Down the World: Mervil's Ambition

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Down the World: Mervil's Ambition
Title screen
Developer(s)	ASCII
Platform(s)	Super Famicom
Release date	^JP September 30, 1994 ^[1]
Genre(s)	Console RPG
Mode(s)	Single Player only
Rating(s)	CERO: n/a (not rated)
Media	6-megabit Cartridge
Input methods	Super Famicom controller

Down the World: Mervil's Ambition (ダウン・ザ・ワールド, Down the World: Mervil's Ambition^?)^[2] is a Final Fantasy IV-like RPG game where the player takes the role as Mervil as he tries to become the most successful man in his world. This game was released for the Super Famicom in the year 1994. During the course of the game, he fights rough monsters, goes on perilous quests, and becomes tougher as he acquires stronger equipment and fights evil forces. The first 15 minutes of the game is non-interactive, including the random monster fights. It takes place in the Dark Ages of Japan. The player controls a cadet that has to guard the castle.

Once the monsters kill the king, the player is transported to the modern day. From there, he fights killer clowns near a Ferris wheel. After that, the player finds a golden statue on the Ferris wheel and is transported to a flooded house where the interactive portion of the game begins. The player has to cross a bridge to the south in order to get to the village where there is a weapon shop, an item shop, and an inn. Japanese literacy is required to play the game.

The B button is used to automatically navigate the player back to a certain landmark and the Y button is used to check up on the player's statistics. The player can save up to three different games and can save anywhere in the game. In addition to this, in battle, the player can use his weapon or a variety of magic spells of both healing and destruction. Low level enemies include hermit crabs, snakes, and mobile cactus plants. After gaining control of the character, he starts out at experience level 3, as opposed to most games where he starts out at experience level 1. Certain monsters can also poison the character, which require an antidote to cure the constant loss of hit points in battle.