Spelunker II: Yūsha e no Chōsen

The Good
You have been chosen to banish the evil demon Geyla from the peaceful kingdom of Fairy Land, in which he planted his henchmen everywhere in a massive demon invasion one thousand years ago. But there is one problem: you have trouble deciding what to do. Do you want to go ahead and liberate Fairy Land, or would you rather become rich from its treasures? What you decide to do will affect the outcome of the story.

The kingdom consists of two areas. You start the game in the overworld. You may feel free to explore your beautiful surroundings, but eventually you have to descend down into the caves where there are undead creatures to kill, treasures to collect, and keys that are needed to unlock certain doors. The treasures in the game are actually bags which, when collected, award you with food and a hint on what to do later. Some of these bags tell you to do a certain task, such as protecting an injured deer from a couple of wolves. There are also crates containing bombs, which you use to break stubborn locked doors.

There are three character classes you can choose from before the game: Clergyman, Esper, and Explorer. Not only are all of them equipped with their own close-combat and projectile weapons, but they also have their own skills. The Clergyman, for example, has the ability to attack undead creatures with his default weapon, whereas the Esper can leave markers in her path and teleport back to them at a later point. The Explorer has none of these traits and is only there for looks.

When you touch any enemy in the game, your life meter depletes, and the game is over if it is empty. Some enemies in the game require certain weapons to kill, such as the rosary needed to wipe out ghosts and zombies. As well as a life meter, you are also equipped with “Toku”, which always starts out full when you begin the game. What you do will affect this meter; killing any undead creatures will raise it, while wiping out deer or fairies will not only decrease it, but also increase your chances of spending an eternity in Hell, ending the game.

I think the overworld is impressive, and I enjoyed exploring it for a bit before making my way down into the caves. I admired the lush green valleys, fields, and mountains, but its outstanding feature is the active volcano which you need to pass by eventually while avoiding rocks that are spewed out from inside it. The music is brilliantly composed; the overworld, caves, and boss battles have their own individual music.

The Bad
Part of the fun of playing the original Spelunker is going down elevators and collecting every treasure you come across. That core gameplay has now been gutted and replaced with something reminiscent to Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, minus the day/night cycles. Combat is also lousy; I found it takes a long time to dispatch enemies, no matter which weapons I used.

Crevices throughout the overworld serve no purpose in the game; if you accidentally fall through one of these, you will end up in Hell where a huge demon kicks you out and you are sent back somewhere with no idea where you are. There are ladders in some caves, which were a problem for me. If I didn’t jump off at the right spot, I fell down and lost a lot of health. You only have one life, and there are no checkpoints or passwords.

The Bottom Line
If you are a fan of the Spelunker series, don’t pick up this game expecting to ride an elevator to the bottom of a mine shaft while collecting valuable treasures along the way. This is a carbon copy of Castlevania II, where you fight undead creatures and get hints on what to do later. It is in fact worse than Konami’s offering, given you only have one life, and there are no checkpoints or passwords that are given to you if you die. At least the sound and graphics are good.