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The Return of Ishtar | |
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Developer(s) | Game Studio [1] Namco |
Publisher(s) | Namco |
Designer(s) | Masanobu Endō |
Artist(s) | Yūichirō Shinozaki |
Composer(s) | Junko Ozawa Yuzo Koshiro (MSX version) |
Series | Babylonian Castle Saga |
Platform(s) | Arcade, FM-7, MSX, PC-8801, PC-9801, X68000 |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Maze, action role-playing |
Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Arcade system | Namco System 86 |
The Return of Ishtar [lower-alpha 1] is an action role-playing arcade video game released by Namco in 1986. [3] It runs on Namco System 86 hardware and is the sequel to The Tower of Druaga , which was released two years earlier. [4] The game's story directly starts after the first game, where Ki and Gil must venture down in the Tower of Druaga and escape it. It is the second game in the company's Babylonian Castle Saga series, and was later ported to the MSX, NEC PC-8801, FM-7, and Sharp X68000 platforms. The Return of Ishtar was included in the compilation game Namco Museum Volume 4 for the PlayStation, which is also the first time the game had been released overseas.
The Return of Ishtar is an adventure game that requires two players. It was also the first game from Namco to have a password feature, to give players the opportunity to continue from where they left off, and their first to not feature a scoring system. Player 1 controls the priestess Ki who fights with magic, while Player 2 controls the sword-wielding Prince Gilgamesh.
This sequel starts off directly after Gilgamesh has saved Ki from Druaga, and focuses on their escape from the tower (and its inhabitants, who are after Gilgamesh and Ki to avenge their former master). There are a total of 128 rooms in the sixty-floor tower, and the screen will only scroll according to Ki's location, so the second player will have to stay close to their partner as they traverse the tower. Ki attacks by casting spells at the enemies, while Gilgamesh automatically draws his sword whenever an enemy gets close enough to him, allowing him to attack the enemy by bumping into it with his blade (similar to Adol from the Ys games). However, colliding with enemies will also damage Gilgamesh, and the counter in the bottom-right of the screen will decrease by a preset amount, depending on what enemy type it was. If the counter reaches 0, he will disappear, and the game will be over for both players (which will also happen if Ki is touched by any enemy at all). There are also several different items that can be found in the rooms and collected to aid Gilgamesh and Ki in their quest. As an easter egg, the game's designer, Masanobu Endō, appears unconscious at his desk in the "Dead End" room. Ki can use the Blue Crystal Rod spell on him to wake him up; he will then proceed to warp her and Gilgamesh to the "Calvary Prison" room.
In Japan, Game Machine listed The Return of Ishtar on their August 15, 1986 issue as being the sixteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. [5]
Reviewing Namco Museum Volume 4 , Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot described The Return of Ishtar as weird and boring. [4] Electronic Gaming Monthly 's Shawn Smith said it and The Genji and Heike Clans were bad games due to their difficult controls and not being fun. [6]
A theme based on the game is featured in Pac-Man 99 , as one of the game's DLC. The main theme of the game received a remix in Namco × Capcom .
Dig Dug is a maze arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player digs underground tunnels to attack enemies in each level, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks.
Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of each stage to return a lost fairy back to its home in Fairyland. Pac-Man will need to avoid obstacles, such as falling logs and water-spewing fire hydrants, alongside his enemies, the Ghost Gang. Eating large flashing Power Pellets will cause the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for points.
The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the maiden Ki from Druaga, a demon with eight arms and four legs, who plans to use an artifact known as the Blue Crystal Rod to enslave all of mankind. It ran on the Namco Super Pac-Man arcade hardware, modified with a horizontal-scrolling video system used in Mappy.
The Quest of Ki is a 1988 video game developed by Game Studio and published by Namco for the Family Computer. It is the third game in Babylonian Castle Saga series which started with the 1984 arcade game, The Tower of Druaga.
Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for home video game consoles. The first title in the series, Namco Museum Vol. 1, was released for the PlayStation in 1995. Entries in the series have been released for multiple platforms, including the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360. the latest being Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2, released in 2020.
Star Force, also released in arcades outside of Japan as Mega Force, is a vertical-scrolling shooter computer game released in 1984 by Tehkan.
