The Magic of Scheherazade
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| The Magic of Scheherazade | |
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| Developer(s) | Culture Brain |
| Publisher(s) | Culture Brain |
| Release date(s) | JPN September 3, 1987 NA 1989 |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | NES |
| Media | Cartridge |
The Magic of Scheherazade is a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released by Culture Brain in 1989. It is the translation of the 1987 Famicom game Arabian Dream Sherazaado. The player attempts to rescue Princess Scheherazade from the evil wizard Sabaron, who has summoned the demon Goragora to do his bidding. The game was innovative for its time, incorporating elements of adventure and RPG styles.
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[edit] Story
The player controls a player-named hero who is a descendant of the great magician Isfa, who unsuccessfully attempted to defend Arabia from the evil wizard Sabaron. As a result, the Hero's memories are erased, and his beloved, Princess Scheherazade, is captured. Isfa must travel across five worlds to rescue Scheherazade's three sisters, her father, and finally Scheherazade herself. Along the way, eleven NPCs join the party to fight against Sabaron.
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Adventure
The majority of play takes place on an overhead map where the player moves between screens, as in The Legend of Zelda. In each world, the player must complete a number of tasks and recruit the area's allies, traveling between two eras of the world using the Time Gate found on a particular screen. Landscapes are numerous and include the tree-lined overworld, towns, deserts, underwater areas, dimly lit dungeons, and palace labyrinths.
The player's primary weapons are a sword, used for powerful close-range attacks, and a rod, used for shooting missiles that travel the entire length of the screen. Magic spells and items are also available for defeating enemies and negotiating obstacles. The character has three classes, a Fighter who uses the currently-equipped sword but who always uses the weakest rod (regardless of what's equipped), a Magician who uses the currently-equipped rod but uses a dagger instead of a sword, and a Saint who can only attack with the weakest rod and a dagger but who is required for certain tasks (like gaining the NPC Pukin in Chapter 3). Changing into specific classes is often required for other quests as well. The player can change classes (for a fee) at a Mosque or by casting the Great Magic spell Moscom during an Alalart Solar Eclipse.
Each chapter concludes with a demonic boss that must be defeated with magic and the rod.
[edit] Battles
When traveling between screens on the adventure map, the player will sometimes encounter random, turn-based battles. Two allies can participate in each battle with the player's character, along with up to four mercenary troopers. Certain ally pairings create formations, which enable the party to cast powerful group magics. Enemies also frequently appear in formations, whose best counters are discussed in "magic universities" found on the adventure map.
[edit] Alalart Solar Eclipse
After some time passes on the adventure map, the screen will darken and a message will state that an Alalart Solar Eclipse has begun. During this time, many favorable things will occur. For example, it will be easier to win at the Casino, a player can plant a Rupia tree in the earlier time period to harvest for 500 Rupias during the later time period. As well, the five Great Magic spells can be cast by the player.
[edit] Great Magic
A wise man lives in each of the five chapters, and will grant you the ability to cast one of the five Great Magic spells. Once used, the spell cannot be cast again without going back to the Wise Man. This means that if you have gone on to the next chapter you cannot gain a previous chapter's Great Magic.
- Chapter 1: Monecom - Summons a Rupia Tree, which gives the player the maximum money and many helpful items.
- Chapter 2: Raincom - Causes rain to fall on the desert, stopping it from draining the player's hit points. Only useful during the Present time period of Chapter 2.
- Chapter 3: Spricom - When cast during the Future time period of Chapter 3 (an eternal winter) it will cause spring to arrive for a short period of time. The cold of the winter drains the hit points of the player, so it is a useful spell to conserve hit points.
- Chapter 4: Moscom - Summons a mosque which will change the player's class for free.
- Chapter 5: Libcom - Summons a mosque which will revive all allies for free.
[edit] Passwords
The game uses a password system to save player location, abilities, and inventory. Specific passwords are up to 48 characters long.
A unique feature of the game's password system allows for passwords with as many as six incorrect characters to result in the player not having to start over from the beginning. If a password is entered unsuccessfully twice and has less than six incorrect characters, the game will display the message "The password is still wrong. Please check and enter it again." If after being re-entered it still is incorrect with less than six errors, the game will display the message "The password is still wrong. Please check and enter it again. If the password still does not work, I will allow you to start in that world." If the password is still incorrect in this manner, the game will ask the player for a name and class, then place the player at the beginning of the chapter determined by the game with pre-determined attributes. This resulted in an unintended stage select code, as the current chapter is stored in the password as "Wn", n being the chapter. All the player needs to enter would be those two characters, and submit it to the game three times.
There are also a total of seven special passwords. The game's ending can be viewed by entering the word "END", and a sound test can be accessed with the word "SOUND". Entering "nW" will start you on chapter n with all allies, the best equipment, and every objective complete, save for the chapter's boss.
[edit] Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was composed by a Japanese concert pianist named Kume.
