Game of the Day 2/2/2016: Saint Sword

[celerystalker]

Sorry for the early post. I have an early morning and a super busy day tomorrow.

Saint Sword by Taito on the Sega Genesis is a game I enjoy that I don't get to talk abour much. Most of my friends are old school Nintendo guys, and even if they've since branched out, they still tend to ignore all but the most popular Genesis games.

Saint Sword is an arcade style action platformer with an aesthetic not unlike a lot of Telenet games like Valis or Psycho Dream, what with its mythology inspired world and grotesque enemies. However, it makes a few unique design choices that set it apart. First, you can transform into three other forms than your sword-weilding warrior: a centaur, merman, or winged man, so long as you have the items to do so. Secondly, you level up additionally by scoring, which increases your attack strength. It resets when you die, but you re-level quickly. Thirdly, you obtain a new magic item after each stage, which you can use at the expense of MP, which perform a variety of functions like healing, granting extra transformations, shooting lightning, and more, which adds another layer of depth to how you play. These all add up to a cool action game, but there's one more major design idiosyncracy.

In each level, which are sprawling stages that you explore both horizontally and vertically, you must search out a key, which is held by one specific enemy. After you track it down, an arrow appears at the top of the screen Crazy Taxi style, and you must follow it to the exit, which will take you to a boss fight. There is a timer on each stage, so especially in later levels, it is vital that you work quickly.

I dig this one quite a bit. The transformations and magic give it a different feel, and I like the aesthetics and theme. Have you played it?

[goldenband]

I thought Saint Sword was decent, but much too easy -- I was able to 1LC it on Hard pretty quickly. I'm not a big fan of the Ghosts 'N' Goblins "...and now beat the game again!" tactic either. That said, I had some fun with it.

[celerystalker]

I thought Saint Sword was decent, but much too easy -- I was able to 1LC it on Hard pretty quickly. I'm not a big fan of the Ghosts 'N' Goblins "...and now beat the game again!" tactic either. That said, I had some fun with it.

That's true, it isn't particularly difficult. I think it's a game I would have been less enthusiastic about when it was new and these Rastan-like action games were more common, but in the modern day, it feels more fresh and fun.

[MadaoBob]

All I've gotta say about this:

1. Sounds like Monster Boy.

2. That's one hell of a cartridge art.