History VideoGame / MagicianLord

''Magician Lord'' was one of UsefulNotes/NeoGeo's launch titles in 1990 and a KillerApp for its time. A PlatformGame made by Creator/{{ADK}}, it tells the story of Elta, a young wizard entrusted with the task of collecting eight magic books to keep Az Atorse, the god of destruction, sealed. The evil necromancer Gal Agiese however wants the power of Az Atorse for himself and challenges the young wizard to retrieve them. The game is divided into eight stages, each one of them culminating with the battle against a "guardian" (basically, a sub-boss) and then against Gal Agiese himself, every time turned into some grotesque creature that represents Az Atorse's power (or maybe he's just dicking around with Elta, who knows).

The defining feature of the game was the ability to collect colored orbs to turn Elta into six possible forms with different abilities, increasing for example his agility, jump or firepower. The title is also remembered for its presentation (thanks to the power of the hardware), with great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but also for its difficulty (it was produced by {{Creator/SNK}} after all) and for many amusing {{Engrish}} quotes. ''Magician Lord'' remained an arcade and UsefulNotes/NeoGeo-only release until the 2000s, when it was ported to UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, ''SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii and the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, and later to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 store, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XBoxOne.

* NintendoHard: Ridiculously so. The home/AES version made the game even harder by respawning you at designated checkpoints, rather than the place where you died like the arcade/MVS version.

* NintendoHard: Ridiculously so.

* ThrowTheDogABone: For little apparent reason, the player's allowed to pick any of their super forms to start the FinaBoss stage as.

-->''You persistent guy. But your life ends right now.''

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Level five is called "'''A'''nderground passage of terror". There are several other examples, this is just the most blatant.

* ThemeNaming: While it doesn't name ''all'' of the bosses, the Japanese manual implies that besides Gal Agiese, the bosses were all named for CthulhuMythos horrors. Besides Az Atorse (meant to be Az Athoth), there's Ithaqua (stage 1 boss), Dagon (stage 3 boss), and Shudde M'Ell (stage 6 boss).

* AnnoyingLaugh: The high-pitched snickers of the first guardian and the continuous giggles of the fifth.

!Tropes found in the game:

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The sixth guardian is a seemingly human woman, the only female one (the only ''unambiguously'' female one, that is. The fifth guardian is a knight that seems to have high heels, so who knows?) and also the only one enemy that does not explode upon defeat.

The defining feature of the game was the ability to collect colored orbs to turn Elta into six possible forms with different abilities, increasing for example his agility, jump or firepower. The title is also remembered for its presentation (thanks to the power of the hardware), with great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but also for its difficulty (it was produced by {{SNK}} after all) and for many amusing {{Engrish}} quotes. ''Magician Lord'' remained an arcade and UsefulNotes/NeoGeo-only release until the 2000s, when it was ported to UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, ''SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii and the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, and later to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 store, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XBoxOne.

* {[Malaproper}}: Before the first boss battle, Gal Agiese says, "What imp'''r'''udence, you human being!" He probably means "impudence".

The defining feature of the game was the ability to collect colored orbs to turn Elta into six possible forms with different abilities, increasing for example his agility, jump or firepower. The title is also remembered for its presentation (thanks to the power of the hardware), with great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but also for its difficulty (it was produced by {{SNK}} after all) and for many amusing {{Engrish}} quotes. ''Magician Lord'' remained an arcade and UsefulNotes/NeoGeo-only release until the 2000s, when it was ported to UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, ''SNK Classics Collection Vol. 1'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, and later to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 store, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XBoxOne.

The defining feature of the game was the ability to collect colored orbs to turn Elta into six possible forms with different abilities, increasing for example his agility, jump or firepower. The title is also remembered for its presentation (thanks to the power of the hardware), with great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but also for its difficulty (it was produced by {{SNK}} after all) and for many amusing {{Engrish}} quotes. ''Magician Lord'' remained an arcade- and UsefulNotes/NeoGeo-only release until the 2000s, when it was ported to UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole and later to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 store.

* DevelopmentHell: See "What Could Have Been" below.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Apparently SNK was working on a portable sequel to the game, for Neo Geo Pocket, in the late Nineties. According to [[http://www.gamekult.com/actu/magician-lord-la-suite-que-personne-na-vue-A104756.html this French article]], it was being developed by ADK and was in the alpha stage when ADK and SNK went bankrupt. Elta could turn into several new forms and the game seemed more of a MetroidVania, but we'll never know for sure.

The defining feature of the game was the ability to collect colored orbs to turn Elta into six possible forms with different abilities, increasing for example his agility, jump or firepower. The title is also remembered for its presentation (thanks to the power of the hardware), with great graphics and an amazing soundtrack, but also for its difficulty (it was produced by {{SNK}} after all) and for many amusing {{Engrish}} quotes. ''Magician Lord'' remained an arcade- and UsefulNotes/NeoGeo-only release until the 2000s, when it was ported to UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s VirtualConsole and later to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 store.

* CthulhuMythos: Pretty blatant. The veiny bird-monsters look like some old art of Byakhees, the second-to-last boss is an obvious Nyarlathotep copy, and "Az Atorse" was likely meant to be Azathoth. And those are just the direct Lovecraft homages, to say nothing of the general enemy design.