Magician Lord (Neo Geo)

Magician Lord

Released in 1990 and regarded as one of the NEOGEO's earliest signature games, this side-scrolling platformer mixes action with the mystical world of fantasy. A magician named Elta, last descendant of the famed Magician Lord, takes on an epic adventure to save the world from the evil Gul-Agieze.

Elta must battle through eight stages, collecting the eight tomes of power that are key to defeating Gul-Agieze and his evil plans. By obtaining orbs in one of three colors (elements) that appear during the game, Elta's offensive powers and jumping abilities can be strengthened. The effect varies considerably depending on the combination of elements, though, and Elta can transform into six different forms: Waterman, Dragon Warrior, Shinobi, Samurai, Raijin or Poseidon. Can you help Elta to become the new Magician Lord?

Magician Lord Review

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Review by Damien McFerran

Magician Lord Screenshot

One of the first games produced for SNK’s arcade system, Magician Lord is a lot like Capcom’s Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts. You play the titular wizard as he battles to defend his homeland from the evil advances of the absurdly named Gul-Agieze.

Considering the age of the game the visuals and sound are both excellent. The sprites themselves look a little dumpy and animate awkwardly but they still manage to look impressive, and the generous use of sprite scaling also helps the visual side of things. The music is nothing short of stunning, with the first level theme being especially worthy of praise.

Magician Lord Screenshot

The biggest hook of the game is undoubtedly the transformations. At set points in the game your character can turn into one of six different beings – Dragon, Waterman, Poseidon, Shinobi, Samurai and Raizin. Each form has different powers and attributes that help progress through particular parts of the game. Sadly these transformations are time-limited, but your standard ‘wizard’ form is usually more than adequate to tackle the challenge ahead. Like Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts, Magician Lord has a fairly harsh difficulty level. If you like your games to be challenging then this should be right up your street. Thankfully, it manages to avoid being totally frustrating.

While it doesn’t quite reach the same level of brilliance as Capcom’s aforementioned fantasy epic, Magician Lord is still a classic game and the fact that people still regard it as a decent platform romp speaks volumes for the quality of this appealing title.

4/5

Average reader rating: 3.78 (36 ratings)

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Screenshots

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Magician Lord (Video Clip)

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Have your say about Magician Lord

1. KeeperBvK Germany 04 Sep 2007, 21:58 GMT

The Neo Geo didn't have much competition for this, but even if it had, Magician Lord would still be a great game.

2. alvieao United States 14 Sep 2007, 05:19 GMT

I can't believe SNK Playmore replaced Magician Lord with Art of Fighting for the North America region of Neo-Geo VC...

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3. Jonno United States 01 Oct 2007, 01:12 GMT

I know, considering Magician Lord is way better. :S

4. retro_gammer79 United States 17 Oct 2007, 23:18 GMT

I hope that you can save your game each time you finish a level. Does any one know if they will keep this feature in? The reason I ask is on the Neo Geo AES and CD you were able to save this to a memory card.

5. lavkian United States 26 Oct 2007, 21:05 GMT

Seeing as how you've always been able to quicksave whenever you want on the VC, that shouldn't be a problem.

6. Brett Celinski United States 26 Oct 2007, 21:23 GMT

Those monsters look awfully like the Covenant...

7. Bazoon Israel 26 Oct 2007, 23:40 GMT

Tried this game for a few minutes, the cursed black boarders are there! but the interesting question, the games run in OPTIMIZED 50Hz or UNOPTIMIZED 50hz?

Can't understand why nintendo keeps giving us PAL users the stupid 50Hz, if they brought us 60Hz versions of SMB2 and S&P(well, because they were japaneese, hehe), I am sure that it won't be THAT much problem converting some games to 60Hz, no?

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8. Starwolf_UK United Kingdom 27 Oct 2007, 00:29 GMT

"Seeing as how you've always been able to quicksave whenever you want on the VC, that shouldn't be a problem."
Not for N64 and (last I heared) Neo-Geo titles. Which this is.

9. Neltron United Kingdom 27 Oct 2007, 08:33 GMT

The soundtrack on the clip is great!

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10. Adamant Norway 27 Oct 2007, 08:52 GMT

Not sure about all Neo Geo titles, but I can vouch for Fatal Fury not having quicksave (which sucks, because it's limited credits actually makes going for the high score rather fun, and now the hi score list is nuked every time you exit the game).

Magician Lord is a fine game, well worth a download.

11. Iggy United States 29 Oct 2007, 16:49 GMT

The title screen of Magician Lord does say something about "memory save" on it, if you look at it. Anyway, fun game...always wanted to play this but never did.

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12. Mirokunite United States 30 Oct 2007, 18:59 GMT

I remember watching this game on Nick Arcade back in the early 90's. Man, those where the days... I so wanted to play this game back then.

