Nazo no Murasamejou (FDS)
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Nazo no Murasamejou (The Mysterious Murasame Castle) is an action game developed and published by Nintendo in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System peripheral.
In the game, you play as Takamaru. An evil being has taken over the Murasame Castle, and has spread his evil to the other four castles; the Blue Castle, Red Castle, Green Castle, and Peach Castle. It is up to Takamaru to reach the evil being and defeat it to bring peace to the land.
The game plays in an identical fashion to The Legend of Zelda (NES); the game is seen from a top-down view, and can use weapons via the A or B buttons. Takamaru can use ninja stars and other projectile weapons, as well as a sword in close combat. There are five levels, the first four containing two sections; the village and castle sections. Both play similar to each other but with some differences. Both are labyrinth-like and a map should be either made or used, as the player is on a time limit. Around the overworlds, the player can find hidden powerups for their weapons. At the end of each stage is a bonus game where the player can score extra items and points. The fifth level takes place in the Murasame Castle, which looks like a deadly underworld with several skulls and lava pits (or is it blood?). After the player beats the game, the game simply loops back to the start, albeit at an even harder difficulty.
The game received a few re-releases; it was first re-released in Japan for the Game Boy Advance as part of Nintendo's Famicom Mini series (equivalent to the Classic NES Series in North America). It was first released worldwide when it arrived on the Wii Virtual Console, albeit untranslated.
The game received mostly positive reviews from critics, but has been notated for its outrageous difficulty. There are enemies everywhere, Takamaru can only take three hits before losing a life, and the invincibility buffer is very short. However, if Takamaru happens to collect 99 lives, he will become invincible. Fortunately, the Disk System allows for a save feature and continues.
Screenshots
Music
Nazo no Murasamejou features a soundtrack by Nintendo's own Koji Kondo of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda fame. None of the music is outstanding per se, but the music fits very well with the theme of the game, as several of the songs are oriental-themed. The fidelity of the music is also increased with Koji taking advantage of the Disk System's RP2C33. The game even has a beautiful rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. However, the modulated choir noise provided by the Disk System's extra sound channel gives the song an eerie vibe to it. This actually works in the game's favor due to the game sending you back to the first stage, almost as if the evil cannot truly be stopped.
Track names are taken from the Atwiki.jp page, which in turn takes its names from a couple OST albums. However, Final Boss BGM doesn't seem to be included in any soundtrack. This is probably due to its identical sound with Final Boss Mae BGM, only with an added simplistic drum track.
To create music and sound effects, Koji had to write the music in 6502 assembly macros into his sound driver. One may be surprised to hear sound effects in this game shared with other games like The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. 3.
Recording
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
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| 01 | Game Start | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:03 | Download | |
| 02 | Joukamachi BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 1:32 | Download | |
| 03 | Muteki / Bonus Game | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:21 | Download | |
| 04 | Kiuchi BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:53 | Download | |
| 05 | Clear | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:05 | Download | |
| 06 | Murasamejou BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 1:21 | Download | |
| 07 | Last Boss Mae BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:26 | Download | |
| 08 | Last Boss BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:26 | Download | |
| 09 | Nazo no Seimeitaigeki BGM | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:06 | Download | |
| 10 | Ending | Ludwig van Beethoven | Koji Kondo | 0:21 | Download | |
| 11 | Game Over | Koji Kondo | Koji Kondo | 0:06 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper: MrNorbert1994
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Sound Composer: Koji Kondo credited as K.Kondo
(Source)
The game has credits (surprising for such an early title), but they have an unorthodox way of being accessed; play through the game once. After beating the game, lose all your lives. Now choose the Save option and the staff credits will display.
Albums
Game Rip
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