Demon's Crest

"Firebrand's back...with a vengeance!"

Demon's Crest is the Super Nintendo sequel to the NES' Gargoyle's Quest 2...which itself was a spinoff of Ghosts 'n Goblins. *shrug* Needless to say, it's awesome.

Story: There are two lands. One ruled by humans, and the other by demons. One day, six magical stones fell from the sky in the Demon Realm, and they began to fight one another for these powerful artifacts. The Demon Realm broke out into civil war. The Red Demon Firebrand eventually defeated near all of the ''contestants'' and had in his possession five of the six crests; the crests of Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Time were his. A great Demon Dragon had control over the powerful Crest of Heaven, however. After a long battle, Firebrand defeated the Demon Dragon and had now all six crests. He was critically wounded, however. Fleeing from the battlefield to recover his wounds, Firebrand was assaulted by a powerful Demon known as Phalanx. Phalanx stole the six crests from Firebrand, and now had ambitions to rule both the Demon Realm, and the Human World. Firebrand had to get HIS crests back.

Graphics: I found the graphics of Demon's Crest to be masterful. Everything is clean and lush, and the animation is fluid with no clipping or slowdown. For a game made in 1994, this is easily a landmark in the Super Nintendo's graphical capabilities, in my opinion.

Gameplay: You run around spitting fire (or whatever your innate attack is at the time) to kill your enemies. You collect money sometimes, along with artifacts that raise your strength, defense, or luck. You gain items that increase your total life, as well as potion bottles and spell vellums. Easy to control.

Sound: The music was very fitting, and everything sounded fine to me. You may get tired of hearing Firebrand's scream when he dies repeatedly though (which will happen in a boss fight or two...). I particularly like how the Air Gargoyle's wind attack sounded, as well as the Claw attacks sound when it fires off.

Fun Factor: 8/10 As a rule, it's very fun, and every time you get a new crest or artifact, you'll want to rush to a level to test it out, as well as get to area's that your previous forms were hindered by. You'll only get deathly frustrated maybe thrice. Other than that though, I found this game to be very enjoyable.

Replayability: Once you beat the game, you won't want to start over again for a bit of time, but, it can be picked up at a later date. Definitely a game to keep around. No sense selling off a beauty like Demon's Crest.

Buy or Rent? Buy it. It's cheap.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/04