Had no idea sega had their own zelda game and it plays smooth as butter. I'd like a little more hit feedback on bosses but otherwise it's a neat little adventure with cool partner abilities.
Crusader of Centy is, at surface value, a fairly competent Zelda clone for the Genesis. Movement is smoother and it leans more towards action, with a sword throw and a pretty freeform sense of momentum. It lacks proper dungeons and puzzle-solving, but it does feature a nice variety of animal buddies that each have their own ability. It's a bit light on content, with most of the levels and bosses feeling rather underdesigned, but it's hard to accuse it of a lack of ambition because its story is, to be frank, completely fucking insane.
The game, set in a fantasy world where monsters used to rule the land, but were then banished by a mysterious light, starts with the protagonist (default name Corona)'s 14th birthday, where he is given, as ordained by the laws of the land, a sword and shield by his worried mother, and sent to adventure in the wild. He then loses the ability to speak with men, causing an actually pretty effective sense of alienation, even though he can now speak with animals. He goes on with his journey with no stated goal, eventually finding out that the reason he can't speak with humans is that the Tower of Babel finished construction, and God did the whole thing preventing all men from understanding one another. There's an episode where you are unwittingly transformed into a monster and get to see how your kind terrifies theirs (this lasts about 2 minutes of playtime), which later sets up the reveal that the monsters are just innocent creatures that humans murder for no reason (no idea why they keep trying to kill you. Self defense?). Eventually you decide to climb up the Tower of Babel, where you throw hands with an alien, then you meet a giant ancient dragon who summons your mom into the fight and starts beating the shit out of her, only to reveal that this was a test of your mettle and that she was just an illusion. Then, you grow a plant on top of the Tower of Babel so you can climb into heaven (which is, obviously, the most unhingedly designed area in the game, made purely to troll players I think) and ask God to cut that whole language thing out. He does, but says humanity sucks and will all go to Hell. Anyways, a magic tornado has appeared, and you can use to travel in time by jumping into it, which lets you witness a few (I think unrelated?) vignettes of the world's past, before letting you travel to the final dungeon, which is where the monsters lived before spilling into the human world again so you can destroy... some divine creature? To reboot the entire universe and stop fantasy racism (by sealing the oppressed monsters into another dimension).
It's easy to make any game sound crazy by just listing plot beats, but I want you to understand that there is very little that I omitted. Centy just goes between a plot beat and another without actually bothering to explain why things are happening. This game doesn't even have a villain or a proper overarching goal, as far as I understand it. Where did the tornado, which plays a key role in the late game, come from, and why does it have these powers? Who knows! It's barely acknowledged, let alone explained. Why do monsters flip-flop between completely reasonable creatures and random encounters? Dunno! I only guessed what the final dungeon was based off one off-hand line, the game doesn't tell you. I think at least some of the blame for this rests on the bad translation (Apparently the EU one is different, might be better to go with that) but the game is very clearly rushed. A lot of the animal buddies see use only once or twice throughout the game, and the whole time travel stuff is clearly a way to reuse stages and enemies they already made. If I had to guess, the devs were trying to make a proper epic of a game, spanning tens of hours and exploring the breadth of themes that Crusader of Centy as is uneasily touches upon, and had to drastically resize the scope of what they were working with. It's a dang shame because as it is, the game feels extremely confused and muddled. I think it's worth a shot if you're interested, it feels ok to play especially when you get the sword throw (the basic slash is a little janky), there's a lot of cool ideas and moments and even if they struggle to come together they can at least be appreciated for what they are.
The game, set in a fantasy world where monsters used to rule the land, but were then banished by a mysterious light, starts with the protagonist (default name Corona)'s 14th birthday, where he is given, as ordained by the laws of the land, a sword and shield by his worried mother, and sent to adventure in the wild. He then loses the ability to speak with men, causing an actually pretty effective sense of alienation, even though he can now speak with animals. He goes on with his journey with no stated goal, eventually finding out that the reason he can't speak with humans is that the Tower of Babel finished construction, and God did the whole thing preventing all men from understanding one another. There's an episode where you are unwittingly transformed into a monster and get to see how your kind terrifies theirs (this lasts about 2 minutes of playtime), which later sets up the reveal that the monsters are just innocent creatures that humans murder for no reason (no idea why they keep trying to kill you. Self defense?). Eventually you decide to climb up the Tower of Babel, where you throw hands with an alien, then you meet a giant ancient dragon who summons your mom into the fight and starts beating the shit out of her, only to reveal that this was a test of your mettle and that she was just an illusion. Then, you grow a plant on top of the Tower of Babel so you can climb into heaven (which is, obviously, the most unhingedly designed area in the game, made purely to troll players I think) and ask God to cut that whole language thing out. He does, but says humanity sucks and will all go to Hell. Anyways, a magic tornado has appeared, and you can use to travel in time by jumping into it, which lets you witness a few (I think unrelated?) vignettes of the world's past, before letting you travel to the final dungeon, which is where the monsters lived before spilling into the human world again so you can destroy... some divine creature? To reboot the entire universe and stop fantasy racism (by sealing the oppressed monsters into another dimension).
It's easy to make any game sound crazy by just listing plot beats, but I want you to understand that there is very little that I omitted. Centy just goes between a plot beat and another without actually bothering to explain why things are happening. This game doesn't even have a villain or a proper overarching goal, as far as I understand it. Where did the tornado, which plays a key role in the late game, come from, and why does it have these powers? Who knows! It's barely acknowledged, let alone explained. Why do monsters flip-flop between completely reasonable creatures and random encounters? Dunno! I only guessed what the final dungeon was based off one off-hand line, the game doesn't tell you. I think at least some of the blame for this rests on the bad translation (Apparently the EU one is different, might be better to go with that) but the game is very clearly rushed. A lot of the animal buddies see use only once or twice throughout the game, and the whole time travel stuff is clearly a way to reuse stages and enemies they already made. If I had to guess, the devs were trying to make a proper epic of a game, spanning tens of hours and exploring the breadth of themes that Crusader of Centy as is uneasily touches upon, and had to drastically resize the scope of what they were working with. It's a dang shame because as it is, the game feels extremely confused and muddled. I think it's worth a shot if you're interested, it feels ok to play especially when you get the sword throw (the basic slash is a little janky), there's a lot of cool ideas and moments and even if they struggle to come together they can at least be appreciated for what they are.
A very nice Zelda-like action adventure that looks like a RPG but it really isn't. It felt a mix of FF Mystic Quest, ALTTP and Secret of Mana.
“What if we made the sword the boomerang?” is a good instinct for a zeldalike
An okay Zelda-like with some real unique gimmicks with the partners you collect over the course of the game. Held back mostly by bland dungeon design and a sloppy localization/translation that mares a lot of the story (granted, many of the story beats tend to get dropped very quickly).
That said, it's beatable in an afternoon, has wonderful music, and makes for a fun time as a one-and-done.
That said, it's beatable in an afternoon, has wonderful music, and makes for a fun time as a one-and-done.
Si dejo de rejugarlo cada cierto tiempo preguntadme si he cogido el COVID, porque significará que he perdido el gusto.
One of the best and most-underrated Sega Genesis games. Despite looking like a Zelda clone on the surface, I'd say it's more of a combination between Zelda, Secret of Mana, and Kirby, with some neat abilities to experiment with, great dungeon design, and delightful visuals.
10
This review contains spoilers
Current thoughts: I am writing this as I reached one of the main bosses that being maldra from what I saw very cool game whit a beautiful message about how people are discriminatory against anything that is different
Sega's answer to A Link to the Past : a colorful and fun adventure, that still holds up to this day.
Crusader of Centy is pretty solid for the most part. Somehow, I haven't played A Link to the Past yet, which this game gets compared to a lot. I have played Beyond Oasis though, and out of the Genesis library that is probably the closest comparison I can draw. This game is definitely easier and more story-driven, though. It's also a pretty digestible length, has very good music, and a bunch of tiny animals follow you around! Yay!
The emphasis on the narrative, however, is what makes the game's biggest issue really stand out. You see, monsters and humans have been failing to coexist for many years in this game's world due to monsters' inability to communicate and humans' selfishness and desire for war and bloodshed. Once you realize you're essentially on the bad side in this story, your new mission is to make peace between the two, right? Well, for some reason or whatever it cannot be done. What happens instead is you have to go back in time and keep the monsters from being sent to the human world, keeping them both in their own little bubbles and preventing the whole song and dance from even beginning. No peace between the two is really achieved. It's a very hollow victory at best, and more importantly seems to draw an awful lot of parallels to segregation, whether intentional or otherwise. I doubt it is, though, seeing as it feels most like a clumsy and rushed way to wrap up the story. Whatever the case, it kinda sucks ass that that's what they went with.
This is still a great game, don't get me wrong. It's just that discussion about its unsatisfying and questionable ending often tends to overshadow it, and after playing it and looking into it I really do see why. Beyond Oasis doesn't do that. I bet A Link to the Past doesn't either.
