Retro Review - Dahna: Megami Tanjou

After a short "vacation" (I've actually had the draft of this post for almost a month, but between the December holidays and my extreme laziness I've postponed it until today), I'm back for another review. And it might be more than a game of one of my favorite genres, a beat'em up with certain platformer elements, without much depth in plot (though a bit more elaborate than other similar games) or in terms of mechanics, but which is extremely fun.

Today's Retro Review is about: Dahna: Megami Tanjou.

The story of this game focuses on Dahna, who from a very young age and like her sister, were blessed with a very powerful and coveted magic that allows them to use the elements. Some time later the parents of these two sisters are murdered and in the chaos caused by this attack, the two sisters were forced to overcome, Dahna having to flee to the nearest town where for years was learning to use more of their magical powers thanks to the wizard of that village. Ten years passed and again chaos would return to Dahna's life, since her teacher was kidnapped by the forces of a powerful magician, in this way and with weapon in hand, Dahna will embark on an adventure of salvation, with lots of action, magic and a very important relief.

The graphic aspect of Dahna: Megami Tanjou is not something spectacular, but it is good enough to be considered pleasing to the eye. With a medieval setting, this game has all the topics related to this type of setting, from villages, forests, mountains and with enough elements and details that manage to create a medieval and "rustic" atmosphere quite acceptable and decent. The colors of the scenarios are appropriate for each environment in which we go with our character.

The sprites of the characters are relatively small but with elements, colors and details that make them different from each other. The design of our main character despite being "simple" is sufficiently designed to know that we are in front of the main protagonist of the game. In addition, each character has a decent set of animations, even in the characters that have much larger sprites, they are not so stiff despite their appearance.

The sound aspect of this game is very good, without much to highlight but is very well composed for this type of game and its setting. Music full of action in the moments where we are facing an enemy attack and more relaxed music for those moments where it is more appropriate, plus it has characteristic melodies of games whose setting is focused on the medieval, fantasy and magic. It also has some correct sound effects that help to a better immersion.

Dahna: Megami Tanjou is basically a beat'em up but set in a medieval fantasy world, in which we control Dahna through a series of scenarios full of enemies that we must defeat and in whose scenarios we will also find some platforming sections. Basically the gameplay of this game is based on most games of this genre, with a character control extremely easy, go through each scenario, attacking our enemies with the sword or with the use of magical attacks, despite its simplicity is a fairly entertaining game.

Throughout the scenarios we will find the classic items that help us to recover the life bar and the magic bar of our character. In itself, Dahna: Megami Tanjou is not a game that innovates too much, it maintains many of the main characteristics and topics of the beat'em up, although also in certain sections of this adventure, we can use quite useful mounts that help us to defeat our enemies in a more colorful way. But in terms of mechanics and gameplay it is quite conventional.

Without innovating practically in anything Dahna: Megami Tanjou is still a very fun and entertaining game, which despite all these aspects is worth playing.