Milon's Secret Castle
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Milon's Secret Castle (迷宮組曲; Meikyū Kumikyoku, literally "The Maze Suite") is an action-adventure game released by Hudson Soft for the Nintendo Famicom (Japan) on November 13, 1986, the Nintendo Entertainment System (USA) in September, 1988, and the Game Boy (in Japan: ミロンの迷宮組曲; Miron no Meikyū Kumikyoku, or "Milon's Maze Suite") on March 26, 1993.
In 1996, a Super Famicom sequel to the game was released in Japan only called Do-Re-Mi Fantasy: Milon's Quest (also known as Milon no DokiDoki Daibouken, literally "Milon's Heart-Pounding, Great Adventure"). On January 22, 2000, an English translation of the game was released as a ROM by a group of enthusiasts known as "Gaijin Productions of CTC" who freely translate Japanese games into English.
[edit] Gameplay
The main character, Milon (ミロン; Miron) is a character in the land of Hudson that fights by shooting bubbles. The player starts out at the bottom floor of a four-story castle named Castle Garland, where each story can only be reached by defeating the boss of the floor below. Although seemingly basic, the only way the bosses can even be reached is by discovering a host of secrets, some of which require sheer luck or a helpful manual.
The game has generally been considered extremely difficult and frustrating. There are no save points, and once a player runs out of life, the game is over. Also, unlike in most platform games of the era, Milon doesn't "blink" to become briefly invincible when he is attcked by an enemy, which means his energy can be sapped in no time if he doesn't move away. Each room of the castle contains secrets not unlike those of the Super Mario Bros. series; the secrets are uncovered by shooting bubbles into invisible trigger objects.
An interesting cumulative side-quest involves finding music boxes. By touching a music box, Milon is transported to a mini-game where he attempts to pick up many musical notes as possible, with extra points given for sharps and negative points given for accidentally picking up flats. The first time the player reaches the mini-game, only one elf with a drum appears to play the music. Each time the player collects a music box and is transported to the mini-game, a new elf with a new instrument appears, and the song gets more interesting.
The Game Boy version of the game does include a password feature (otherwise it is mostly identical to the NES game).
Milon also makes a cameo appearance in Saturn Bomberman.
A puzzle game based on Milon is being developed for the Nintendo DS.