The emphasis on the narrative, however, is what makes the game's biggest issue really stand out. You see, monsters and humans have been failing to coexist for many years in this game's world due to monsters' inability to communicate and humans' selfishness and desire for war and bloodshed. Once you realize you're essentially on the bad side in this story, your new mission is to make peace between the two, right? Well, for some reason or whatever it cannot be done. What happens instead is you have to go back in time and keep the monsters from being sent to the human world, keeping them both in their own little bubbles and preventing the whole song and dance from even beginning. No peace between the two is really achieved. It's a very hollow victory at best, and more importantly seems to draw an awful lot of parallels to segregation, whether intentional or otherwise. I doubt it is, though, seeing as it feels most like a clumsy and rushed way to wrap up the story. Whatever the case, it kinda sucks ass that that's what they went with.
This is still a great game, don't get me wrong. It's just that discussion about its unsatisfying and questionable ending often tends to overshadow it, and after playing it and looking into it I really do see why. Beyond Oasis doesn't do that. I bet A Link to the Past doesn't either.
Really charming Zelda-like with great music and a pretty interesting narrative (aside from the ending). I really appreciate the focus on action over puzzle-solving, and the speed of the game is breakneck compared to other games of this type. I think my biggest gripe is that the action kind of doesn't feel great? The sword has a really small hitbox, throwing your sword takes just a bit too long to charge, the momentum makes me miss jumps or slam into enemies way too often, and there's no oomph to hitting enemies at all. All that didn't bother me too much because the game doesn't overstay its welcome and it's generally very easy, but if this game just felt a little bit better to control it would be great.
A fine game that doesn’t quite live up to the promise of “The Sega Genesis’ answer to The Legend of Zelda”. The animal partners are a unique take on the items, and combining the attack and movement partners to find a play style that works for you is pretty fun. Unfortunately, the game never really forces you to master most of them. The combat is a little loose, and the bosses don’t put up much of a challenge. I appreciated the somewhat melancholy story, but the script isn’t great and the story isn’t told particularly well. I’m glad I played it, but it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.
Gameplay-wise, this game is decent. I see lots of similarities with some Zelda games, but this game still manages to get it's own unique feel and have fun with the concept. Getting friends and mixing their powers is pretty fun, but the game fails to provide any meaningful challenge. The bosses are pretty easy and the puzzles are pretty obvious, especially if they require some friend's power. The only challenge this game can offer is to be lost maybe 80% of the time. I tried my best without any guides but the story makes little sense and at times fails to point you to the right direction and some of the late-game levels are literal mazes I stumbled around way longer than I felt was needed.
In the end, I very much enjoyed myself. It's not a Zelda killer, but it's still managed to deliver an interesting adventure with some quirky humour.
In the end, I very much enjoyed myself. It's not a Zelda killer, but it's still managed to deliver an interesting adventure with some quirky humour.
This review contains spoilers
I think one of the most frustrating aspects of retro game discourse is when older games get unfairly criticized or overlooked because of their similarities to other titles. Shmups and fighters are often the largest victims of this as a whole, but another that always peeves me is the dreaded 'zelda' clone. If you put a guy on a top-down map and give him a sword, it's Zelda. And when these conversations occur, people look exclusively for which things they like from that frame of reference, and see the absence of those strengths as condemnation.
Crusader of Centy, despite the constant Zelda comparisons, doesn't have a lot in common with the series. If anything, it's almost an anti-thesis to Zelda, in the way player progression works, the bittersweet tone of its universe, and overall gameplay. It does a LOT of things surprisingly well, though it's also a product of its time, and hits some questionable territory with its writing (and sometimes, lack thereof).
You're this boy Corona who essentially gets 'drafted' by the kingdom at the age of 14. He gets a sword passed down from his MIA dad, and told to rid the land of monsters. There's a very heavy dose of 'patriotism' in the way this game frames its culture: Characters refer to becoming a 'hero' as a rite of passage, the same way a naive kid might fantasize about getting into the military. As you progress, you realize what humans classify as 'monsters' are co-habitants that have been wrongly feared and hunted, and that sets up the rest of the game's emotional conflict.
Centy's storytelling ultimately comes down to three factors: Empathy, discrimination, and the glorification of war, and it has to tangle all of these plot themes into a game where the ultimate objective is to defeat monsters and save the day, like any other 90's game. It's arguably the largest millstone around the game's neck, and something other reviewers have discussed a lot. But to its credit, it's able to use that bittersweet juxtaposition for some really ethereal storytelling. Soon after the start of the game, your ability to talk with humans is stripped away from you, instead leaving you the ability to talk to animals and monsters. You get this really pronounced feeling of alienation, where you never feel completely 'welcomed' in a certain area, and you have to guess what's going on in smaller plot events by cluing in observations from other animals or the character's movement - as much as a 16-bit NPC can move anyway. It's this very isolating sensation that feels completely ahead of its time. I think the story beat that really drives it in is when a slime NPC swaps bodies with you so it can meet the human girl it likes without fear of immediately being killed on the spot by villagers. And in the time where he's got your body, you're left as a slime and get chased down by one of the kingdom's 'heroes': A chauvinistic knight met later in the story who's revered by the kingdom like a celebrity with a closet full of skeletons. Those brief moments of being on the receiving end of the hunting are, oddly compelling for a game of this time period, even if the section it occurs in isn't 'hard' by any means.
Moreso, the game uses this as your way of empathizing with a mistreated non-humans of the game's fantasy setting - both the titular monsters and even NPC animals along the way. There's even a factor of self-growth in the mix, with characters often alluding to desires to surpass their old selves. And so, while it's completely reasonable to make the usual reaction of 'damn, this game is about how killing monsters is wrong, but you still have to kill the monsters. ding!', I think you can sorta take it the other way around, where the conflict between narrative and gameplay is subtextual of the player having to escape misdeeds that have been assigned to them by the game - or in more similar notes, an american who's been whipped into pro-fascist values, and has to forcefully tear them out of their way of thinking and acting.
Though that kinda leads to the game's biggest problem. If you've seen other reviewers, you probably know about the uh, 'ethnostate' ending. The game's ultimate resolution to humans terrorizing monsters, is that humans are a lost cause and the only way to get them to give up fascism is to prevent monsters from ever entering the human world in the first place. For the entire game up to that point - for all the tonal clashes between the game wanting you to kill monsters while making you feel bad for killing monsters, - you can still parse some greater sense of subtext and commentary. But when this bomb drops and the game tries to frame it as this happy resolution, you don't get that lingering feeling of bitter sweetness - you feel cheated. I wouldn't call it a cop-out ending, but it feels like the game kinda giving up on its own message. All this time, the game is cluing you in to how humans could eventually overcome their greed and right their wrongs. It even has a second act ordeal of sorts, where you and another monster clash at the steps of heaven seeking salvation, and the Gods of the universe take this desecration as a 'welp, I guess humans will NEVER stop fighting'. And when that hits, you WANT to prove the Gods wrong. You want there to be a more repentant turn to this tone - or at the very least, go all the way into Depression Zone. Like, if the game's gonna reconcile that humans suck shit, then stick to it and play to that discomfort. None of this 'haha humans never had the opportunity to discriminate in the first place, that means they're good!' bullshit. Damn.
Anyway that's just the story. Gameplay-wise, while the Zelda similarities are there, the emphasis in gameplay is more on the overworld and boss fights. Animal companions replace the conventional 'dungeon items' - equippable, like party members in an RPG, and each gives you passive or trigger-based abilities. None of these are very key-based abilities, either; they all have grander benefits to your core character, like boosting damage, speed, adding traits to your thrown sword, etc. And so I find animals to be a really solid replacement of Zelda's systems, not just because they remain valuable assets outside of their initial discovery points, but because they reflect the game's ludonarrative of communing with life and nature.
Oh yeah you also get a jump, and the game has a lot of really novel puzzles and platforming scenarios built around that. Odd comparison, but if you liked Landstalker's ideas but wanted its platform-focused dungeon design to be more fleshed out, you might like this a lot. There's a lot of really great moments where you utilize momentum and weather to work through the stages. You even get further jump distance based on your speed buffs, which leads to some really fun scenarios where you reach Sonic-esque speeds off of icy inclines. Also makes world traversal a lot less stressful.
In criticisms, while I like the game's ideas and system's a lot, I think the 'feel' of gameplay is rough. Corona has acceleration to his run, and his sword swing feels like mush compared to the snappy feedback of LotP's brisk slashes. The intro of the game is also where the game's structure is the most vague; because of the lack of an immediate goal or adversary, it's hard to tell where to go or what to do until after, say, the second bossfight you encounter. My first time playing this game was actually a year ago, and I dropped it specifically because of those bad early impressions. All I can say is, don't let the early-game jank put you off.
In the end it's really unfortunate this game sets up so much for itself mechanically and narratively, yet ends on such a weak plot note. For a game that puts all of its cards into depicting the moral horrors of humanity - including you, as a character in the story and the player, - it makes no effort to take either side of the equation. It could've gone the depressing route of making humanity completely unsalvagable, or it could've tried a cheesy Disney-esque ending: Both would've been preferable to this halfway-step that ends up really uncomfortably alluding to segregation. But in spite of that, it's still a really good top-down Adventure game to 'play', and I think the story moments that occur before the end lead to some very provocative introspection. A victim of naive writing tropes and having to play to the corporate 'status quo' of the time, but it still manages to excel in the wiggle room between its cracks.
