[SNES] Madou Monogatari Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Another month, another review & as Promised I bring you "Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji"!

Game Title: Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji
Developer: Tokuma Shoten Intermedia Inc.
Publisher: Compile
Date Released: January 12, 1996
Region: Japan
Console Released: Super NES
Game Genre: RPG

Box Art Courtesy of GameFAQs
Front:


Back:


Main Title Screen: Original


Main Title Screen: Translated


English Translation Information

Translation teams:
J2e Translations (originally started translation) web address: http://b-rock.netfirms.com/

Aeon Genesis Translation Projects [agtp] (J2e passed on the project to agtp's Gideon Zhi to finish) web Address: http://agtp.romhack.net/

Patch can be obtained at: http://www.romhacking.net/trans/386/

"This little Girl can teach Harry Potter a thing or two about Magic..."

Once upon a time in a far off land filled with Magic & Adventure lived a cute but brave Kindergartener named Arle Nadia. She was a student in Magic Kindergarten & was the daughter of a very famous Witch. She hopes of one day becoming as good a Magician as her mother was, so she strives to do well in school, even if she was always late for school for over-sleeping.

This little Girl can teach Harry Potter a thing or two about Magic, as she is very proficient in the use of such Spells as Fire:

Fried Puyo Slime anyone?

Ice Storm:

Or maybe you prefer Puyo ice cream?

And Thunder:

Microwave Puyo slime is the latest food craze

She's so good with her use of Magic that these three attack spells cost her no MP (Magic Points) at all! But that's also because she doesn't know how to fight with her bare hands or with any weapons as she lives in a land where magic IS the weapon. She does learn spells that use MP but those are used mostly for healing & status attacks like putting enemies to sleep or making them get trippy & high.

Anyway, in this game, we join Arle as she nears the end of Kindergarten school & she is about to graduate, but first she needs to get a hold of a Final Exam Certificate. No we don't need to help her pay for one, we need to help her FIND one. In this strange land, the headmaster of the school hides the Exam Certificates of kindergarteners somewhere in the vast land for 4 to 5 year olds to find, & you thought Albus Dumbledore was off?

The Lowdown: 10/10

[size=15pt]"...Move over Pikachu there's a new Thunder casting Cutey who'll take your place, AND she's no Friggin' Pokemon!..."

Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji is your typical RPG where you control a hero, in this case a heroine as she goes out adventuring. But unlike the typical RPG where you save Damsels in distress (Zelda Games) or Save the world from a great Evil, you play as a seemingly innocent little girl who experiences several misadventures as she goes off looking for an Exam Certificate that her school's eccentric headmaster has scattered somewhere on the land.

This game's look & feel will remind you of "The Legend of Zelda" with the visual style on locations

Hey is that... Links?


Ah the ever reliable loving grandmother...

But unlike Zelda, this is an RPG where you fight in numerous Random battles as you explore the land

Tralala lala... I'm walking in the woods.. Tralala lala... EEEK!! A Monster has just jumped me!!

The Battles are something else as well, it starts with trash talking

Face the wrath of a Mandrake's disturbed sleep!


Aww! those cats are so cute, but their disposition is another thing


You shouldn't have said anything about those horns, wings & tail...

After which ensues the actual battle, which is also quite unique.

What the!? Hey where are all the usual things you see on an RPG battle!?

The first thing you'll notice are the lack of battle gauges, & the lack of HP & MP numbers. All you see are two figures Arle (the girl on the left) & an enemy & those icons below. Those two icons are basically your spell command (the thing that looks like a scroll) & your items command (the pouch thingy), a third option which looks like a guy running away is your escape option (it's not on this fight as this one's not a random battle, hence you can't escape).


Battle Screen with all three options

Another unique (merciful) feature of this game is that battles are generally one on one, Arle is on her lonesome on this adventure & enemies come at her one at a time, even though the Caith Sith twin cats are two monsters they count as one.

Choosing the items pouch will obviously bring up the list of usable items in battle, I have no screenshot of this because I NEVER did once use any healing items or whatnot on this game, that's how hardcore I am ;D

Choosing the scroll brings up the list of magic available for Arle in battle

Hmm. which spell should I use on this Douche?

