the game
with simple palette shifts. And yet, enough details were added here and there
to somehow blur the feeling of repetitiveness and keep the game fun to play
overall. Controls are correct and work well, but the game sadly suffers from terrible
slowdowns in places, especially when those nasty flying snakes, each made
out of segmented parts, show up and try to knock you down.
All in all, Magic Sword is not breathtaking or awe-inspiring, but it
is a game I often go back to, just to waste half an hour slashing and slicing up
crippled mummies or multiple-headed dragons.
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