Magician

Magician Lord is a side-scrolling action-platform game similar to Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Rastan where the player takes control of Elta, the main protagonist, through eight stages of varying themes set in the land of Cadacis, where the main objective is to recover eight mystical books that were stolen by Gal Agiese, one of the main antagonists by defeating his servants, along with one of his creations that act as a boss at the end of the stage to progress further. Some of the levels featured are linear in nature, populated with obstacles and enemies, requiring the player to traverse the stage by running, jumping, climbing, shooting or dodging enemies, while other levels later in the game become more maze-like and exploratory, making the player take different routes to reach the end: if the player takes too long to complete the level, an invincible creature appears and starts following Elta until he is killed and respawns on the same location where he died. Once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the player inserts more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. If a memory card is present, the player is allowed to save their progress and resume the last stage the game is saved at. As with many earlier games released by SNK, it is well known for its high difficulty. All of the levels in the game have doors that can be opened by pressing up on the joystick, leading to rooms that can either benefit or harm the player and finding the correct door will lead the player to the miniboss of the level, while in the AES version these also act as checkpoints. One of the main features of the game is the ability to transform into powerful beings by picking up combinations of colored orbs found throughout the stages inside treasure chests, granting the player new forms to attack enemies and bosses. When he is not transformed, the primary form of attack for Elta is a weak but fast-moving energy projectile that he can shoot in four directions. Some of the transformations available in the game are the following by grabbing the same-colored orbs in a row or by combining them: Dragon Warrior: In this form, Elta becomes a dragon and attacks by breathing a continuous short-range fire attack that can also be aimed diagonally, unlike his standard attack. Waterman: In this form, Elta attacks with water bubbles that burst into water pillars upon touching the ground but only cover a small area. Poseidon: A more powerful version of the Waterman form, Poseidon can shoot powerful waves of water that travel along the ground for several hits but this form moves very slowly. Shinobi: In this form, Elta becomes a Shinobi, gaining an increase in agility and attacks with powerful magical arcs of fire, covering a wide area but are slow-moving. Samurai: Though limited in range, the Samurai is the only form that allows Elta to attack through walls, shields or multiple enemies, using a boomerang-styled attack that deals heavy damage. Raijin: The Raijin form gives a big boost to the jumping ability of Elta, as well as a unique attack that creates a continuous electrical field around his body.