The first three are your attack spells fire, ice storm & thunder that I explained earlier, they're free to use so you should use them accordingly, the others are healing, Bayoen (1 turn confusion spell, very useless), Brain Dumbed (enemy's intelligence lowers, again useless) & Bayohihihi (Raises your intelligence, also useless), you learn more by reading spell plates that are scattered throughout the land, of which there are two kinds, silver plates you can readily read & gold plates, these you can only read after you get a special magician's dictionary.

Because there aren't any HP & MP markers, you might ask, "How the hell will I know if I'm about to die?". The answer, you look at Arle's reactions as well as the enemies reactions in battle

Umm... Ok...


Uh-huh!?


Bad kitties! You've hurt little Arle


Tough pussies ;D


Now we're getting somewhere..


Yes, just a little more!


Just die already

Also, about the three attack spells. Each one affects enemies differently, like in some other RPGs certain spells do major damage on an enemy while another won't, it's up to you to find out which spells work best against an enemy, which isn't that hard.

So basically that's it, this game's a very cutesy RPG, with the emphasis on cuteness . Move over Pikachu there's a new Thunder casting Cutey who'll take your place, AND she's no Friggin' Pokemon!

Gameplay:8/10

Gameplay suffers a wee bit in this game, no it isn't the difficulty nor is it the controls, it's those pre battle trash talking sequences. You can't skip them or at least speed them up by pressing buttons, they scroll on their own & as you can imagine, the longer you play, the less fun those sequences are. But luckily the game has a neat feature that lets you "speed things up", if you may.

If you get strong enough & are able to beat monsters with one spell cast, you can abort a random battle altogether by pressing & holding down the L & R triggers, if successful you not only avoid battle but earn full experience points & money as well, which in this game are cookies. Yes, you read correctly, little Arle buys stuff using cookies as payment ;D .

I forgot to mention that, as you go on your adventure, you find tools that will aid you in getting to earlier unreachable places

Little kids shouldn't be exploring caves on their own!

Once obtained you use these tools by pressing the Y button & if you already have plenty of them you cycle through each one with the L & R Triggers.

As always the A Button is your examine, confirm & talk Button.
B is for canceling & running, incidentally running then hitting something will make Arle bump into anything, like how kids often do.
Select Brings up the Map Viewer, obvious enough what this is. Pressing A on the Map will bring up the location viewer, it tells where you are as well as the names of places & the various sections of the land

Now where did Mr. Headmaster hide my Exam Certificate?

Start will bring up the main menu


The heart Icon is the Heal Magic icon, using it will replenish Arle's HP (though there aren't any actual numbers to see) & of course it uses MP for you to cast.

The pouch is the inventory list, you can view item information, use items, re arrange items & equip magic rings & staves (not actually used as a weapon, staves in this game boost Arle's abilities) &/or throw stuff away.


The Biceps icon is the status Icon, where you see Arle's stats as well as the levels (strength) of her spells


Mommy I'm not doing so well am I?

The smiley face icon is where you find the game's settings options, no further explanations required.


The notebook with a pen is Arle's diary, you read the events you've finished here


Hey! Don't you know reading other people's diaries is wrong! >

The book is your Pokede... err Beastiary, records of the information about the enemies you've faced are stored here

Hmm... I see


Puyo Puyo!? Isn't that the name of a puzzle game!?

----------------------------------------------------------
*** OFF TOPIC INFO***

The Puzzle game series Puyo Puyo was actually based on the Characters of this game & in fact was a spin off series for this game Madou Monogatari series.
----------------------------------------------------------

The last Icon is your save game option & unlike other more recognized games, this game blows off the save point system & lets you save anywhere! Well not in battle though.

Graphics: 10/10

Come on! Just look at those screen shots & tell me if they're horrible! Horribly cute maybe ;D

Audio: 10/10

This Game has some catchy tunes in it, but what really made me happy were the (limited) voice acting. Arle talks in battle (in Japanese but understandable), when she casts spells or get hurt by the enemy. The enemies have some voice acting done for them too, so yeah pretty cool. Ouside battle, when you access the main menu, using the healing spell will make Arle shout out "Healing desu" & when you save your game, she asks for your confirmation to save by saying "save wo kuriyou?".

Lasting Impression: 10/10

With a cutesy heroine & a very light plot, what else would you ask for? Just play the damn thing .

The Verdict:
The Lowdown: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 10/10
Audio: 10/10
Lasting Impression: 10/10
Final Verdict: 48/50

The English Translation Patch:

This is one of the finer English fan translation patches ever made for a game, though not perfect it can surely let you experience the fun & adventure that Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji has to offer, so here's my review on it.

