Marvel Land
Marvel Land (マーベルランド, Māberurando) is a platform arcade game released by Namco in 1989; it runs on Namco System 2 hardware, was the company's last arcade game of the 1980s, and was later ported to the Sega Genesis in 1991 (the EU version was also released under an alternative name of Talmit's Adventure.). It also shares its name with the fictitious kingdom in which the 1986 Japan-only Famicom game Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu took place but has no connections with it otherwise - and it does not have any connections with Marvel Comics and any of the superheroes associated with them, either.
| Marvel Land | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco Tose |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, Virtual Console |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Cabinet | Upright, cabaret, and cocktail |
| Arcade system | Namco System 2 |
| CPU | 2x Motorola 68000 @ 12.288 MHz, 1x Motorola M6809 @ 3.072 MHz, 1x Hitachi HD63705 @ 2.048 MHz |
| Sound | 1x Yamaha YM2151 @ 3.57958 MHz, 1x C140 @ 21.39 kHz |
| Display | Horizontal orientation, Raster, 288 x 224 resolution |
Gameplay
In Marvel Land, the player must take control of Prince Paco (Talmit in English),[1] who's on a quest to save Princess Luxie (Wondra in English) from the evil Mole King (Japanese: 魔王モウル; Maō Mōru); the gameplay is similar to that for Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.. Powerups include dragon wings which allow Prince Paco to jump higher and fly (to a certain extent), shoes that can allow him to walk faster for a while, and a clone powerup which allows him to whip multiple copies of himself at enemies in a line - and collecting these powerups makes it easier for Prince Paco to defeat enemies and collect various items to increase his score. Each of the game's four worlds take place in an amusement park (which is the eponymous "Marvel Land"), and most areas are set outside with various obstacles that must be overcome; other areas include a ride on a roller coaster, and even a walk through a funhouse. At the end of the regular outside levels, Prince Paco must jump through a huge target to earn between 100 and 7650 (Namco's goroawase number) extra points - and his remaining time will also then be added.
The game's enemies are an army of moles known as "Mogles", and a wide range of other creatures; a boss must also be fought at the end of the last area of all four worlds. They are unique in that they are played more like a minigame (rock paper scissors for Worlds 1 and 4, and tug of war for Worlds 2 and 3). After Prince Paco defeats a boss he rescues a fairy (Princess Luxie after he defeats the Mole King), and is treated to a bonus stage where he must catch falling stars for points in a float parade at night - and some rides featured in areas, along with the bonus stage parade floats contain several of Namco's earlier characters, such as: Pac-Man (1980), Pooka from Dig Dug (1982), Solvalou from Xevious (1982), Mappy (1983), Grobda (1984), Gilgamesh and Ki from Tower of Druaga (1984), Paccet from Baraduke (1985), Valkyrie of Valkyrie no Bōken (NES, 1986), Wonder Momo (1987), Amul (in "one-headed" form) from Dragon Spirit (1987) and Beraboh Man (1988). The pink-and-silver female robot who appears at the start of each world, 受付小町 (Uketsuke Komachi) also appears in the Namco System 12-era World Stadium games as the Nikotama Gals' catcher and in the Namco Museum series at the information desk.
After Prince Paco has beaten the Mole King at his minigame, he will state "BLAST! YOUR POINT ARE MORE THAN MINE! THE "POKA-SUKA" SLOT IS YOURS. BUT, I CAN'T RECOGNIZE YOUR WIN BY SUCH A WAY! HERE COMES SEVERE FIGHT!" and the game will take on the normal "final boss" theme; at this time, the chances of Prince Paco's victory are proportional to how many bosses he had defeated earlier. This game features a lot of secret warp areas that allow the player to bypass most of the game (just like with Super Mario Bros.) - but defeating each of the three previous bosses grants the player three powerful "Trident Crystals", which are required to beat the Mole King in the final battle. It is also worth noting that even if Prince Paco manages to defeat the Mole King (and rescue Princess Luxie), he shall also still have to escape with her in tow; however, he only has one chance to do so, because he will have received 1000000 points for all his remaining lives (except his last one) after the Mole King was defeated. As a result, this is probably the hardest Namco game to get to the end of.
Digest Mode
If the player selects Digest in the difficulty, most of the stages in different worlds will be skipped up from World 1 Area 1 through World 1 Area 7, World 2 Area 1 until World 2 Area 6 and World 3 Area 2 until World 4 Area 6 and Prince Paco will fight lesser enemies and can only rescue Florie and Princess Luxie (excluding Sylphie and Sweetie) in that mode.
Characters
The characters of the game consisted of both Prince Paco and Bunny as the two characters are the ones to rescue the fairies including Princess Luxie from their respective worlds. In Digest Mode, Prince Paco will rescue both Florie and Princess Luxie as most stages from World 1 to World 4 were skipped while facing lesser enemies.
