Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord (Master System) Playthrough
206A playthrough of Sega's 1988 role-playing game for the Sega Master System, Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord.
To combat the likes of such Famicom hits as Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior (https://youtu.be/J392i9NKvvo ), Sega offered up some stiff competition with both Phantasy Star (https://youtu.be/BHez3iJePI4) and Miracle Warriors. However lacking the Master System might've been in its selection of Japanese-style role-playing games, the two that were released in English were very worthwhile games.
Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord is a conversion Kogado's 1986 PC88 game Haja no Fuuin (覇邪の封印) that was also ported to the Famicom and the MSX, but the Master System version is the only one that was ever released outside of Japan. The North American release is also the first console "JRPG" to be released in English - it predates the release of the English version of Phantasy Star by eleven months, and of Dragon Warrior's by eighteen - so I think it has earned the right to sashay its chunky 8-bit glutes down the stage of gaming history.
You play as a descendent of the famous hero Iason who defeated the evil (and green, and topless) Satan-lady Terarin long ago. Inconveniently enough, the world's oldest heathen temptress seems to have returned, as evil and topless as ever, and the king has asked you to take out the trash. To save the world, you'll have to find and awaken your three legendary companions, outfit them with legendary gear, and whomp Lady Ta-tas to become... you guessed it! Legendary!
(If you are confident that your eyes can handle the spectacle, you can check out the aforementioned 8-bit lady lumps for yourself at 9:00:51.)
It feels a great deal like Dragon Warrior, but it has a few interesting quirks to set it apart. You'll sometimes encounter friendly people in battle that you can chat up for advice or even the occasional health refill. Cutting them down will typically net you a nice bit of experience and money, but you'll damage your reputation in the process. Since the kings that hold the legendary weapons refuse to associate with common ruffians, you have to be careful: killing a wandering merchant might give you enough money to buy that item you've been saving for, but will the act be profitable enough to justify committing social suicide? That's up to you to decide.
Battles also play out differently than you'll find in most party-based RPGs. Only one character can act each round, and the enemy will only target the acting character. Since characters only gain experience when they attack, the battles becoming a balancing act - you can't use your main hero as the go-to meat shield unless you want to end up with a seriously lopsided party.
The story and the mechanics aren't terribly deep and the game is short and grind-heavy, but the gameplay holds its own against Dragon Warrior, and the improvements Sega made for the Master System version of Miracle Warriors make it the best way to experience the game. It also looks really nice for an 8-bit RPG of its age.
If you have any appreciation for old-fashioned console RPGs, I think that you'll find that Miracle Warriors is worth sinking some time into.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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