Mysterious Murasame Castle: Season Dynasties

The Mysterious Murasame Castle: Season Dynasties is an action-adventure game developed by Sapphire Dragon Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch Console. The game consists on a reboot of the only released in Japan franchise: The Mysterious Murasame Castle, for the Famicom Disk. The game was rated E+10 by ESRB and +12 by PEGI due to Animated Blood, Cartoon Violence and Suggestive Themes. However the game is still light-hearted and has some comic moments. Due to this, the game’s plot is different than the original and some things were altered. It should be also noticed that the series take place in a post-apocalyptic dimension and time.

The plot follows the adventures of a young samurai and ninja named Takamaru, who resides in a huge, pacific island divided into five Kingdoms named Aosame, Akasame, Ryokusame, Momosame and Murasame Kingdoms, each one which mysteriously seem to have different eras and times. In the center of the island, there’s the most important Kingdom named Murasame, being ruled by the king. Each other Kingdom is also ruled by the king’s siblings. However, far away, in the sky of Murasame there’s a huge castle placed in the clouds where a benevolent goddess resides, being guarded by archangels, angels and servants, protecting the island and perseverating the peace. In the sky of the other 4 Kingdoms there’s also some other magnificent castles, where the Season Archangels reside, whose are the children of the Goddess Queen.

The goddess, who possesses a Mystic Rose that is like a symbol of life for her, so if it wilts, the Queen will be consumed into darkness and it slowly reaches to her demise, so to keep the Rose from wilting, the Queen has a special liquid called Miracle Water used to water it. When an evil alien whose dream is to conquer the entire universe, and each planet, hears about the pacific planet Earth and the connection between the Goddess and her Rose, takes the Miracle Water away which leads to the wilting of the Rose and cause the demise of the Goddess, turning into berserk. With the help of his sensei, and as well as his friends and allies, Takamaru travels to each Kingdom, whose objective is to get the 5 gems found inside each castle, used to open the path of the Kingdoms in the heaven, going to stop the demons and salvaging the Goddess from her deadly state.

Gameplay
Similar to games like The Legend of Zelda and Kid Icarus, the game plays in an open 3D world, with third person view. Since the Kingdoms are so huge, so are the areas to explore around, however the Kingdom is divided by the unexplored land, and the cities. In the cities, Takamaru can see and interact with NPCs, including his friends. Merchants will be also spread around the cities providing supplies and equipment, as well as upgrades. Outside, in the land and in the dungeon levels, the player can switch into 5 playable characters, which will be unlocked as the game passes. Said characters have unique abilities Takamaru can’t do, which are helpful to pass through obstacles. Each character has different techniques and attacks as well as powers and equipment.

On the in-game menu screen, the player can view the stats of each playable character, similar to a RPG Game, as well as equipping them with an armor or a weapon. Each character can be equipped with a maximum of three armors and weaponry, and these can be upgraded by either buying to the merchants upgrades or found inside vaults and chests which are found in the dungeons or in the civilized zones. Certain characters cannot be equipped by certain armors, weaponry and cloaks though. Female characters wear very few armors, usually dresses and gowns. Armors raise a certain stat but lower another one so it’s recommended to think careful which armor is best to equip which character. The in-game currency used are the pearls, and they come varied, which raise the valor. The pink pearls are the most common ones, while the bronze pearls equal to 10 pink ones, the silver ones equal to 50 and finally the golden ones cost 100 pink pearls. These pearls can be found scattered around the world or inside vaults, chests and jars.

When inside a dungeon, there’s two gauges and a portrait of the character located on the top left screen. The green gauge, which is located at the top shows the health, and if it’s depleted, the character is defeated and can no longer continue, so he’s sent to the beginning of the dungeon, and thus losing a life. If the player loses all of its lives, it’s sent back to the dungeon, but has to restart the mission from scratch, unlike losing a single life, which continues the progress of the mission. The blue gauge placed at the bottom, indicates the character’s status, which it’s hunger, poisoning and other ailments. Hunger is an ailment that occurs when the character stays on a dungeon for too much, and it’s usually treated with food, otherwise he’ll faint. Poisoning and burns are other ailments that can struck to the characters when they are attacked by enemies. Weather can also affect them such as hails, sandstorms or strong sunlight. In said case, the character needs protections, such as cloaks, armors or solar protectors.

If the character has one of these ailments, it must be given with the corresponding medicine or food to refill the gauge, because if it empties, the life gauge will also start to empty too. Medicine and food can be bought by merchants too. Scrolls are scattered around the game’s world, which provide a new technique exclusive to the young samurai, as well as some power ups hidden in some tanooki suits, and figures. Enemies only appear in the land and dungeon levels, and some of them can be found wandering around, or suddenly spawning out of nowhere. Most of the enemies found in the game are influenced by Japanese mythology, but there are also Roman, Greek, Aztec and sci-fi influenced enemies.

There are 10 levels, 5 of which take place in the ground and the other half in the sky. Strangely each Kingdom apparently seems to take place in a different era, with Ryokusame Kingdom being the one that looks the most ancient, and the Aosame Kingdom being the one that looks way futuristic, surpassing even the actual era. Similar to its ancestor game, the levels take place in the land, and also inside the castles, which happen to be dominated by demons, so Takamaru needs to beat the boss of the castle and obtain its gem, though some bosses will escape out of the castle so they need to be pursued and beaten. The levels on the sky are much more complete, last longer and have bigger places as well as harder difficulty.