Crusader of Centy, despite the constant Zelda comparisons, doesn't have a lot in common with the series. If anything, it's almost an anti-thesis to Zelda, in the way player progression works, the bittersweet tone of its universe, and overall gameplay. It does a LOT of things surprisingly well, though it's also a product of its time, and hits some questionable territory with its writing (and sometimes, lack thereof).
You're this boy Corona who essentially gets 'drafted' by the kingdom at the age of 14. He gets a sword passed down from his MIA dad, and told to rid the land of monsters. There's a very heavy dose of 'patriotism' in the way this game frames its culture: Characters refer to becoming a 'hero' as a rite of passage, the same way a naive kid might fantasize about getting into the military. As you progress, you realize what humans classify as 'monsters' are co-habitants that have been wrongly feared and hunted, and that sets up the rest of the game's emotional conflict.
Centy's storytelling ultimately comes down to three factors: Empathy, discrimination, and the glorification of war, and it has to tangle all of these plot themes into a game where the ultimate objective is to defeat monsters and save the day, like any other 90's game. It's arguably the largest millstone around the game's neck, and something other reviewers have discussed a lot. But to its credit, it's able to use that bittersweet juxtaposition for some really ethereal storytelling. Soon after the start of the game, your ability to talk with humans is stripped away from you, instead leaving you the ability to talk to animals and monsters. You get this really pronounced feeling of alienation, where you never feel completely 'welcomed' in a certain area, and you have to guess what's going on in smaller plot events by cluing in observations from other animals or the character's movement - as much as a 16-bit NPC can move anyway. It's this very isolating sensation that feels completely ahead of its time. I think the story beat that really drives it in is when a slime NPC swaps bodies with you so it can meet the human girl it likes without fear of immediately being killed on the spot by villagers. And in the time where he's got your body, you're left as a slime and get chased down by one of the kingdom's 'heroes': A chauvinistic knight met later in the story who's revered by the kingdom like a celebrity with a closet full of skeletons. Those brief moments of being on the receiving end of the hunting are, oddly compelling for a game of this time period, even if the section it occurs in isn't 'hard' by any means.
Moreso, the game uses this as your way of empathizing with a mistreated non-humans of the game's fantasy setting - both the titular monsters and even NPC animals along the way. There's even a factor of self-growth in the mix, with characters often alluding to desires to surpass their old selves. And so, while it's completely reasonable to make the usual reaction of 'damn, this game is about how killing monsters is wrong, but you still have to kill the monsters. ding!', I think you can sorta take it the other way around, where the conflict between narrative and gameplay is subtextual of the player having to escape misdeeds that have been assigned to them by the game - or in more similar notes, an american who's been whipped into pro-fascist values, and has to forcefully tear them out of their way of thinking and acting.
Though that kinda leads to the game's biggest problem. If you've seen other reviewers, you probably know about the uh, 'ethnostate' ending. The game's ultimate resolution to humans terrorizing monsters, is that humans are a lost cause and the only way to get them to give up fascism is to prevent monsters from ever entering the human world in the first place. For the entire game up to that point - for all the tonal clashes between the game wanting you to kill monsters while making you feel bad for killing monsters, - you can still parse some greater sense of subtext and commentary. But when this bomb drops and the game tries to frame it as this happy resolution, you don't get that lingering feeling of bitter sweetness - you feel cheated. I wouldn't call it a cop-out ending, but it feels like the game kinda giving up on its own message. All this time, the game is cluing you in to how humans could eventually overcome their greed and right their wrongs. It even has a second act ordeal of sorts, where you and another monster clash at the steps of heaven seeking salvation, and the Gods of the universe take this desecration as a 'welp, I guess humans will NEVER stop fighting'. And when that hits, you WANT to prove the Gods wrong. You want there to be a more repentant turn to this tone - or at the very least, go all the way into Depression Zone. Like, if the game's gonna reconcile that humans suck shit, then stick to it and play to that discomfort. None of this 'haha humans never had the opportunity to discriminate in the first place, that means they're good!' bullshit. Damn.
Anyway that's just the story. Gameplay-wise, while the Zelda similarities are there, the emphasis in gameplay is more on the overworld and boss fights. Animal companions replace the conventional 'dungeon items' - equippable, like party members in an RPG, and each gives you passive or trigger-based abilities. None of these are very key-based abilities, either; they all have grander benefits to your core character, like boosting damage, speed, adding traits to your thrown sword, etc. And so I find animals to be a really solid replacement of Zelda's systems, not just because they remain valuable assets outside of their initial discovery points, but because they reflect the game's ludonarrative of communing with life and nature.
Oh yeah you also get a jump, and the game has a lot of really novel puzzles and platforming scenarios built around that. Odd comparison, but if you liked Landstalker's ideas but wanted its platform-focused dungeon design to be more fleshed out, you might like this a lot. There's a lot of really great moments where you utilize momentum and weather to work through the stages. You even get further jump distance based on your speed buffs, which leads to some really fun scenarios where you reach Sonic-esque speeds off of icy inclines. Also makes world traversal a lot less stressful.
In criticisms, while I like the game's ideas and system's a lot, I think the 'feel' of gameplay is rough. Corona has acceleration to his run, and his sword swing feels like mush compared to the snappy feedback of LotP's brisk slashes. The intro of the game is also where the game's structure is the most vague; because of the lack of an immediate goal or adversary, it's hard to tell where to go or what to do until after, say, the second bossfight you encounter. My first time playing this game was actually a year ago, and I dropped it specifically because of those bad early impressions. All I can say is, don't let the early-game jank put you off.
In the end it's really unfortunate this game sets up so much for itself mechanically and narratively, yet ends on such a weak plot note. For a game that puts all of its cards into depicting the moral horrors of humanity - including you, as a character in the story and the player, - it makes no effort to take either side of the equation. It could've gone the depressing route of making humanity completely unsalvagable, or it could've tried a cheesy Disney-esque ending: Both would've been preferable to this halfway-step that ends up really uncomfortably alluding to segregation. But in spite of that, it's still a really good top-down Adventure game to 'play', and I think the story moments that occur before the end lead to some very provocative introspection. A victim of naive writing tropes and having to play to the corporate 'status quo' of the time, but it still manages to excel in the wiggle room between its cracks.
This one's very reminiscent of Link to the Past, and while it's not that good, it is a very solid game. There are a couple annoying dungeons, but nothing that's gonna ruin the experience.
This review contains spoilers
Crusader of Centy is… a fascinating experience. It throws a lot at the wall, and not all of it sticks. But it has a goal, and at the very least it succeeds in making you consider what it has to say.
The game follows a young boy who wants to become a hero. You exist in a fantasy world filled with monsters that have been biding their time underground for countless eons. Your character comes of age into a tumultuous time, so you take your sword and venture out to discover the cause. So far, so standard. The game throws a major curveball at you pretty early, however, when a fortune teller suddenly gives you the ability to talk to animals… at the cost of your ability to talk to humans. At that moment I was hooked- I figured the rest of the game would be about flipping the classic RPG town on its head, like a Zelda game where you can only talk to the Cuccos. The game does deliver on this, but unfortunately it’s really only for the first town. After this, you come across as many animal villages as human ones, which kind of ruins the whole idea for me.
As for the gameplay, it’s pretty average. You run around, swing a sword, jump, and the combat focuses on this boomerang sword throw you can do. You also find many animal buddies throughout the adventure that give you abilities. I really enjoyed the flying squirrel, which makes the sword fly incredibly far with your camera following it. Honestly all the powers were fun to use, though some, like the dodo, get shafted by appearing at the very end of the game, going completely underutilized.
The main adventure areas were kind of a slog, even using the speed-boosting cheetah buddy most of the time. Some puzzles were somewhat obtuse (or perhaps it was just me… probably) and the objectives sometimes unclear. The bosses, however, were nearly all very enjoyable, taking advantage of the animal buddies in ways the main levels just don’t.
Getting back to the story, it quickly swaps to being about monsters rather than animals. There’s a great segment where you get body-swapped with a slime who desperately wants to be human. You get ambushed in the woods by this hero fellow that you’ve been following in the footsteps of for most of the game. He bursts out of the bushes and makes a mad dash for you, which was both hilarious and terrifying. Great stuff. It really makes you feel bad for the slimes, but I really don’t think it makes an effective point because you haven’t seen or fought any other slimes up to this point. But the game will come back around to the humanization of monsters shortly.
I do want to take a moment to talk about the music, which was a major highlight of my playthrough. The soundtrack is filled with absolutely JAMMIN’ tracks stuffed to the brim with that classic crusty Genesis bass. There are at least 5-6 tracks that are going to stick with me for years.
Once you regain the ability to talk to humans, the game’s finale ends with you retracing your steps across the world, traveling back in time in each location, learning about the history of humans and monsters. You travel further and further back, fighting boss after boss and systematically dismantling the evil influences on the present. You learn that monsters are just people who want to be treated fairly. Eventually, you travel back to a time of darkness before humans and send all monsters back to where they came from, preventing all the conflict in the first place. To be honest, I’m really not sure how I feel about this as an ending. It says a lot that the only way humans can live without hatred is to not even have contact with monsters in the first place. On the other hand, seeing your home town in peace is quite impactful, especially when you realize you have a father now, one who didn’t go off to become a soldier.
