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The Mysterious Murasame Castle

The Mysterious Murasame Castle[a] is a 1986 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Human Entertainment and published by Nintendo. It was originally only released for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan as the second original game for the platform. The Mysterious Murasame Castle was later released worldwide on the Virtual Console in 2014 and for the Nintendo Switch Online service in 2023.

The Mysterious Murasame Castle (謎の村雨城)
Japanese box art
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D4
Human Entertainment
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Minoru Maeda
Producer(s)Keizo Kato
Designer(s)Minoru Maeda
Kei Homna
Composer(s)Koji Kondo
Platform(s)Family Computer Disk System, Game Boy Advance
ReleaseFamily Computer Disk System
  • JP: April 14, 1986
Game Boy Advance
  • JP: August 10, 2004
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

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The player controls Takamaru throughout the game.

The player takes on the role of the main protagonist Takamaru. The objective is to race through Murasame Castle and the four neighboring castles, obtain the four gems from the castle lords and defeat the main antagonist Murasame. The player moves from different directions in a top-down view with no side-scrolling. The game has only a limited number of power-ups, forcing players to rely on their own action skills more than anything else.

The game world has scrolls scattered throughout the castles for Takamaru to collect, and special raccoon suits may reveal power-ups. Players are given a certain number of lives, and may gain additional lives by rescuing the castles' princesses and playing through bonus rounds after completing the first half of each level. One life is lost when Takamaru's health gauge runs out or he runs out of time. When all lives are lost at any point in the game, the game over screen will appear, in which the player can continue the game or save their progress.

The game consists of five castles: Aosame Castle, Akasame Castle, Ryokusame Castle, Momosame Castle, and the titular Murasame Castle. The appearance of enemy characters (including samurai, ninja and hannya) borrows heavily from existing Japanese culture. Each level, divided into two parts: the path to the castle, and the castle itself, is of considerable size, and Takamaru must defeat generic enemy characters to reach the innermost region of the castle where the castle-lord resides.

The player's only weapons are a katana and shurikens; upgrades to the shuriken can be obtained, but are lost whenever Takamaru loses a life. The katana can only be used when Takamaru is close to an enemy or projectile (excluding fireballs), while the shurikens can only be used when he is farther away. The katana can also be used to deflect projectiles. Other items include fireballs, which are more powerful than the shurikens; a lightning-themed explosive, which gives heavy damage to every enemy on screen; and a cloak, which makes Takamaru invisible and invulnerable to enemies and objects for a short period of time. When Takamaru reaches more than 99 lives, he becomes invincible.

Plot

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In Edo-period Japan, Murasame Castle houses a gigantic stone statue known as Murasame. The people lived peacefully until one stormy night, when a shining golden object fell onto the castle from the sky. Deafening shrieks arose from the castle, and the shining object is later revealed to be an alien creature who gives life to the stone statue Murasame and takes over the castle. The alien creature extends its power to four other neighboring castles, giving the daimyō lords each an evil sphere of power. The lords are taken over by the alien's evil power, and use the spheres to summon ninja armies and monsters to attack villagers. Hearing of these strange occurrences, the shogunate led by Tokugawa Ietsuna sends Takamaru, a samurai apprentice, on a secret mission to investigate the castle. As Takamaru, the player must infiltrate the four castles to defeat each castle lord, before going on to face the alien entity itself.

Development

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Due to the game's initial obscurity, not much about its development is known, but Goichi Suda, in an interview with Nintendo Life, stated that Human Entertainment (where he started video game development) was involved in development of the game to some degree.[1]

Release

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The Mysterious Murasame Castle was released for the Famicom Disk System on April 14, 1986 in Japan. A one-shot television drama special of the same name was produced by Fuji Television in 1986 for the weekly series Monday Drama Land. The special featured a plot loosely based around that of the game, and starred Masaki Kyomoto alongside members of the all-girl J-Pop group Onyanko Club. The special was later released on DVD as part of a box set of other Monday Drama Land episodes in 2005.[2][3]

The Mysterious Murasame Castle was ported to Game Boy Advance on August 10, 2004 as part of the Famicom Mini Series in Japan. It was released on Virtual Console in Japan for the Wii on August 19, 2008 and for the Wii U on July 30, 2014.[4] The game was released outside Japan for the first time on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in Europe and Australia in May 2014[5][6] and in North America in August.[7] It was added to the Nintendo Switch Online service on October 31, 2023.[8]

In June 2010, the game was featured amongst others from the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES as part of a tech demo called Classic Games at E3 2010.[9]

Reception

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Nintendo Life's Marcel van Duyn gave the 3DS Virtual Console re-release of The Mysterious Murasame Castle a rating of 8/10, noting its fast-paced gameplay and high degree of difficulty.[10]

Den of Geek rated The Mysterious Murasame Castle 3.5/5 for the release of the 3DS Virtual Console version in North America.[11]

Legacy

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While The Mysterious Murasame Castle was never officially released outside Japan in its original form, homages to it have appeared in other media by Nintendo.

