Falcom’s gone crazy.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: Broderbund
DEVELOPER: Falcom
GENRE: Action/adventure
RELEASE DATE: April 1989
Legacy of the Wizard may not be the largest NES game, but it may be the most confusing, frustrating, and – depending on how much time you’re willing to invest – rewarding. Essentially, you control a family of dungeon-crawlers (yes, multiple characters) and your goal is to explore a gargantuan dungeon full of enemies, items, potions, and the like. The dungeon both looks and feels never ending. I’m not sure how any child would have beat this game back in the day without drawing a map as they went along. Even then, there’s all sorts of hidden walls to find/fall into. If you’re not prepared, it’s beyond intimidating. Please cast your eyes upon this map, courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.
Can you imagine working your way through this, one section at a time? On top of that, you have to keep a vigilant eye on your life and magic bars to make sure you don’t run out. Luckily, there are inns and shops within the dungeon (I guess merchants saw the need to cater to fool-hardy dungeon crawlers) so you can replenish your life/magic and shop for rare items. Not every person of the Warzen family can wield every item, hence the need to switch between characters at different times. Perhaps the closest game I could link this to would be Metroid, as they share similar non-linear exploratory play-styles, but Legacy of the Wizard trumps Metroid in both size and scope. A distinct NES gem.
B+
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10 replies on “#360 – Legacy of the Wizard”
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That overworld map is freakin’ awe-inspiring. I’d long wanted to see Metroid 2s overworld but this one kinda renders that moot.
(Renders , heh)
An amazingly addictive and annoying game all at the same time. I think your grade is just about right.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the music. This game’s soundtrack is one of the best of any NES game.
This game is only for the truly hardcore. It is laughable to think that my brother and I though we could beat this. How foolish and naive we were. This was WELL before the internet could easily help us out.
Needless to say we did not even come close to completing this beast of a game. Regardless I still think it was one of the better games on the system.
Funny to think this is in the same series as ‘Faxanadu’!
Sleepyweasel
Just picked up this game recently (along with Guardian Legend) and my friend Shawn and I boggled at how huge it was, but how much fun it is to play. The control is simple, the mechanics are easy to understand (beyond the boggling options of the items) and the music is a lot of fun. We’re going to be digging into this one for awhile.
There is one outstanding detail that I remember about this game. You could visit the last dragon at the beginning of the game. Seeing the final boss curled up like that was awe inspiring and amazing at the time. I would go visit it and show my friends the loomimg end dragon more than actually playimg the game..
This game was amazing, and so was the music. It took me months just to find the first crown, and pretty sure I had this game a couple years before I finally beat it. And yes, this was before the internet and without a map! Even had to start over once when I lent it to a friend and he lost the paper with my passwords on it . . .
I got this game in 92 when I was 11, not a easy task but it was beatable. Still amazed by dragon graphics for that time period. The music was awesome.