Overall, I can’t say that Crusader of Centy achieved what it set out to. It did, however, give me a lot to chew on that I’ll probably still be thinking about for quite a while. I’ll have to revisit it sometime in the future to see if my thoughts here still hold up. And to find whatever that raccoon buddy was. If any of this sounded intriguing, give this game a shot.
The game follows a young boy who wants to become a hero. You exist in a fantasy world filled with monsters that have been biding their time underground for countless eons. Your character comes of age into a tumultuous time, so you take your sword and venture out to discover the cause. So far, so standard. The game throws a major curveball at you pretty early, however, when a fortune teller suddenly gives you the ability to talk to animals… at the cost of your ability to talk to humans. At that moment I was hooked- I figured the rest of the game would be about flipping the classic RPG town on its head, like a Zelda game where you can only talk to the Cuccos. The game does deliver on this, but unfortunately it’s really only for the first town. After this, you come across as many animal villages as human ones, which kind of ruins the whole idea for me.
As for the gameplay, it’s pretty average. You run around, swing a sword, jump, and the combat focuses on this boomerang sword throw you can do. You also find many animal buddies throughout the adventure that give you abilities. I really enjoyed the flying squirrel, which makes the sword fly incredibly far with your camera following it. Honestly all the powers were fun to use, though some, like the dodo, get shafted by appearing at the very end of the game, going completely underutilized.
The main adventure areas were kind of a slog, even using the speed-boosting cheetah buddy most of the time. Some puzzles were somewhat obtuse (or perhaps it was just me… probably) and the objectives sometimes unclear. The bosses, however, were nearly all very enjoyable, taking advantage of the animal buddies in ways the main levels just don’t.
Getting back to the story, it quickly swaps to being about monsters rather than animals. There’s a great segment where you get body-swapped with a slime who desperately wants to be human. You get ambushed in the woods by this hero fellow that you’ve been following in the footsteps of for most of the game. He bursts out of the bushes and makes a mad dash for you, which was both hilarious and terrifying. Great stuff. It really makes you feel bad for the slimes, but I really don’t think it makes an effective point because you haven’t seen or fought any other slimes up to this point. But the game will come back around to the humanization of monsters shortly.
I do want to take a moment to talk about the music, which was a major highlight of my playthrough. The soundtrack is filled with absolutely JAMMIN’ tracks stuffed to the brim with that classic crusty Genesis bass. There are at least 5-6 tracks that are going to stick with me for years.
Once you regain the ability to talk to humans, the game’s finale ends with you retracing your steps across the world, traveling back in time in each location, learning about the history of humans and monsters. You travel further and further back, fighting boss after boss and systematically dismantling the evil influences on the present. You learn that monsters are just people who want to be treated fairly. Eventually, you travel back to a time of darkness before humans and send all monsters back to where they came from, preventing all the conflict in the first place. To be honest, I’m really not sure how I feel about this as an ending. It says a lot that the only way humans can live without hatred is to not even have contact with monsters in the first place. On the other hand, seeing your home town in peace is quite impactful, especially when you realize you have a father now, one who didn’t go off to become a soldier.
Overall, I can’t say that Crusader of Centy achieved what it set out to. It did, however, give me a lot to chew on that I’ll probably still be thinking about for quite a while. I’ll have to revisit it sometime in the future to see if my thoughts here still hold up. And to find whatever that raccoon buddy was. If any of this sounded intriguing, give this game a shot.
This is a game I've heard quite positively talked about for a good while, and it being a Zelda-like game, it's absolutely in one of my favorite retro genres, so it was always one I've planned to get around to. I was excited ages ago when I heard it was coming to Switch Online, and then I promptly forgot about it as I always do X3. Then yesterday I accidentally rediscovered that it'd been added to the service! I launched it up and started playing, and before I knew it I'd just wound up finishing the game outright I'd been having so much fun x3. It took me about 6.5 hours to finish the game in English via the Switch Online Genesis service, and I never actually needed to save or anything (managed to not die a single time ^w^), so I never actually ended up using save states or rewinds or anything.
Crusader of Centy follows a young boy (whose canon name is amusingly enough, Corona) who is given a sword and shield on his 14th birthday as is the custom in the kingdom of Soliel. He sets out on an adventure to save the kingdom from the resurgent monster threat! It's an interesting enough premise, and while it does have some major twists in the narrative, I don't think it succeeds exceptionally hard in what it's going for. It falls into the pitfalls that a lot of pro-tolerance/pro-peace games do where the anti-violence message/goal is still, nonetheless, achieved through the power of bravery and violence (not to mention the bigger takeaway messaging of what actually happens in the conclusion is truly quite ghastly if you try and apply it to real world analogues in any way ^^;). The story really isn't the big reason to play the game, granted, but it made me do a "wait a minute, what the fuck???" double take hard enough that I couldn't omit mentioning it here x3
The real meat and potatoes of this game is the gameplay, and as mentioned before, it's a top-down action adventure game very much in the mold of The Legend of Zelda. The big gimmick here is your sword. While the sword itself may have kinda abysmal hit detection, that's not so much of a problem at the end of the day (and not just because the actual combat difficulty isn't terribly high). You very quickly gain the ability to throw your sword like a boomerang, and slingshotting your sword around towards and back through enemies makes for a quite satisfying combat experience despite the bad hit detection. Additionally, while this game doesn't have sub weapons or proper items, it has animal companions you can befriend along the way. You can equip up to two at a time, and while some of them have active effects, most of them just augment your movement speed or sword abilities in some way. Some animals even give special effects when the two of them are equipped at the same time~. They're both neat systems that make for a fun and satisfying adventure that's also just different enough from stuff like Zelda to help set it apart.
The overall dungeon and combat design is, as mentioned before, not terribly difficult. It's not an especially easy game, mind you, but if you're a veteran of the genre, you'll likely end up dying only once or twice if ever. The biggest places you'll likely die at are the jumping puzzles, however. Most of the bosses aren't terribly difficult, but the true place the game will shave away health is with all of the bottomless pits. The dungeon and gameplay design overall has a quite heavy puzzle focus compared to most Zelda games (which gave it an almost Alundra-like feel at times), and while the puzzles were challenging but solvable enough that I enjoyed them while never having to look anything up, platforming is still unfortunately a meaningful part of these puzzles. Now mercifully, the platforming isn't nearly as unforgiving or dire as a game like Beyond Oasis's is, but there are still more than a handful of really mean pixel-perfect jumps that I was really not a fan of. The dungeon and boss design is overall quite good, but those bad platforming bits really take away from some of it. Like with the bad hit detection on the sword, this is another small but important misstep that takes what could've been a great game feel only just good enough instead.
The presentation is by and large very good. Coming out in 1994 and published by Sega, they clearly had the resources to make a game that looked and sounded very pretty, and they did it. The graphics are very nice and colorful, and while there are perhaps a bit too many luxury animations here and there on things like your turning circle, it never felt like it was getting in the way of the gameplay at least. The music is also very good, and it has a very Sonic-y feel to it (and not just because Sonic has a cameo in the game x3). Honestly it feels like Sega gave them a lot of sound samples that the Sonic games use, because there were even quite a few sound effects that even a relative Sonic non-fan like myself could recognize from the Genesis Sonic games x3. Again, not a complaint, really, but something fun to point out.
The only real presentation criticism I have is for Atlus's localization. It's honestly a pretty solid localization for the time, but there are some very sloppy mistakes here and there like text boxes that cut words in half or words that are just outright misspelled to begin with. It thankfully never makes any puzzles unsolvable or confuses the narrative or anything, but it's still a bummer to see such glaring localization mistakes in a product at least in part from Sega themselves. At the very least they're quite funny mistakes when they happen, which is a bonus of sorts~ x3
Verdict: Recommended. While the weird hit detection and difficulty of the platforming will definitely turn off some, if you're a fan of 2D Zelda games or just 2D action adventure games in general, I think you'll probably really enjoy your time with Crusader of Centy. It's not perfect, but it's got a good difficulty balance and just hard enough to be challenging but not frustrating puzzle design in a way that'll add a good adventure to your weekend or afternoon~.
Crusader of Centy follows a young boy (whose canon name is amusingly enough, Corona) who is given a sword and shield on his 14th birthday as is the custom in the kingdom of Soliel. He sets out on an adventure to save the kingdom from the resurgent monster threat! It's an interesting enough premise, and while it does have some major twists in the narrative, I don't think it succeeds exceptionally hard in what it's going for. It falls into the pitfalls that a lot of pro-tolerance/pro-peace games do where the anti-violence message/goal is still, nonetheless, achieved through the power of bravery and violence (not to mention the bigger takeaway messaging of what actually happens in the conclusion is truly quite ghastly if you try and apply it to real world analogues in any way ^^;). The story really isn't the big reason to play the game, granted, but it made me do a "wait a minute, what the fuck???" double take hard enough that I couldn't omit mentioning it here x3
The real meat and potatoes of this game is the gameplay, and as mentioned before, it's a top-down action adventure game very much in the mold of The Legend of Zelda. The big gimmick here is your sword. While the sword itself may have kinda abysmal hit detection, that's not so much of a problem at the end of the day (and not just because the actual combat difficulty isn't terribly high). You very quickly gain the ability to throw your sword like a boomerang, and slingshotting your sword around towards and back through enemies makes for a quite satisfying combat experience despite the bad hit detection. Additionally, while this game doesn't have sub weapons or proper items, it has animal companions you can befriend along the way. You can equip up to two at a time, and while some of them have active effects, most of them just augment your movement speed or sword abilities in some way. Some animals even give special effects when the two of them are equipped at the same time~. They're both neat systems that make for a fun and satisfying adventure that's also just different enough from stuff like Zelda to help set it apart.
