Game of the Day 2/5/2016: Miracle Warriors

[celerystalker]

When people talk early console RPGs, it tends to degenerate into comparing Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star. Not taking anything away from those two fantastic series, but Miracle Warriors on the Master System, Famicom, and Japanese computers is every bit as early, and surprisingly stands up pretty well on its own!

The story is pretty bare bones, tasking you with defeating the dark lord, whose seal has been broken and is now wreaking that special form of havoc only dark lords can. Combat is similar to Dragon Quest, though you do get a party of four characters, and you choose whose turn it is each round, alternating against your enemy, one at a time. There are some cool differences in presentation that are kinda neat, though.

For one, the screen layout is very different, showing a small portion of the map in the upper right corner, status on the bottom third or so of the screen, and a behind your party's back view of the terrain taking the largest part of the screen. It'sa little odd to get used to when you're used to Final Fantasy and such, but I quickly acclimated and grew to appreciate the feeling of walking the land it offered without slowing things down. You also have some different abilities in combat, such as the chance to talk to enemies before fighting. While often useless, it can at times yield interesting results or avoid conflict. Lastly, instead of just getting money from fights, from many monsters you'll instead get fangs and such to sell in town at varying rates for cash.

Miracle Warriors is a little short by modern standards, but is at least as long as the first Dragon Warrior. The game keeps a better pace, I'd argue, as leveling never seemed to be as cumbersome as in Enix's game. Plus, it comes with one of the cooler maps I've seen packed in with an RPG.



To me, Miracle Warriors is one of the better 8 bit RPGs, and a strong backer to Phantasy Star for the Master System's RPG lineup. Heck, its clues even made sense, but even now I feel like I'm not describing it as well as I'd like... Have you played it? Have a better descrption to offer?

[Edmond Dantes]

There's a huge article on this game at HG101. It's also on my "must pick up eventually" list.

Apparently, the MSX version actually REQUIRED the map! Not sure how that works.

[celerystalker]

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/mir...lewarriors.htm

There's a huge article on this game at HG101. It's also on my "must pick up eventually" list.

Apparently, the MSX version actually REQUIRED the map! Not sure how that works.

Just popped over to check that article out. Good read, and more helpful than my blurb. Check it out!

They do fail to mention Sega's boasting FIVE player support:

The correct number was one, Sega. One player.

They did this a lot back then, actually. Phantasy Star says the same thing. Did you know Sonic the Hedgehog can support hundreds of players as long as turns are alternated? Just always struck me as comical.

[Alianger]

I'm not really into 8-bit RPGs but I like the soundtrack for this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRoBMXRpHKI

[Tanooki]

I had this complete last time I had a SMS and I just could not at all get into it. I had this badass 'cheap' lot with a pile of games I bought along side of another buy for the system and it was in there. I tried for awhile but I guess it was just too dated and rough that I couldn't tolerate it very long. I can see if it were the pre-FF2(US) era later 80s early 90s where it would have been more engrossing, but like some games I think it aged like a turd in the sun. I've had games since back in the day that got worse with time so I've ditched them or didn't re-acquire them as that's just how things go. Honestly I had no problem with the screen layout as noted, it was different but in a way kind of useful in its own unique way.

[Scissors]

I've been meaning to revisit this one. I played it through a long time ago (sometime during the PS1/N64/Saturn era) and remember enjoying it.

[Daria]

This was my first SMS game, bought it CIB with my powerbase converter off a customer at Gamestop. The visual style is pretty unique, I also covet the Japanese version for the awesome cover art and little metal figure they packed with it.

[FoxNtd]

For those squinting at the photo: the Famicom label says 覇邪の封印

Had to look it up, sure can't see it from the photograph with those colours being so close and all.

[celerystalker]

For those squinting at the photo: the Famicom label says 覇邪の封印

Had to look it up, sure can't see it from the photograph with those colours being so close and all.

Sorry. I just snap these photos with my phone quickly in low enough res to be able to upload them directly. It's roughly Haja no Fuin, I believe.