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The Legend of Dark Witch is an action platformer for the 3DS eShop by the Japanese indie developer INSIDE SYSTEM. The game is done in the style of Mega Man with 8 stages of bosses before unlocking the final stage with the final boss. The game is inspired by the Touhou series
Gameplay[]
The game has you control the main character, Zizou, and complete 8 stages, each with a challenging boss at the end. In her default arsenal, Zizou has a standard shot with an upgrade mechanic similar to Gradius. The bar on the bottom of the screen fills with the butterflies from defeated enemies called Tres. The Speed upgrade changes how fast the character moves. The Wing upgrade lets the character descend slowly and farther. Line and Comet are shot types with which is later in the bar being a bit more powerful. Line goes straight with additional upgrades giving more shots at different angles. Comet goes on a curve up and down with additional upgrades giving more shots that go in curves. There is also a guard mechanic
Each stage has 3 checkpoints; one at the start, one at the stages' midpoint and one in the boss fight. The stage also has two secret collectibles called Pure Syega which improve the upgrade skills. Each boss has their own patterns and special magic that can be used by Zizou once she defeated them. Each boss is weak to another boss' magic which can help in the fight.
After leaving a stage, the player collects all the Tres they've earned and can spend it on upgrades which can increase the power of shots, buy more health, more stocks, and increase the amount of Tres the player gets from enemies. The player also can power up the boss' magic they collect.
Stages[]
- Heaven's Garden - Klinsy
- The Silent Ice Roads - Al
- Ports-math City - Papelne
- Twilight Prison - Blad
- Chelsea School Dormitory - Sola
- Belfer Islands - Stoj
- Forest of Dreams - Verri (Requires the first 6 stages to be beaten)
- Deep Remains - Riva (Requires Forest of Dream to be beaten)
After the game is beaten, the player has the option to play as Riva in a new playthrough.
Options[]
The game supports a wide array of customization in controls. The games has options for Button, Jump (whether jump height dependent on how long button is held or not), Camera (controlling when and how fast the camera scrolls) and Install (controlling whether how the player chooses to upgrade with Auto being upgrade as soon as possible, Semi Auto being upgrade automatically to get power and the max upgrade but, the player can choose to upgrade the lower tiers before that and Manual meaning the player has full control of whether they upgrade or not.
Plot[]
Zizou, the goddess of magic, has found out that Syega, a crystal that allows humans to use magic, has been stolen. People start to die, so Zizou, disguised as a minstrel, searches for the missing Syega.
Reception[]
The Legend of Dark Witch has a positive reception. The 3DS version received a 77.5% on GameRankings. The trailer for The Legend of Dark Witch Renovation also notes that the series is a commercial success.
3DS eShop Description[]
Syega Crystals gave their powers to the people of the world, but somebody has stolen all of them...
After all the Syega crystals are missing, the world plunges into darkness. As the dark witch Zizou, you must retrieve the missing Syega Crystals.
The Legend of Dark Witch is a 2D platform action game. Zizou can learn new attacks by defeating bosses. She will need every one of those attacks if she is going to save the world.
Other Features:
A magical world beautifully depicted through in-game graphics.
Diverse levels that provide a fair challenge.
Additional bonuses that reward those who replay the game.
3 difficulty modes.