1. Antarctic Adventure (Famicom)
2. Nuts & Milk (Famicom)
3. Commando (Atari 2600)
4. Binary Land (Famicom)
5. Devil World (Famicom)
6. Disney's Aladdin (SNES)
7. Popeye (NES)
8. Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
9. Ys: The Vanished Omens (Sega Master System)
10 Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter (Famicom)
11. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (SNES)
12. Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD)
13. Otenba Becky no Daibouken (MSX)
14. Metroid (Famicom Disk System)
15. Mahou Kishi Rayearth (Game Boy)
"Magic Knight Rayearth" (or, "Mahou Kishi Rayearth") was a mid-90s shoujo "magical girl" manga & anime series created by the all-female artistic collective known as CLAMP. It's a story of three impossibly long-legged and brightly-colored schoolgirls who, on a field trip to Tokyo Tower, find themselves sucked into a fantasy world where they're soon dubbed the chosen ones responsible for saving one Princess Emeraude and restoring peace to the land. It's a fine series, beautifully crafted and illustrated, with plenty of action and subtle humor. The series was quite popular, apparently, as no less than
seven licensed games were developed -- all released in 1994 or 1995. If that sounds too much for one developer, you'd be right. Four
Rayearth titles were made by Sega for Sega consoles (there was even a special limited edition red
Rayearth Game Gear), while the other three were developed by Pandora Box and published by Tomy for Nintendo systems. Pandora Box won't ring any bells for most, though those familiar with the fan translation scene may recognize them as the developer of
Arabian Nights (Super Famicom). Game Boy
Mahou Kishi Rayearth is the first of the Pandora Box installments, and the second
Rayearth game overall. There's a partial English fan translation available. The English text is all loaded into the opening hour or so. After that the game humorously descends into this weird English/Japanese mishmash before giving way to pure Japanese.
The game doesn't follow the manga/anime at all. While CLAMP's work focused on the three girls bonding and developing friendships to overcome obstacles, Game Boy
Rayearth immediately separates the ladies into three separate scenarios. Hikaru Shidou, the small, naïve, tomboyish, redheaded "main" character finds herself in a village of winged beings. Initially convinced she is a demon, Hikaru must gain the trust of the townsfolk and complete a brief series of trials to escape the area. Umi Ryuuzaki, the bold and nurturing "rich girl" is stuck in a forest. She's tasked with entering a giant sentient tree to clear it of monsters. Finally, there's Fuu Hououji, the mellow and logical member of the trio. Her quest is something of a dungeon-crawler, filled with switches and locked doors. The three scenarios can be completed in any order, and once wrapped up the girls reunite for the final confrontation.
The manga/anime was clearly inspired by JRPGs, even going so far as to poke fun at the genre from time to time. Appropriately, most of the
Rayearth video game adaptations ended up as JRPGs themselves. This one proceeds in that classic
Dragon Quest style, but the mechanics have been stripped down to the point of absolute absurdity. This may be the simplest and easiest JRPG I've ever encountered, and I've played a downright embarrassing number of these. The game is linear to a fault. Forget side quests, there's not even a hint of exploration to be found. Combat is turn-based with three options: attack, magic, and run. Attacking is self-explanatory, each magic knight has only a single spell available, and running away is almost always successful. Enemies present no challenge. Virtually every single foe, even the bosses, can be taken out with a single blast of magic. Both HP and MP are replenished by walking around outside of battle, and the random encounters are initiated so infrequently that one is guaranteed to have full HP and MP at the start of each skirmish.
Menus are reduced to the bare basics as well. HP and MP are represented by bars rather than numerically. Experience "stars" are earned rather than points; a level increase occurs once a bar of stars is filled. The game features no shops, currency, or inventory. Items exist but are used automatically. The only "challenge" that ever presents itself involves said items: many are found by "searching" very specific spots, invisible to the naked eye. Also note that Fuu's dungeon-crawl would prove tricky for those that lack Japanese knowledge, as success is predicated on interpreting scattered "hints" found on the lower floors.
In-game graphics are mostly dull and utilitarian. There are a few nice cutscene stills, however, and the character animations displayed during dialogue sequences are well-crafted. Keep playing and you'll eventually encounter an adorable dance scene, too. The game was optimized for the Super Game Boy, and five various color borders alternate during the course of single playthrough. These are undoubtedly the best visuals in the game. Music is humdrum overall, though a few standout tunes were reused for the Super Famicom
Rayearth release; they sound much punchier on Nintendo's home console.
Ultimately, Game Boy
Rayearth is a lackluster experience. As a fan of the source material I'll admit to cracking a few smiles throughout, but I can't imagine this would appeal to anyone who isn't already invested in the series. There is something of a silver lining at the end of it all: the Super Famicom and Saturn
Rayearth games turned out to be quite competent and I'd recommend both. Especially the latter, if you can get over the sticker shock.