Prince Paco (Talmit in English) is the main protagonist of Marvel Land where he was chosen to rescue the fairies from their respective worlds including Princess Luxie at the hands of the Mole King. After defeating the Mole King and rescuing the Princess the two escaped the premises as he also witnessed Luxie using the blue Trident crystal ball to clear up the entire the Marvel Land.
Bunny is one of Prince Paco's friends who warns him about the Mole King's world conquest in taking over Marvel Land and for capturing Princess Luxie and the fairies. She also serves as the referee in the minigames when Prince Paco fights the respective bosses.
Florie (Flora in English) is the fairy from the first world and carries the yellow Trident crystal ball as she and the rest of the fairies including Princess Luxie were captured by the Mole King. She was the first fairy to be rescued by Prince Paco once he defeated The Great Condor in a Rock-Paper-Scissors minigame and she gives the yellow Trident crystal to Paco as a token of gratitude.
Florie' name is the access password for World 1 Area 7.
Sylphie (Sirca in English) is the fairy from the second world and carries the green Trident crystal ball. She and the rest of the fairies including Princess Luxie were captured by the Mole King. She was the second fairy to be rescued by Prince Paco once he overpumps the water balloon and pops and splash onto the Demon Mogle's big boss with water from the balloon during the air pumping game and she gives the green Trident crystal to Paco as a token of gratitude.
Sylphie's name is the access password for World 2 Area 7.
Sweetie is the third fairy from the third world similar to the candyland and carries the pink Trident crystal ball. She and the rest of the fairies including Princess Luxie were captured by the Mole King. She was the third fairy to be rescued by Prince Paco by defeating Princess Demon Ala Mode in a racing card game and she gives the pink Trident crystal to Paco as a token of gratitude. She is the only character to retain her original name in both English or Japanese.
Sweetie's name is the access password for World 3 Area 7.
Princess Luxie (Wondra in English) is the Princess who lives in the fourth world and the person who carries the blue Trident crystal ball as her Trident symbol is yellow which is different than the other fairies' Trident symbols being red from their respective crystal. Unlike most fairies being captured by the Mole King, Luxie ends up being knocked unconscious during Mole King's captivity. She was the last person to be rescued by Paco by beating the Mole King in a musical Whack-A-Mole minigame and an actual boss fight. She is temporarily became a playable character in the fifth world where she and Prince Paco escape and she was dragged by him while running and jumping to avoid the falling debris or getting fall into the burning charcoals until they reach through the dark clouds while whited out in the flash of light. At the ending, she uses the blue Trident crystal to clear up the entire Marvel Land.
Luxie's name is the access password for World 1 Area 2.
Bosses
The Great Condor is a purple condor who serves as one of the Mole King's adversaries who wields the hammer. He was the first boss to be fought on World 1 Area 7 in order for Prince Paco to rescue Florie in the Rock-Paper-Scissors minigame. He ends up defeated by Paco when he wins the minigame.
His name species Condor is the access password for World 1 Area 6.
Demon Mogle is the chameleon-like demon who serves as one of the Mole King's adversaries. He is the second boss to be fought at World 2 Area 7 in order for Paco to rescue Sylphie in the air pumping minigame. He will be defeated once Paco pops the opponent's water balloon to splash the Demon Mogle's big boss with water in humiliation after overpumping the entire water balloon.
His name is the access password for World 2 Area 6.
Princess Demon Ala Mode is a demon princess who serves as one of the Mole King's adversaries. She is the third boss to be fought at World 3 Area 7 in order for Paco to rescue Sweetie in the racing card game. She can be defeated if Paco quickly manages to get the matching cards three times.
Her name is the access password for World 3 Area 6.
Mole King (Japanese: 魔王モウル; Maō Mōru) also known as King Mole or King Demon Mole is the main antagonist and final boss of the game who is responsible for capturing the world fairies including Princess Luxie for his world conquest in taking over Marvel Land. He was fought twice as the last and final boss in World 4 Area 6 where Prince Paco needs to defeat him first in a musical Whack-A-Mole minigame and an actual boss fight where he can zap lasers with his staff and randomly charges his opponent. Paco carries the three Trident crystals in order to defeat him and rescue Luxie. Once Paco defeats him for the second time, he was blown away with a white smoke in explosion.
His name species Mole is the access password for World 1 Area 3.
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Marvel Land on their March 15, 1990 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade game of the year.[2]
Legacy
Marvel Land reappears as the setting of one of the chapters of the 2015 Nintendo 3DS game, Project X Zone 2. The game's party ends up visiting the park due to the park's name being confused with Marvel Land from Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu. The game also showed up as an occasional Video Challenge on the early-1990s Nickelodeon game show Nick Arcade.
References
- マーベルランド
- "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 376. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 March 1990. p. 25.