The overall dungeon and combat design is, as mentioned before, not terribly difficult. It's not an especially easy game, mind you, but if you're a veteran of the genre, you'll likely end up dying only once or twice if ever. The biggest places you'll likely die at are the jumping puzzles, however. Most of the bosses aren't terribly difficult, but the true place the game will shave away health is with all of the bottomless pits. The dungeon and gameplay design overall has a quite heavy puzzle focus compared to most Zelda games (which gave it an almost Alundra-like feel at times), and while the puzzles were challenging but solvable enough that I enjoyed them while never having to look anything up, platforming is still unfortunately a meaningful part of these puzzles. Now mercifully, the platforming isn't nearly as unforgiving or dire as a game like Beyond Oasis's is, but there are still more than a handful of really mean pixel-perfect jumps that I was really not a fan of. The dungeon and boss design is overall quite good, but those bad platforming bits really take away from some of it. Like with the bad hit detection on the sword, this is another small but important misstep that takes what could've been a great game feel only just good enough instead.
The presentation is by and large very good. Coming out in 1994 and published by Sega, they clearly had the resources to make a game that looked and sounded very pretty, and they did it. The graphics are very nice and colorful, and while there are perhaps a bit too many luxury animations here and there on things like your turning circle, it never felt like it was getting in the way of the gameplay at least. The music is also very good, and it has a very Sonic-y feel to it (and not just because Sonic has a cameo in the game x3). Honestly it feels like Sega gave them a lot of sound samples that the Sonic games use, because there were even quite a few sound effects that even a relative Sonic non-fan like myself could recognize from the Genesis Sonic games x3. Again, not a complaint, really, but something fun to point out.
The only real presentation criticism I have is for Atlus's localization. It's honestly a pretty solid localization for the time, but there are some very sloppy mistakes here and there like text boxes that cut words in half or words that are just outright misspelled to begin with. It thankfully never makes any puzzles unsolvable or confuses the narrative or anything, but it's still a bummer to see such glaring localization mistakes in a product at least in part from Sega themselves. At the very least they're quite funny mistakes when they happen, which is a bonus of sorts~ x3
Verdict: Recommended. While the weird hit detection and difficulty of the platforming will definitely turn off some, if you're a fan of 2D Zelda games or just 2D action adventure games in general, I think you'll probably really enjoy your time with Crusader of Centy. It's not perfect, but it's got a good difficulty balance and just hard enough to be challenging but not frustrating puzzle design in a way that'll add a good adventure to your weekend or afternoon~.
Growing up with the SNES I got to play some Sega genesis games when I went to my uncles, but very few. I always felt like they were more difficult then SNES games. Anyways, now I am glad I can check out their library and play through the games I missed. I did not know about this game until recently. It is a pretty fun and intricate Zelda clone for its time with its animal companions mechanic. Some of the music was really good, and sometimes it would get a little bit on my nerves mainly because I felt like every time I would make some progress I would completely get lost again soon after. Some people like myself may definitely need to use a guide. I do like how close to the end they have a tornado show up on the map that basically lets you know, "hey! go here!". Bosses were pretty fun to fight and exploring dungeons was cool and adding platforming was a fun addition compared to most other Zeldas. I have played a good bit of Genesis titles at this time and this definitely has been one of the best on the console so far!
Really cute and underrated action Adventure on the Genesis / Megan Drive. The pet and upgrade system allows for some clever puzzle and combat mechanics that are absent in most games of this time. Pacing and direction are also on point. Less focused on cryptic time wasters notorious of the genre in the era, Crusader of Centy instead ensures your goals are clearly defined while still presenting challenging puzzles to overcome.
I struggle to agree with the sentiment that this is "Sega's Zelda" as that truly devalues the strengths of Crusader of Centy. However, if you're looking for something akin to Zelda with a dash of the Mana series with an awesome soundtrack and lighthearted fun, this is definitely a joyful experience waiting to explored.
I struggle to agree with the sentiment that this is "Sega's Zelda" as that truly devalues the strengths of Crusader of Centy. However, if you're looking for something akin to Zelda with a dash of the Mana series with an awesome soundtrack and lighthearted fun, this is definitely a joyful experience waiting to explored.
This game is the best and biggest surprise I got in my gamer's life.
It was my Bday and my dad took me to the toy store to buy a game with a specific budget. I really really wanted to buy Primal Rage that looked so cool in the magazine, but the shop was sold out.
Being a impulsive kid with no patience I decided to take instead "Brutal" cause it was a figthing game with animals. Close enough I thought. (even though it ended up being the most terrible decision of my life)
The thing is that in the process I end up having extra bucks in my end as Brutal was cheaper than the trending Primal Rage I was aiming for initially.
With what was left, i looked at the very few games matching my budget ... and I saw a second end Crusader of Centy.
Only because of the price was matching and the box felt like adventure I decided to took it as extra.
Well, arriving home I ended up booting Brutal that I stopped after 20 mn, and with disapointement I launched Century of Centy without any hope left.
I played all night until my body couldnt keep up anymore, and repeat the process everyday of my summer vacation until I finished the game.
Absolute banger, I called it the "Zelda" of the Megadrive to all my gamer classmates who all finished it after me. At some point I even prefered it to Zelda.
Amazing A-RPG adventure with a beautiful message against discrimination.
I still remember my excitement the first time I charged my sword to cut the grass with a throw, and when I realized that I will have tons of different way to do so.
Such a magical game, one of my most beloved A-RPG of the 16bits era.
Ps: I still remember the Sonic statue easter egg on the beach after 30years ... !
It was my Bday and my dad took me to the toy store to buy a game with a specific budget. I really really wanted to buy Primal Rage that looked so cool in the magazine, but the shop was sold out.
Being a impulsive kid with no patience I decided to take instead "Brutal" cause it was a figthing game with animals. Close enough I thought. (even though it ended up being the most terrible decision of my life)
The thing is that in the process I end up having extra bucks in my end as Brutal was cheaper than the trending Primal Rage I was aiming for initially.
With what was left, i looked at the very few games matching my budget ... and I saw a second end Crusader of Centy.
Only because of the price was matching and the box felt like adventure I decided to took it as extra.
Well, arriving home I ended up booting Brutal that I stopped after 20 mn, and with disapointement I launched Century of Centy without any hope left.
I played all night until my body couldnt keep up anymore, and repeat the process everyday of my summer vacation until I finished the game.
Absolute banger, I called it the "Zelda" of the Megadrive to all my gamer classmates who all finished it after me. At some point I even prefered it to Zelda.
Amazing A-RPG adventure with a beautiful message against discrimination.
I still remember my excitement the first time I charged my sword to cut the grass with a throw, and when I realized that I will have tons of different way to do so.
Such a magical game, one of my most beloved A-RPG of the 16bits era.
Ps: I still remember the Sonic statue easter egg on the beach after 30years ... !
Masterpiece! Me fez ficar triste e pensativo. Muito parecido com os jogos da Quintet.
SEGA's response to the Zelda series. It's quite charming in its own ways, and while the gameplay has it's similarities to A Link to the Past, it expands on it in ways that differentiates itself greatly from the SNES' masterpiece. Thank you Nintendo for putting it on Switch's Genesis online!!
The gameplay never got dull, with a much higher difficulty curve (imo) than A Link to the Past thanks to the enemies being on the more aggressive and elusive side. The puzzles had me genuinely stumped, although some solutions were a lot more tedious than others (single tiles to jump on, mashing A/jump at every corner) and required you to dissect an NPC's dialogue to the highest degree. Though the more simple puzzles were a treat - thanks to the game's engine upping the typical rate these kind of games would play at. A faster run speed (and upgrades!) coupled with a jump really helps put more inputs, decisions, and optimizations that help you speed up the gameplay to a degree other top-down games wish they could. I felt really engaged the whole time while controlling my character, compared to Link starting his boot/sword dash every time he entered a new loading zone whenever he wanted to be a bit speedy.
The dungeons were ok. It felt like the whole world itself was more of a dungeon, since the overworld is pretty well designed and heavily connected. There were puzzles at every step of the game, with combat being usually solved by the animal buddies you pick up (which were this game's equivalent to Zelda equipment). The combat itself was smooth, with the sword having decent range and cooldown, and a really cool charge attack similar to Mega Man X's charge buster... but for every direction. Had a lot of cool puzzle applications as well! The bosses could usually be cheesed, but that didn't make them a pain to avoid whenever they started to move. Overall had fun with the gameplay aspect.