I think I will pick it up.

13. Leon Ahoy! United Kingdom 03 Nov 2007, 21:58 GMT

The game that "Shadow Of The Beast" could have been. The visuals are similar, the sound is also inspiring, but when it comes to the vital gameplay component, Japanese design once again triumphs.

Magician Lord is full of magical colour, rousing sound, and gripping gameplay. On the surface a simple run&kill action title- it's the passion and skill of the designers that shines through- and makes this one of the best examples of its genre.

A game that takes good advantage of the power of the Neo Geo, and delivers a must-have experience for fans of action titles.

14. retro_gammer79 United States 05 Nov 2007, 21:50 GMT

This game rocks as it it challenging as well as fun. Here is how to save your current game as I had to read the manual as it is not straight froward.

1. At the game over screen let it count down or just press B on the wii remote.

2. Bress B to save your game and ignore the memory card is inserted as this was build into the game from back into the day so in the arcade you wouldn't format your game card.

3. That's it next time you load the game it will ask you if resume from save. You can only have one game save at a time.

15. Himzka United States 05 Nov 2007, 22:38 GMT

Is anyone having problems with this title? When I start it up I only get sound, no video... If I hit the home key, I can see the screen on the background, but the moment I go back to the game it goes black again. I already deleted it and re-downloaded it and its a no go. Anyone knows whats up? (no other game does this, only ML). Thanks in advance!

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16. Drake Netherlands 05 Nov 2007, 22:40 GMT

Might be a cable issue - Are you using Wii Component Cables or not? I think the Wii or Nintendo site might have a solution.

17. Himzka United States 05 Nov 2007, 23:27 GMT

found it. I was not aware of the PAL + component cable issue. Thanks for the help =)

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18. morphballer United States 06 Nov 2007, 22:08 GMT

I'm having problems but it has more to do with the difficulty. I can't beat the "Beautiful Assassin" boss(es) without dying. There are three targets: the boss and two female warriors.

HELP!!!!

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19. Drake Netherlands 06 Nov 2007, 23:54 GMT

As soon as they appear stand in the middle and fire at the right one like mad. Then walk right and fire at the remaining one like mad. Dodge some of the shots (From the shielded woman) while firing at her and she should go down too. Then fire at the shielded woman (Every 4 hits she drops the shield for a second or so, hit her then and keep shooting till it goes back up).

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20. Adamant Norway 11 Nov 2007, 08:46 GMT

I'm having trouble beating the black knight boss (7th miniboss) when you meet him again on the final stage. He fell easily the first time I fought him, since I had the shinobi form, and thus more HP, and could simply stand there shooting until he died, but I can't beat him as the magician. Any hints?

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21. Inquisitor United States 24 Jan 2008, 01:56 GMT

man i cant remember when was the last time i played this game.

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22. Manicfatty United States 14 Feb 2008, 21:00 GMT

This is one of those games that I remembered fondly and looked forward to, only to realize that I was seeing it through a cloud of nostalgia. It's not a bad game, it's just nowhere as good as I remember. It was fun for a while, and it was certainly cool having friends play that had never experienced (or heard of) it before. In fact, they seemed to get more out of playing it than I did. I guess it's the mysterious 'cool factor' of playing a game released so long ago on a system most couldn't afford.

23. GEOFF United Kingdom 23 Mar 2008, 15:41 GMT

This game is criminally difficult ! The arcade must of been designed to steal your coins.I'm on level 6 and I must of continued a hundred times.When you get hit you don't become invincible for a couple of seconds like in fair games,so you find yourself getting hit 2 or more times in a row very often.If your a modern soft gamer ,or become one like me thanks to todays easy games your going to struggle.

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24. slangman United Kingdom 16 Jun 2008, 11:55 GMT

This is a really cool game. Not only is the gameplay with transforming into other forms like a dragon great and with a challenging difficulty that makes the game more worthwhile, but this also has a great soundtrack for each of the levels. Highly Recomended

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25. evilralfwiggum United States 04 Aug 2008, 06:26 GMT

I've played through this game on the SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 twice so far...i'm now going through it on hard. Awesome Game, I love the music! haha..tough the first time though..

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26. Adamant Norway 01 Oct 2008, 02:26 GMT

I really couldn't stand the version included on the SNK Arcade Classics collection. The infinite lives and direct respawning where you died, damage inflicted still remaining and all, just ruins the fun of developing strategies to make it through the levels. It's like playing in an infinte cheat mode.

I really love the console/VC version of the game, but I'm really glad I downloaded it when it was released - had I first played it on the collection, I'd have considered it pure trash.

27. The Fox United States 15 Nov 2008, 17:44 GMT

I loved this game back in the day. It is tough (cheap even in certain spots) but still good. Also, the music in the game is excellent.

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