Strahl (video game)

Strahl
Triad Stone
Strahl; Triad Stone
Developer(s)	Data East
Publisher(s)	Pioneer Productions (Triad Stone); Panasonic (Strahl)
Platform(s)	Pioneer LaserActive (Triad Stone); 3DO (Strahl); Saturn (Strahl)
Release	JP: December 30, 1993 (Sega Mega-LD); JP: December 2, 1994; NA: 1995;
Genre(s)	Action Interactive Movie

Last updated July 07, 2020

Strahl is an interactive movie game originally developed by Data East featuring animation by Toei Animation. It was originally intended to be released as a LaserDisc-based arcade game under the title of Chantze's Stone in 1985, but was shelved. The game would resurface a decade later for the LaserActive's Mega-LD module under the title of Triad Stone and on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and Sega Saturn under its final title.

Gameplay

The gameplay primarily consists of watching an anime movie and pushing buttons as prompted on the screen. Failure to correctly follow a prompt results in a lost life. The player has three lives and two continues, but losing a life sends the player back to the beginning of the level. There are eight levels in all; the player may select which of the first three levels to play first. Completing any of these levels unlocks the next four, but all of the first seven levels must be completed to unlock the final level.

Plot

The player assumes the role of Alex Hawkfield, an ordinary young man living in a small town who finds an old man dying in the street. He takes the old man (actually God in disguise) into his home and takes care of him. As he has proven his kindness, the old man tells him he has the potential to make the world better and become king, and asks him if he would like to try his potential. Alex does not know how to answer, but the old man senses his feelings and, seeing he is ready, sends him on a trial to recover the seven fragments of a mystic stone. Each time Alex recovers a stone fragment leads to the rebirth and invention of various things in his world.

Version differences

The LaserActive and Saturn versions allow the player to choose from three different difficulties; the 3DO version omits this feature. The LaserActive version also includes a scoring system, a language option (English or Japanese), and beeping noises and occasional voice commands (e.g. "Get them off!", "Power up!") accompanying the button prompts, all of which were dropped from later versions of the game. The later versions also add some action sequences, such as a scene in which the hero must fight off a horde of tiny humanoids.

All three versions feature completely different visuals for both the introductory cutscene and stage select.

Reception

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the 3DO version a 6.125 out of 10. They praised the animation and imagination of the full motion video but concurred that the stages are much too easy and that the gameplay does nothing to differentiate itself from previous games in the Dragon's Lair genre. One of them summarized that "Strahl is intended for two specific types of people: those who enjoy FMV games and those who like watching Japanimation."^[1] GamePro gave it a negative review, criticizing the unoriginal gameplay and visuals and the fact that the different endings are acquired simply by playing the stages in different orders. They concluded that "this anime-inspired CD is too easy and far less humorous than Dragon's Lair, and it won't keep you interested long."^[2]

Next Generation reviewed the 3DO version of the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Strahl is a title that's placed squarely in the Dragon's Lair tradition, this time using anime-styled characters and action. We wish there was a better way to say this, but basically, it sucks."^[3]

Related Research Articles

Panzer Dragoon is a 1995 rail shooter video game for the Sega Saturn, published by Sega and developed by Sega's Team Andromeda studio. It is the first game in the Panzer Dragoon series. The game follows hunter Keil Fluge, who becomes the rider of a powerful dragon. The player moves an aiming reticle and shoots enemies while the dragon flies through 3D environments on a predetermined track.

Chaos Control is a rail shooter developed by Infogrames and published by Philips Interactive Media for the CD-i, MS-DOS, Macintosh, Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1995. The game's cutscenes are rendered in a style reminiscent of anime.

Space Ace is a LaserDisc video game produced by Bluth Group, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems. It was unveiled in October 1983, just four months after the Dragon's Lair game, then released in Spring 1984, and like its predecessor featured film-quality animation played back from a LaserDisc.

<i>Mortal Kombat Trilogy</i> 1996 video game

Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game released by Midway in 1996 as the second update to Mortal Kombat 3 for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PCs. Further versions were also released for the Game.com and R-Zone. It features a similar basic gameplay system and the same story as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, but adds characters and stages restored from Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II. New additions to the game included the "Aggressor" bar, and a new finishing move called Brutality, a long combination of attacks that ends with the opponent exploding. The game was met with mixed reviews upon release.

Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1991 laserdisc video game by the Leland Corporation. It is regarded as the first "true" sequel to Dragon's Lair. As with the original, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp consists of an animated short film that requires the player to move the joystick or press a fire button at certain times in order to continue. It takes place years after the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced many children. When Daphne is kidnapped by the evil wizard Mordroc in order to be forced into marriage, Dirk's children and his mother-in-law are clearly upset by the abduction of Daphne, and Dirk must once again save her.

An interactive film, also known as movie game, is a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, often through the use of full-motion video of either animated or live-action footage.

