Video Game / Micro Mages

"In long forgotten times… four mages set off to save their beloved Princess from the Demon Fortress.

— Intro screen

Micro Mages (Steam, Itch.io) is an indie Platform Game for the Nintendo Entertainment System made by Morphcat Games, released on April 30, 2019 in both digital form (with ROM included) and as a physical NES cartridge. Up to four players can play as mages on a quest to rescue their beloved Princess from a tower of demons.

The game is stored in just 40 kilobytes, the maximum for NES cartridges at the time of its release. As such, it uses several optimization tricks to reduce memory, such as the player sprites being tiny (hence the title Micro Mages).

---

This game provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual:
  • The instruction manual explains the back story of the four mages. If you read closely, you’ll notice that it always writes Princess with a capital P and without an article, foreshadowing the ending.
  • That also explains why the mages usually lock up their Princess inside whenever they’re away from home.
  • On the same manual page, an inconspicuous drawing of a bone is yet another dead giveaway.
• Auto-Scrolling Level: The whole game, except for the first and last screen of every stage. Notably, the scrolling speed adapts to how quickly the player character ascends the tower.
• Boss Corridor: A vertical passageway, bookended by trapdoors made of skulls.
• Chekhov's Gag: Will dawn on you when you re-read the story in the manual after you beat the game in Hard mode.
• Cobweb Trampoline: Ubiquitous in the first tower, Haunted Dungeon.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: As explained in the making-of, all sprites used in the game had to fit into 4 KiB of ROM.

• Cut and Paste Environments: Creatively averted. For example, the game engine mirrors the background horizontally due to memory constraints, but it allows level designers to shift the mirroring axis of every row of tiles individually. That trick helps keep the level design playable and appealing.
• Dead Character Walking: If you die during a multiplayer match, you get to continue playing as a ghost, which has limited actions but a chance to be resurrected.

• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The four towers of the Demon Fortress.
• Excuse Plot: Almost all of the entire plot is in the intro cutscene: mages need to rescue Princess from demon's fortress. A typical NES game plot at first glance, but beating Hard Mode reveals that Princess is actually their dog.

• Girl in the Tower: Implied by the opening, which tells of a Princess in the Demon Fortress the mages are trying to save. Parodied at the end by revealing that "Princess" is actually a dog.
• Informed Equipment: Averted. Even though the player character’s sprite is only 8×8 pixels, you can discern the item the mage is wielding.
• Level Goal: A menacing portal with a skull and blinking lights.
• Made of Plasticine: Any damage sends the mage and their bloody remains flying across the screen.
• Multiplayer-Only Item: The Warp Star, which allows you to switch position with another mage.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: Unless you power-up with a fairy or magic feather, any bit of damage kills you instantly.
• Projectile Spell: The mage’s only weapon.
• Read the Freaking Manual: The instruction booklet teaches you about Mega Spells, recoil jumps, releasing fairies and the Blood Bonds option. None of those techniques are really obvious during normal gameplay.
• Retraux: A 40 KiB ROM that runs on an actual NES. The cartridge version comes with a printed instruction booklet, just like they used to make ’em in the 80s.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: The player character.
• Rubber-Band A.I.: If you fall behind, the auto-scrolling will slow down, and speed up again if you’re catching up.

• Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: The mage, largely due to design constraints inherent in 8×8-pixel sprites.
• Squishy Wizard: The tiniest bit of damage will kill the mage, sending gibs around the screen.
• Teleportation: The pipes in Valhalla Tower. Also the Warp Star in the multiplayer game.
• Tomato Surprise: “Princess” is a dog.
• Tube Travel: In the second world, Valhalla Tower.
• Victory Pose: The mage who scores the most points does a victory dance on the tally screen.
• Wall Jump: Key mechanic of the game.
• You Break It, You Profit: Destroying a checkpoint gives you 500 extra points.