Presentation was phenomenal. The sprite work was crisp and detailed, showing the full power of the Genesis near it's end, while having really cool sprite rotations to wow the player. I could make out everything the game was trying to describe to me, and the colors popped. It suited the game's aesthetic with the light-hearted adventure that was starting. And the music? Incredible jams all over the place. While it has an OST of under 20 tracks, many of them were so catchy and fitting to the game's atmosphere. I definitely copped around 10 or so of the songs haha. When I first booted up the game, I found myself chilling at the save select screen for a solid 10 minutes, jamming to that 20ish second loop. So raw
Story was interesting. It's pretty standard at the start, then near the end of it it starts to unravel what the theme of the game was. It somewhat makes you question why you're doing any of it and if what you're doing is really the right thing to do. I hear the English translation that I played (NSO) is a bit wonky, but I think I got the message. It's an interesting thought to leave the players with, but in the end it only goes as far as to give you that thought and that's it. Imo I don't really feel the impact as much as I would like to. Good idea tho
cool game glad I played it
The gameplay never got dull, with a much higher difficulty curve (imo) than A Link to the Past thanks to the enemies being on the more aggressive and elusive side. The puzzles had me genuinely stumped, although some solutions were a lot more tedious than others (single tiles to jump on, mashing A/jump at every corner) and required you to dissect an NPC's dialogue to the highest degree. Though the more simple puzzles were a treat - thanks to the game's engine upping the typical rate these kind of games would play at. A faster run speed (and upgrades!) coupled with a jump really helps put more inputs, decisions, and optimizations that help you speed up the gameplay to a degree other top-down games wish they could. I felt really engaged the whole time while controlling my character, compared to Link starting his boot/sword dash every time he entered a new loading zone whenever he wanted to be a bit speedy.
The dungeons were ok. It felt like the whole world itself was more of a dungeon, since the overworld is pretty well designed and heavily connected. There were puzzles at every step of the game, with combat being usually solved by the animal buddies you pick up (which were this game's equivalent to Zelda equipment). The combat itself was smooth, with the sword having decent range and cooldown, and a really cool charge attack similar to Mega Man X's charge buster... but for every direction. Had a lot of cool puzzle applications as well! The bosses could usually be cheesed, but that didn't make them a pain to avoid whenever they started to move. Overall had fun with the gameplay aspect.
Presentation was phenomenal. The sprite work was crisp and detailed, showing the full power of the Genesis near it's end, while having really cool sprite rotations to wow the player. I could make out everything the game was trying to describe to me, and the colors popped. It suited the game's aesthetic with the light-hearted adventure that was starting. And the music? Incredible jams all over the place. While it has an OST of under 20 tracks, many of them were so catchy and fitting to the game's atmosphere. I definitely copped around 10 or so of the songs haha. When I first booted up the game, I found myself chilling at the save select screen for a solid 10 minutes, jamming to that 20ish second loop. So raw
Story was interesting. It's pretty standard at the start, then near the end of it it starts to unravel what the theme of the game was. It somewhat makes you question why you're doing any of it and if what you're doing is really the right thing to do. I hear the English translation that I played (NSO) is a bit wonky, but I think I got the message. It's an interesting thought to leave the players with, but in the end it only goes as far as to give you that thought and that's it. Imo I don't really feel the impact as much as I would like to. Good idea tho
cool game glad I played it
i much prefer this to lttp, largely bc of the comically bad translation and wacky animal friends
tsk tsk gallant hedgehog
tsk tsk gallant hedgehog
often as fun as not feeling included at a birthday
As with so many media, it happens with video games that in the long history of their existence, entire works are forgotten by time. Be it through their similarity to other games that came before them, or through the fact that only a few played them at the time of their release. And in the case of Soleil, at least if you consider West, both are true.
Soleil was part of Sega's grand project to stock up on RPGs and adventure games, which had long been rather scarce on the Mega Drive. While the SNES spearheaded the golden age of RPGs and adventure games, Sega limited itself to the niches that competitor Nintendo served comparatively less. Be it action games, sports games and arcade ports. However, this meant that Sega missed out on a large target group, especially in Japan, who had a far greater interest in RPGs, which Nintendo only had in abundance on offer. Soleil was the first game of Sega's RPG project, which actively tried to compete with Nintendo in this niche. That the RPG project was crowned with little success hardly needs to be made clear. When you think of the RPG machine of the 90s, you're talking about the SNES with absolute certainty, and hardly the Mega Drive. Among other things, this "failure" ensured that most of the games from this project were increasingly forgotten over the years, usually completely regardless of their quality. Among these "lost gems" is unfortunately Soleil, which indulges its internet existence in a few Wikipedia articles and ancient playthroughs on YouTube. Which dismays me deeply, especially now that I've had a chance to play it myself.
Soleil has been compared to A Link to the Past since its release in the West in 1994. Which surprised me little, at least at first: the character looks very similar to Link, combat mechanics are similar, the game has a similar graphic style, there are dungeons with puzzles. That sounds like a real Zelda clone...doesn't it? When I first started Soleil I could have answered that question with a resounding "yes", but after the credits finally appeared on the screen I no longer think I can stand by that statement.
Soleil unquestionably takes some notes from A Link to the Past, but how it finally uses these characteristics and mixes them with its own ideas makes this game very much its own and special.
Soleil tells the story of Corona. On his 14th birthday, according to ancient tradition, he receives the sword and shield from his fallen father to begin his training as a hero of Soleil. After Corona tells the King of Soleil about his 14th birthday and is sent by him to the training camp, Corona seeks out a fortune teller. This one predicts him a future that will determine the fate of the world. For better or worse, it will be up to him. She also tells Corona that he would soon lose something important. A bright flash of light appears and the fortune teller disappears. Corona soon learns that he has lost the ability to talk to other people. However, he can now communicate with animals of all kinds. Corona asks his dog Johnny for help and starts with him, as his first companion animal, his journey through the country to find a way to regain his human language. On his journey, Corona meets other animals who, after he has helped them, assist him as another animal companion.
This is the core mechanic of the game. The animal companions function relatively similarly to items you would find in a Zelda game, but there is a much higher focus on influencing Corona's combat abilities instead of being a mere tool like a grappling hook. Just 4 of the 16 available pets could also be described as clear recreations of Zelda-typical items. Without as too many companions to begin with and no special abilities, fighting is very similar to the familiar A Link to the Past gameplay. However, Corona learns two abilities relatively early on that drastically change. First, Corona learns Sword Throw in training camp, which is Soleil's equivalent to Link's Whirl attack. Only, the sword throw is far more useful and the attack you'll use most often against bosses and masses of enemies. Combined with the animal companions, which can add ice and fire magic to the sword throw, among other things, the applications of the sword throw multiply all the more. Be it in the fights themselves or solving the rather simple puzzles of the game.
While the puzzles inside and outside the dungeons are very easy until the end, the focus of Soleil's puzzles is much more on platforming. This is made possible by Corona's dedicated jump button, which can be used to overcome huge chasms in combination with a certain animal companion. Even though none of the dungeons were really challenging in terms of puzzles, they were able to thrill in a different way with these platforming passages. Dungeons are also intrigued into the world of Soleil completely naturally. For example, Tower of Babel, which is not just any dungeon that stands in the middle of the desert without any context. It's a structure built by humans that was supposed to reach to the heavens, but was never finished. In fact, most of the dungeons aren't even really recognizable as such, as they're usually just part of the linear path that Corona travels on his way through the world. I often didn't realize it was a dungeon until I was face to face with the associated boss.
The bosses were always the highlight of a dungeon. While similar to the puzzles, they are not very complicated, the presentation of them and Corona's fast and dynamic movement makes up for it. All of this is accompanied by a soundtrack that could only exist on the Mega Drive, which makes the boss fights just plain fun.
The soundtrack probably reflects a lot of Soleil's personality. The game actually manages to tickle such atmospheric sounds out of the Mega Drive that you would normally only expect from SNES games. But in doing so, Soleil still preserves the console's musical identity. Soleil sounds like a Mega Drive game, but like no other on the platform.
Unlike most other adventure games, the player does not move through an open connected world, whose secrets can be explored further and further in the course of newly acquired abilities. Soleil builds its upper world according to a kind of level system similar to Super Mario World or Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. However, the available areas can be freely explored and revisited, whether for story reasons or to collect missing golden apples, which correspond to the heart containers of a Zelda game. Thus, Soleil follows a strict linear progression with hardly any deviations from the foreseen path, but this apparent restriction allows the game to convey a deeper narrative, which at the time was really only known from classic RPGs.
Because even though Soleil starts off very lighthearted with its story, it unfolds its true plot point in the middle of the game. Soleil is, I think, one of the first games to seriously ask the question, "Is it really right to kill monsters just because they are monsters?" This is a question that has gained a strong hold in the medium, especially nowadays. A popular example of this would clearly be "Undertale." However, despite the deeper subject matter, you shouldn't expect anything as profound from Soleil as these modern games. Especially the ending of Soleil's story might be considered rather inappropriate or at least questionable by fans of Undertale, for example. However, I won't go into that until later.
Corona's journey finally leads him to Iris, where he is directly confronted with the moral conflict for the first time. Namely, when he enters the village, he exchanges bodies with a slime, which flees in its acquired human form. In search of a cure, the games if briefly views the world from the point of view of one of the weakest monsters in most video games. Only able to move, with a jump that basically does nothing and the fear of being slain by a hero who pounces on you like a madman as soon as you go near him. Corona finally meets the mother of the real slime in a hiding place, who immediately recognizes him as a real human being and tells him what kind of fear they constantly have to live in, although they have never done anything to a human being. For them, monsters are all the same, even though there are obviously just as many differences in character as there are in humans. With the help of a witch, Corona finally succeeds in changing his shape back with the real slime. The latter thanks him because he was finally able to tell a human girl, with whom he fell in love, about his feelings. With this first hard thought, the player finally leaves Iris.
