My Played Video Games Review: Mystic Defender for the Sega Genesis
Mystic Defender is a 2D action fantasy, run and gun video game released by Sega of Japan in 1990 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive system.
I was surprised that this was uncensored in the Japanese (Mega Drive) version common in my country. There, the girl you saved is naked at the end of the game! The Japanese always gets the best versions of games.
The Story
Azuchi Castle is huge, terrifying, and unreachable! It is the den of the Devil's Disciple and the Evil Emperor! It is also where the lovely Alexandra is held captive, facing a deadly fate. Can you rescue her?
You are Joe Yamato, valiant warrior and wielder of Magic. Your journey is filled with danger. Horrible monsters wait to grab your body and munch on your head. Can you take it? Can you stay alive while battling flying freaks and ghosts? Can you reach the evil wizardry genius Zareth before he steals lovely Alexandra's soul?
Blast them enemies with your Magic! Hurl Psycho balls and Sonic energy to boggle them. Roast them with flame! Pulverize them to dust with that Thunder Dragon! The Evil Emperor's Castle awaits.
The Graphics and Sound
This game has anime-like good graphics for its time. The backgrounds are detailed well. The spell castings and the enemies are nice and clear. But the hero, Joe, has no face!
The music is quite good, but they get repetitive quickly. Sound effects are very cool. The sounds of magic effects are somewhat unique.
The Gameplay
Mystic Defender is a platforming game that is easy enough to learn and control. All you do is jump and attack. The attacks are magic-based shooting (you don't punch or kick). Unfortunately, you can not shoot diagonally or upwards. Destroying enemies and bosses with your magic attacks is fun.
Holding the attack button fills a magic/attack bar that when filled up, gives you full power attack, which will be either a fire, electric charge, or multiple balls of energy. Later on you get lightning power that can only be used within a limited number of times.
This game can be difficult but patience is the key. You can easily beat it in time. The fun part is getting to blast enemies away with magic. So it's replay value is decent.
My Verdict
There may be better games of this type out there. But Mystic Defender can still be definitely worth your time. I would play it again when the mood sets in.
Go play this one on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or play it on emulators.