Magical Chase
Encyclopedia
is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Palsoft and released by Quest
on the TurboGrafx-16
(PC Engine) platform in 1991 in Japan, and 1993 in the U.S.
The game's protagonist is a witch called Ripple flying on a broomstick, along with two anthropomorphic
stars known as "Star Maidens," which serve as Gradius
-style options. The game has many notable similarities to Cotton
, released for the console by Success the very same year. Magical Chases late release in the U.S. at the end of the TurboGrafx/Turbo Duo's life, coupled with excessive hype, makes the game harder to find and more expensive than earlier releases. In the U.S., the game was only readily available though mail order from Turbo Zone Direct.
Each stage is presented with the name of the mid-boss encountered, and keeping with the magic theme, is titled as a magical seal. Each level has a mid-boss and end-boss. At the end of each, the player is awarded a clear bonus of 1000 x the number of the level.
Magical Chase was later ported to the Game Boy Color
by Micro Cabin
and released in Japan on August 4, 2000, as Magical Chase GB.
Almost all versions of this game are scarce, which gives Magical Chase a reputation as a high-end collector's item.
Quest Corporation
was a Japanese video game company founded in 1988. They were originally known as Bothtec, which had developed The Scheme, a Metroidvania-style open world action role-playing game featuring music by Yuzo Koshiro, that same year....
on the TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16
TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989....
(PC Engine) platform in 1991 in Japan, and 1993 in the U.S.
The game's protagonist is a witch called Ripple flying on a broomstick, along with two anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
stars known as "Star Maidens," which serve as Gradius
Gradius
The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper...
-style options. The game has many notable similarities to Cotton
Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is a Scrolling shooter arcade game, released on Sega's Sega System 16B Arcade system board in 1989. It is the first in the Cotton series of videogames. It was ported to Famicom in 1990 and both the Sharp X68000 and the NEC TurboGrafx-CD in 1993...
, released for the console by Success the very same year. Magical Chases late release in the U.S. at the end of the TurboGrafx/Turbo Duo's life, coupled with excessive hype, makes the game harder to find and more expensive than earlier releases. In the U.S., the game was only readily available though mail order from Turbo Zone Direct.
Story
From the game's box:Ripple is a student of magic, and her teacher is a terrifying witch! Ripple's particularly afraid of her teacher right now, because she's just broken a promise she made to the witch; Ripple took a peek inside the forbidden book Sleeping Demons! No sooner had she opened the cover than out jumped six demons, which raced away! Unless she can catch all six demons and get them back inside the book, the witch will turn Ripple into a frog for breaking her promise! Ripple sets off on her quest with her two Elf-Star friends, Topsy and Turvy. Good luck, Ripple!!
Gameplay
There are a total of six levels in the game which can be played on the normal and hard difficulty settings. Only the first three can be played on the easy difficulty setting. As enemies are destroyed, they leave behind different colored gemstones which are serve as the game's currency. Twice during each level, a shop appears where power-ups, health, and extra lives can be purchased (except for the third and sixth levels, where it only appears once). Touching obstacles and the ground does not kill the player such as in Gradius but it does impede progress. If the player gets trapped behind objects at the left-hand side of the screen, "scrolling damage" will occur.Each stage is presented with the name of the mid-boss encountered, and keeping with the magic theme, is titled as a magical seal. Each level has a mid-boss and end-boss. At the end of each, the player is awarded a clear bonus of 1000 x the number of the level.
- 1st seal: Cubolygon – This level takes place in a castle environment, composed of TetrisTetrisTetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
-like pieces. There are two bosses in this level, the first named one is a cube-shaped creature who attacks with a series of cubes that spread out in a concentric manner. The second boss is a large crude robot-like creature who shoots triangle-shaped projecticles. Along with the robot is its, controller, a winged goblin creature who fires large balls of green light. - 2nd seal: Dodongrin – This level takes place in an archaic temple set in the middle of a forest. The mid-boss is a large acornAcornThe acorn, or oak nut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives . It usually contains a single seed , enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a cup-shaped cupule. Acorns vary from 1–6 cm long and 0.8–4 cm broad...
who fires bursts of smaller acorns. The end boss is a green-haired person who initially hides in a tree. After receiving some damage the creature bursts out of the tree and attacks the player with series of wide directional bursts of orange shots. The boss will also summon series of large stone blocks in an attempt to cause scrolling damage. - 3rd seal: Kamikaze Dangun – This level takes place in a corridor of an airship that is constantly expanding and decreasing. This corridor, littered with obstacles, creates many points where scrolling damage can occur. There is no mid-boss per se, but the enemy pictured in the level opening occurs in swarms throughout the beginning of the level. The end boss is a sheep-like creature who travels in and out of six pipes, and arises to shoot five large bursts that concentrically emanate.
- 4th seal: Fat Metal – This level seemingly takes place in the interior of the castle from the first level. There are many obstcales to avoid. The mid-boss is a large metal fish that shoots a variety of large projecticles, including ice and steel balls. The end-boss is green-tinged creature sitting in a chair that shoots large waves, and groups of smaller green projecticles from two turrets. The player has to avoid obstacles while fighting.
- 5th seal: Gemini Snow – This level takes place outside a city during the night. The mid-boss are two snowmen with JasonJason VoorheesJason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
-masks on who attack by shooting snowballs and ramming the player. The end-boss is a large legless knight who throws axes and shoots fireballs at the player. - 6th seal – This level is a series of boss encounters. The first two bosses are the mid-stage enemies encountered in the first and fourth seals respectively. Then the player encounters a large anthropormphic spiked-ball that throws smaller spiked-balls and green laser beams. The next boss is similar to the end-boss from the fifth seal; except only the head remains with a long snake-like body. This enemy shoots series of fireballs. The final enemy is a horned warlockWarlockThe term warlock in origin means "traitor, oathbreaker".In early modern Scots, the word came to be used as the male equivalent of witch ....
archetype who carries a big staff which shoots a variety of attacks. Late in the boss fight, the boss will launch large undefeatble segmented dragons (similar to the enemies found in SalamanderSalamander (arcade game), retitled Life Force in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release , is a scrolling shooter arcade game by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off to Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling...
).
Ports
The first port of Magical Chase to appear outside the NEC console family was a Windows 95/98 port released on April 10, 1998.Magical Chase was later ported to the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
by Micro Cabin
Micro Cabin
Micro Cabin Corporation was a Japan-based video game developer and publisher incorporated in 1982, who grew from the Ōyachi Electrics Microcomputer Club. Micro Cabin has developed/released games for the: 3D0, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, MSX2, PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Saturn,...
and released in Japan on August 4, 2000, as Magical Chase GB.
Almost all versions of this game are scarce, which gives Magical Chase a reputation as a high-end collector's item.
External links
- Magical Chase GB at GameFAQsGameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...