Title: Magic Sword
Release Date: 05/29/1992
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Now this is more like it. First off, look at the art on the Super Famicom box. It's amazingly weird and goofy. This is a port of a Capcom arcade game that is actually pretty darn faithful to the arcade version; it's like we are doing a Capcom A to Z crossover special.
Background
This game was developed for the CP1 arcade system originally, releasing in July 1990. The game is very similar to the previous Capcom title known as Black Tiger, which was also an arcade hack-n-slash platformer. In this game, you play as a beef boy Conan style warrior who is assaulting a tower that belongs to an evil lord named Drokmar. Drokmar receives his power from the Dark Orb, a fantasy MacGuffin that grants unlimited power to its owner. That's pretty much it as far as set up.
There are some differences between the Arcade and SNES versions. For one, the SNES version gives you a few starting points throughout the tower (which is 50 levels tall), with the last starting point at floor 33. This is to make up for the fact that the game follows the strict "two lives per three continues" format, while the arcade version is a quarter muncher that you can just eventually pay to win. As well, similar to the SNES port of Final Fight, the SNES port of Magic Sword eschews any two player functionality. While this isn't a game that is necessarily rendered unplayable by losing a second player (two player can make even the most mediocre beat-em-up pretty fun), I can attest that the 2player of the arcade version was still a lot of fun and a shame to be missed. You even had a Double Dragon fight over the Black Orb at the end with the second player if you chose the evil ending.
Gameplay
The game has 51 stages, starting in the village around Drokmar's tower, and then 50 levels of tower to work through until you get to Drokmar himself at the top. For being a giant dungeon tower, the biomes are quite diverse; you will travel through oubliettes, interiors of pyramids, sewers, cathedrals, parapets, and libraries. Most stages have one or two exits (some of which are hidden and let you skip floors), and usually last only a minute or so, with some floors being as short as 20 seconds. Usually every eight floors or so is a boss fight, with a wizard transforming into either a chimera or a multiheaded dragon. Usually when you beat a boss, you will get an upgrade to your weapon or shield, which improves your attack, defense, and magic attack.
Now as far as an offensive vocabulary, your little Conan can run, jump, and swing his sword. He has a magic meter which fills after swinging your sword, and if you wait until it's topped out, you will fire a projectile from your sword (similar to Link with the Master Sword). With the best weapon in the game, you shoot a red lightning bolt which does a tremendous amount of damage.
But are you alone on this journey at all? Not quite, to exit the floors, you collect keys to open the doors to the staircase to the next floor, but there are also cells that need keys to unlock too. These cells can sometimes contain enemies, but most times they contain companions. These companions, of which you can only have one at a time, basically function like options in a shooter. They have a stock attack, which they will spam at regular intervals, and have their own little healthbars that have to be managed. The companions include a Amazon who shoots arrows, a "Big Man" who throws a boomerang age, Wizard who shoots fireballs, Thief who throws daggers and bombs, Priest who has a shield and homing energy balls (my fav), a flying Lizardman, a Ninja who throws shurikens, and a fellow swordsman knight.
Overall, the game is not too tough, and was able to beat it on my own quite easily. Enemies go down quickly, and the game has a very fun "score attack" arcade style feel to it. Much of the key to this game is moving slowly but deliberately and quickly reacting to threats as they appear. As your party climbs higher in the tower, many enemies become unavoidable if not taken out immediately. Boss fights aside from being samey (I mean they repeat the same two boss fights three times), are kind of cheap. The dragons, in particular, tend to chase you until they hit you; very much a holdover from arcade difficulty and cheapness. You do have a screen wipe magic attack which does make bosses a lot easier, but it does cost a bar of health if you use it too quickly.
The atmosphere of the game is pretty darn fun too, having a classic DnD dungeon run feel to it. You fight a menagerie of fun monsters from Orcs, mummies, skeletons, wizards, golems, and ghouls, and you have to do some simple platforming over pits, traps, and hazards. My favorite part is the interstitial scenes of your party climbing between the floors of the tower where they give each other little pep talks and advice for the coming floors.
Ads and Art
As usual with Capcom, there is a surfeit of advertisements and concept art, most of which is pretty well done.
Music
As with a lot of Capcom works, the music is pretty good. The OST was composed by Manami Matsumae, who is best known for composing the early Mega Man titles, so there is a definite mark of quality.
Final Verdict
Overall this is a pretty slight but fun diversion! The game is pretty simple with fun if repetitive gameplay. It makes a nice addition to an SNES collection and is relatively the experience you would get from the arcade version. This gets a certified recommendation.
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