Appropriateness:

This translation did a quite exact English translation of all the Major elements necessary for someone to understand what's going on, Character names were exact to the Japanese equivalents & the spells too, however spells like "Bayoen" or "Bayohihihi" could have been given better English translations but were left as is because it will conflict with what Arle shouts out in battle.

Also as she is a kindergartener, the translators made some spelling errors that were deliberate to tone down the dialogues to suit that of a 4 or 5 year old's manner of speaking.


Enunciate your words Missie


Clumsy clod ;D


Wow! Good to know


No, really?

But there are a few dialogues that are kinda off as well

Shouldn't that be "in a book"?


Is neighbourhood acceptable?


"Staffs"?


"Rapidly approaching" Mr. Headmaster sir?

Technical Aspect:

Unfortunately this Translation Patch isn't very clean because it's riddled with three minor Hacking issues that are stated in the readme file that comes along with the patch, they're minor annoyances though so no big deal.

1. Sukiyapodes's House will sometimes get garbaged graphics

Ugh! What a mess

This is a very minor problem, the fix is to just exit the house then re enter it, or if this doesn't do the trick, close the ROM then reload it

Now that's a lot better!

Plus you only need to visit this place twice in the game, so nothing to fret about really.

2. Some enemies might show garble during a yes & no option sequence, this happens to only two enemies. What happens is they will ask you if you'll let them go & end the battle, there's no fix to this one.

Huh!? What did you say!?

*Incidentally the translators didn't even bother translating what was written on the sign the three girls are holding ??? but it's actually something like, "can't we just call it quits?"

3. There is an Area later on in the game called the "Dark Orchestra" which is a sort of Music test room where you can listen to the various background music in the game. A brief garble will occur before you can actually choose which music you wish to listen to, no remedies though & it happens in like a fraction of a second that you hardly notice it at all.

"Listen to the boatman's flatulence" ;D

And with that I wrap things up, as this is the end of this month's review, hope you guys (& gals) enjoy this one as this game's one of my very favorites.

Next month:

"Treasures of the Rudras"
Where your name could be your most powerful Magic Spell EVER!!

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Whoa, what happened to the screenshots Cahos? I feel that there are too much though. But nonetheless, I still like the review, good job!

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Damn Friendster's messing up my photos

*UPDATE*

I've fixed them now, stupid "Private Album" setting

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Nice review Cahos! I knew this one was from you, the games with wacky Japanese titles give it away.

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Thanks anand, well these kinds of games are the ones I'm focusing on, as most of the other guys are dedicating their efforts on the next Gen stuff so I figured might as well dedicate mine on the cool retro stuff.

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

whoa, you just blew my mind.

Anyways, I was thinking that game looks good, but it seems like a weird thing to make.....what would give you inspiration to make a game with a kindergartner with magic to go and "kill" monsters to graduate?!?(or whatever they do, probaly to graphic for a little kid to kill monsters, "with magic to go and get rid of cuddly and icky things )

Anyaways good review, lots of pictures though, would have helped to make 'em a bit smaller, but what can ya do.

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

Ever wondered why the Japanese teach cooking to kindergarteners, even handling knives & stirring hot cooking pots & other otherwise dangerous kitchen chores? They believe with proper guidance & teaching, things that are dangerous for kids can be accomplished even by the youngest child, so a kindergartener whacking monsters wouldn't be something strange for them

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

This is something new to me... It's not a long block of text i didn't read....

There are too many pictures @_@ but looks good nonetheless

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

those pictures are pissing me off.

i go to hit reply and the page keeps getting bumped down.

now i forgot what i was going to say...

 

Re: [SNES] Madou Monogatari - Hanamaru Daiyouchienji - 48/50 - Cahos Rahne Veloza

You know when I decided to make a review of this game I really had a hard time, as the game's battle system as well as how you managed your heroine was really weird, I've never encountered an RPG that feels like a Survivor Horror game. Why Survivor horror? If you play Resident Evil you know your character's status is determined by how he/she moves on screen, if he/she is in full health, you can make him/her run. If he/she is very weak he/she limps & can't run. That aspect is present here so I really needed to visually explain that, in case someone wanted to play this game. I don't want people to pester me later on with things like. "hey you didn't explained that this game is like this". Also, reviewing Fan Translated games are reviewed differently you not only review the game, you must also review the translation as well, so again that needed "credible proof" which are more screen shots.