Story
One day, a young, 12 year old boy named Takamaru, who resides in the Ryokusame Kingdom, aspires to be a warrior, as well as a samurai and a ninja at the same time, plays and fools around. Due to the optimism of the boy, he likes making everyone happy. That’s when he meets an old man who happens to be not only the wise leader that everyone looks up to for his advices, but he also used to be a famous, and impeccable warrior, with incredible skills and amazing powers and traits who make him unique and dangerous. The old man can also presence the malign auras, so he tries to warn and go wherever the evilness is located, and destroy whoever’s causing it. However he’s a lone wolf and does not like to be in the middle of many people.

Takamaru supplicates and tries to convince the sensei to train him and become him into one of the strongest warriors in the world but the old man rejects his petition. But the child is incredibly persistent and stubborn, so he doesn’t stop until the old man says yes. And so it happened, making the boy jump out of joy. Takamaru runs to his neighborhood and tells his closest friends his good luck, which they cheer him up.

Playable
Takamaru: He’s the young protagonist of the game. Being under the strict training of his Sensei for over 6 years, Takamaru has become a loyal and strong warrior, though he still has too much to learn from. He’s very kindhearted, but also naïve and persistent, as well as cheerful. Though despite being pretty gluttonous and a bit lazy he has a pretty strong sense of justice and doesn’t hesitate back for fighting evil. Takamaru’s the only playable character who seems to be lacking a present parent or any familiar though there are no mentions of him being an orphan. After all, he says that he was born under a cherry blossom tree, and that he spent his teenage alone in his home. Originally it was planned that the Sensei would go save the island and the Kingdoms, but then he falls sick, so Takamaru decides to persist and go in his place to honor him. Takamaru is the most balanced character at all, and the most customizable one. He can wear nearly all the armors and cloaks, except the female ones and can dominate every weaponry and as well as being the only one who can learn the techniques given by his Sensei, in scrolls spread around the region.

Tokugawa Ietsuna: A well respected wise 86 year old man, and Takamaru’s mentor who persisted on being his apprentice. Not only Takamaru, but also every Ryokusame citizen refer to him as the Wise Sensei. Hereditary of the skills of his father, grandfather and great grandfather, he’s a very impressive warrior and ninja and is rumored that he himself fought against an entire army of monsters and soldiers. He usually spends his time practicing the Zazen, a special kind of meditation. Originally it was intended for him to go fight the demons, but then he falls sick due to his age and couldn’t keep it up, so Takamaru decides to go instead. Tokugawa isn’t playable in the main story, but in the Extra mode he is the only playable character, which tells a bit of his story.

Harumi: The princess of the Ryokusame Kingdom, and Takamaru’s closest friend from childhood. She has a tomboyish attitude, but also likes girly stuff, such as make-ups or shopping. At first she is kidnapped by the (boss) who took over the Ryokusame Kingdom but then is rescued by Takamaru. She preferred to be trained as a potential warrior, so his father hired some good mentors and teachers, but also by a good magician, which is why her skills are impeccable, but not as great as Takamaru’s. When searching for the orange gem in her castle, it happened that she wore it as a brooch. Natsumi decides to join Takamaru’s adventures and rescue the Kingdoms. Natsumi is a fast and strong character, but her defense falls back and can be easily defeated by enemies. Natsumi has a good use of her magic and psychic abilities which can move objects with the mind and teleport to another close area.

Natsume:

Raidyn: An arrogant mercenary and thief who boasts an amazing superhuman strength. Very rude, pretentious and irritable, Kyusuke is not someone to make fun of, or he’ll end your life in an instant. Kyusuke meets Takamaru on the Akasame Kingdom, which steals both the orange and blue gems, easily defeating Takamaru, Natsumi and Shinobu. He is then found again after Takamaru enters the Momosame Castle and they are involved on a fiercely battle, which it’s ultimately defeated due to Takamaru’s new techniques and the (name of attack). Kyusuke is then caught by the Plasma Dragon along with the green gem. After the Plasm Dragon is defeated, Takamaru recovers the gem, and Kyusuke, feeling embarrassed and annoyed, decides to join the team after owing his life, but he doesn’t care what happens to the Earth as he joins solely to make him stronger. During the team’s journey, Natsumi tries to soften his feelings and be more grate and friendly. Kyusuke later shows special feelings to Takamaru but then saves them to himself. He boasts incredible attacks and is brutal but has a mediocre speed and has a tough time evading attacks. His element happens to be the electricity.

Yuuki: She’s the daughter of the Winter Archangel Desiree. Unlike her mother, Yuuki has a very jolly personality, but she’s also utterly sentimental and can’t help but feel bad for the tiniest thing. Originally, after hearing about her grandmother being possessed, she rushes to the Aosame Kingdom and meets Takamaru, which he had already beaten the boss of the Kingdom. Yuuki begs Takamaru’s help and decides to join his team, being the last playable character. Yuuki isn’t good at attacking but she has a great defense and the best speed, making it easy to avoid attacks. Despite her bad offensive technique, she has a lethal move named Diamond Burst, in where she bursts out small crystals of ice, that attack directly on the enemy, freezing them, which would later explode and break into small pieces. Her elements are the ice and water, being able to walk on it.

Levels
As stated before, there are 10 levels in the game, and they take place in the open land and inside the dungeons. The player requires to complete certain missions to progress on the level, such as reaching to a certain place or travel through the paths to the castle, crossing the feudal terrains. The player also needs to travel inside the castle’s dungeons and rooms to fight against the boss who took control of it and obtain the gem. In the sky levels the environment and open lands are more different as they take place on more harsh territories, such as volcanoes or cosmic levels.

Ryokusame Kingdom: The most ancient-looking kingdom and the first level it’s played. Open landed places are usually forests, prairies and jungles.

Momosame Kingdom:

Aosame Kingdom

Akasame Kingdom

Murasame Kingdom