First Taste - Spellcaster (Sega Master System)

Heylo, everyone!

Spellcaster is a game that started out pretty awesome... It's mostly about a spellcaster! ...in Japan! The very first thing you hear of the game is the absolute worst 'thunder' sound effect I've heard in a game. X3 Which was just amazing, I think. It seemed so corny! As did the demo of the first stage.. The way the main character runs is just...Well, he kicks his knees up really high at the least. X3

And really that encapsulates the whole feel of the game... It's like an old, bad anime. It is obviously taking itself so seriously, but with typos in the dialogue, odd looking characters, and hit-and-miss localization choices (I'm pretty sure no where in feudal Japan did they have 'spaghetti stalls' on the streets!) it just ends up seeming so corny that I couldn't help but like it!

It also sounds pretty good for a Master System game! The sounds aren't grating, and while maybe a little repetitive, the music's not the kind of repetition that gets annoying.

As for the gameplay, during time in towns it's...weird. It has odd adventure game prompts on the side which, at least for the little bit I played, didn't seem to really have much purpose at all. But I figure later in the game maybe there are puzzles or something for you to do. And on the "field", you have a side-scrolling action game that reminded me very much of Shadow Dancer. Take a few steps, attack an enemy, rinse and repeat. But unlike Shadow Dancer, you actually had a health meter! Named STGH. Worst abbreviation choice ever. X3 You also had an ENGY meter that would go up for picking up orange balls, but I couldn't figure out what that did since it never went down...

All in all the game was pretty fun! Though as soon as I got to the second stage the difficulty seemed to ramp itself up a good bit with the new enemies and everything... So I'd say it was a salty experience, ultimately. Good, and I may well go back to it, but I doubt it'd be something I'd play a ton. ^.^;