Rare and unknown, a secret gem. First Samurai is a game for [A] people who actually want a challenge, and [B] anyone who wants to play a real vintage SNES game (like Alex the Kid vintage). It's the kind of game that only ten to twelve year olds get, while the teens scratch their heads and complain. Actually, I have not seen one single favourable (or adequate) opinion of this game on the entire internet.
First Samurai is an old Amiga game converted to PC (DOS) and Super NES, that is pretty similar looking to games like Street Fighter, but plays more like Asterix And Obelix (SNES).
Rare and unknown, a secret gem. First Samurai is a game for [A] people who actually want a challenge, and [B] anyone who wants to play a real vintage SNES game (like Alex the Kid vintage). It's the kind of game that only ten to twelve year olds get, while the teens scratch their heads and complain. Actually, I have not seen one single favourable (or adequate) opinion of this game on the entire internet.
First Samurai is an old Amiga game converted to PC (DOS) and Super NES, that is pretty similar looking to games like Street Fighter, but plays more like Asterix And Obelix (SNES).
You play a disgruntled Samurai trainee whose master only knew a little magic... and gets killed before your eyes by
"the Demon King". (The Demon King randomly decides to descend from his mountains to kill him). Your master dies summoning "the Wizard Mage", and the Demon King gets scared and escapes into the future. The Wizard Mage trains you in magic for a while, until you eventually take a magical sword into the future to avenge your master.
Sound like fun? Uh...
Ok, well, the first thing I remember thinking about this game was that the music was great. Don't expect much from the SFX though. And you might want to avoid the start-up screen unless you want to see a picture show of the storyline so far. (It is impossible to speed up or cancel or skip, and man it must take at least five minutes).
And the gameplay... this is where the age of the game really shows. The graphics are what you would expect from Amiga games of 1991 - ok - but the programming really was "1991 basic", such that you may not be able to do exactly what you command the game to do at every moment (like attack and jump at the same time) like later games such as Commander Keen 4 could. This can become really frustrating, but despite popular opinion it is masterable and it is usually predictable to an experienced player. Making sure the game always registers "forward" and "attack" at the same time will take practice and intuition - and if you can't master it you might just stand still and get hurt while really trying to attack (like I did when I first played). This is emphasized in that whoever converted First Samurai to PC didn't realize or care that "jump" on SNES was different to "up" on SNES - which have now been merged, making crucial moves simply impossible to do as intended.
When I first played this in DOS I remember being first frustrated, then annoyed, then fed up, then when I realized a few things I played it for over an hour. Later I worked out (after ages of trying) how to use special weapons, and I adjusted to several of the game's other nuances... and I grew to love it.
I'll tell you now: you never run. Most enemies respawn, so "clearing" areas doesn't always work. There is so much that is random as well - like at the start you have no sword - and it randomly flies to your hand out of nowhere after some time around enemies. You can climb most walls, and you can cut away loose wall from under/in front of you. The fastest way to move is definitely to jump around. The more a dangerous object or enemy touches you, the quicker you die - very fast. You heal by eating food, and you really don’t want to waste that food. You can also only have one "item" at a time, and once you have found an item you can't find it there again - so if you get the flying axe (for example) and you then pick up a knife: there goes that axe forever - replaced with the knife. I suggest you just leave useful stuff where it is until you need it.
Ah yeah. The Wizard Mage will help you out if you have a bell to summon him with (press B). If you summon him, his head will appear: he looks around and decides whether or not you need his help, and he either gives you back your bell or magically fixes some impassable obstacle. If you see his head without summoning him, it means you'll need to summon him there.
Mmm. Ok, also - this game is not for everyone. Those who want Commander Keen 4 responsiveness: clean-cut, basic, red key and red-key-door - this game will irritate and bore you and make you complain. Because this is the sort of game that gets kids asking one another "how do you beat the dragon boss?" and "how do you get past level one?". It's so random; stuff is hidden in the walls, enemies are tricky to kill and can possibly overwhelm a newbie, it is easy to get lost, there are secret areas everywhere (all of which even I still haven't found). Your sword will fly out of your hands if you get hurt too much, supposing you are not worthy of it. It will come back to you again if you get enough magic from killing demons. Also the surprises and random timing of the many traps (like I said, this is no commander keen 4): spikes don't always protrude in perfect timing, fire doesn't always spurt in perfect timing - which I think is awesome.
Don't get lost in those levels - each one is as windy as a maze and really huge. If you can finish this game's five massive levels on your third attempt I'll be impressed.
BTW I'm voting this an 8, not 10, simply because there are "10" games out there, like Commander Keen 4 ;)
