Nazo no Murasame Jō
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is an action-adventure video game developed by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
and Human Entertainment and published by Nintendo for the Family Computer Disk System. It was released exclusively in Japan on April 14, 1986. The game was one of the early games released for the system, and the second original game after '' The Legend of Zelda''. The game was released outside Japan for the first time on the
Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
Virtual Console in Europe and Australia in May 2014 and in North America in August 2014.


Gameplay

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

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

Due to the game’s initial obscurity, not much about its development is known. However, 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.


Release

''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' was released for the Famicom Disk System on April 14, 1986 in Japan. It 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
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
on August 19, 2008 and for Wii U on July 30, 2014. It was released on Virtual Console for
Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...
in Japan on July 3, 2013, in Europe and Australia on May 29, 2014, and in North America on August 7, 2014; this was the first time the game had been released in the West. In June 2010, the game was featured amongst others from the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
and Super NES as part of a tech demo called ''Classic Games'' at E3 2010.


Reception

Nintendo Life's Marcel van Duyn gave the 3DS virtual console re-release of ''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' a rating of 8/10 stating "It's anyone's guess as to why it took so long for this game to finally be released outside Japan, but it is without a doubt a very welcome release. ''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' is unlike any other Nintendo game of the time, with incredibly fast-paced gameplay and a high degree of difficulty which, thankfully, manages to feel completely fair. With all of the references the game has had in recent years, you're now finally able to see what the fuss is all about". Den of Geek rated ''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' 3.5/5 for the release of the 3DS Virtual Console version in North America.


Legacy

A television drama of the same name was produced by Fuji Television in 1986 with a plot loosely based around that of the game. This show is considered lost. No footage of it has survived, and information about it is sparse, amounting to only an initial announcement. While ''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' never received a proper sequel, the game as well as Takamaru have made several appearances in other video games. In the
GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
game '' Pikmin 2'', one of the objects found in the game is ''The Mysterious Murasame Castle'' game disk. In the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
game ''
Captain Rainbow is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The game was released exclusively in Japan on August 28, 2008. The game puts players in the role of Nick, an ordinary guy, who ...
'', Takamaru appears as a supporting character. 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. In the
Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
game ''
WarioWare D.I.Y. ''WarioWare D.I.Y.'', known as ''WarioWare: Do It Yourself'' in the PAL regions, is a minigame compilation and game creation system by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the seventh title i ...
'', one of the microgames in the Japanese version is based on this game, which was replaced with a ''Pikmin'' microgame in non-Japanese versions. In the Wii version of ''
Samurai Warriors 3 is the third installment in the ''Samurai Warriors'' series, created by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force. The game was released in Japan on December 3, 2009, in Europe on May 28, 2010, in Australia on June 10, 2010, and in North America on September 28 ...
'', Takamaru (voiced by
Hiroshi Okamoto is a Japanese voice actor. He began acting in 2003 and is affiliated with Aoni Production. He graduated from Momoyama Gakuin University, a private university. Filmography Major roles are highlighted in bold. Television Anime *2003 ** ''Sonic ...
in Japanese and Darrel Guilbeau in English) appears as a bonus character in the "Murasame castle" mode. The series is also featured in '' Nintendo Land'' for the Wii U as ''Takamaru's Ninja Castle''. Takamaru appears as an Assist Trophy in '' Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U'' and is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita; when summoned, he uses his signature Multidirectional Pinwheel Knife Rook Attack. Takamaru was originally considered to be a 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; 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 on February 3, 2016. In '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', Takamaru's assist trophy and Mii costume returns. He also appears as a Spirit, one of the game's collectibles. In ''
Super Mario Maker 2 is a 2019 side-scrolling platform game and level creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to ''Super Mario Maker'' and was released worldwide on June 28, 2019. The gameplay is largely ret ...
'', the "Ninja Attack!" sound effect causes Takamaru and ninja enemies from the game to appear on-screen. Goichi Suda expressed desire to remake the game for modern times.


Notes


References


External links


Official Wii U Virtual Console version website




{{DEFAULTSORT:Mysterious Murasame Castle, The 1986 video games Action-adventure games Famicom Disk System games Game Boy Advance games Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development games Video games about samurai Video games developed in Japan Video games set in castles Video games set in feudal Japan Video games scored by Koji Kondo Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS