Rating of
4.5/5
Second-Degree ‘Zelda’-cide
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 10/08/17
In 1989-90, Hudson and NEC, the two companies that backed and built the ill-fated TurboGrafx-16 console, were desperate to move units. Seeing the breakout success of Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda” in 1987, which not only flew off store shelves but introduced an entirely new genre concept – the Action/Adventure game – to the masses, Hudson did what most videogame publishers/developers have always done and continue to do: They knocked it off.
The result of Hudson’s copying efforts was “Neutopia,” an Action/Adventure game that tried so hard to be the original “The Legend of Zelda” that it actually managed to… succeed.
Presentation
Because the TG-16 console wasn’t a ‘true’ 16-bit platform, but rather two 8-bit platforms ‘duct-taped together’ (much like critics were wont to say that the original Wii was ‘two Gamecubes duct-taped together’), all of its games occupy an awkward transitional space, visually, between the limited color pallets, super-blocky sprites, and lack of layers that plagued the NES and the beautiful colors, lush parallax scrolling, and layering capabilities possessed by the SNES. Comparing “Neutopia” side-by-side with the original 8-bit NES “The Legend of Zelda,” “Neutopia” looks amazing. The sprites are large, detailed, and feature about twice as many frames of animation. The game also isn’t afraid to use its full color range, with vibrant environments and enemies. It isn’t a particularly original game, however. Many of the enemy designs and architectural quirks in the environments are ripped directly from “The Legend of Zelda,” from the mummies, to the skeletons, to the bats, to the blocks of stone that make up a significant portion of each dungeon room. It’s very clear that Hudson was trying to evoke “Zelda,” either to placate sad children whose parents bought them a TG-16 instead of a NES or to lure in big spenders who wanted more ‘Zelda’ goodness but weren’t prescient enough to realize that “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” would be released in a mere 2 years, setting an impossible high-water mark that still hasn’t been surpassed.
The soundtrack in “Neutopia” is a bit… strange. It isn’t nearly as iconic or memorable as the bleeping chiptunes in the original “Zelda,” yet, at the same time, it is pleasant and distinctive enough on its own. The weird part, though, is that two tunes in particular sound like warped and twisted versions of other songs. The main overworld tune in the Land Sphere inescapably reminds me of “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals, from 1964. Another tune, which plays both during the closing credits and elsewhere in-game, reminds me inexplicably of “Komm Susser Todd,” a soundtrack piece featured in the movie “The End of Evangelion” in 1997. While it’s possible that the composer for “Neutopia” was inspired by The Animals, there is no way he could have heard the OST for a movie that wouldn’t release for 7 years! And it’s not like these two tunes are bar-for-bar copies of the songs they remind me of, it’s a more subtle sense of chord progression and a few moments where these other songs clearly erupt from the “Neutopia” soundtrack before re-submerging beneath a sea of other, unrelated notes. So, yeah… weird. I’m going to blame it on the Japanese collective consciousness.
Story
Perhaps the biggest, most egregious flaw in the original 8-bit “The Legend of Zelda” is the fact that the game is light on text, and what text there is makes little sense, as it is written in that poorly-translated Japanese-to-English pidgin language known as ‘Engrish.’
“Neutopia” doesn’t suffer from any such problems, as the text is abundant, competently translated, and even has a bit of personality. Indeed, at times the script in “Neutopia” comes off as a bit goofy and melodramatic due to the faithfully accurate translation.
The titular Neutopia is a world made of four Spheres, the Land Sphere, the Ground Sphere, the Sea Sphere, and the Sky Sphere. These Spheres are all interconnected, and were once ruled by a council of Wise Men, whose incredible power and benevolence allowed the people of Neutopia to live in utter peace and prosperity.
The world took a dark turn, however, when a malevolent spirit, known as Boss Dirth, appeared. This spirit, embodying the evil that lurks in men’s hearts, in an attempt to overrun the world in darkness and despair, petrified the Eight Wise Men. Unfortunately for Dirth, the Wise Men used the last of their power to transform their petrified bodies into 8 amulets, which, when directed by the pure-hearted Princess of Neutopia, allowed the Wise Men’s powers and ideals to continue protecting the populace.
Dirth wasn’t about to give up, however, and one night, he simply walked into the temple where the Princess lived and where the amulets were kept (not a good idea to keep all your eggs in one basket…), and walked out with… all of them. Without the Princess and the power of the amulets, Neutopia fell into disarray and despair. Monsters and undead appeared throughout the land, as Dirth secreted-away the medallions in perilous dungeons to prevent their power from suppressing his own.
Our hero, one Jazeta, a berserker warrior, rises to the challenge of retrieving the 8 amulets, reuniting the Spheres of Neutopia, defeating Dirth, and rescuing the Princess. Along his journey, he meets numerous common folk, both imprisoned by Dirth and hiding themselves from the rampaging monsters. These commoners provide hints or sell consumable items, aiding Jazeta in their own small way.
