Madou Monogatari I

"Arle is out to cause more trouble!"

You won’t believe how long it took me to complete this game! Nearly a year… Yeah… I was stuck in the first two floors for about 11.84 months, and when someone told me how to get past the 2nd floor, I zoomed through the game in several days. Weird, eh? Well any way, Madou Monogatari is the RPG series of the Puyo Puyo puzzle series. Most Madou Monogatari games take place in a 3-D maze, with exception of the Super Famicom and Sega Saturn versions. Now… Should I get on to the review now?

Game Play- 10

Believe me, once you’ve played an RPG like Madou Monogatari I on the Mega Drive, you’ll never play another RPG like it! It is unique and crazy in every way!

First of all, it takes place in a 3-D maze with obstacles, enemies, and characters to talk to. Very nice. Next, the battle system is completely different. You do not get a menu of commands, but you must use buttons and arrow keys to do the attacks. For example: Hold the A Button and press UP, LEFT, DOWN, and RIGHT to do the Fire spell, or you could just press RIGHT to execute a weak physical attack. You’ll receive more spells along the way.

Items won’t need any button combos. You just need to press the B button to open up the Item menu. A few examples of crazy items are Curry Rice, Champagne, Mini-Elephants, and strange little crystals that may summon… Santa? There is also a capsule item that you use to catch enemies in. Yes, it is a lot like Pokemon. You have to weaken the enemy, and then use the capsule. You can use that enemy in battle after you catch it. I’m sure some of you Puyo fans are dying to have Skeleton-T join your team!

The challenge of the game is pretty high in puzzles and battles. In the past, either a Madou Monogatari game was challenging in puzzles OR battles, but not in this one. Both brains and brawn must be used in this one. My advice to knock battles off the list, sit in an area for a long time, and level up. It is pretty easy to level up in this game, since after you reach a certain level, all enemies will only give the same amount of EXP, so you could just go back to the first floor and level up on Green Puyos.

Oh... Can’t forget the play control. Ummm… Yeah… It is good. Time to move along now.

Story- 9

I’ve always liked the story behind the Madou Monogatari series. It is more detailed than the story found in the Puyo Puyo series.

Five-year-old Arle Nadja is a member of the magic school. For her first test, she must go through Satan-Sama’s tower. Her knowledge and skills will be greatly tested with the puzzles and illusions of fiends that are inside. Not all are illusions though, there may be rivals and friends in this tower. So Arle has to be on the lookout if she wants to pass this test.

Media- 9

The graphics in this game are EXCELLENT. Best graphics of the Madou Monogatari series of the 16-Bit era. It even beat the Super Famicom version graphic-wise, yet the SFC game wasn’t your normal Madou Monogatari game (Check my review on that game). The graphics here are very detailed, very super deformed, and very sparkly. The 3-D mazes look very impressive as well. Don’t expect it to be as good as the 3-D mazes in a first person shooter. It isn’t that smooth at all. Just think of it like Arcana for the Super Nintendo.

The music is faithful to the MSX and Game Gear versions of this game, except they’ve been upgraded to the 16-bit splendor. If any of you DiscStation veterans are reading this, you probably know of the Kaa-Kun Ondo dance, correct? It is in this game too! But you have to find it first!

The sound effects are very nice. Just as the graphics were, they almost sound a bit sparkly. I don’t really understand how to explain them anymore though… Heh heh… There are voice samples in this game as well, but you know the Mega Drive hardware… They really don’t sound too good. Though the main problem is because there are so MANY voice samples, so it must have put the quality of the samples on a lower priority.

Replay Value- 8

Hmmm… I dunno about this. I don’t find RPGs really “Replay able”. Though one of the not-required tasks in this game is to solve all 40 sign puzzles. That could keep you coming back for more if you want a better ending than what you’ve last got.

Buy it?

It is a very nice RPG. If you are a fan of the genre, then you may have found a new favorite. I’m not too much of an RPG fan myself, but I really enjoy this game. You can’t find it any more most likely. Though if you live in Japan, or go to Japan, you can go to one of Compile’s Puyoman stores. They still sell the game there.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/02/01, Updated 06/30/02