DESCRIPTION

You play as Rastan, a medieval warrior who must defend himself in a mythical world filled with adventure and excitement. Along the way Rastan will encounter magical signs for additional strength and power. Use these to your best advantage in order to defeat the Dragon in return for the kingdom of Ceim’s treasures!

Rastan Saga, (known as Rastan in North America), is a side-scrolling hack and slash arcade game originally released by Taito in 1987. It’s one of the best fantasy platform games of its time with one of the best soundtracks of that era.

VISUALS

Arcade Archives Rastan Saga is by far the most complete and arcade accurate version released to home consoles. It looks and plays exactly as it did in the arcades in all its 16-bit glory. This is the style of game that made the SEGA Genesis so popular in the 90’s.

As far as enhancements go, there is a choice of 11 display filters with varying intensity to simulate scanline effects, which is a must when playing classic games.

The Japanese and International ROM are both included in this release and while they are virtually identical in terms of graphics, sound, and gameplay, the Japanese Rom features an intro sequence (pictured above) that’s not included in the International ROM.

Also, there are not as many bats swarming you in the first castle in the Japanese version.

GAMEPLAY

The controls are straightforward and responsive. You can easily maneuver, leap, and strike with your sword. You can also remap the buttons to better match your play style. I suggest assigning jump to X and sword slashing to Square for smoother control and combat.

Players can select from three modes of play — Original, Caravan, and Hi Score mode.

Original Mode allows you to customize the game settings for difficulty, number of lives, and score value and you can save your progress and continue if you die.

In Carvan mode, the goal is to score as many points as possible within a 5-minute time limit with three lives and no continues. You cannot save, pause or adjust any in game settings in this mode as you are competing against other player’s scores. If you even try to pause the game, you’ll be forced to exit out and start over.

In Hi Score mode, you aim to achieve the highest score possible with only one credit, just like in the arcades. Again, you cannot save, pause or adjust any in game settings in this mode.

REPLAYABILITY

Rastan is easy enough to pick up and play and offers enough of a challenge to keep you coming back for more.

There are six stages and two modes where you can compete for the highest score. Which, honestly, is what this is all about… being the best. So, there’s definitely enough here to warrant the purchase.