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シルフィア
©1993 Tonkin House
Tokyo Shoseki Co.,Ltd.
Release : 1993-10-22 (¥7800)
SuperCDRom² THCD3001
Shooter / Vertical
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Sylphia is a vertical shooter
published by Tonkin House. The game draws from Greek mythology
and tells the story of Sylphia, a female warrior with a tragic
destiny. Her tale starts as she lays fatally wounded in the temple of
Athena - merciless monsters have taken over the city and she
perished as she desperately tried to protect innocent villagers. The gods,
touched by the sincerity of the young woman's devotion and love, decide
to give Sylphia another chance... Now
turned into a Sylphid with tremendous powers, the female warrior
embarks on a long journey of revenge, ready to fight for her homeland.
Sylphia starts equipped with a fairly basic fire weapon that can
be upgraded in various ways - four different types based on the four
basic elements are available throughout the game, from Fire
(Red), Air (Green), Water (Blue) and
Earth (Brown). Each weapon type is associated with an
additional sub-weapon which range from Homing Fireballs (Red),
Reverse Fire (Blue), Ring Blades (Green) and
Rotating Rocks (Brown). Sylphia can also trigger a
devastative special attack that deals great damage to on-screen
enemies - this power is obviously available in limited quantities
and may only be be used in desperate situations. Various other items
are available for the taking, such as extra lives, Mirrors/Gems
(slowly increase a health bar located at the bottom of the screen that
gives the player an extra life when full) and Green Orbs (increase
the active weapon's power level). Sylphia consists of eight
stages and is single player only.
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There has been much controversy over the origins of Sylphia - was the game
developed by the prolific game maker Compile? Although their name is not
specifically listed in the end credits, all signs indicate that the Japanese company
developed the game. First of all, Sylphia used to be listed on the Compile
homepage before it was taken down (picture on the right). Additionally, several artists from the staff listed
at the end of the game worked on several other Compile games, such as
Ikurō Urai (Gun Nac), Shinichi Nogami (Madō Monogatari,
Puyo Puyo), Shunsuke Takashima (Robo Aleste), Kōji Teramoto
(Xevious Fardraut Saga, Zanac, Puyo Puyo 2, Goardic Gaiden) or Takayuki Hirono
(Gun-Nac, Aleste 2, Zanac, Goardic Gaiden). All signs do indicate that Compile
developed (or helped developing) Sylphia.
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Here is the System Card warning screen for Sylphia.
Most Super CDRom² games featured System Card warning screens. These screens appeared
if the player happened to boot up a Super CDRom game with the wrong system card
(under version 3.0 for a Super CDRom², or any system card for an Arcade CDRom²).
Although some of the early games simply didn't boot at all with the wrong card, some started
to display simple warning screens, elaborate animated scenes, and some, such as the popular
Akumajō Dracula X,
even included a short mini-game! Interestingly, these
Super CDRom² warning screens became forgotten pieces of history because most
players used a Duo system (which has a built-in 3.0 system card) to
play their PC Engine CDRom games (Simply use a System Card v1.0,
v2.0 or v2.1 to activate the warning screens on a Duo,
Duo R or Duo RX system).
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Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :
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STAFF
Producer
Ikurō Urai
Supervisor
Yoshiie Matsumura
Director
Junichi Nagatsuma
Co-Ordinator
Takao Araki
Programmer
Shinichi Nogami
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CD/DA Song Writing Crew (1st)
Keiji Takewchi
Satoshi Shimazaki
Katsumi Tanaka
CD/DA Song Writing Crew (2nd)
Einosuke Nagao
Tsuyoshi Matsushima
CD/DA Song Arrange Crew
are made of this
(Rhythm int'l)
Katsumi Tanaka
(LMSRecordings)
CD/DA Recorded and Mastered at
HitfactoryJapan
(LMS Recordings)
CD/DA All Song Published by
LMS Music inc
All Rights Reserved.
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CD/DA Produced and Directed by
Kaysumi Tanaka (LMS Recordings)
CD/DA Sound Presented by
LMS Recordings
Sound Effects
Akiyoshi Nagao
Voice Actors
Sonchō Sawa
Crude Matsuoka
Graphic Designer
Neko Koneko
Tenji Satō
Shunsuke Takashima
Kōji Teramoto
Hideo Hotta
Shōji Mizumoto
Riu
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Logo Designer
Yokorin
Package Designer
Makoto Jindai
Game System Adviser
Takayuki Hirono
Special Thanks to
Emarin
Iwane
Kawai
Ma-Chu
Pochi
Wild20g
Kerol
Katsuji Suenaga
Nattō
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Level Select Screen:
Go the option screen and press Up, Up, Down, Down,
Left, Right, Left, Right, II and II.
This will activate the Level Select Menu. Interestingly, the gorgeous map
displayed in this hidden menu is not available in the original game, and it is
anyone's guess as to why the developers didn't use it to show
the player's progress...
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
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The female warrior Sylhpia was destined by the gods to become a
legendary hero, but was the game destined to become a legendary shooter?
I have to say, it's pretty damn close. The game's setting is really appealing
and aesthetically unique, especially for the genre. The scenery is very
diverse and enemies are equally varied, the bestiary is filled with fantastic
mythological creatures and other imaginary foes. I feel that the graphics are
a mixed bag, some levels look beautiful (the cloud level is gorgeous) whereas
others are just a bit flat or feel rushed (I'm looking at you, cave level).
The controls are very responsive and the gameplay is excellent (although the
game is on the easy side of the difficulty spectrum and features unlimited
continues). The arsenal of weapons is decent but not completely
satisfying - it was the first let down for me, I personally would have
loved to see more secondary weapons and the 'Earth' weapon is a bit weak
and not that effective. I should also add that the game got some extra
attention in the sound department - the techno soundtrack is fairly good
(well, despite its undeniable qualities, I feel that some tracks really
fit the game but it is a question of opinion) and the sound effects are
excellent (except for that annoying crossbow sound). As you probably
already know, Sylphia is one of the most expensive CD games for the
system, but it won't blow you away as much as other rare titles will
(such as the excellent Sapphire). But overall, Sylphia
is a wonderful and solid shooter that fans of the genre really owe to
themselves to experience.
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