And it doesn't stop from that point either. Corona reaches the Tower of Babel to find out why no one there can communicate with each other, hoping to find a solution to his language problem. He climbs the tower and beyond, finally arriving in heaven itself. After Corona finally defeats the boss of the dungeon there, he hears a divine voice. This explains to him that Corona received the language of the animals to see the world from the point of view of these and the monsters, to finally end the centuries of bloodshed. Seeing that basically nothing has changed and that Corona, with his victory over the Boss in Heaven, has also desecrated this sacred place, the goddess gives him back his human language. She warns Corona that it is not the words themselves that are important, but what is considered right in one's heart. He should look at the world from the point of view of others and she would pass the final judgment on those who are not able to see this. For Corona the time had come to change history. The laws of nature should no longer apply. Soleil's crusade should come to an end. Corona should see how deep the sins of mankind reach.
This stark departure in the game's tone so far hits hard. Especially when you consider that Soleil is actually aimed at a slightly younger audience than the typical Zelda player.
From this point on, the second act of the game begins. Corona gains the ability to travel back in time at certain locations on the overworld. It is not clearly stated why one does this. But if you interpret the goddess' speech correctly, it becomes pretty clear. Corona travels further and further back in time per area, not only to see how far the cruel conflicts of man have reached, but to unearth the root of all evil. His time travel takes him back to the desert, among other places, where in a society people are branded as monsters and thrown into the dungeon if they don't keep them to strict laws. In the volcanic area, Corona prevents the creation of an entire cave complex in the present where a magician turns ordinary animals into mindless monsters. In the animal village on the beach, Corona gives animals the courage to stand up to evil creatures.
But Soleil draws the player even further into humanity's dark history in the penultimate two areas. In Dahlia Valley, Corona climbs inside the monster mother that created all the monsters of this valley and kills her from the inside by attacking her defenseless heart. With the death of this monster in the past, there will never be monsters in Dahlia Valley in the present. But probably the most depressing place in the past, is Corona's hometown. There, some monsters have broken out of the dungeons. These can be traced to the church. The monsters tell that they only wanted to talk to the king to make him understand that they didn't want to harm anyone. The king's soldiers storm the church and kill all the monsters without being able to prevent it. One of the soldiers is also surprised that none of the monsters fought back. And to add salt to the player's wound, the king announces that a statue will be dedicated to Corona for his services.
This is the statue that adorns the fountain of Soleil City in the present.
A last area finally opens its gate to the past. Corona has arrived at the origin of everything. The point in time before light flooded the world and the point at which monsters entered the world. There Corona meets the still living monster mother, who explains to him that all monsters come from another world and got to Soleil involuntarily. They would have tried forever to return, but the gate through which they came was blocked by an invisible power of spiritual energy.
To fight against this power, the player must face five mini-bosses, which are designed according to the five senses. After defeating these, Corona faces off against the Spiritual Energy, which turns out to be the easiest boss in the entire game once you figure out its weakness. With the disappearance of the Spiritual Energy, all the monsters are sucked back into their world, thus never having encountered humans.
Back in the newly created present, battles against monsters were never fought, which means, among other things, for Corona that his father is still alive and his statue is exchanged for that of the Goddess. In a final speech by the Goddess, she praises Corona for reminding her of the good in people. However, she says, humanity should always remember that they are not the only ones who exist in this world.
Finally, during the credits, Corona takes his dog Johnny for a walk, during which he meets all of his animal partners that he never met in this timeline.
You will notice, especially from modern reviews, that this ending is criticized by some. I partially agree with this attitude and would have definitely liked it better if humans had learned to coexist with the monsters at the end. But I would by no means go so far as to say that Soleil ends up stumbling over its ultimate message of mutual understanding. Indeed, this is reinforced primarily by the newfound relationship between man and beast. Perhaps with the disappearance of the monsters, the developers wanted to communicate that some people are too different to ever live together peacefully, to the regret of all involved. Even if this would be a rather bitter conclusion, with which I would not agree, I can not deny that one could come to this view, if one looks at the real world events, with all its real conflicts. It at least makes you think.
Soleil is a game that, for me, went far beyond the image of a simple "Zelda clone". With its beautiful graphics that stand head to head with the SNES's finest games, a unique OST, and an unexpectedly deep story that, while a bit critical for me towards the end, definitely deserves more attention. Maybe one day Soleil will undergo an "Earthbound revolution" and will see this little game for what it is: A game worth remembering.
Soleil was part of Sega's grand project to stock up on RPGs and adventure games, which had long been rather scarce on the Mega Drive. While the SNES spearheaded the golden age of RPGs and adventure games, Sega limited itself to the niches that competitor Nintendo served comparatively less. Be it action games, sports games and arcade ports. However, this meant that Sega missed out on a large target group, especially in Japan, who had a far greater interest in RPGs, which Nintendo only had in abundance on offer. Soleil was the first game of Sega's RPG project, which actively tried to compete with Nintendo in this niche. That the RPG project was crowned with little success hardly needs to be made clear. When you think of the RPG machine of the 90s, you're talking about the SNES with absolute certainty, and hardly the Mega Drive. Among other things, this "failure" ensured that most of the games from this project were increasingly forgotten over the years, usually completely regardless of their quality. Among these "lost gems" is unfortunately Soleil, which indulges its internet existence in a few Wikipedia articles and ancient playthroughs on YouTube. Which dismays me deeply, especially now that I've had a chance to play it myself.
Soleil has been compared to A Link to the Past since its release in the West in 1994. Which surprised me little, at least at first: the character looks very similar to Link, combat mechanics are similar, the game has a similar graphic style, there are dungeons with puzzles. That sounds like a real Zelda clone...doesn't it? When I first started Soleil I could have answered that question with a resounding "yes", but after the credits finally appeared on the screen I no longer think I can stand by that statement.
Soleil unquestionably takes some notes from A Link to the Past, but how it finally uses these characteristics and mixes them with its own ideas makes this game very much its own and special.
Soleil tells the story of Corona. On his 14th birthday, according to ancient tradition, he receives the sword and shield from his fallen father to begin his training as a hero of Soleil. After Corona tells the King of Soleil about his 14th birthday and is sent by him to the training camp, Corona seeks out a fortune teller. This one predicts him a future that will determine the fate of the world. For better or worse, it will be up to him. She also tells Corona that he would soon lose something important. A bright flash of light appears and the fortune teller disappears. Corona soon learns that he has lost the ability to talk to other people. However, he can now communicate with animals of all kinds. Corona asks his dog Johnny for help and starts with him, as his first companion animal, his journey through the country to find a way to regain his human language. On his journey, Corona meets other animals who, after he has helped them, assist him as another animal companion.
This is the core mechanic of the game. The animal companions function relatively similarly to items you would find in a Zelda game, but there is a much higher focus on influencing Corona's combat abilities instead of being a mere tool like a grappling hook. Just 4 of the 16 available pets could also be described as clear recreations of Zelda-typical items. Without as too many companions to begin with and no special abilities, fighting is very similar to the familiar A Link to the Past gameplay. However, Corona learns two abilities relatively early on that drastically change. First, Corona learns Sword Throw in training camp, which is Soleil's equivalent to Link's Whirl attack. Only, the sword throw is far more useful and the attack you'll use most often against bosses and masses of enemies. Combined with the animal companions, which can add ice and fire magic to the sword throw, among other things, the applications of the sword throw multiply all the more. Be it in the fights themselves or solving the rather simple puzzles of the game.
While the puzzles inside and outside the dungeons are very easy until the end, the focus of Soleil's puzzles is much more on platforming. This is made possible by Corona's dedicated jump button, which can be used to overcome huge chasms in combination with a certain animal companion. Even though none of the dungeons were really challenging in terms of puzzles, they were able to thrill in a different way with these platforming passages. Dungeons are also intrigued into the world of Soleil completely naturally. For example, Tower of Babel, which is not just any dungeon that stands in the middle of the desert without any context. It's a structure built by humans that was supposed to reach to the heavens, but was never finished. In fact, most of the dungeons aren't even really recognizable as such, as they're usually just part of the linear path that Corona travels on his way through the world. I often didn't realize it was a dungeon until I was face to face with the associated boss.
The bosses were always the highlight of a dungeon. While similar to the puzzles, they are not very complicated, the presentation of them and Corona's fast and dynamic movement makes up for it. All of this is accompanied by a soundtrack that could only exist on the Mega Drive, which makes the boss fights just plain fun.
The soundtrack probably reflects a lot of Soleil's personality. The game actually manages to tickle such atmospheric sounds out of the Mega Drive that you would normally only expect from SNES games. But in doing so, Soleil still preserves the console's musical identity. Soleil sounds like a Mega Drive game, but like no other on the platform.
Unlike most other adventure games, the player does not move through an open connected world, whose secrets can be explored further and further in the course of newly acquired abilities. Soleil builds its upper world according to a kind of level system similar to Super Mario World or Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. However, the available areas can be freely explored and revisited, whether for story reasons or to collect missing golden apples, which correspond to the heart containers of a Zelda game. Thus, Soleil follows a strict linear progression with hardly any deviations from the foreseen path, but this apparent restriction allows the game to convey a deeper narrative, which at the time was really only known from classic RPGs.
