2. Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (Famicom)
3. Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken (Famicom)
Dragon Scroll
To claim that The Legend of Zelda was a resounding success is an understatement. Seamlessly fusing twitchy arcade-y action gameplay and a massive landscape to explore, the game was unlike anything the world had seen before, and was instrumental in elevating the Japanese "action-RPG" genre. As such, it's no surprise that a flood of imitators soon followed. Falcom was most successful here, with the peerless Ys duo. Sega and Hudson Soft took an outright "cloning" approach with Golden Axe Warrior and Neutopia (the latter of which I'd consider worthwhile). Namco shamelessly rushed forward the heinous Valkyrie no Bouken. Unheralded developer Xtalsoft quietly released the quirky Borfes to 5-jin no Akuma, which remained marooned in Japan on the MSX. And A-list 8-bit gods Konami threw their hat in the ring with Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (or, Dragon Scroll: Resurrection of the Demon Dragon), released in 1987. As an '87 Konami release, Dragon Scroll had about an equal chance of ending up on the Famicom, Famicom Disk System, or MSX. Thankfully, this is a vanilla Fami cart and is pretty easy to find today. Though it never migrated to North America via the NES, the game was eventually fan-translated.
First impressions: the game feels very Konami. It's awash in green like early Metal Gear stages, and movement is a bit reminiscent of the overhead areas of Super C. Controls are competent, if noticeably slow, and the sound effects and musical stylings brought a nostalgic smile to my face. There are some really impressive cutscene visuals, and Dragon Scroll boasts one of the most striking Game Over screens on the Famicom. Decent first impressions, but does the holistic gaming experience hold up?
No. Dragon Scroll is a playable, but thoroughly half-baked, attempted to ride the Zelda gravy train. It (kinda) does attempt to weave a grand narrative, complete with dialogue from fallen foes and captured thieves, but the plot (something about good dragons and bad dragons) becomes a hazy afterthought after an hour or so of play. What's left is a series of capricious disconnected "tasks" that fail to stitch together a cohesive tapestry.
Most of the game is spent searching for items, either on the overworld or within dungeons. There's an illusion of non-linearity, but generally speaking early items are needed to find later ones. The hero of the story is equipped with a standard attack (A button) and secondary magic (B button) -- sound familiar? Instead of a sword our hero wields a staff that emits projectiles, which can be upgraded twice throughout the course of a playthrough. Unlike the game it takes inspiration from, Dragon Scroll is a "true" RPG, with the B button used for magic that depletes magic points (there's an amusing inconsistency here, as life is represented by the classic red bar as opposed to hit points). The magic sucks -- just flat out sucks. There are no true offensive spells. There are no healing spells. What's left is a smattering of spells used to unearth treasures and dungeon entrances. The game is comically obtuse in this regard. A chest may be found, for instance, by firing off four spells at a specific statue. One notable dungeon can only be entered if a combination of two spells are used in tandem whilst standing in a specific spot. It's insane. Sure, Zelda had its share of frustrating puzzles, but that game made the player feel like they were unveiling centuries-old secrets and piecing together a forgotten lore. Dragon Scroll is more like being trapped in a Skinner Box, mashing buttons until the desired outcome emerges.
This is still Konami, however, so the experience isn't a complete wash. Despite the lack of variety in available attacks, combat can be fun and there's a decent enemy selection. Boss battles are rather clever. One memorable fight involves a series of stout creatures that can't be killed outright by the staff, but instead need to be pushed off a ledge. Accidentally shove two creatures into each other and they fuse into a larger one (or an either larger one!). It's rather ingenious and unironically the highlight of the entire game. The overworld is a bright spot too, split up into several disparate well-detailed segments. It's a shame the dungeons are so blasé - just straightforward gray corridors. There's no real difficulty progression either: the final dungeon isn't any harder than the first.
Dragon Scroll didn't "need" to be an RPG but it is. There's leveling, which means there's grinding. Theoretically lots of it, but enemies respawn so rapidly (think Ys III or Exile) that it's easy to cheese the game and become an absolute beast early on. Strangely, the game allows one to earn experience points after the max level of 15 is reached, but it does absolutely nothing. There's no currency or shops, a big disappointment, and most items are used automatically (typically without even informing the player). The game isn't long, a few hours at best, and one should play in lengthy sessions to avoid the downright nasty password system.
This is an odd duck. Dragon Scroll is far from mechanically broken, but is undeniably rushed and lazy. It was clearly designed to capitalize on a burgeoning genre, with little regard given to crafting an experience with an intriguing premise. Fans of crusty old ARPGs may want to dedicate a weekend to this, and then never touch it again. What's amusing (and puzzling) is that Konami did manage to crank out some incredibly impressive RPGs and adventure games the same year that Dragon Scroll dropped -- Esper Dream, Ai Senshi Nicol, Getsu Fuuma Den, The Maze of Galious, Castlevania II. I suppose the difference is that those weren't so intentionally and blindingly derivative.
(Oh, as a quick final note, Dragon Scroll has the worst game ending sequence I've ever seen. Ever. It actually prompted me to research whether I had received a "bad ending" for doing something wrong, but no, the singular default ending is just stunningly stupid. Almost worth playing the game just to see it. Almost.)
Ninja-kun
The original Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken is one of those mostly forgotten platformers of old. Part of a massive (and confusing) series, the arcade original dropped in 1984 (renamed Ninja-Kid in North America), though the initial round of home versions were left in Japan. 1985 saw a Famicom release of the game, courtesy of Jaleco, who later went on to develop the related Ninja Jajamaru-kun games.
Fami Ninja-kun does a decent job of imitating the stage layout present in the arcade original. As an early arcade game, only three (looping) environments are available, with the game's primary goal being high score acquisition. Stages are completed not when an exit is reached, but when all enemies are vanquished. Our hero, a stout ninja clad in red, is equipped with shurikens. These will annihilate most foes in a single hit, and cancel hostile projectiles, but they're emitted slowly so success in Ninja-kun is predicated on a well-timed series of hops and attacks.
Yes, the oddball jumping controls were transferred from the arcade to this home release. Basically, there is no true dedicated jump button. Instead pressing A causes the ninja protagonist to drop down vertically to a lower platform. To jump, one must tap the A button in tandem with left or right on the d-pad, and it's downright impossible to leap straight up into the air. It's a wholly unnecessary control scheme, and transforms an inherently difficult game into an absolute beast.
If we're gonna be fair, Ninja-kun in the arcades wasn't that good, and this Famicom port downgrades all elements even further. Graphics are grainy and ugly, with the stage two backdrop featuring the same sort of gray as a blinking non-functioning NES. Controls are stiff and unwieldy. And while the original musical compositions aren't technically bad, they've been transformed here into ear-piercing shrill loops. There's also a strange amount of epileptic screen-flashing. As a final insult, there are no continues available, though there seems to be fewer on-screen enemies here compared to the arcade game, and most any platforming vet should at least expect to complete a loop or two.
Ultimately, this the exactly the type of half-baked rush-job arcade conversion that screams "early Famicom." As an obsessive adorer of antique platformers, I'm willing to give this a bit of a pass -- fans of the genre should play this once, if only for the sake of posterity. That said, the superior arcade game has now officially been emulated and released worldwide via Hamster's Arcade Archives line. It arguably renders Jaleco Famicom cartridge #3 completely moot.
