Makai Hakkenden Shada

~ MAKAI HAKKENDEN SHADA ~

Data East

HuCard

1989

Shada is an unabashed Ys rip-off, and it was going to have to be a heck of a lot of fun to impress me, since I'd already experienced not only the magnificent Falcom bump-and-run titles, but also a very successful Ys clone in Xak I & II. Well, this little HuCard managed to come through. The chip music is absolutely fantastic, and some of the bosses are extremely cool, including one large creature whose tough exterior repels your attacks and forces you to actually run inside his mouth and kill him from within (kinda reminiscent of the whale fight in New Zealand Story).

The crash-into-your-foes gameplay feels a bit different from Ys in that there's no "bouncing" upon collision; instead, your enemies basically run right through you, taking or dealing damage (or simply dying). It feels slightly weird at first, but it's quite easy to get used to. There are usually a good number of enemies to deal with at any given time, not as many as you'd encounter in a Xanadu foe flock, but enough to rival the roving Ys gangs, so there's a fair amount of brawling to keep you occupied as you scour the countryside and its labyrinths, and the gameplay is nice and fast.

The quest can be completed incredibly quickly; I played through the whole adventure in one day, and it's not like it required a huge chunk of time to do so. But that's no big deal considering this is a cheap chip game, and a fun one at that. There's XP grinding to do, just as you'd expect in an Ys-type game, but it doesn't take very long to advance in levels and the process never gets particularly tedious or dull.

Shada's not a difficult game. You can really set yourself up for success by hanging around the first town, saving up a lot of cash so that you can buy the best equipment in the next town. Most of the game's secrets aren't very difficult to uncover, especially since some of the conundrums were lifted right from Ys, but they're just obscure enough to make the discoveries enjoyable.

Here's a good guide (written in Japanese) in case anybody needs one.

This is the creature whose mouth you have to charge into (when he's not exhaling flames, of course).

The menu is really easy to figure out, and there's only a limited amount of equipment to mess with since the game is so short.

This centipede thing moves really quickly.

Stumbling around the final castle area. The non-boss enemy graphics are quite crude, but the environments don't look too bad if you ask me.

This scene is reminiscent of Ys with its graphic style and mirrors. You have to equip a certain item to see that "special" mirror, a puzzle also reminiscent of Ys.

Reach this part and you'll be very close to the end. ^_^