Majuu Ou (translated as King of the Demons) is one of the most coveted Super Famicom import games. It pops up on just about every list of worthwhile titles that never crossed the ocean, and it has a rather large cult fan base. I figured it must be a pretty good game, right? I decided to find out for myself and finally snagged myself a copy. While I love the graphics and style I must say that Majuu Ou is terribly disappointing.
Abel is the main character of this story; he’s a gun wielding hero who is on a quest to rescue his daughter. The game begins with him being betrayed by one of his long-time friends. Abel’s daughter and wife have been sacrificed to revive the King of the Demons. His wife’s spirit is able to sacrifice herself in order to give him the power to enter the gates of hell, and from here he’s off to the fiery depths. The story is virtually non-existant after the opening and the only other dialogue occurs just before and right after the final boss.
Gameplay in Majuu Ou is kind of unusual for its time. The game uses an intense horror aesthetic with ghoulish creatures, and quite a bit of violence for a 16-bit title. Abel begins the game with a handgun with unlimited ammunition. This allows for a cool effect with blood spatter from bullet wounds on enemies. Some even lose body parts when shot. The action here is strictly side scrolling with some light platforming elements. Abel can walk, shoot, and roll but that’s about the extent of his abilities.
Where things get interesting is after the first stage. Upon defeat the first boss drops a giant gem which changes between three different colors. Each of these represent a different form Abel can take. The red gem transforms him into a human/harpy hybrid, the blue changes him into a majestic blue dragon, and the green makes him become a strange futuristic beast with lasers. The transforming element is reminiscent of Altered Beast only it’s much better here.
What I found really interesting about Abel’s three different forms is that they are all pretty equal. They have strengths and weaknesses but these aren’t particularly defined during gameplay. The main differences lie in the trajectory of their projectiles. The harpy’s boomerang is better for boss characters that move around more while the dragon’s breath is best against a stationary foe. Majuu Ou encourages experimentation to figure out what works best for you. Choosing the same form at every opportunity powers it up so you may want to go that route.
I really liked that there’s a special final form where Abel becomes a Gargoyle looking creature. This is reserved just for the last stage. You only unlock this if you’ve played as all three different forms throughout the course of the game. This is the most powerful of Abel’s forms and makes the last leg of Majuu Ou considerably easier should you go through the effort of obtaining it.
The game is lacking in power-ups. Abel has a life bar at the top of the screen which depletes as he’s hit by enemies or even just by touching them. You can restore your health with a few items dropped by the monsters you encounter. The only other power-up comes in the form of Abel’s wife Maria. After losing her soul she has transformed into a fairy-like creature who not only attacks on-screen foes but also sacrifices herself to revive Abel should his life bar completely drain. This is a fairly interesting mechanic, but it’s a little more rare than I liked.
Majuu Ou is a pretty unique concept for a Super Nintendo game. The problem is that it just isn’t very good. Yes, this is a highly overrated game and I imagine that’s going to be a very unpopular opinion. Regardless, this one is very overrated. The main issue from which this game suffers is in its level designs. Stages are exceptionally boring. That’s crazy considering how amazing the graphics are. The levels sometimes feel empty like the game is unfinished. Enemies are basic and their patterns are overly simple and quite boring.
After the second level Majuu Ou has shown you just about every trick it has up its sleeve. The stages that follow are pretty much recycled content made harder by stronger enemies. There are two areas in the game where you need a key to proceed, but only one of these features two paths. That’s about as complex as the designs get here. It’s very simple and will wear on you.
The timer is your biggest enemy in Majuu Ou. I’ve never played a game where tie ran out so frequently on me than in this case. You start out each level with five minutes on the clock but Abel moves with the agility of a snail in molasses, and that’s putting it kindly. None of his other forms are any faster, but the dash offers some help. I suppose this adds a layer of strategy because you’ll need to put yourself in danger to defeat boss characters in a timely manner, but it’s annoying.
Unfortunately the pacing is off as well. There are a few stages that serve as little more than a boss rush. That’s not exactly a great idea for this type of game. The fact that this happens multiple times in the main story makes me think the developers ran out of gameplay concepts. The fact that Majuu Ou can be completed in less than an hour makes this issue stand out like a sore thumb. Some of the boss encounters are interesting such as the spider in level one, but others are overly easy.
Despite being a pretty average game Majuu Ou looks simply incredible. The character sprite, and those for the enemies are generally very small. In his human form Abel is downright tiny. What makes up for this are the backgrounds and enemies. There’s a ton of detail in the environments, and the horror aesthetic is super unique for the platform. Levels have this unsettling dark fantasy style which is very distinct. Enemies, especially bosses, are generally a real treat to look at. Some of the enemies such as the giant worm are pre-rendered and blend in surprisingly well with everything else. This is seriously one of the best looking Super Nintendo games.
It’s surprising then that the soundtrack is so lackluster. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay, but I expected much more given the effort that went into the visuals here. The music goes for some weird mix of rock and techno that ranges from mediocre to something that just doesn’t fit. There are a few moments in specific pieces of music where it sounds like the composer was just pressing random keys on a keyboard in rapid succession. I suppose it’s supposed to sound surreal, but I found it downright bad. There’s really not much memorable here in regards to music.