In the GameCube game Pikmin 2, one of the objects found in the game is The Mysterious Murasame Castle game disk.[citation needed] Takamaru appears as a supporting character in Captain Rainbow alongside a plethora of "forgotten" Nintendo characters.[12] A microgame inspired by this game appeared in the Japanese version of WarioWare D.I.Y., which was replaced with a Pikmin microgame in non-Japanese versions.[citation needed] Takamaru (voiced by Hiroshi Okamoto in Japanese and Darrel Guilbeau in English) appears in Samurai Warriors 3 as a bonus character in the "Murasame Castle" mode; it is exclusive to the Wii release which was published worldwide by Nintendo.[13] In the Wii U game Nintendo Land, the mini-game Takamaru's Ninja Castle is based on The Mysterious Murasame Castle.[14] In Super Mario Maker 2, the "Ninja Attack!" sound effect causes Takamaru and ninja enemies from the game to appear on-screen.[citation needed]

Goichi Suda, a former employee of developer Human Entertainment, expressed interest to remake the game for modern times.[1]

Super Smash Bros.

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In the Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a song titled "Nazo no Murasamejo - Douchuumen", based on the overworld theme heard before entering the castles, appears as an unlockable song for the Mario Bros. stage, along with Takamaru himself as one of the many unlockable stickers.[citation needed]

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Takamaru appears as an Assist Trophy and is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita; when summoned, he uses his signature Multidirectional Pinwheel Knife Rook Attack. Takamaru was originally considered as a possible playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, but was cut because he was not recognized as much as other Nintendo characters,[15] with his main theme being used in the Duck Hunt stage. During a 2015 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U presentation, a downloadable Mii Fighter costume based on Takamaru for the Mii Swordfighter was revealed. It was released alongside the rest of the DLC in February 2016.[citation needed]

Takamaru's assist trophy and Mii costume returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[16][17] He also appears as a Spirit, one of the game's collectibles.[18]

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: 謎の村雨城, Hepburn: Nazo no Murasame Jō

References

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  1. ^ a b Whitehead, Thomas (September 17, 2021). "SUDA51 Would Love To Revive A Lesser-Known Nintendo Classic". Nintendo Life. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  2. ^ "DVD「おニャン子クラブ in 月曜ドラマランド」発売イベント". AV Watch/Fuji Television. Archived from the original on March 6, 2006. Retrieved August 26, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ ""Lost" TV Drama Based On 'The Mysterious Murasame Castle' Preserved Online". Time Extension. November 7, 2023. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  4. ^ 津久井箇人 (July 23, 2014). "Wii Uバーチャルコンソール7月30日配信タイトル ― 『弟切草』『謎の村雨城』『ニュートピアII』『BE BALL』『ロックマンエグゼ バトルチップGP』の5本". インサイド (in Japanese).
  5. ^ "European download update revealed for May 29, 2014". The Nintendo Channel. May 26, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  6. ^ Wassenaar, Troy (May 29, 2014). "Nintendo Download Update (29/5) - Gaining Traction - eShop News from Vooks". Vooks. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  7. ^ Carter, Chris (July 28, 2014). "Mysterious Murasame Castle hitting the 3DS eShop next month". Destructoid. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  8. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (October 31, 2023). "Nintendo Switch Online Gets Two Obscure NES Games and a Castlevania Game Boy Game for Halloween". IGN.
  9. ^ 6/18/10 5:00pm 6/18/10 5:00pm (June 18, 2010). "Mega Man 2, Yoshi's Island Among Teased 3DS Sorta-Remakes". Kotaku.com. Retrieved June 16, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Review: The Mysterious Murasame Castle (3DS eShop / NES)". Nintendo Life. June 5, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  11. ^ https://www.denofgeek.com/us/games/the-mysterious-murasame-castle/238186/the-mysterious-murasame-castle-review Den of geek
  12. ^ Staff, Siliconera (August 8, 2008). "See these Nintendo characters in Captain Rainbow". Siliconera. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  13. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (August 5, 2009). "Samurai Warriors 3 Detailed". IGN. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  14. ^ Stortzum, Phillip (November 17, 2012). "Attractive Attractions: Most Anticipated Nintendo Land Games". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  15. ^ Osborn, Alex (March 23, 2015). "Takamaru Originally Planned as Playable Character in Super Smash Bros". IGN. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  16. ^ Saunders, Toby (December 6, 2018). "Smash Ultimate Assist Trophy List - Complete List of Assist Trophies". GameRevolution. Archived from the original on October 5, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  17. ^ Newell, Adam (December 6, 2018). "Here are all the Mii Fighter costumes available in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on January 17, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  18. ^ EST, Phillip Martinez On 1/2/19 at 4:06 PM (January 2, 2019). "Spirits from the NES and Famicom era get the spotlight in latest 'Smash Ultimate' event". Newsweek. Retrieved October 5, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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