Cadash

"A classic beat em' up with RPG elements"

Cadash was origionally released in the late 1980's as an Arcade game. It later came to Sega's 16-bit genesis system, the Genesis. However, tyhis version only contained 2 of the 4 characters from the origional game. This displeased fans of the game. Thankfully though, Cadash eventually made it to NEC's Turbo Grafix system in it's complete form.

Story - 8

Most beat em' up games aren't usually known for having big stories. Though Cadash does a better job than most. The plot places you in a castle, being informed by the king that the Balrog, and evil demon, has returned. Other than that, it's the typical ''hero kills demon and saves world'' plot. But it gets the job done

Gameplay - 9

Cadash allows you to play as one of four characters. A warrior, ninja, wizard, or paladin. Each character has their own set of equipment that they can purchase in the game's towns to to make themselves more efficient. Though fairly linear, the game does not prohibit you from backtracking, and on a few occasions, you have to. Each character has a set number of ''lives'' when they run out of these lives, they can still continue, but they lose all of their herbs and other healing items and money. Cadash is actually quite difficult too. The game contains many enemies who can kill you within a few hits, and healing items are sparse. But this helps justify one of the game's best features: Co-op. You can opt to have a friend play with you. This makes things FAR easier. It also makes characters like the wizard more playable, as one player can be a warrior and ''defend'' the wizard if needed.

Graphics - 9

For the time, cadash looked pretty good. There are some nice spell effects and the game utillizes the TG-26's hardware pretty well. You can definitely tell an improvement over the genesis incarnation of this title.

Sound - 8

The sound is average. Don't expect any memorable tracks, but like the story, the sound gets the job done. The audio effects could have been a bit better, but keep in mind this IS a 16 bit era game.

Overall/replay - 10

The addition of co-op definitely makes this game great for replay. And it's alot of fun on single player too. You'll definitely feel inclined to replay this ones, especially if you always wanted to complete it in the arcade, but weren't willing to dish out 10 bucks in quarters to do so.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/23/03