Dahna Megami Tanjyo (MD, 1991)
Graphics-6.5 Sound-7 Control-6 Challenge-7.5/8.5*
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/9* Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
*Hard
+ Some interesting level design (horseback and giant riding), good bosses, dark medieval atmosphere (similar to Golden Axe), unusually gory, basic level up system (upgrades the health bar), some good bosses, difficulty and control options, up- and downstab, story stills in-between levels
+/- Female protagonist, some delay on sword attacks (there’s also a three punch combo which seems pointless and has more delay on the final swing), Golden Axe 1 style magic system (more MP=higher level magic (divided into four tiers), can’t choose which level to use – level 1 (smart bomb) is sometimes better to use than level 2 (temporary invincibility)), limited continues (5 on Normal and Hard), no energy refill after bosses, keep jumping by holding the button down
- Most tracks sound like boss music, sometimes sloppy hit detection (four armed man, giant squid, swordsmen (forgiving)), no alternate physical weapons, boring auto scroll level (better on Hard mode), unintuitive how the horse jumping works (press forward to jump higher), stiff controls in some aspects (limited jump height control, small movement delay when landing, need to press diagonally upwards to get up from crouching position, can’t move while crouching while you can crawl, sometimes uneven difficulty, bug where an enemy keeps falling down in a loop across the screen (the part where there are fish men attacking from both sides), so-so animation/colour use/sprite work in parts, trial & error (boss patterns, flight sequence, fish men attacks from both sides, some mechanics like projectile blocking), unavoidable hits while riding the giant for the second time (too stiff to control, can’t use magic), no hidden items?, gets repetitive after a few levels (repeats the four armed boss, several beat ‘em up style levels), lame final boss (just a bunch of repeated enemies),
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/9* Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
*Hard
+ Some interesting level design (horseback and giant riding), good bosses, dark medieval atmosphere (similar to Golden Axe), unusually gory, basic level up system (upgrades the health bar), some good bosses, difficulty and control options, up- and downstab, story stills in-between levels
+/- Female protagonist, some delay on sword attacks (there’s also a three punch combo which seems pointless and has more delay on the final swing), Golden Axe 1 style magic system (more MP=higher level magic (divided into four tiers), can’t choose which level to use – level 1 (smart bomb) is sometimes better to use than level 2 (temporary invincibility)), limited continues (5 on Normal and Hard), no energy refill after bosses, keep jumping by holding the button down
- Most tracks sound like boss music, sometimes sloppy hit detection (four armed man, giant squid, swordsmen (forgiving)), no alternate physical weapons, boring auto scroll level (better on Hard mode), unintuitive how the horse jumping works (press forward to jump higher), stiff controls in some aspects (limited jump height control, small movement delay when landing, need to press diagonally upwards to get up from crouching position, can’t move while crouching while you can crawl, sometimes uneven difficulty, bug where an enemy keeps falling down in a loop across the screen (the part where there are fish men attacking from both sides), so-so animation/colour use/sprite work in parts, trial & error (boss patterns, flight sequence, fish men attacks from both sides, some mechanics like projectile blocking), unavoidable hits while riding the giant for the second time (too stiff to control, can’t use magic), no hidden items?, gets repetitive after a few levels (repeats the four armed boss, several beat ‘em up style levels), lame final boss (just a bunch of repeated enemies),