[AC] The Lost Castle in Darkmist

[icycalm]

http://www.gamengai.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2990

This has to be one of the arcade games I keep coming back to most, yet its easily one of the most obscure titles out there, all I can find on the Japanese web is a few mentions in forums. The game apparently was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu though.

Anyway, what makes this awesome is that its an arcade action 'rpg', similar to stuff like Monster Land except Darkmist is a top down perspective. most of the game auto scrolls vertically, but occasionally it becomes free 8 direction movement in dungeons and stuff.

The stages are really damn epic but varied, a lot of the fun of the game is just how much it 'feels' like an adventure. Slowly getting better equipment and various items is satisfying, and occasionally there are towns in the game where you can use your treasure to buy various stuff. Its a hard game, but things get a lot more manageable and fun when you work out what all the items and magic do.

One strange thing about the game though which recently caused me to credit feed through is that while there are lots of mini boss encounters that feature more powered versions of regular enemies, and theres a shitload of different enemies in the game, there doesn't appear to be any major boss. However, the title screen shows a massive dragon. There are about 4 or 5 stages, and after clearing each one you get an 'emblem', but you lose them if you continue with an extra credit. When I finished the game credit feeding, the game looped again and took away all the items. So I figure that if you manage to get to the end of the game WITH all the emblems, you might get to battle the dragon? The last section of the game does look quite strange as if something else is supposed to happen.

The problem with that of course is having to clear the game on one credit which I definitely cannot do yet. Also credit feeding the game is a nightmare, losing your equipment and momentum after continuing pretty much breaks your progress, and it becomes a struggle to just make it to each next checkpoint and then continuing again. Of course, a single credit attempt is incredibly satisfying, especially with this mystery of trying to reach the end with all the emblems...

I definitely recommend the game to any fans of action games with rpg elements. Compared to stuff like Cadash and Monster World however Darkmist kinda feels like an MSX game, especially along the lines of Golvellius, which makes it pretty damn unique among arcade games.