It Came From Japan

Majou-Ou

I figure since we are quickly approaching Halloween I would show you a game that was monster/horror related for today’s It Came From Japan. Today I am looking at Majuu-Ou, that doesn’t sound very scary, does it? Well, when you look at the translation and you see that it is called “King of the Demons,” then I think it seems a bit more creepy.

You start the game as guy in seemingly good shape brandishing a hand gun, kind of Rambo with his headband. You are on a bridge and high up when a large demon attacks and kills you, you really don’t stand a chance until your wife who was killed gives you some extra power to defeat him. You play as Abel as he journeys through hell to rescue his daughter from the King of the Demons (thus the title) but he may totally lose his humanity as a result.

I don’t want to say too much more and ruin some cool twists that happen but you must play this game.

This game kind of flies under most people’s radar, but it’s really a gem. It’s an action platformer, released by KSS in 95, that has the feeling of an old Castlevania game but is a lot more twisted. When you look at the backgrounds of the levels you see people in cages, skeletons, skulls all over the floor, and some other really twisted stuff especially for a Nintendo game. Seriously, most people think of cutesy games like Yoshi’s Island, Kirby and stuff like that but this is totally different. At the end of each level you fight a big boss, just like in Castlevania or Mega Man.

But the really cool and unique thing is once the boss is defeated you can choose to evolve your character. Based on the color of the gem it determines what you will change into; I’ve only had red, so I end up having wings and a boomerang type power. If you choose the same one three times you get a mega evolution of that form, but if you take one of each color than you will get the ultimate demonic form. Online it says you can choose not to grab a gem and complete the game as a human but you won’t get the good ending. Though I haven’t got a chance to try that out yet, I always go for the gem power up.

Graphics-wise this game looks really nice, even when you are in a dark environment everything is still very detailed and crisp. Be sure to look at the backgrounds carefully because you will see some crazy stuff that they tucked in there like a person trying to get out of a cage (well kind of looks like a girl humping the cage anyway) but you get the idea. The bosses are huge and very creepy like this spider thing with a face who tries to grab and suffocate you, or this huge worm thing that chases you through the level.

This game is definitely not the most challenging game you will ever play, but it’s definitely a bit tricky in parts, and the game is nice enough to give you three continues and start you off on the stage you died on.

If normal is too tricky you can set the difficulty a bit easier in the options menu, or make it even harder if you would like as well.

I picked up a reproduction cart of this game for the Super Famicom as this game is rare and the cheapest one I saw to buy on ebay was $267.93! I wish I could afford that! But if you happen to come across it for a decent price I highly recommend picking it up. Not very often will you find a game like this on a Nintendo platform!