Random Game Highlight: Conquest of the Crystal Palace
This one really is random. There’s pretty much no other category I would put this game in. It’s neither especially good nor terribly bad. It’s really nothing special, but it is random.
I don’t particularly have the urge to boot it up now, because I might get sucked into it (however briefly). You play some kid who had his magic kingdom taken over by an evil guy when he was a baby. His magical dog saved him and made sure he was raised appropriately (I think that’s how it goes), then reveals the truth to him. Anyway, there’s a lot of fighting, and you have a magic dog, and there are shopkeepers that are entirely too chatty. That’s about all I remember about the plot. It’s sort of like a weaker Clash at Demonhead. It’s anime-inspired, clearly, and there are bizarre goings-on, but they’re just bizarre enough to support the premise of the game.
Similar to 8 Eyes, your dog is a companion who you have limited control over. He can be helpful, but (again like 8 Eyes’ Cutrus) he is entirely to weak to be your front-line and will likely die quickly. Unlike 8 Eyes, he cannot be played by a second player, making this game a sad case of could-have-been.
It’s not like it’s a total loss, though. The reason I still remember this game – and, in fact, what inspired me to post again so quickly – was the song for the first stage, which is unbelievably catchy (and linked below). The composer credited with this is Masaharu Iwata, a wonderfully prolific and talented composer who is probably best known for his work alongside Hitoshi Sakimoto on games like FFXII and Opoona. Incidentally, he also composed the music for the original Japanese release of Baroque.