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邪聖剣ネクロマンサー
©1988 Hudson Soft / Vol.5
Release : 1988-01-22 (¥4500)
HuCard (2 Mbits) HC62005
Role Playing game
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Jaseiken Necromancer is a role playing game by
Hudson Soft and can be considered as the first of its kind
to be released for the PC Engine system. The balance of the
world is at stake - the demons from the underworld and the gods from
the heavens are at war and a legion of hellish creatures driven by
an ancient warlord is now trying to take over the realm of the humans.
The king has been murdered and a hero must rise and find the legendary
Necromancer sword and use it to defeat Azatōsu, the
demon king. Jaseiken Necromancer follows a traditional Japanese
role playing formula - the player leads a group of several heroes
(the main player and two additional characters) who wander around
an overhead map, resting in villages where new weapons and other
items can be purchased. Playable characters vary from knights and
sorcerers, as well as weak heroes who seem to only exist for the
sole purpose of added comic relief. They all receive upgrades
following a classic system based on experience points. Finally,
the player's progress can be saved using a (fairly long) password system.
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Jaseiken Necromancer can be considered as the first Role Playing Game for
the PC Engine system. It was popular in Japan despite its really dark atmosphere
and the controversy of blood blowing out of killed enemy characters. This is
probably the first feature that will surprise any player - graphics are far from
the cute Dragon Quest, or semi-cute Final Fantasy series. Some of
the first enemies the player encounter are giant dark butterflies or weird
looking zombies with their bodies cut in half and their intestines out on the
floor, without forgetting, as aforementioned, the burst of blood that spurts
out of them when they get the final hit.
Additionally, anyone familiar with the fantastic bio-mechanical work of
HR Giger will most certainly recognize the covert art of
Jaseiken Necromancer (picture on the left). The famed artist from Switzerland is
better known for his work on Ridley Scott's Alien, but
he also contributed work for a couple of video game companies, such as
Dark Seed and Dark Seed 2 (Sony's Playstation and
PC Computers). The following copyright information can be found on the
Jaseiken Necromancer HuCard: "package artwork ©H.R.Giger
Preproduction by the permission of Ugly Management through Tuttle-Mori Agency".
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Interestingly, some sources mention that up to six episodes were planned for
Jaseiken Necromancer. Although none of them were apparently ever made,
pictures of the enigmatic Jaseiken Necromancer 3 appeared in
PC Engine magazines back in the days, and some of them even attest that
a demo was available in various stores in Tokyō at the time. The game never
surfaced though and its content is still a complete mystery. Hudson Soft
released a new enhanced version of the game in 2004 for Cell Phones in
Japan (also compatible with the I-Mode system), as well as a direct
sequel in 2009. Jaseiken Necromancer: Nightmare Reborn, a more polished
version of the sequel, was also released in 2010 for the DSiWare platform.
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Japanese Guidebook
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Japanese Comic
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Japanese Figurines
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Click on picture to enlarge |
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Add your Pov here !
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P
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Jaseiken Necromancer is notable for its dark atmosphere, and
the mix of heroic fantasy and gruesome horror is most certainly interesting
and unique. It is overall fairly well put together and nicely presented,
and the graphics must have really stood out back in the days. Unlike
Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy which featured 'Chibi'
heroes, Jaseiken Necromancer offered well-proportioned and realistic
character sprites. However, we have here an early RPG and it features all
the gameplay elements that make most of them tedious and painful to
play - random fights, slow levelling system that is mostly based on heavy
grinding, and giant maps using the same handful of grass and tree tiles.
Japanese language is also an obvious barrier here, but the game doesn't
use any Kanjis which can be a good opportunity for anyone seeking
to improve their language skills (although the password system is
incredibly cumbersome and unwieldy). All in all, Jaseiken Necromancer
is an interesting piece of PC Engine history and its dark atmosphere
alone makes the game stand out, but it's a fairly average affair all round.
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