Risky Woods
From Sega Retro
Risky Woods, known in Japan as Jashin Draxos (邪神ドラクソス), is a Sega Mega Drive action platform game developed and published by Electronic Arts. A port of the titular 1992 Amiga game Risky Woods, it was first released in the United States and Europe in December 1992.[5][6]
The Mega Drive version, developed by Electronic Arts in-house programmer Steve Wetherill, has some deliberate aesthetic changes which differentiate the port from the original, Spanish-developed home computer version.
Contents
Story
The ancient monks who preserve the wisdom of the Lost Lands have been frozen in stone by antagonist Draxos and his minions. Young protagonist Rohan must venture into the Risky Woods to release them.
Gameplay
The game is an action platformer played as the young traveler Rohan, who must free the monks of the Lost Lands that have been turned to stone. Enemy monsters include skeletons and flying demons, and enemies respawn frequently. Each stage contains two or three monks, whose stone figures must be attacked to free them. When monks are freed, they cause an explosion that harms all enemies on the screen. Some monks are "bad" monks that harm Rohan instead. The number of monks left to rescue are shown on the bottom of the screen. Once all of the monks have been rescued, the exit to the stage appears.
Rohan walks with and . He crouches with and jumps with . He attacks monsters by throwing daggers with , which are unlimited. They are thrown in a straight line and cannot be aimed but can be thrown while crouching or jumping.
Statues called Gatekeepers block the path through the stages and can only be removed by collecting circle-shaped Gate Keys. Each Gate Key has two halves that must be collected. If Rohan is missing a piece when he reaches the Gatekeeper, he is teleported back to it; otherwise, Rohan can throw the Gate Key into the Gatekeeper with . The statue then plays a "chant" by pressing again, which is a random sequence of , , , and prompts. The player must memorize these and replay them in the correct order to destroy the statue. The chants grow in complexity as the game goes on. When a Gatekeeper is destroyed, it drops "treasure," which usually includes more powerful weapons that Rohan can equip. Picking up the same weapon again upgrades its power level, up to two times. The current weapon level is shown as notches on the bottom of the screen.
There is a time limit to complete each stage, and Rohan loses a life and must restart the stage from the beginning if time runs out. Rohan has a limited number of energy points, which he loses when he takes damage from an enemy monster, and he also loses a life if he runs out of energy points or falls down a bottomless pit and must restart from a predetermined checkpoint. Some items restore his energy points, and he gains an extra life if he gains energy points in excess of his full amount.
Rohan can collect Armor Links that are dropped by slain monsters. When he has collected 33 Armor Links, he gains a suit of Silver Armor that reduces the damage he takes by 50%. When he has collected 67 Armor Links, his armor is upgraded to Gold Armor that reduces the damage he takes by 100%. However, he loses an Armor Link whenever he takes damage (and several Armor Links when he loses a life), so he loses his armor when he drops beneath the required threshold of Armor Links for it.
Rohan can collect skulls that give him allow him to perform a skull-empowered staff ability by holding , where Rohan stamps his staff against the ground, attacking all enemies on screen. The attack is more powerful depending on the armor that Rohan has equipped. Using this ability consumes a skull and energy points, again depending on the armor equipped (6 energy points for no armor, 3 energy points for Silver Armor, and no energy points for Gold Armor).
Armor
No Armor | |
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Rohan initially does not wear any armor and takes full damage from all attacks. | |
Silver Armor | |
After collecting 33 Armor Links, Rohan wears a suit of Silver Armor that reduces damage from attacks by 50%. He loses this armor if he drops below 33 Armor Links. | |
Gold Armor | |
After collecting 67 Armor Links, Rohan wears a suit of Gold Armor that reduces damage from attacks by 100%. He loses this armor and reverts to the Silver Armor if he drops below 67 Armor Links. |
Objects
Gatekeeper | |
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Gatekeepers appear in each stage to block the path. Rohan must collect the two Gate Key halves, then throw them into the Gatekeeper with . The player can then learn a "chant" from the Gatekeeper by pressing again, which must be repeated back using , , , and in order to break the Gatekeeper and clear the way. | |
Treasure Chest | |
Destroy to release items. | |
Exit Sign | |
After rescuing all of the monks in a stage or defeating the boss, the exit appears. Touch the exit to finish the stage. |
Items
Items are found in treasure chests or sometimes dropped by defeated monsters. Items are picked up by crouching over them with .
Armor Link | |
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Most monsters drop Armor Links when they are killed. Collect 33 pieces to equip the Silver Armor, which reduces damage by 50%, or 67 pieces to equip the Gold Armor, which reduces damage by 100%. Rohan can carry up to 99 Armor Links at a time, and he drops Armor Links whenever he takes damage. | |
Star | |
Awards 5,000 bonus points. | |
Battery | |
Awards 5,000 bonus points. | |
Cross | |
Awards 10,000 bonus points. | |
Arrow | |
Either awards 10,000 bonus points or sends Rohan back to an earlier point in the stage. | |
Apple | |
Either awards 10,000 bonus points or puts Rohan to sleep. When Rohan is asleep, he regenerates energy but loses time. | |
Jewel | |
Awards 50,000 bonus points. | |
Ring | |
Awards 50,000 bonus points. | |
Heart | |
Restores 3 energy points. | |
Potion | |
Restores 6 energy points. | |
Lightning | |
Temporarily renders Rohan immune to damage. | |
Fire Djinn | |
Summons a fire spirit that temporarily follows Rohan and flies toward enemies to attack them. | |
Hourglass | |
Restores one minute of time. | |
Skull | |
Gives Rohan one use of the skull-empowered staff ability by holding down . The strength of the attack increases depending on the armor equipped. The attack costs energy points to use, but this is also reduced depending on the armor equipped (6 energy points for no armor, 3 energy points for Silver Armor, and no energy points for Gold Armor). | |
Continue | |
A miniature Rohan that runs away. If Rohan can capture him three times, he gains an extra life. | |
Gate Key Half | |
Collect 2 Gate Key halves to form a complete Gate Key, which can be used destroy a Gatekeeper that bars the way to the rest of the stage. |
Gatekeeper treasures
These treasures are dropped by Gatekeepers when they explode. Weapons have three power levels, which are upgraded by picking up the same weapon again.
