Madou Monogatari (Saturn)

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Madou Monogatari
MadouMonogatariSaturn.jpg
Boxart of Madou Monogatari
DeveloperCompile
PublishersCompile & Sega
PlatformsSaturn
Players1 player
Release dateJuly 23, 1998

Madou Monogatari (魔導物語) is the last Madou Monogatari title to be produced by Compile. It was released for the Sega Saturn on July 23, 1998.

Plot

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Only a part of the story is shown. The rest of the story is missing.


The plot begins with Ragnus being cursed by Yoggus, and getting sent to Arle's world. Mysterious creatures known as Yogs soon begin to appear throughout the world, along with their influence spreading onto others. With the help of Rulue, Carbuncle, and various party members recruited throughout the game, Arle resorts to defeating the Yogs, and eventually Yoggus itself.

Gameplay

Unlike the other games which tend to be dungeon crawlers, Madou Monogatari Saturn sends you through isometric maze like levels with up to 3 partners where you can use minimal puzzle solving skills to clear paths and find your way to the goal.

Your main party consists of Arle and Rulue in it most of the time, but other characters join over the course of the story. Carbuncle is also in your party, but functions as an NPC that will randomly attack enemies without warning.

Characters

Protagonists
Party Members
Enemy families

Click the title to view the enemy families.

Bosses


Harmless characters

Development

Prerelease version

The original version of Madou Monogatari Saturn shows many differences to the final version, as during development, Compile began suffering financial issues and as a result the game had to be cut down on. Some of the differences that can be observed through prerelease footage and screenshots include:

  • Young Ragnus was fully playable, as seen in some battle footage. His voice clips can still be found in the game’s files. [1]
  • Character portraits were visible for playable characters in battle, but were not visible on the overworld.
  • Witch and Draco were enemies in battle, similar to Kikimora. Some battle footage shows all three fought together, suggesting that at some point, Kikimora herself went from being a normal enemy to a boss, as seen in the final game.
  • Arle’s mother, as well as Nasu Grave, were to have had appearances. Nasu Grave was a battle enemy, and his voice clips, much like Young Ragnus’, can be found left in the game’s files.
  • The overworld was completely different, unlike the isometric maps like the final game, the overworld appeared to be more like traditional RPGs. According to Takeshi Okamoto, this change was due to Kenji Oda becoming the new Production Lead and director, halfway through development. At this point, the game was at risk of cancelation, so this change was likely done to help assure an easier development cycle. [2] The prologue of the game recycles assets from the prototype overworld, as the prologue in the final game has a non-isometric overworld.
  • The game seemingly was going to have a fully animated opening, which was used for promotional videos.

Trivia

  • The original plot, as created by Madou Monogatari: Chaotic Final Exam writer Kenji Oda, was meant to bridge the Madou Monogatari and Puyo Puyo series. The setting was rejected due to managerial differences. Oda would reuse concepts from the failed setting to create the True Madou Monogatari novels. It is thus unknown whether Compile intended the novels to be canon to Madou Monogatari and Puyo Puyo, or they simply reflect Oda's rejected plans for the franchises.[3]
  • Takeshi Okamoto, the artist for the in-game artwork such as talk sprites and cutscene stills, shared the linework he did to be digitalized and colored for the game via Twitter in December of 2020. He explained how he was originally planned to do more artwork surrounding the game, but those expanded roles were late given to Ichi, the game's character designer and veteran artist at Compile for the Madou Monogatari and Puyo Puyo franchise, seemingly a cost-cutting measure due to Compile's financial state at the time.[4]

Gallery

Illustrations

Character Art

Bonus Images

Screenshots

Merchandise

Notes

  1. Unused audio on The Cutting Room Floor
  2. Takeshi Okamoto talking about the game’s development. (December 15, 2020)
  3. Japanese Wikipedia
  4. One of Takeshi Okamoto's tweets (December 17, 2020)