Not too long ago I played and reviewed Madou Monogatari II and while I find the game good, it has some frustrations and left me a little sad that I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. I’d recommend reading my review if you want more of my opinion on it. Close to the end of it I had said I hope Madou Monogatari III would fix some of the issues I had. Though I knew in my head I was going in with low standards as one of my closer oomfs had beaten this game a year or two ago and told me they hated the game. Surely this was not going to go well, so why was this my favorite of the trilogy?

Before I talk about the actual gameplay I wanna discuss the game’s artstyle. It was done by a different artist due to the other one working on the Mega Drive entry and it shows. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how you view the game as a whole. I’ll start with bad. This game looks inconsistent compared to the past two titles which is a shame as it was originally just a game with all three entries in the box with a consistent style. The game looks a lot more silly which came at the cost of less detailed sprites and not as good looking cutscenes, with the biggest example being the intro. It’s especially obvious if you compare it to the MSX/PC-98 versions. Though if that doesn’t bother you, then that’s fine because here’s the good. Because of it being silly, there’s a lot of good shots here that can be a bit funny and they really compliment the game as it’s the funniest of the trilogy by a longshot. It’s so funny that I don’t even want to spoil the moments for you. Oddly in the manual for the game, you can find screenshots that aren’t used in the game and look more in line with the previous games. Were these from an earlier build? Who knows.

The game has not changed much from before but you’ll be exploring four different areas with Arle and even Carbuncle by your side. You actually have all of your magic available at the start though some spells from II are gone as they would be pointless here. The game still does have some visible improvements like random encounters are now given warnings. The game has text that’ll let you know when the next step is an enemy. This is cool but it’s not always consistent and might come off as annoying for some. I found it sometimes gave the text for multiple steps or just no enemy showed up at all. Still, the navigation is the same, and a lot of the mechanics are the same.

I found the design of each location to be for the most part good and enjoyable but it does have some issues. While they can be fun to navigate, this game has an obsession with invisible walls and random buttons. If you’re stuck and don’t know what to do, odds are it’s some stupid invisible wall or a button you didn’t realize was in a specific wall tile. The Dark Zone area can also be a pain to navigate as the walls are invisible meaning you’ll have to check the map a ton. Though with all that said, the rest of it is enjoyable and even some fun moments like getting to enjoy the hot springs, or dancing with frogs in the dark zone, breaking down the pillars in Rulue’s place. You even get a new Magic cannon though I’m calling it a gun because it’s funny. The gun is used for a lot of plot moments and you can use it in battles as well. It’s a shame it was never in any other entries or even the Puyo Puyo series.

Another new mechanic is Carbuncle himself. Every step you take makes him hungrier and hungrier. Once you take enough steps his mood changes and once he’s at his breaking point, he will say “Goo.” and you’ll be forced to feed him. He will eat Veggies but will also eat a single item of anything you have if you lack them. Don’t worry, it’s not too annoying especially if you remember he needs them so you should never come to a time where he will be eating your stuff if you prepare. Though be warned if you somehow have zero items in your bag he can eat, you’re forced to hear him talk every single step you take. I’m also pretty sure his mood resets if you use the gun.

Battles themselves are a lot easier this time around and the game actually doesn’t have a single moment of grinding. This is really nice as it feels more in line with the first game. Though this does come at the cost of the game feeling a bit mindless but I would rather take that then it be an annoying grindfest with some battles feeling like RNG. It also feels like you never miss in this game which confuses me why there are focus herbs still. I only died once and it was only because I forgot to prepare.The game actually gives you a lot of Golden Apples this time around but at least they sometimes try to hide them to reward players looking everywhere on a floor. There’s also an EXP exploit involved with the new dancing mechanic. This was taken from another Compile game but in the magic section outside of battles, you can dance. There’s a chance however you can get EXP so you can use this for easy level ups if you’re about to get one. If you want to make it easier, save state and load state before clicking it to get it faster as the rng roll isn’t until you click the option. It’s unknown if they wanted you to get EXP this way or was just meant to be funny is up to the person to decide.

With the game being funnier and just not having the issues Madou II had for me, it was just a joy for me to experience. I kept thinking when it would get bad but it just never did. Sure I have my nitpicks like all the shopkeepers are frogs which is lame, Rulue is an incredibly easy final boss, Choppun is in this game and that sucks and worst of all, they got rid of the voice clip for the donpa-unpa item!! Why would you remove that Compile?! But with the fun design and just easy going feel this one had for me, I can forgive it. There’s just so many moments in this game that make it so memorable. I even like some of the small things like the magic attacks having actual animations and even the new voice clips for Arle.

I think that’s what makes Madou III so good is just that I never felt like the experience was going downhill or I was being disappointed. It’s just overall a very good game and while your mileage may vary, for me I had a good time and of the three it has to be my favorite and I’m still shocked I’m even saying that. The game has a very well made fan translation so give it a play after you finish the first two. There is still one more Madou Monogatari game on the Game Gear so you’ll probably see me review that next month and hopefully that one keeps the good consistency going. Glad to see the trilogy end on a good note, good job Compile!

Before I go, here’s some fun trivia. If you beat the Minotaur fight, go up one space and warp up. You’ll find a Puyoman that shills the product at a place in Japan in 1995. I’m honestly wondering if anyone went there to get a Puyoman because of this but it’s not like I can ask Japanese people…Well here is another thing I have. There is a secret sound test in this game and it even features a song not used in the actual game. The problem is, I don’t remember how to get it. You see it’s very poorly documented, not even GameFAQs has it listed. I remember seeing it in either a very late issue of Beep! MegaDrive or one of the early issues when rebranded as Sega Saturn Magazine. So if you really wanna look for it, try to find a scan of those and you’ll eventually find the code in there. Sorry I couldn’t tell you exactly how to do it. Anyway, that’s the end of the review, see you idk maybe in May for the last Madou GG game.