Axe | |
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Equips Axes, which are thrown in an arc. | |
Boomerang | |
Equips Boomerangs, which fly in a curved path for a distance, then return back to Rohan. | |
Fireball | |
Equips Fireballs, which are fast and fired in a straight line. | |
Magic Dagger | |
Equips Magic Daggers, which are similar to the default daggers but do more damage. | |
Morning Star | |
Equips Morning Stars, which are thrown in a straight line. | |
Golden Potion | |
Restores energy points. |
Stages
Every third stage is a boss fight, with no monks to rescue or Gatekeepers to destroy.
Stage 1 | |
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Stage 2 | |
Stage 3 | |
Stage 4 | |
Stage 5 | |
Stage 6 | |
Stage 7 | |
Stage 8 | |
Stage 9 | |
Stage 10 | |
Stage 11 | |
Stage 12 | |
Versions
Compared to the home computer versions, Rohan has a different outfit (both in-game and in the ending), and the armor system and the puzzles required to destroy the statues are unique to the Mega Drive version. The Mega Drive version also lacks the item shops between stages. Rohan's unarmored appearance and the look of the Gate Keys and Armor Links (called Eye-Keys and Coins in the computer versions) are different.
Localised names
Language | Localised Name | English Translation |
---|---|---|
English | Risky Woods | Risky Woods |
English (US) | Risky Woods | Risky Woods |
Japanese | 邪神ドラクソス | Jashin Draxos |
Production credits
- By: Steve Wetherill
- Original Design: Ricardo Puerto, Raul Lopez
- Musical Scores: Jason A. S. Whitely, Jose A. Martin
- Product Testing: Rupert Easterbrook, Chris Johnson, Matthew Webster
- Additional Graphics: James Savage
- Quality Assurance: Richard Gallagher
- Sega Version: Steve Wetherill
- Original Game Design: Ricardo Puerto and Raul Lopez, Zeus Soft
- Additional Graphics: Jimmy Savage
- Music: Jason A.S Whitelv, José A. Martin
- Producer: Steve Wetherill
- Product Testing: Matthew Webster, Rupert Easterbrook, Chris Johnson
- Product Manager: Neil Thewarapperuma/UK. Yvonne Petrak/US
- Package Design: D•ZYN:PARM
- Package Illustration: David Rowe
- Documentation: David Luoto
- Documentation Layout: Emily Favors
- Ouality Assurance: Jim Newmn
Magazine articles
- Main article: Risky Woods/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Artwork
Physical scans
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70 | |
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Based on 30 reviews |
Technical information
- Main article: Risky Woods/Technical information.
References
- ↑ File:RiskyWoods MD JP Box.jpg
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "March 1993" (JP; 1993-02-08), page 66
- ↑ Sega Visions, "November/December 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 93
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 GamePro, "May 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 65
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 GamesMaster, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-03), page 14
- ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-11-23), page 18
- ↑ Sega Pro, "Christmas 1992" (UK; 1992-12-10), page 14
- ↑ Sega Force, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 97
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Mean Machines Sega, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-xx), page 122
- ↑ File:Risky Woods MD credits.png
- ↑ File:Risky Woods MD US Manual.pdf, page 14
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 189
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "March 1993" (JP; 1993-02-08), page 22
- ↑ Consoles +, "Février 1993" (FR; 1993-0x-xx), page 68
- ↑ Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 170
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-15), page 78
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 26
- ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 84
- ↑ Freak, "3/93" (IL; 1993-xx-xx), page 1
- ↑ Game Power, "Febbraio 1993" (IT; 1993-0x-xx), page 54
- ↑ Hippon Super, "March 1993" (JP; 1993-02-04), page 38
- ↑ Joypad, "Décembre 1992" (FR; 1992-1x-xx), page 94
- ↑ Joystick, "Janvier 1993" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 237
- ↑ Mega, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-17), page 60
- ↑ MegaTech, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-20), page 40
- ↑ Micromanía (segunda época), "Febrero 1993" (ES; 1993-0x-xx), page 54
- ↑ Player One, "Décembre 1992" (FR; 1992-12-10), page 141
- ↑ Play Time, "5/93" (DE; 1993-04-07), page 101
- ↑ Sega Power, "March 1993" (UK; 1993-02-04), page 42
- ↑ Sega Pro, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 40
- ↑ Sega Zone, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-xx), page 22
- ↑ Sega Force, "4/93" (SE; 1993-07-08), page 18
- ↑ Sega Force, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 96
- ↑ Sega Force, "June 1993" (UK; 1993-05-06), page 75
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
- ↑ Supergame, "Abril 1993" (BR; 1993-04-xx), page 10
- ↑ Supersonic, "Février 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 17
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 144
- ↑ Video Games, "2/93" (DE; 1993-01-27), page 90
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