Majyūō

Majyūō
Cover art by Satoru Fukushima
Developer(s)Nihon Soft System[1]
Publisher(s)KSS
Columbus Circle (re-release)
Director(s)Hideyuki Furuhashi
Producer(s)Hideo Takano
Programmer(s)Takaaki Sōno
Takashi Sugimoto
Artist(s)Chie Aoki
Mitsuru Kohno
Composer(s)Hiroshi Iizuka
Tomohiro Endo
Platform(s)Super Famicom
Release
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Majyūō[a] is a 1995 Japanese platform game published by KSS for the Super Famicom. The story is that of a man named Abel who must rescue his wife and child from hell.[2] It is a 2D side scrolling game.[3][4] Defeating bosses allows the player to transform into various demons.[5][6] In 2024, there was an announcement of a new release from Retro-Bit.[7]

Release

The game was released in Japan on August 25, 1995 for the Super Famicom, and was published by KSS.[8]

The game has had a high resell value. A 2016 guide listed it as selling for 30,000 yen with just the cartridge, and 100,000 yen with the cartridge and box.[4] In 2018, stores reselling copies of the original game could sell the game for prices as high as 58,300 yen to 69,800 yen.[2]

The game was given a limited re-release in a physical media format on May 24, 2018 by Softgarage via Columbus Circle.[3][5][9] It retailed for 5,580 yen.[2]

Reception

The game was noted for its high difficulty.[3][10]

Upon release, four reviewers from Famitsu gave it a score of 23/40.[8]

Stuart Hunt of Retro Gamer praised the game saying "It's wonderfully atmospheric and amazingly detailed, exhibiting the same impressive attention to detail that Konami afforded to early Castlevania games."[12] Retro Gamer also recommended the game among the top five games for British gamers to import, alongside Magical Pop'n, DoRemi Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and Ogre Battle. They described the game as "Castlevania with a Gun", and questioned why the game was not released outside of Japan.[13]

Nintendo Life reviewed it and gave it an 8 out of 10 score.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: 魔獣王, also known as King of Demons.

References

  1. ^ "SUPER FAMICOM Soft > 1995" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  2. ^ a b c "23年前のスーファミ向けソフト「魔獣王」がついに復刻、価格は5,580円から". Game Watch. 2018-05-24. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  3. ^ a b c "2D横スクロールアクション「魔獣王」がSFC/SFC互換機用ゲームカセットで4月下旬に発売へ。約22年の時を経て再販" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  4. ^ a b Perfect Guide of Nostalgic Super Famicom. Japan: Magazine Box (M. B. Mook). 2016. p. 52. ISBN 9784866400082. OCLC 960434261.
  5. ^ a b "SFC/SFC互換機用「魔獣王」は発売延期を経て5月24日にリリース" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  6. ^ "It Came from Japan! King of Demons". destructoid. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  7. ^ "Majyūō: King of Demons getting localized physical SNES release for the first time". 6 February 2024.
  8. ^ a b c "魔獣王 [スーパーファミコン]". Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  9. ^ 株式会社インプレス (2018-05-11). "プレミアムソフト、SFC向けアクション「魔獣王」が"再販"決定! SFC及びSFC互換機対応のカセットで販売". GAME Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  10. ^ "ゲームセンターCX - フジテレビONE/TWO/NEXT(ワンツーネクスト)". フジテレビ. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  11. ^ a b "Review: Majyuuou (SNES)". Nintendo Life. 2016-05-13. Archived from the original on 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  12. ^ Hunt, Stuart (May 2012). "Import Only: Majuuo". Retro Gamer. United Kingdom.
  13. ^ "The Collector's Guide: Super Nintendo". Retro Gamer. No. 93. United Kingdom: Imagine Publishing. September 2011. p. 45.