Magic Carpet is a 3D flying video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1994. Its graphics and gameplay were considered innovative and technically impressive at the time of its release.

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is a platforming and action-adventure video game developed by Westone as part of Sega's Wonder Boy series. It was published by Sega and released for the Master System in 1989 and for the Game Gear in 1992 as Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It was ported by Hudson Soft and released in 1991 for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine under the name Dragon's Curse. It was also ported in 1993 by Brazilian company Tec Toy under the title Turma da Mônica em o Resgate, with the game retooled to include characters from Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang. A remake developed by Lizardcube and published by DotEmu, titled Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, was released in April 2017.

PowerSlave, known as Exhumed in Europe, is a first-person shooter developed by Lobotomy Software and published by Playmates Interactive. It was released in North America, Europe and Japan, for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and MS-DOS over the course of a year from late 1996 to late 1997. On May 24, 2015, Powerslave EX, an unofficial remake based on the PlayStation version, was released for free, but has since been removed for download until further notice.

Thayer's Quest is a LaserDisc video game initially developed by RDI Video Systems in 1984 for their unreleased Halcyon console, and later released in arcades as a conversion kit for Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. In 1995 it was ported to home consoles and PC under the title Kingdom: The Far Reaches. The arcade machine had a membrane keypad for controls instead of a joystick. To help players learn the daunting—for an arcade game—controls, a small holder containing instructional leaflets was attached to the cabinet. A sequel, Kingdom II: Shadoan, was released in 1996.

Iron Man / X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal is a video game published by Acclaim Entertainment and developed by Real Sports and Realtime Associates for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy, Game Gear, and DOS in 1996. It is a one or two-player side-scrolling arcade game in which the player battles various villains from Marvel Comics' Iron Man and Valiant Comics' X-O Manowar comic book series. It was met with negative reviews which criticized it for dull gameplay and outdated graphics.

Time Gal is an interactive movie video game developed and published by Taito and Toei Company, and originally released in Japan for the arcades in 1985. It is an action game which uses full motion video (FMV) to display the on-screen action. The player must correctly choose the on-screen character's actions to progress the story. The pre-recorded animation for the game was produced by Toei Animation.

<i>Cliff Hanger</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Cliff Hanger is a laserdisc video game that was released by Stern Electronics in 1983. It is an interactive movie which requires the player to press a button or move the joystick in a particular direction when prompted by the game to progress the storyline.

Road Blaster (ロードブラスター) is a 1985 interactive movie video game produced by Data East for the arcades.

<i>Mighty Morphin Power Rangers</i> (video game) 1994 video game

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the title of five different video games based on the first season of the television series of the same name, one for each of the following game platforms: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Gear, and Sega CD. The Nintendo versions of the game were released by Bandai, while the Sega versions were published by Sega themselves. The Green Ranger is only playable on the Genesis and Game Gear versions of the game.

Dragon's Lair, titled as Sullivan Bluth Presents: Dragon's Lair on cover art or in game as Sullivan Bluth's Dragon's Lair and Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair, is a side-scrolling cinematic platform video game developed by Motivetime and published by CSG Imagesoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Based on the LaserDisc game of the same name, it is identical plotwise to the original.

Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games by Sega. The first three games were developed in the 1990s by Sega's Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn console. The fourth, Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002), was developed for Xbox by Sega's Smilebit team.

Shockwave Assault is a science fiction combat flight simulation video game developed by Advanced Technology Group and published by Electronic Arts. The player takes on control of a futuristic plane to defeat many extraterrestrial ships and tripods. The plane's main weapons are lasers and rockets. The game includes two discs. The first disc takes place on earth where the player must liberate the planet from the alien invaders, which is called Invasion Earth. The second disc takes place on Mars, which is called Operation Jumpgate.

Ninja Hayate (忍者ハヤテ) is a 1984 laserdisc video game first developed and released by Taito and Malone Films for arcades in Japan and the United States. The game was later ported to the Sega CD video game console as Revenge of the Ninja in 1994.

Dragon's Lair is an interactive film LaserDisc video game developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems and published by Cinematronics in 1983, as the first game in the Dragon's Lair series. In the game, the protagonist Dirk the Daring is a knight attempting to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe who has locked the princess in the foul wizard Mordroc's castle. It featured animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth.

References

↑ "Review Crew: Strahl". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Ziff Davis (74): 40. September 1995.
↑ "ProReview: Strahl". GamePro . IDG (85): 74. October 1995.
↑ "Finals". Next Generation . No. 9. Imagine Media. September 1995. p. 89.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Review Crew: Strahl". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Ziff Davis (74): 40. September 1995.

[2] "ProReview: Strahl". GamePro . IDG (85): 74. October 1995.

[NG-3] "Finals". Next Generation . No. 9. Imagine Media. September 1995. p. 89.