Much like the enemy designs mentioned in the previous section, “Neutopia’s” narrative isn’t particularly original. It’s a typical ‘save the Princess’ story, that is somehow prescient of “A Link to the Past’s” Wise Men. The fact that the NPCs that can be found hiding under nearly every rock, tree, and inside every cave provide useful and intelligible hints, and want to be saved provides a sense of purpose and removes some of the isolation of the original “Zelda.” Because the hints provided by these NPCs are actually useful, intelligible English, getting stuck and not knowing how to proceed is nearly impossible. While it took me months back in the day (along with an official first-party Hint Book) to complete “The Legend of Zelda,” “Neutopia” only lasts about 8 hours.
Gameplay
“Neutopia” is a fairly basic Action/Adventure game cast directly in the mold of the original “The Legend of Zelda.” Our hero, Jazeta, begins with a sword, shield, and some armor, and is sent out into the world to recover the 8 amulets. From the outset, Jazeta only has access to the Land Sphere, which is an 8x8 grid of screens (compared to “Zelda’s” 8x16 grid). There are two dungeons containing amulets as well as a few other hidden goodies not inside dungeons which Jazeta must uncover in order to unlock the passage to the Ground Sphere. Once in the Ground Sphere, which is also an 8x8 grid of screens, Jazeta must… do the same thing he did in the Land Sphere, and so on and so forth through the Sea and Sky Spheres. Each Sphere contains two dungeons, two amulets, and a number of tools and upgrades that make Jazeta more powerful and versatile.
The tools in “Neutopia” are far fewer in number than a typical ‘Zelda’ game. There are bombs, a fire rod, health potions, glowing moss, consumable magic rings that turn all non-boss enemies on-screen into slugs, consumable magic wings that return Jazeta to the last save point, and a magic bell that is used exactly once to solve a puzzle. The fire rod is rather distinct from the magic wand in “Zelda,” as its potency changes with Jazeta’s health level (which makes up for the fact that Jazeta doesn’t fire beams from his sword when his health is full). The fire rod is also the only projectile available in the game. There are also a number of passive items to find, ranging from better sword/shield/armor upgrades to winged boots that increase Jazeta’s movement speed, and a Rainbow Drop that, much like the one in the original “Dragon Quest” creates temporary bridges across narrow gaps (It’s the ladder from “Zelda”!).
While exploring the overworld Spheres, Jazeta can bomb walls to open caves (there are visual indicators of where bombing might work and no unmarked bombable walls outside of dungeons), burn trees/stalagmites/pillars to finds stairs, or push rocks to open secret passages. These usually lead to a commoner NPC with a useful hint about where to look for a dungeon entrance or where to look for an item hidden within the Sphere. Some NPCs sell consumable items (money drops randomly from slain enemies), and some will save the game or heal Jazeta’s injuries.
Like “Zelda,” dungeons are the real meat of “Neutopia.” Each Sphere’s two dungeons (for a total of 8) are highly reminiscent of the basic, single-floor dungeons found in the original “Zelda.” Moving from room to room, trial-and-error testing walls for bombability, killing enemies, and pushing blocks to find hidden switches are the orders of the day. Jazeta starts the game with a magic compass that not only points him toward dungeons in the Spheres, but points him to the amulet room inside each dungeon. He can also find a crystal ball within each dungeon that functions as a basic map (but is largely useless). Simply moving from room to room fills out a map on the inventory screen, but this map is always bare-bones and doesn’t mark any rooms Jazeta might need to return to later. Actually, the most annoying thing about dungeons in “Neutopia” (really, the only annoying thing) is that upon leaving a dungeon (to heal and/or buy supplies), all explored rooms on the map are cleared, and all bombed walls magically reseal themselves (there must be a magical mason running around like crazy).
In general, combat in “Neutopia” is fairly basic, but feels solid and responsive. Jazeta’s attacks have plenty of knock-back, so there’s no danger of an enemy relentlessly charging Jazeta and killing him before he can stab it enough times to kill it. The bosses that guard each amulet are mostly straight-forward pattern memorization affairs. None of them have gimmicky weaknesses to a specific weapon: All of them can be injured with the fire rod and sword, with the range provided by the fire rod and the area-of-effect it gains at higher health levels making it the de-facto best weapon. Annoyingly, the upgraded shields, which are supposed to deflect bigger and nastier projectiles, never actually work on boss projectiles, so dodging them or tanking the hit and using the post-hit temporary invincibility to land a bunch of hits on the boss are the only options.
Overall
Aside from the lack of an iconic soundtrack, “Neutopia” is by far a better ‘Zelda’ than “Zelda.” This game, much like Sega’s “Golden Axe Warrior” is a true ‘Zelda’-killer, that unfortunately didn’t get to do its job due to the overwhelmingly underwhelming performance of its exclusive platform. Emulation fans or heavy users of the Virtual Console service will find a pleasant surprise in “Neutopia.”
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Overall (not an average): 4.5/5
