|
|
|
|
ダンジョンマスター
©1991 Software Heaven, inc./FTL Games
©1991 Victor Musical Industries, inc.
Release: 1991-12-20 (¥9800)
Cartridge (Backup Ram) SHVC-V2
Role Playing game
|
Released in America as
DUNGEON MASTER
( SNS-V2-USA )
|
|
Released in Europe as
DUNGEON MASTER
( SNSP-V2-XXX )
|
|
Dungeon Master is a real time 3D dungeon crawler originally
released for home computers in 1987. The immensely popular game tells the
story of an apprentice wizard named Theron. His master, Grey Lord,
has turned evil in his quest of power, and his demon side, the Dark Lord
(or Chaos), now haunts the depths of his treacherous dungeon. Moreover,
Theron was separated from his body during a transportation spell accident.
In this ghastly form, he must now resurrect up to four deceased heroes from the
Hall of Champions, and lead them through the dreadful lair to find the
Firestaff, only weapon capable of defeating the Dark Lord.
Dungeon Master is viewed through Theron's eyes, and most of the
actions are in real time and based on point-and-click interactions. If an item
is on the floor, the player can just click on it, pick it up and drop
it in one of the character's inventory. Each champion has different sets of
skills and abilities described as 'classes' (Warrior, Ninja,
Magician and Priest) - Dungeon Master doesn't feature
traditional experience points, and training is at the core of the gameplay. Fighting
and magic both require practice, and the more an ability is used, the more it improves.
The magic system is also one of the features that differs from other games of the
time - spells are cast by using runes, and these powerful magic symbols need to
be combined into words to trigger the desired incantation, such as fireballs, magic
potions or armful gas clouds. Finally, fighting is completely integrated and done,
like the rest of the game, in real time. Monsters wander around the dungeon as the
player moves about, and only attack the team when in range (or in sight). Enemies
can attack from any direction, and the party can run away, as long as the player
has planned an escape route.
|
The original Dungeon Master was first released in 1987 for the Atari ST (picture on the right).
It was developed and published by FTL (Faster Than Light). The game became
instantly popular and started an entire genre on its own. It was ported for virtually every
systems of the time : Amiga (1988), PC (1989), X68000, FM Towns,
Super Famicom (1991) and so forth... A sequel called Chaos Strikes Back came out in 1989,
However, it was more an expansion to the original game and featured small graphic variations and
an incredibly tougher dungeon to explore. The real sequel to the game was released much later
(maybe too late) back in 1993 - Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep was available
for PC-9801 (1993), PC (1995), Sega CD (1994), Amiga (1995) and the
FM-Town. Other Dungeon Master games were released for other systems though,
Dungeon Master : Theron's Quest
(PC Engine SCDRom², 1992) was a sort of a "remixed" version of the original game and
offered several small dungeons instead of one. Dungeon Master Nexus (Sega Saturn, 1998)
was a sequel to the original game and was only released in Japan - it was also the only official game
to use real 3D-polygonal graphics.
|
|
This Super Famicom version slightly differs from
the original game in three regards - first, musics and sound
effects are now played during the exploration, some monsters also look slightly
different and, finally, controls have been redesigned
to accommodate the use of a D-Pad controller instead of a mouse.
|
Teaser text from the American version:
Chaos lives in your master's dungeon
Are you clever enough to solve an evil wizard's twisted puzzles ?
Do you possess the concentration needed to explore a labyrinth of
mystery ? Should you resist the tempting treasures, defeat the
hideous monsters, and escape the devious traps that are hidden
throughout the Grey Lord's dreadful dungeon ?
Yes ? Then perhaps you'll be the one to enter the caves of the
sacred mountain and retrieve the Firestaff from the evil Lord Chaos.
To succeed, you must assemble a band of four champions and lead
them in fierce battles against the terrible Dark Lord who now rules
you master's dungeon.
And if you fail ? At best, you'll meet your ghastly end in the
dungeon's wretched catacombs, like hundred of brave adventurers
who went before you. Far worse, you might become a captive
"trophy" of the evil Lord Chaos, suspended forever in the haunting
mirrors of the Hall of Champions.
|
Game Staff (Copied from the game's instruction manual) :
|
STAFF
Executive Producer
Satoshi Honda
Producer
Harunobu Komori
Director
Toshiyuki Nagai
Hisaki Yokoi
Assistant Director
Kazuya Tominaga
|
|
Chief Programmer
Tenuhito yamaki
Programmer
Yoshiaki Iwasawa
Hiroshi Nakajima
Kensuke Kobayashi/NCS
Music
Tsukasa Tawada
Hiroski Hashimoto
Sound Effects
Tsukasa Tawada
Graphics
Akatsuki Honda
|
|
Manual
Etsuko Matsuoka
Package and manual design
Comix Brand
Test Player
Takayuki Ando
Nobuaki Horie
Teruyuki Yoneyama
Kenji Kikuchi
Original Staff
Producer
Wayne Holder
|
|
Director
Doug Bell
Assistant Director
Dennis Walker
Graphics
Andy Jaros
Sound Unit Director
Mike Newton
Original game produced by
©1991 Software Heaven Inc./FTL Games
©1991 Victor Musical Industries, Inc.
|
|
G
O
O
D
I
E
S
|
|
Japanese Fan Book
|
Japanese Guidebook
|
Japanese Guidebook
|
Japanese Encyclopedia
|
|
|
O
M
A
K
E
|
|
|
|
|
Click on picture to enlarge |
|
|
|
LK
|
|
Add your Pov here !
|
P
O
V
s
|
|
Dungeon Master for the Super Famicom came out more than three
years after its original release, and the game looks
and feels as good as its older brother (ahhh... sweet memories... I clearly
remember wasting my 1988 summer vacation on Dungeon Master and my Atari ST). However
the control system here is awkward and cumbersome, which is often the case
with games ported from the 'mouse heaven' computer world. Here players have
to move a cursor around with the D-pad and despite shortcuts, this way of
interaction is quite painful. Then, 'Select' is used to switch to a
"moving mode" where the D-pad moves the team around the maze.
It is a shame that the Super Famicom's mouse was only released in 1992, Dungeon Master
would have been the perfect game to use it. The addition of music is rather
overdone in my opinion, silence has always been golden in Dungeon Master,
and the soundtrack sometimes ruins the otherwise perfect atmosphere of the game.
All in all, this conversion is rather correct but I wish more time was spent on the control
system and the sluggish and annoying cursor...
|
|
|
|
