Elemental Master
Elemental Master (1990)
By: Techno Soft Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis First Day Score: 145,770
Also Available For: Nothing
If you mentioned the name Techno Soft to, say, ten retro gamers, it’s a safe bet that at least nine of them would reply with the words Thunder Force, with the remaining reply possibly mentioning Dragon’s Fury or perhaps even Herzog Zwei. I’m confident, however, that none of them would mention this game. Which is both odd and a bit of a shame for it’s a little known but far-from-shabby vertical scroller that is well worth anyone’s time. It’s set in a world about as far removed from Thunder Force’s futuristic space battles as possible though, with these battles being waged over ground by sorcerers wielding magical arts and the mindless yet nonetheless malevolent evil minions they’ve managed to summon to their cause!
Having owned the Japanese version since it came out, I’ve never been too sure about the story, but thanks to the wonders of emulation, I’ve now played the US version and discovered the following… Long ago in the ancient kingdom of Lorelei there dwelt an evil fellow called Gyra whose followers were imprisoned in the dungeons under a huge castle. However, a sorcerer called Aryaag then betrayed the king and unleashed the power of Gyra on the kingdom. Laden, the strongest sorcerer in the kingdom, was ready to defend the people when Aryaag revealed himself to be Laden’s brother, Roki. Banished from the kingdom, Laden must now harness the power of the elements themselves to stop Roki from spreading the will of Gyra and end the suffering once and for all.
Given its name and fantasy setting, you could be forgiven for thinking that this game has something to do with the elements, and you’d be right. There are seven vertically scrolling stages in total and you can choose to tackle the first four in any order you wish. Each of these is based on an element and after completion will bestow upon you the relevant magic for use from that point onwards. For example, completion of the fire level gives you fire magic. You’ll start the first stage with a basic twin-shot but each magic you subsequently obtain is a different type of shot which can also be charged by holding down the fire button to unleash a more powerful magic attack. There are a few other power-ups too, which can be obtained by shooting the treasure chests that can be found periodically. Probably most useful is the purple sphere called the ‘Lila Sphere’ which provides a shield around Laden which protects him for a few hits. There is also a mirror which creates mirror images of our hero that follow behind him duplicating his fire, grapes, which restore two energy points, and a holy grail which increases your energy meter by one point.
Even with these helpful magics and power-ups available though, our heroic saviour, Laden, still has to vanquish all these evil creatures by himself. Not only that but he has to do it on foot too! Consequently this game plays a little differently to a tradition, aircraft-based vertical scroller. For example, there are often obstructions such as rocks or trees, and the levels themselves can play a part too. The ‘fire’ stage features cracks in the ground coursing with flames and volcanic chasms which fling molten rocks at you, the ‘wind’ level is… well, windy, which sees Laden getting blown around. The ‘earth’ level even features spikes which thrust out of the ground at you! Couple all this with the fact that you get just the one life and you’ve got a pretty testing game!
Techno Soft’s output may be limited (in the West, at least) but if there’s one thing you can rely on them for, it’s a quality game! Therefore it comes as no surprise to find that, aesthetically, Elemental Master is among the company’s finest 16-bit works. The graphics on show here really are quite something – the sprites and backgrounds are beautifully drawn with some moody, atmospheric colours chosen, and each stage is both distinctive and well-designed. Their ‘elemental’ effects are also nicely done and I particularly like the trees that you can hide under! The sound is also top-notch with great sound effects and some fantastic synthrock music from top composer, Toshiharu Yamanishi, which will be instantly reconisable to fans of Thunder Forces 3 & 4 and Dragon’s Fury.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the ‘on foot’ nature of the proceedings makes for an original shooting experience. It takes a little getting used to in some ways, such as how you can get stuck behind certain parts of the scenery, and it can prove frustrating at times, but it proves to be highly enjoyable too, particularly the interaction with scenery, which isn’t restricted to the player’s character – on one stage, enemies push rocks off higher ledges onto you, for example. The weapons and power-ups here aren’t the flashiest in Techo Soft’s back-catalogue but they look nice and are effective enough. Indeed, everything the game has to offer is coated in several layers of the usual polish applied by this outstanding developer – graphics and sound are exceptional, gameplay is varied and interesting, and the difficulty is nicely graded. Considering this is one of the MD’s lesser known shmups, especially in Europe where it didn’t get a release (it only got released in the US belatedly), there’s a good chance a lot of you haven’t played it yet. I urge you to do so.
RKS Score: 8/10
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Hi there, I'm RKS and I like retro videogames, movies, and various other things. I also write about them on my blog. Check it out! :)
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Marc
Sep 10. 2010
Very interesting, my 'to play' list gets longer with every post!
I've seen other vertical shooters with human characters before, but they are all flying. This should be something very different. Good piece, RKS.