Because even though Soleil starts off very lighthearted with its story, it unfolds its true plot point in the middle of the game. Soleil is, I think, one of the first games to seriously ask the question, "Is it really right to kill monsters just because they are monsters?" This is a question that has gained a strong hold in the medium, especially nowadays. A popular example of this would clearly be "Undertale." However, despite the deeper subject matter, you shouldn't expect anything as profound from Soleil as these modern games. Especially the ending of Soleil's story might be considered rather inappropriate or at least questionable by fans of Undertale, for example. However, I won't go into that until later.
Corona's journey finally leads him to Iris, where he is directly confronted with the moral conflict for the first time. Namely, when he enters the village, he exchanges bodies with a slime, which flees in its acquired human form. In search of a cure, the games if briefly views the world from the point of view of one of the weakest monsters in most video games. Only able to move, with a jump that basically does nothing and the fear of being slain by a hero who pounces on you like a madman as soon as you go near him. Corona finally meets the mother of the real slime in a hiding place, who immediately recognizes him as a real human being and tells him what kind of fear they constantly have to live in, although they have never done anything to a human being. For them, monsters are all the same, even though there are obviously just as many differences in character as there are in humans. With the help of a witch, Corona finally succeeds in changing his shape back with the real slime. The latter thanks him because he was finally able to tell a human girl, with whom he fell in love, about his feelings. With this first hard thought, the player finally leaves Iris.
And it doesn't stop from that point either. Corona reaches the Tower of Babel to find out why no one there can communicate with each other, hoping to find a solution to his language problem. He climbs the tower and beyond, finally arriving in heaven itself. After Corona finally defeats the boss of the dungeon there, he hears a divine voice. This explains to him that Corona received the language of the animals to see the world from the point of view of these and the monsters, to finally end the centuries of bloodshed. Seeing that basically nothing has changed and that Corona, with his victory over the Boss in Heaven, has also desecrated this sacred place, the goddess gives him back his human language. She warns Corona that it is not the words themselves that are important, but what is considered right in one's heart. He should look at the world from the point of view of others and she would pass the final judgment on those who are not able to see this. For Corona the time had come to change history. The laws of nature should no longer apply. Soleil's crusade should come to an end. Corona should see how deep the sins of mankind reach.
This stark departure in the game's tone so far hits hard. Especially when you consider that Soleil is actually aimed at a slightly younger audience than the typical Zelda player.
From this point on, the second act of the game begins. Corona gains the ability to travel back in time at certain locations on the overworld. It is not clearly stated why one does this. But if you interpret the goddess' speech correctly, it becomes pretty clear. Corona travels further and further back in time per area, not only to see how far the cruel conflicts of man have reached, but to unearth the root of all evil. His time travel takes him back to the desert, among other places, where in a society people are branded as monsters and thrown into the dungeon if they don't keep them to strict laws. In the volcanic area, Corona prevents the creation of an entire cave complex in the present where a magician turns ordinary animals into mindless monsters. In the animal village on the beach, Corona gives animals the courage to stand up to evil creatures.
But Soleil draws the player even further into humanity's dark history in the penultimate two areas. In Dahlia Valley, Corona climbs inside the monster mother that created all the monsters of this valley and kills her from the inside by attacking her defenseless heart. With the death of this monster in the past, there will never be monsters in Dahlia Valley in the present. But probably the most depressing place in the past, is Corona's hometown. There, some monsters have broken out of the dungeons. These can be traced to the church. The monsters tell that they only wanted to talk to the king to make him understand that they didn't want to harm anyone. The king's soldiers storm the church and kill all the monsters without being able to prevent it. One of the soldiers is also surprised that none of the monsters fought back. And to add salt to the player's wound, the king announces that a statue will be dedicated to Corona for his services.
This is the statue that adorns the fountain of Soleil City in the present.
A last area finally opens its gate to the past. Corona has arrived at the origin of everything. The point in time before light flooded the world and the point at which monsters entered the world. There Corona meets the still living monster mother, who explains to him that all monsters come from another world and got to Soleil involuntarily. They would have tried forever to return, but the gate through which they came was blocked by an invisible power of spiritual energy.
To fight against this power, the player must face five mini-bosses, which are designed according to the five senses. After defeating these, Corona faces off against the Spiritual Energy, which turns out to be the easiest boss in the entire game once you figure out its weakness. With the disappearance of the Spiritual Energy, all the monsters are sucked back into their world, thus never having encountered humans.
Back in the newly created present, battles against monsters were never fought, which means, among other things, for Corona that his father is still alive and his statue is exchanged for that of the Goddess. In a final speech by the Goddess, she praises Corona for reminding her of the good in people. However, she says, humanity should always remember that they are not the only ones who exist in this world.
Finally, during the credits, Corona takes his dog Johnny for a walk, during which he meets all of his animal partners that he never met in this timeline.
You will notice, especially from modern reviews, that this ending is criticized by some. I partially agree with this attitude and would have definitely liked it better if humans had learned to coexist with the monsters at the end. But I would by no means go so far as to say that Soleil ends up stumbling over its ultimate message of mutual understanding. Indeed, this is reinforced primarily by the newfound relationship between man and beast. Perhaps with the disappearance of the monsters, the developers wanted to communicate that some people are too different to ever live together peacefully, to the regret of all involved. Even if this would be a rather bitter conclusion, with which I would not agree, I can not deny that one could come to this view, if one looks at the real world events, with all its real conflicts. It at least makes you think.
Soleil is a game that, for me, went far beyond the image of a simple "Zelda clone". With its beautiful graphics that stand head to head with the SNES's finest games, a unique OST, and an unexpectedly deep story that, while a bit critical for me towards the end, definitely deserves more attention. Maybe one day Soleil will undergo an "Earthbound revolution" and will see this little game for what it is: A game worth remembering.
Completed with all animal companions gathered and all Apples of Life collected. Frequently compared favourably with the gold standard of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Crusader of Centy is a Mega Drive exclusive overhead perspective action RPG. As a huge fan of the Zelda franchise, I've been putting off playing this for far too long! However, while I had a definitely had a good time with Crusader of Centy, I feel that it falls somewhat short of A Link to the Past's yardstick.
Rather than abilities coming from the collection of items, here the protagonist's skillset is extended by gathering animal companions, two of which can be 'equipped' at once. However, their effect is typically somewhat passive, primarily serving to alter/enhance existing core skills rather than provide an entirely different form of interaction; for example, one of the primary abilities - and puzzle-solving mechanics - is sword throwing, and an animal might extend the range, allow in-flight control of the sword's path or make it ricochet off walls. Overall the result is that the range of puzzle design that's available is quite limited, as are the available approaches to combat The inclusion of jumping as a core ability is great, though, frequently used to good effect to make navigation in itself a little more puzzle-like.
The story here is worth a mention, and while I'll avoid specifics that could be spoilers, the overall direction is fairly original. In particular, that it starts to explore ethical issues centred around the relationship between humans and monsters in parts of its closing stages is commendable for its time. Absent the comparison to A Link to the Past, Crusader of Centy stands up to this day as a very enjoyable and worthwhile addition to the exclusive catalogue for the Mega Drive, arguably a 'hidden gem' that more people ought to make time for.
Rather than abilities coming from the collection of items, here the protagonist's skillset is extended by gathering animal companions, two of which can be 'equipped' at once. However, their effect is typically somewhat passive, primarily serving to alter/enhance existing core skills rather than provide an entirely different form of interaction; for example, one of the primary abilities - and puzzle-solving mechanics - is sword throwing, and an animal might extend the range, allow in-flight control of the sword's path or make it ricochet off walls. Overall the result is that the range of puzzle design that's available is quite limited, as are the available approaches to combat The inclusion of jumping as a core ability is great, though, frequently used to good effect to make navigation in itself a little more puzzle-like.
The story here is worth a mention, and while I'll avoid specifics that could be spoilers, the overall direction is fairly original. In particular, that it starts to explore ethical issues centred around the relationship between humans and monsters in parts of its closing stages is commendable for its time. Absent the comparison to A Link to the Past, Crusader of Centy stands up to this day as a very enjoyable and worthwhile addition to the exclusive catalogue for the Mega Drive, arguably a 'hidden gem' that more people ought to make time for.
Call it a Zelda ripoff all you want, but anyone who's played Neutopia before can tell you it's harder to ripoff Zelda than it looks
it's so fun to just run and jump around once you get the cheetah friend... like a lot of games of the era it has little spots of narrative and mechanical beauty poking out that are over in a few minutes and don't go anywhere or really work all that well when you dig into them unfortunately
It is SEGA's answer to the "Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past", a pretty shameless one at that, the sprites and backgrounds are nearly identical in style, soundtrack and gameplay - Nextech might have been approached by SEGA to make a rival to Link to the Past for their console, being a contractor. The game is 3 hours long, with most of the fighting happening in puzzle-riddled dungeons. At the beginning of the game, you can only speak to animals and plants, gaining the ability to have pet companions with unique abilities. The game features its own Dark World, returning to the past mid-game after beating the deuteragonist: Maldra the Dragon. Corona then gains the ability to go back into the past and speak to humans; his new goal: make peace between humans and monsters. It's not Link to the Past, but it's pretty close.