Landstalker Continued...

As far as stories went, Landstalker proved to be a little different from the average RPG on the market in the early 1990s.  Several hundred years into the game’s past, a tyrant by the name of King Nole ruled the land, and his armies swept across the continent, seizing control of more and more territory, and with it more and more treasure. Eventually, the evil king was destroyed, but no one ever did figure out where he had hidden all of the loot that he had collected over the years, and in time his vast treasure became legend. Now, centuries later, players take control of an ambitious treasure hunting wood elf named Nigel. Through a chance encounter he meets a fairy named Friday who claims to have some clues as to where the treasure of King Nole can be found, so the two cut a deal and their quest for untold fortunes begins. This proved a refreshing change from what was the norm in RPG storytelling at the time. Gamers were pretty much guaranteed to be charged with the task of saving the world from some terrible evil back then, and here we had a hero who simply wanted to line his pockets.

What really had people split on Landstalker, though, was its use of an isometric view. The perspective had been around for quite some time on various computer platforms, and proved quite manageable thanks to games like The Last Ninja, but it was relatively untested on a console. As such, there was a fair amount of skepticism  as to how well it would work on the Genesis. The controls certainly weren’t all that intuitive out of the box, but with 

some practice they did become manageable. About the only time one really needed to worry about the control scheme was during particularly delicate platforming sequences, where one wrong move could send poor Nigel off a cliff, or into some spikes.

However, the key to Landstalker securing itself as one of the most remembered action RPGs of the 16-bit era came in the game’s ability to combine action with a good dose of exploration and puzzle solving. Any time one walked into a new dungeon, they knew full well they would discover countless chambers full of traps, treasure, and monsters, with enough challenges to keep them busy for quite some time.

Also nice to see was the by now well-established artwork of Mitaki Yoshitaka, who created that “Climax look” for their RPGs, with his unique character designs. There were even a number of sound effects lifted right from the company’s 

previous work on the Shining games. It was this mix of the familiar, with new features like the game’s isometric view, and focus on exploration that made the game so much fun.

To this day, there has been a lot of speculation as to whether or not Climax can recapture the quality of Landstalker, and make a proper sequel. The company took a couple of stabs at psuedo-sequels with LadyStalker for the SNES, and later with Dark Savior for the Sega Saturn. While both of them continued with the isometric adventuring of Landstalker, they were never as popular. Compounding the problem is that a lot of those who responsible for Landstalker have long since left Climax, having formed a new company called Matrix Software, which was responsible for the Alundra games on the PlayStation, and have contracted out their services to help with other projects.

That in mind, at this year’s Tokyo Games Show, Climax announced that they are working on a new Landstalker for the Sony PSP. While long-time fans of the series rejoice at the thoughts of the developer finally taking a stab at revitalizing the game, the question still remains: Will it be as good as the original Genesis game even if the majority of the staffers who initially created that game have moved on?

Mr. Nash

(November 28, 2005)

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