The Neo Geo had a bright future early on before SNK hit fighting game gold with certain games. Nam 1975, Baseball Stars and Neo Turf Masters made gamers think Neo Geo was going to be everything gamers wanted. Everyone knows that didn’t pan out and fighting games ruled the roost for most of the platforms life. That didn’t stop titles such as Magician Lord from getting made. This bias towards fighters did keep a sequel from happening though.

Familiar but so much more detail

Magician Lord will feel familiar to anyone that has any experience in the action arcade genre. Fans of the action genre have rarely seen this level of detail. Games like this show what the Neo Geo was capable of outside of fighting games.

Magician Lord attempts genre expansion

To say this is not your everyday action game is an understatement. Magician Lord mixes in some transformations that give additional powers and capabilities to you to better survive the levels. This is not an easy game so get ready to die a lot. There are no lengthy tutorials explaining every little detail of the game out to you either. If it moves, it is probably a bad guy. If it sits there and lets you walk up to it, it is probably a trap.

Going into Magician Lord

One interesting play mechanic of Magician Lord is that there are doors in the levels. Entering them allows you to continue searching rooms or whole new areas of the level.  Shantae is another title that attempted this level of interaction in the game world.  It is interesting and a cool addition that adds depth to an otherwise really detailed straight forward action game.

Stand out developer history

Magician Lord was developed by ADK. They also created other Neo Geo originals such as Crossed Swords and Blue’s Journey. They also developed a ton of fighting games for the platform. Such a bright future for gamers on this platform snuffed out by success stories such as the World Heroes series.

If you want a copy of Magician Lord you will have many options. Only two offer a chance to own a physical version though. Below are the purchase options for Magician Lord:

Arcade and home Neo Geo hit up Ebay or Amazon for the original cart or arcade board or collections such as SNK Arcade Classics (PSP, PS2 and Wii).
Playstation Network
Wii Virtual Console

Here are some links for you that want more action games or more Neo Geo in your life.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams