Daria Reviews Landstalker [Genesis] - A Shining Example of Adventure Gaming Done Right
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Follow the adventure of renowned treasure hunter, Nigel and his sassy fairy companion Friday as they scour the kingdom of Mercator in search for the lost treasures of King Nole. Developed by Climax Entertainment in 1992 in collaboration with character artist Yoshitaka Tamaki, Land Stalker was originally planned to be the third game in Sega's first party Shining series. With that idea abandoned, the game was redesigned as it's own IP.
Gameplay: Landstalker is an action adventure dungeon game with a 2D isometric perspective. The player controls Nigel as he explores dungeons, solves puzzles, performs tricky isometric jumps, hunts down new equipment and health containers and kills fights some bad guys.
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Is the game linear or more open (do dungeons in different orders?), and how full are the dungeons of puzzles? Puzzles are the best parts of these kind of games.
The game is very linear, it's been awhile since I've played it but I don't recall having any option to do the dungeon's out of order. And they are almost entirely challenge based.... the puzzles range from logic to pure platforming. But every dungeon tasks the player to figure out a solution of progression in some way.
Thanks for the reply and for the video!
Wow! I knew the composer for Landstalker did Shining Force 2, but wasn't aware SF1 and Landstalker had a connection, that's awesome.
This is easily my favorite game on the console.
Landstalker, Story Of Thor/Beyond Oasis, and Crusader Of Centry are truly underrated gems on the Megadrive/Genesis.
check out King Colossus if you haven't. there is an English patch, but its a Japanese game. shorter and not as good as the 3 you mentioned, but still exceptional. and similar
Yes i think same. Landstaker best game MEGADRIVE
Nah. Those games have always been rated about right. Crusader of Centy is slow paced and ugly, and Landstalker has absolutely far too much awful isometric platforming. Beyond Oasis is so much running back and forth across the same areas over and over in the guise of "questing", lacks an engaging inventory/item system, and has barely noticeable character progression. Levelling up actually makes the enemies stronger faster than your character. Light Crusader is probably the best of them, and it has plenty of flaws too. I actually think these games are more and more overrated, as time goes on, besides Light Crusader. Anyways, they all lack the purposeful, elegant design and polish of A Link To The Past.
I will never understand why this game and Beyond Oasis weren't more popular.
Because platforming in an isometric game is a bad design choice, straight up.
Sega's RPGs were always underrated.
@@leadbones What about Super Mario RPG? People love it.
@The Real Nintega 2006 You consider Super Mario RPG a platformer?
@@KarnovJr Nah. They just didn't make many. Landstalker isn't an RPG. Like, not at all. People love Phantasy Star and Shining Force.
This is one of my favorite games of all time despite the difficult jumping perspective and unsatisfying ending. Thanks for the history lesson, I didn't quite know all of that.
Lol a "Shining" example. Nice. Thanks for that great history lesson on Climax Entertainment, Yoshitaka Tamaki, and Sonic Co. I never would've known!
Another well-constructed production here. I never knew Landstalker began as a Shining title, but that does explain Nigel's visual similarities to Max.
You can tell it's somehow linked to the Shining series because it shares the same menu system and dialog "voices" with Shining in the Darkness and Shining Force I & II.
Camelot=Golden Sun too...not sure if anyone else mentioned this. Their imprint and design style from their Sonic/Climax days carried over.
I know I use Golden Sun footage in a video - thought it was this one but I guess not. But yeah it's a lot easier to compare Golden Sun to Shining Force 3 than these earlier titles.
I've played this game hundreds of times, it never gets old, I'd give anything to see a legit sequel to this game with the same art style, gameplay, creativity and controls.
This ans Soliel are probably my favorite adventure games barring Majora's Mask. You did the game justice in this review overall but I'd also like to mention the sound design is excellent. Just the sound of jumping and landing are very satisfying and I consider exemplary of creating good game-feel with sound. It complements the very crisp 'physics' and movement in the game.
I really need to play Soliel/Crusader of Centy sometime. I have the US version but you guys got the better translation so maybe I'll emulate it. Also now that you mention it I have to agree about the sound. Nice observation!
This is slowly becoming one of my favorite channels. Really enjoying your videos
Woo, a new video! What a surprise! I remember renting this game once, but never got far. Looks awesome and never knew about the development links to the Shining series. You explained it all so well and did a great job with the comparison screens.
Nice review! I will never forget the music from Duke Mercator's mansion, that was the first song I learned to play on a keyboard.
I remember one of my neighbors had this game when I was growing up. I used to love going over to his house to play it and watch him play it, even though I had no idea what I was doing!
I remember being introduced to this game as a kid by my mom's friend's kids, when I was around 10 years old. We played it at their house, but they couldn't figure out how to beat the final dungeon because of the ice you couldn't walk on. They let me and my brother borrow it, and I remember getting to the final dungeon and getting stuck at the same part. Well we were getting together one day and were supposed to return it back to them, but mere minutes before we were supposed to leave, I found the boots you needed to walk on the ice. So now that I could make it past the ice, but was supposed to return it to them, me and my brother pretended to forget bringing it so I could finish the game. They were mad, needless to say, but excited that I figured out what to do. Still one of my favorite Genesis games, and it has a great soundtrack as well.
lol that's devious but awesome I probably would have done the same. Thanks for sharing the story. (:
My fav MD game, brings back lots of memories, nice review.
Excellent review!
I've been wanting this game in my collection for soooo long. Shame it's so pricey on eBay.
Always wanted to get it when I was a kid, but could never find it in the shops either.
You have to play it, mate. It's an absolute masterpiece!
How much u willing to pay ?
Great review of one of my childhood favorites, i fondly recall grinding monsters for gold in the last dungeon to max out my lifestock at 99 and loving every minute:)
It was also one of the first games i remember playing that kept track of your played hours, which was neat at the time. I think that max lifestock game ended at about 50 hours, not bad for an old skool action/rpg lol
Oh yeah i really like the music, particularly the map theme !
Great review of the best action-RPG of the Mega Drive, and one of the very best games for the system in general.
+Yves Francis Thanks! There's some stiff competition for best of the system, but I'd agree that LandStalker is up there.
DariaPlaysRPGs Oh yes, there is a lot of competition. But Landstalker is definitely a game every Mega Drive / Genesis owner should play.
I have such a love hate relationship with Landstalker. It is a great game, but god damn those controls can make you tare you hair out in some of the last dungeons
Ain’t that the truth
This is why I tend to stear away from action RPGs lol. You won't find me falling off any moving platforms in TECMO Secret of the Stars 😜
Excellent game. The difficulty judging jumps (while climbing up blocks for instance that are hanging in the air, for instance) is, for me, part and parcel of the isometric gameplay. Added kind of a puzzle element. This was true of Equinox and its prequel Solstice as well. I enjoyed all of these games. I wish there were more like them.
Solid review Daria. Never played this one, may have to add it to my collection.
+D-pad Danny Heh, luckily this one's cheap.
I cry daily over Climax's falling out with Sega.
I've always wanted to play this since it lead up to Alundra, which I really enjoyed. Shining in the Darkness was alright, but incredible frustrating with it's game-play. Great review!
Shining in the Darkness is in fact one of my favourite dungeon RPGs of all time. I've never seen anything frustrating in the gameplay, to be honest. Dungeon mazes and enemies can be challenging at times, but that's about it. If you don't dislike dungeon RPGs, that one is greatly designed, with excellent 16-bit graphics and music.
Yves Francis
My complaints with Shining in the Darkness mostly comes from it's artificial difficulty with series barriers requiring grinding to progress. I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but that was my main complaint.
I'm 5 years late but a great review of one of my all time favs.
The storyline for Landstalker is amazing.
Great memories of a great game. I never finished it though, too frustrating. It reminds me a lot of Alundra. Another difficult game that I finished but while having a really hard time since there was no internet back in the days when I was stuck. Modern players sure have it easy...
One of my MD/16-bit favs and this is a pretty good review. I did hate the backtracking from missed jumps, but played in emulation it's no longer an issue.
I recommend trying Light Crusader and the Head over Heels fan remake since you liked this one.
+Alianger You know I cut some footage from Head over Heels from this video, but I wasn't aware someone had remade it. I'll check that out. Thanks!
I have Light Crusader, I'm sure it's good (does Treasure ever make bad games?) The fact you could push NPCs and furniture around was a little off putting in the beginning, but I'm sure it comes into play later for dungeon puzzles.
Yeah that's kind of an odd feature of LC, which doesn't come into play much either. It is a flawed game in some ways (I got the feeling they had to rush the story) but it has great dungeon design, interesting environments, a solid map system and a cool magic system inspired by Gunstar Heroes.
Light Crusader is a good game, but not near as good as Landstalker, which is definitely more catchy and polished.
i loved this game growing up, in fact you showed my top 3. this one, shinning force 2 and breath of fire 3. i remember playing land stalker and saving all those thunder statues or whatever they were that shook the whole screen and used them all on the last boss fight. didnt have a chance. i was thinking of going back and playing this again but just looks tedious compared to now a days games
I was a big fan of Solstice growing up, though I never finished it. It was the first game in the Equinox series. I picked this game up a few months back and I haven't played too much of it yet. I think it seems really cool though.
I'm glad to hear that the learning curve is manageable. I think I've been steering clear of playing it simply because of the platforming.
+Brasel TheGamer I remember getting Solstice and Gauntlet 2 for Christmas one year. And as much as I loved Solstice (the music is freaking haunting) I could never beat it. I should give it a serious revisiting one of these days. Maybe adult me will fare better.
Also yes... play Landstalker! Soooo good.
+DariaPlaysRPGs Yeah, the music in Solstice is amazingly cool, even if it's only a track or two. I remember hearing a really great rock opera styled cover of the intro awhile back.
Watching some of your stuff has really gotten me amped to play through some RPGs again. Going to try and give Landstalker a go. :D
there was going to be a sequel titled landstalker adventures on the mainland but it was canceled there was also going to be a psp remaster but it met the same fate the closest we got to a sequel was darksavior and aludra sega is just sitting on the ip now only releasing the original game in various sega collections just like every game that isnt sonic or yakuza
Wasn't the sequel called Heart of Diamonds or something?
I had no idea it was intended to be part of the Shining Force Series. Most frustrating part of this game is riding boulders to switches as a dog in the witch's hut %$@$@!!!!
Got this game deeply discounted at Toys R Us way back when. Great fun. After a while, I got use to judging the position of the platforms and so jumping was not impossible. As you say, the game rewards you going out of your way. If you want the hearts and special items, you gotta explore and solve the puzzles!
What a beautiful review!! ❤
Amazing game. Dark Saviour on the Saturn was a good follow up (although different story)
I love this game and I love Shining Force. I knew that the games had some striking similarities but always figured it was taken from and not "supposed to be" a Shining Force game. Makes so much sense now to think of Nigel as Max.
I guess I always did in a way
I loved Shining In The Darkness but I never had this game. It looks cool though and I have access to it now. It is a good looking game, my only complaint being that his shoes are way too big. That bothers me. Same reason I think I disliked Kingdom Hearts.....
Yes! Shining in the Darkness is my favorite Genesis game even though I love both Shining Force games. Landstalker too is an awesome game in it's own right.
Head Over Heels was the best game of this type. Still playable today.
Great review, tons of info i didn't know! The game is not an RPG however, but still an awesome video :)
Oh no. You're one of those Zelda deniers. ;)
:P
If the core game play is on the front end, and not the back end, it's not an RPG. RPG's are games where the menu's leveling, equipment etc are the gore gameplay. For example, you can't "play" your way out of the battle with the atma weapon in FFVI. You have to have a good back end. In Zelda, I do not need to get hearts or any item that isn't a core party of the puzzles to wn. The front in determines the gameplay not the back. The back is just there to help you and given depth. :)
yassssss the riddles section!!!
