Madou Monogatari: Hanamaru Daiyouchienji for SFC

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Madou Monogatari: Hanamaru Daiyouchienji

Kindergarten Quest

Genre: rpg - japanese

Publisher: Compile

Year: 1996

System: SFC

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

Really strange mechanics. You've got a set of four elemental magics plus a handful of others that you get during the tutorial. You can upgrade these by reading plaques scattered throughout the world. You can level up which I guess strengthens your magic but you have no MP or HP or EXP. The only way to know if you're going to die in battle is some text that says oh I'm in trouble or I don't feel good. It's extremely weird. Also the menus are atrocious because they have almost no text. Items and magic are shown as an icon with no explanatory text. So you have to memorize everything. Also in combat enemies are weak to a certain magic. But again there's no indicator what that weakness is so through trial and error You can discover the weakness and must keep track of it. Movement is great if a little bit slow. But battles take way too long and for silly reasons. You and the enemy introduce each other with text boxes and everything every single time and the magic animations are so long. Without a fast forward feature, this game is painfully slow.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

The world is very open. You can pretty well go anywhere you want, especially after acquiring the jump boots in the first dungeon. Your objective is to obtain eight secret stones. There's no fast travel as near as I can tell so you have to do a lot of walking to get from place to place. I got lost almost immediately and there's no map other than visiting your grandma who is at the very start of the game. I actually really enjoy the the areas but again they're so connected and diffuse that I feel completely lost.

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

You're a kindergartner! Let that sink in. Also, you've got a lisp and your dialogue matches your age. Seemingly everyone else in the world is female. I'm not sure how this coven of witches came to be when there's not a man in sight, but whatever. You don't build a party as near as I can tell so it's just you fighting in these turn-based fights. I really think this game would have been much much better as a Zelda style adventure.

Art Style Score: 4

Art Style Notes:

It's overly cute but the graphics are undeniably well drawn. Enemy designs are good. They almost look like Dragon Quest sprites but with a more 3D look. Actually it looked like they were lifted directly from the puyo puyo games, which I think is the case given that this is made by Compile.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

The music is juvenile but very good and there's a whole lot of it. I don't particularly like the style because again it's too juvenile but it's very high quality.

Overall Score: 52

Review ID: 1736