Marvel Land is a platform game released by Namco in arcades in 1990. It runs on the Namco System 2 hardware. The game was published for the Mega Drive in 1991, with the European version renamed Talmit's Adventure. The game shares its name with the fictitious kingdom where the 1986 Japan-only Famicom game Valkyrie no Bōken: Toki no Kagi Densetsu takes place, but has no connections with it otherwise. Likewise the game has no connections with Marvel Comics or any of their associated characters either. In December 2022, the arcade version of Marvel Land was re-released exclusively in Japan on the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4 on the Arcade Archives lineup of digital arcade titles. It was originally planned for worldwide release at one point but was ultimately cancelled due to licensing issues with Disney and Hamster Corporation.
Assault is a 1988 multi-directional shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was licensed to Atari Games for release in North America. Controlling a caterpillar-tread self-propelled gun, the player is tasked with completing each of the game's eleven stages while shooting enemies and avoiding projectiles. It uses a twin-stick control layout, similar to games such as Battlezone. The plot involves the human race searching for new planets after Earth reaches its maximum population - after discovering an exo-planet 35,000 light years away from the Milky Way, they enslave the planet's natives and take control, leading to the planet's native population vowing to abolish the humans and bring peace to their world. The protagonist who rides the aforementioned self-propelled gun which players control, is one such native.
Grobda is a 1984 multidirectional shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. It is a spin-off from Xevious, as the player's tank first appeared in that game as an enemy. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video system like that used in Mappy and The Tower of Druaga, and it also uses a DAC for the "Get Ready" speech sample at the start of each round.
Motos is an arcade game that was released by Namco on September 20, 1985. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video system like that used in Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Grobda and Dig Dug II.
Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was distributed by Atari Games. Controlling the dragon Amur, the player must complete each of the game's nine areas to rescue the princess Alicia from the demon Zawell. Similar to Namco's own Xevious, Amur has a projectile weapon for destroying air-based enemies and a bomb for destroying ground enemies. It ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board.
Genpei Tōma Den is a side-scrolling hack and slash video game produced by Namco that was released as a coin-operated video game in 1986 in Japan. It runs on Namco System 86 hardware. Over a decade later, the game was released in America and Europe in the video game compilation Namco Museum Vol. 4 under the title of The Genji and the Heike Clans for the PlayStation.
Yokai Dochuki is a 1987 platform arcade game developed and released by Namco in Japan and other parts of Asia. The player controls a young boy named Tarosuke as he must make his way through Jigoku, the Japanese concept of Hell, to reach Buddha, who will determine his fate. Tarosuke can fire small "ki" bullets at enemies to defeat them; he can also charge them to increase their power. Enemies will drop money when defeated, which can be used to purchase weapons and other items in stores. Two versions of the arcade original were released: a Japanese version and an English version which was released in other Asian countries outside Japan. The Arcade Archives release includes both versions.
The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigi no Dungeon is a roguelike video game developed by Arika, Matrix Software, and Chunsoft, published in 2004 in Japan by Arika and in North America by Namco Hometek exclusively for the PlayStation 2. It is a sequel to The Tower of Druaga and the eighth game in Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon series.
Namco Museum DS is a 2007 video game compilation developed by M2 and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game features 7 arcade games previously published by Namco along with a Nintendo DS version of the Nintendo-developed title Pac-Man Vs.
The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk and its sequel, The Tower of Druaga: The Sword of Uruk, is a Japanese anime television series, created by Gonzo, and is an animated reboot/continuation of Namco's Babylonian Castle Saga video game franchise which began as an arcade game, The Tower of Druaga, originally released in 1984. This series is amongst the first to be officially broadcast on the internet by Gonzo simultaneously in Japanese and subtitled in English on YouTube, and BOST TV.
Game Studio Corporation Ltd. (株式会社ゲームスタジオ) is a video game production company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded on August 14, 1985, by former Namco employee Masanobu Endō, who continued to develop projects for Namco through his company. The company later made a subsidiary company called Mobile & Game Studio, while the goodwill was transferred.
Masanobu Endō is a Japanese game designer, president of Game Studio and Mobile & Game Studio, and the director of Digital Games Research Association Japan. He formerly worked for Namco, where he created arcade games and is best known for Xevious and The Tower of Druaga, which were important titles in the scrolling shooter and action role-playing game genres, respectively.
The Babylonian Castle Saga is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco, for arcades and home video game platforms. Beginning in 1984 with the arcade title The Tower of Druaga, the series would spawn a total of nine sequel and spin-off games, alongside a manga, soundtrack albums, and two anime series by Gonzo K.K. Later entries in the series would be developed by Endo's personal game company, Game Studio.
Mach Breakers: Numan Athletics 2 is a sports arcade game that was released by Namco in 1995; it runs on Namco NB-2 hardware and is the sequel to Numan Athletics, which was released in the previous year.