Can you review Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma? They're both action rpgs on the SNES and I am interested to hear your opinion on them!
Pro tip for mega sg users: you can turn off Nigels jump by lowering the 3rd square wave in the audio menu
5:18 diagonal controls, i swear i have 2 different 1st party 3 button controllers, and one of them worked flawlessly and one of them almost always went about 1/8 of a turn in the wrong direction. idk the difference, but one had red button letters and one dont, but they are both 1st party controllers.
also, nice channel. this was like my 3rd video of urs, but this the one i subbed for. thanks!
Great review, I really need to get on playing this game. Have you ever played Light Crusader? Its actually a pretty decent Genesis title that is also isometric in view. Congrats on 300 subscribers!
+Nintenjoel A little bit. I know it's suppose to be good - I mean come on! It's Treasure. Actually I sold a duplicate cart a few years back on ebay, and while testing the battery I loaded up the previous owner's save and beat the final boss. So there's that. :P
And thanks!
Haha no prob. That game is great from the small amount I have played it... I haven't gotten to beat the last boss though! :-p
I used to love renting this game on my Genesis before I got my SNES, as I had some major Link to the Past envy. The only problem is that the save files would always randomly delete, much to my young chagrin. I thought it was just a corrupted battery on the rental store's copy, and since I still loved the game, I wanted to own. But it was rare to find, and eventually the clerk at Babbage's told my mother that it was RECALLED. Apparently the battery issue was rampant. Alas, I never finished it...
THE BEST RPG OF THE 16-BIT ERA !!
Okay - now for a real comment. I like these isometric dungeon crawlers, namely Light Crusader, which is on my list. I've had an empty case for Landstalker forever, but never seen what the game is actually like. Looks. good.
+Games from the Grave Damn. I should have included footage for Light Crusader. Didn't think of that. It also sad, I've owned Landstalker for years, but always heard terrible things about it because it's an isometric game. Playing it for the review I was really surprised how much I genuinely enjoyed it. It's like people who say terrible things about rogue-likes because they just don't like the genre.
Daria are you aware that there is a patch which changes diagonal controls to the classical layout of 4 cardinal directions?
You can choose between two patches. Try them both!
www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,20088.0.html
My issue with the game was that the cartridge wasn’t very good at keeping your saves so I had to keep the console on for days safe from where anyone could bump it.
I've got to say, it looks like a pretty fancy game, although the absence of shadows and a gameboy-like field of vision makes me think it would be difficult to even navigate across the game world. I really hope I'll find enough patience to sit through it and diligently play around every single dungeon and solve all the puzzles the "legit" way -- sometimes pressing that save and load buttons is just so damn tempting.
Do you think you could estimate how long is Landstalker, at least in comparison to Alundra and how much harder or easier in terms of brainwashing puzzles? I think during my primary run of the game, I spent around 45 hours of gameplay and ended up with 41 life vessels. And the only time I had to use a walkthrough was during the Ice Manor puzzles, since they drove me insane.
Also, is it just me, or does that Landstalker life vessel equivalent sort of looks like a piece of ass? LOL
+Ann Night Oh hey! I'd say 20-30 hours is a good estimate. But I broke down and consulted the walkthrough frequently. I'm trying to maintain a (somewhat) tight recording schedule and don't have the luxury to wander around lost. Plus I have like zero patience. The lifestocks are well hidden, but there's an item you can get that chimes when one's hidden on the screen that helps A LOT. The field of vision wasn't too bad in game actually, but mainly because the individual screens are pretty small. And... OMG... the lifestocks do look like big glowing butts. >.< I didn't see it before, but now I can't unsee it.
Thanks for this great review
One of my favorite at the time. Did u review Monster World IV?
Witch game do yall prefer-landstalker or alundra? I am playing alundra right now for the first time but i prefer landstalker. However i know I am nostalgic about landstalker
Alundra, but that may be MY nostalgia talking. ;)
The game play is similar in Alundra but it feels like a very different game. The story, in Alundra, is heavy and the music is very different. The game can be tonally confusing between all the horrible dying and the goofy dialog...I do love the atmosphere and how you keap revisiting the same people/town.
