the music ensues:
Baron's son saves Fantasia
from evil Amon
Additional Comments:
What's this? A sequel to Milon's Secret Castle? Hot dog!!
I can't express enough how floored I was when I first found out about this game several years back. Milon's Secret Castle, long one of my favorite games on the original NES, despite a thick web of slander from the general gaming populace, always entreated me to a bittersweet experience - it's great, but I always wanted more. But alas, the one-off title from Hudson was all we ever got. Sigh. Well, that's not entirely true. Little did we know that game companies were pumping out incredible titles localized only for the Japanese market. Sure, as kids, we had an inkling that was the case; which was confirmed with the release of Super Mario All-Stars where we were first introduced to an alternate Super Mario Bros. 2 known as "The Lost Levels" - wow, a version that was an actual direct sequel to the first SMB as opposed to the bizarre and rather uncharacteristic DokiDoki Panic graphic swap that we got. So we knew that some Japanese-only games existed, but we didn't really know just how many of them there were. On top of that, the games were pretty much impossible to come by - importation and beaucoup dollars being the only option. I'll always remember hearing tales of that "one kid" in school who would spend exuberant amounts of money to import a Famicon along with a few games. Unfortunately, it seemed like that "one kid" always imported Japanese localizations of games we already had access too, only because the Japanese localization typically came out a few months earlier. What a waste of money.
With the advent of emulation, practically every game, regardless of localization, is at your fingertips. And with a fairly prevalent emulation and ROM hacking community across the net, there seems to be some degree of translation available. Although, when I first gave the game a whirl a few years back, I didn't have my hands on an English translation, so I was more or less lost in the dark when it came to story and what exactly the items did. Being a platformer (where "jump" and "action" are the dominant controls), and the fact that some instructional animations are presented in a series of beautifully drawn cutscenes, the language barrier was pretty transparent as far as being able to enjoy the game for what it is. Not like Madou Monogatari - sheesh, I still don't know how to do anything in that game. Regardless, I managed to track down a worthwhile translation for my latest playthrough and I have to say that it was refreshing to actually understand the storyline and read the descriptions of each item. Although I understood the usable items on my first playthrough, I had no clue what any of the instruments did, and for me, that was the most welcomed text translation.
But enough talk of localization, emulation and translations - let's talk about the game. Do-Re-Mi Fantasy is easily one of my top three favorite platformers for the SNES/SFC. Although I probably initially went into this game with a biased mindset, thanks to Milon's Secret Castle, I was not disappointed. The gimmicks, though I wouldn't call anything innovative, were well executed and gave the game a very unique feel. Even the world themes, again, nothing innovative here; they just felt so contemporary. Oh, and something else I have to touch on regarding these Japanese games: the artwork is just gorgeous. It's not true for every Japanese-only game, but some of them - it makes it seem like a lot of the US games got stuck with the B-team artists.
Now, compared to Milon's Secret Castle, Do-Re-Mi Fantasy is so wildly different that, apart form the bubble shooter, if you didn't know it was a sequel, you would have never known. Whereas Milon's Secret Castle was more of a puzzle game (yea, I'm aware that most people think otherwise, but I also think that's why a lot of people mistakenly hate the game - they don't understand what kind of game they're playing. Naysayers can refer to my post about Milon's Secret Castle), Do-Re-Mi Fantasy is a rudimentary, point A-to-point B platformer. Outside of a few hidden bonus rooms, which included some cool little bonus games by the way, this game is completely devoid of any sort of puzzle mechanic. And that's not to say it's bad...or good, but a stark contrast to the original while retaining some of the defining features that made the first game so great, like an overarching theme steeped in music or Milon's trusty, yet oft criticized, bubble shooter. Additionally, the health bar has been swapped out for a much more engaging hit system that utilizes outfit upgrades.
For the most part, the levels are short and sweet. Each one focuses on a unique gimmick, often depicted on the overworld itself, giving each level a clearly defined individuality while encompassing the overall theme of the world. For instance, World 1 is a generic forest world, but there's a stage built around a log fume ride or a stage engulfed in strong winds. Sure, you can say that's true for any platformer, but there's something about this game where it never feels recycled for the sake of making additional stages like a Donkey Kong Country or even an early Super Mario Bros. game. I'm not going to lie, I love having countless stages, especially in the SMB series, but there comes a point where the stages grow stale or repetitive and eventually just start blending into each other - prime examples being the entirety of DKC or World 5 of SMB3 (which it shames me to say because of how much I love that game). Basically, this game plays more like a non-OW platformer - the type of platformers where all you get is a good, solid seven to eight levels of intense platforming genius and you're done. But somehow, Hudson took that concept and managed to spread it over some 40-50 levels and make it work.
Finally, I can't talk about this game without talking about the music. Not only is the music fantastic, but I love the use of atmospheric tracks as well, namely Church Bells Ring. Anyways, just to name a few (more musical) tracks, try out: Through the Woods, Dessert Paradise, or Staff Roll (wait a minute, is that an early precursor to Gentle People's Journey that I hear?). And speaking of Staff Rolls, is it just me, or do composers generally push their best work into the end credit themes?
Nano-Win (perhaps?):
So what's better than a sequel to Milon's Secret Castle? How about three additional sequels?
Ok, as far as I'm concerned, these sequels are nothing more than rumor. Supposedly, some (episodic?) sequels were released on the Nintendo Satellaview, but with nothing more than a few fragmented game lists and rather ambiguous bits of information scattered around the net, who knows what's really out there. I have "played" a game entitled BS Do-Re-Mi No. 2, but it was nothing more than adverts, articles and how-to-draw artwork - all in Japanese, mind you. Are there really three additional games? Maybe, maybe not. As long as the Satellaview is an unfortunate anomaly in the world of emulation, I say it's pretty much up to pure speculation at this point.
Rating: 5 children-eating snowmen out of 5
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