| Last Armageddon | |
|---|---|
Title screen |
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| Developer(s) | Family Computer: Advance Communication Company[1] MSX: Braingrey.Mind[2] |
| Publisher(s) | Yutaka[1] |
| Composer(s) | Hiroharu Hayama |
| Platform(s) | NEC PC-8801 MSX Sharp X68000 PC Engine CD-ROM²[3] Family Computer[1] MS-DOS FM Towns |
| Release date(s) | PC-8801 & MSX: TurboGrafx-CD: Family Computer: |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game[1][2] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | 6-megabit cartridge CD-ROM 3½ floppy disk |
| System requirements | |
Last Armageddon (ラストハルマゲドン, "Last Armageddon") is a 1988 Japanese post-apocalyptic role-playing video game for the NEC PC-8801,[4] MSX, Sharp X68000, MS-DOS personal computers, PC Engine CD-ROM², and Nintendo Family Computer. Described to be the antithesis of the Dragon Quest fantasy series, the introductory story deals with life after all organisms (humans and animals) have been wiped out by a mysterious force. All of the music in this game is considered to be representative of Hiroharu Hayama's early works; he was a composer for Japanese video games during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Hayama often used his music to make games look spooky and dark.
Contents |
Those humans who breathed the toxin-filled air in the Earth's surface became one with the Earth and kept dissolving. The history of humanity ended and dominion of the planet returned to the demons.[5] These mutant creatures did not depend on oxygen to survive.[5] Therefore, they were able to breathe the air and use the land.[5] Meanwhile, an army of robots wage World War IV against the demons in order to conquer what is now known as Makai - the Demon World.[5] These robots came to the planet on a wave of energy that created an explosion that turned the world into a wasteland.[5] Much later in the game, concurrent themes including Adolf Hitler,[6] war,[6] creating a perfect race of people,[6] and the destruction of humanity in the year 1999 are revealed to the player inside one of the robot's main bases.[6]
Can the demons gain dominion on the humans' old planet or will robots enforce impose a millennium of logic and dictatorial force throughout Makai? Playing as the robots is not an option that is open to the player. Therefore, the player must take advantage of his or her mutant army and crush the robot invaders. This game builds on the fear of robot domination of the world that has been featured greatly in movies from The Terminator to Terminator Salvation. The gameplay is similar to Final Fantasy as the turn-based fights are viewed from a third-person perspective.[5]
Both the demon soldiers and their enemies may cast magic spells or physical attacks.[5] Some magic attacks have the ability to inflict poison damage on any of the player's creatures. If a creature is poisoned, then the player must return his or her creatures to the home base in an attempt to find a cure for the poison. Letting the creature remained poisoned for a certain amount of time eventually will lead to a creature's death.[7]
The game plays like a role-playing video game and the graves of fallen demons by the player's home base remind him or her of the situation that is going on in the game. When a player first starts the game, he or she should not go right because experienced monsters lie to the right in a stadium that is in the southeastern corner of the game. It will take a foursome of level 5-10 characters in order to defeat the robots inside the dome. As characters advance in level, the monster images change slightly.[5] By the time the characters advance to levels 17 through 34 (the maximum possible levels), the monsters will look completely slimy and the fusion of the cells will get ugly.