Yeah Alundra feels more like a really hard Zelda game. Also the game is so sad overall, I think the goofy humor just keeps it from being devastatingly depressing. But I know that Working Designs treatment isn't for everyone.
This game is totally worth the money
Alundra started with landstalker
Ok, you sold me on this.
Hey daria. Where have you been as a fan i miss your videos . Friday movies and just your information.
Not to get wierd but were the hells are you. ??? Hope all is well. Best of luck if not but the youtubes misses you.
Thank you! :-)
What is it about old isometric games I find so irresistible?
Hallo from 2021! Love this game.
You would like Alundra, I think.
Maybe a Landstalker remake/3DPort could work awesomely on the 3ds !
I played it on emulator on my pc, but my dad format it because of reasons, I was near end. I never played it again but I really liked it
Ahhh... nothing's worse than losing an end game save. Except perhaps loss of life or limb.
Only thing I hate about this game is the controls. If it wasn't for the awful controls it would be perfect!
Great game
G E E N A D A V I S
Ps. I jist spent 145 dollers on sega gsmes and i passed this up. You hooked me with the ties to the original shinning force whos likness i locked into my first D&D character as a kid. Giuess my total will now be 190$ this week witch is fucking stupid. guess im just addicted to my new mega sg. Any ways happy trails daria thanks for the purchase advice
Remembers me....alundra
Great review Daria, check my channel I've been working on some kind of "Landstalker 2"
+The Bronze Oh shit. That's awesome - obviously early development but it looks like you have the basic mechanics down. Is it going to be a PC game or a genesis homebrew?
+DariaPlays on PC only most likely.
A shining example, done right? Nah. Too much isometric platforming for this game to break free of mediocrity. If they had left that aspect of the gameplay out, it would be a much better game. As it is, I'd say it's better than Soleil and not as good as Beyond Oasis. Of course, all of those games are flawed and none of them come anywhere near the level of design and polish of ALtTP. But I digress. This game is a shining example of how everybody aped Miyamoto all through the 80's and 90's, but nobody could do it better.
I like you.....
FIRST!
+Games from the Grave *smacks you*
Although I am impressed how quickly you replied after I uploaded this. :P
I've seen a very lengthy live stream of this game and I have to say: That game design is veeeery lazy at times. Not only does it include unnecessary backtracking or enemies that immediately knock you back out of the map, I'm talking about flat out gamebreakers. In one dungeon, if you're not fast enough you can get stuck behind a statue. Only thing you can do: Hit reset. Wow. It seems like they didn't even test the game before releasing it. I wouldn't call it a disaster though, however the flaws overweigh the pros for this one imo.
Grachtnakk you know I never really considered the backtracking but you've got a point. The world map isn't very big and you cross over the main parts of it repeatedly to access unlocked area.
I thought the trees that you could teleport between did a decent enough job of getting you around faster, you just have to remember your pairs. Only sticking point for me in the quest was finding that one particular hidden path in Greenmaze that leads you to completing it. I thought Greenmaze was a terrific idea, but there should have been more than one way to get to the end. The path in question was a big mountainous section and the hidden path that you need to find is really obscurely placed on the right side of screen. I don't recall if there was a decent visual clue or not. If you don't find that, and it's likely that the player won't for a while, you'll literally go in circles, which I think may have caused a lot of dropped plays. Only other critique would be when you go one-on-one with Zeke closer to the end in that field with the raised stone platform, because I had no idea how to avoid his continuous dive-bombing attack so it just became a damage race. Besides those complaints, I found most of the adventure and puzzles to be very entertaining. I have fond memories of the riddle crypt, wizard's tower and the final dungeon.
What dungeon are you talking? I don't remember that you can get stuck in this game.
@@meryl17 In some dungeon where you have to jump across the rolling balls as the dog
"Eye candy"? Not even by Genesis standards. It pales im comparison to Beyond Oasis.
+Ryuma King Hey now, it's not a contest. They can both be pretty.