GAME OF THE MONTH COLLECTION!
CADASH
(Working Designs/Taito, 1992)

Introduction and Story:

Now when I talk about the Turbografx-16 games in this list here, I'm usually talking about video games that not too many people actually remember. Well, add another game to that list because this Game of the Month is based on the rather unpopular Taito arcade game Cadash. Normally, a game like this would have stayed in Japan and be completely forgotten but the import friendly North American publisher Working Designs saw some potential here so I figure I give it a chance. Good thing I actually liked it. Cadash may be a odd name but this game here is a good mixture of Action and Role Playing all in one package. OK, in this medieval based game a princess gets kidnapped (of course) by a dragon and four mysterious warriors are asked to rescue her by the king and save the kingdom of Cadash.

The game play and bottomline:  
Now it's very weird for an 2D action platformer to start out in a kingdom filled with a bunch of friendly locals that you can't kill (yes, I tried) so that may throw a few people off but if you like role playing adventures then it's not too big of a sketch plus it helps you understand the game's story. Sure, saving the princess sounds easy enough but you have to travel through several dangerous caves, dungeons, and even graveyards first and any advice on items you can get shop keeper or some elf dude isn't a bad idea. It's important who you pick here too because the different classes Fighter, Mage, Priest, and Ninja characters all have their strengths and weaknesses. The Mage and Priest chick are good with spells while the Fighter and Ninja are better at attacking and don't even use magic.

So how does this Catass game look? The visuals are well detailed enough with many different creepy environments and enemies like pig men and undead a-holes giving ya a hard time so there is nothing wrong there. There is some missing parallax scrolling missing from the arcade game but I was expecting that at least. Although the colourful graphics were pretty good, the music certainly wasn't and the first stage in the cave has to be one of the worst tracks I ever heard in a Turbografx game and I played Gunboat before. Oddly enough I thought the last stage's music was pretty good.

Also it's a shame that there are only five short levels here and it should only take a few hours to finish the whole adventure if you're good enough. You also have to remember that once you die in the single player mode it's game over and you're screwed. The game was still a lot of fun to play plus the two player support, leveling up stats, and four different heroes were fairly impressive too. This game is also for the Sega Genesis, but this version plays better since the hit detection was actually good. If you can find it Cadash is worth getting if you want something different out there.
Here is my 6 minute video review of Cadash too! Warning: there is some swearing in it:
Conclusion:  
*Uncommon Turbografx game

CADASH

overall rating: 76/100
Find Cadash on eBay here!

For 1 or 2 players
graphics: 7/10
sound: 5/10
gameplay: 8/10
replay: 6/10

StarSoldier1
(Ryan Genno) 2008


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