Magical Chase
| Magical Chase | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Palsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Quest |
| Designer(s) | Hiroshi Minagawa |
| Composer(s) | Hitoshi Sakimoto Masaharu Iwata |
| Platform(s) | PC Engine, Game Boy Color |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Horizontal scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Distribution | 4-megabit cartridge |
Magical Chase (マジカルチェイス Majikaru Chieisu) is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Palsoft and released by Quest on the PC Engine (TurboGrafx) platform in 1991 in Japan, and 1993 in the U.S.
The game's protagonist is a witch called Ripple flying on a broomstick, along with two anthropomorphic stars known as "Star Maidens," which serve as Gradius-style options. The game has many notable similarities to Cotton, released for the console by Success the very same year. Magical Chase's late release in the U.S. at the end of the TurboGrafx/Turbo Duo's life, coupled with extensive hype, makes the game harder to find and more expensive than earlier releases.
Story
From the game's box:
Ripple is a student of magic, and her teacher is a terrifying witch! Ripple's particularly afraid of her teacher right now, because she's just broken a promise she made to the witch; Ripple took a peek inside the forbidden book Sleeping Demons! No sooner had she opened the cover than out jumped six demons, which raced away! Unless she can catch all six demons and get them back inside the book, the witch will turn Ripple into a frog for breaking her promise! Ripple sets off on her quest with her two Elf-Star friends, Topsy and Turvy. Good luck, Ripple!!
Gameplay
There are a total of six levels in the game which can be played on the normal and hard difficulty settings. Only the first three can be played on the easy difficulty setting. As enemies are destroyed, they leave behind different colored gemstones which serve as the game's currency. Twice during each level, a shop appears where power-ups, health, and extra lives can be purchased (except for the third and sixth levels, where it only appears once). Touching obstacles and the ground does not kill the player such as in Gradius but it does impede progress. If the player gets trapped behind objects at the left-hand side of the screen, "scrolling damage" will occur.
Each stage is presented with the name of the mid-boss encountered, and keeping with the magic theme, is titled as a magical seal. Each level has a mid-boss and end-boss. At the end of each, the player is awarded a clear bonus of 1000 x the number of the level.
- 1st seal: Cubolygon – This level takes place in a castle environment, composed of Tetris-like pieces. There are two bosses in this level, the first named one is a cube-shaped creature who attacks with a series of cubes that spread out in a concentric manner. The second boss is a large crude robot-like creature who shoots triangle-shaped projectiles. Along with the robot is its, controller, a winged goblin creature who fires large balls of green light.
- 2nd seal: Dodongrin – This level takes place in an archaic temple set in the middle of a forest. The mid-boss is a large acorn who fires bursts of smaller acorns. The end boss is a green-haired person who initially hides in a tree. After receiving some damage the creature bursts out of the tree and attacks the player with series of wide directional bursts of orange shots. The boss will also summon series of large stone blocks in an attempt to cause scrolling damage.
- 3rd seal: Kamikaze Dangun – This level takes place in a corridor of an airship that is constantly expanding and decreasing. This corridor, littered with obstacles, creates many points where scrolling damage can occur. There is no mid-boss per se, but the enemy pictured in the level opening occurs in swarms throughout the beginning of the level. The end boss is a sheep-like creature who travels in and out of six pipes, and arises to shoot five large bursts that concentrically emanate.
- 4th seal: Fat Metal – This level seemingly takes place in the interior of the castle from the first level. There are many obstcales to avoid. The mid-boss is a large metal fish that shoots a variety of large projectiles, including ice and steel balls. The end-boss is green-tinged creature sitting in a chair that shoots large waves, and groups of smaller green projectiles from two turrets. The player has to avoid obstacles while fighting.
- 5th seal: Gemini Snow – This level takes place outside a city during the night. The mid-boss are two snowmen with Jason-masks on who attack by shooting snowballs and ramming the player. The end-boss is a large legless knight who throws axes and shoots fireballs at the player.
- 6th seal – This level is a series of boss encounters. The first two bosses are the mid-stage enemies encountered in the first and fourth seals respectively. Then the player encounters a large anthropomorphic spiked-ball that throws smaller spiked-balls and green laser beams. The next boss is similar to the end-boss from the fifth seal; except only the head remains with a long snake-like body. This enemy shoots series of fireballs. The final enemy is a horned warlock archetype who carries a big staff which shoots a variety of attacks. Late in the boss fight, the boss will launch large undefeatable segmented dragons (similar to the enemies found in Salamander).
Ports
The first port of Magical Chase to appear outside the NEC console family was a Windows 95/98 port released on April 10, 1998.
Magical Chase was later ported to the Game Boy Color by Micro Cabin and released in Japan on August 4, 2000, as Magical Chase GB.