Mahou Daisakusen
Released in 1993, Mahou Daisakusen is the first game in the Mahou Daisakusen series, and the first game developed by Raizing. It was released in the same year in the west with the title Sorcer Striker.
Title screen
Developer: | Raizing |
---|---|
Planning: | Kazuyuki Nakashima |
Music: | Atsuhiro Motoyama |
Program: | Toyama Yuuichi [1] |
Art: | Yokoo Kenichi [2] |
Release date: | 1993 |
Next game: | Shippu Mahou Daisakusen |
Contents
Gameplay Overview
Controls
- A: Fires standard shots from the ship at a semi-automatic rate.
- B: Activates a bomb. Bombs are the same between characters. The bomb will take a few frames to detonate if it does not touch a enemy, solid object or the top of the game play field. If any of the listed are touched by a bomb, the bombe will immediately explode. Iframes from the bomb are only active for the the duration of time the bomb explosion is on screen.
Characters / Ships
Gain the Warrior |
Chitta the Witch |
Miyamoto the Samurai Dragon |
Bornnan the Necromancer | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Portrait | ||||
Speed | Medium-Fast | Medium-Slow | Fast | Slow |
Weapons/Magic Books
Each magic book corresponds to its own secondary shot type that varies between characters. You must collect 3 of the same book type to max out its fire power.
- H-Book: Homing Shot Type
- F-Book: Forward Shot Type
- W-Book: Wide Shot Type
Book | Gain | Chitta | Miyamoto | Bornnan |
---|---|---|---|---|
H | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image |
F | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image |
W | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image | Description/Image |
Items
- Coin Bag/Coins: Coin bags will contain 4 coins each valued at 100 points, bags will release coins in a random direction when shot. Your shot level is determined by number of coins collected starting at shot level 1. Each level up requires its own set amount of coins after gaining the next level. Level 2: 1 coin, Level 3: 2 coins, Level 4: 3 coins, Level 5: 4 coins, Level 6: 12 coins. A total of 22 coins are needed to reach max shot power for your characters main shot.
- Bomb Icon: Bomb icons are dropped by predetermined enemies or scenery in each stage. You can carry as many bombs as you can get a hold of but the bomb counter will only display 9 in stock.
Extra Lives
Extends are awarded every 300,000 points in the first loop only.
There are no 1up items or other ways to gain extra lives.
Rank
Rank in Mahou Daisakusen is a composite of several contributing elements. It affects enemy HP, the number of bullets fired by enemy attacks and the timing and frequency of enemy attacks.
Region | Difficulty | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Easy | Medium | Hard | Harder | |
Japan | +0 | +8 | +16 | +24 |
World | +0 | +4 | +8 | +16 |
Korea | +0 | +8 | +16 | +24 |
Region | Loop | |
---|---|---|
1 | 2 | |
Japan | +0 | +24 |
World | +0 | +16 |
Korea | +0 | +32 |
Region | Stage | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
Japan | +0 | +2 | +4 | +8 | +16 | +24 |
World | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +6 |
Korea | +0 | +2 | +4 | +10 | +18 | +28 |
Shot Power | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+ | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
Character | Sub-weapon | Level | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | ||
Gain | F | +4 | +5 | +7 |
W | +2 | +4 | +6 | |
H | +2 | +3 | +5 | |
Chitta | F | +5 | +6 | +8 |
W | +3 | +5 | +6 | |
H | +2 | +3 | +4 | |
Miyamoto | F | +1 | +2 | +4 |
W | +1 | +3 | +5 | |
H | +3 | +4 | +6 | |
Bornham | F | +2 | +3 | +5 |
W | +2 | +3 | +4 | |
H | +3 | +4 | +6 |
There is also a survival element that increments every 4096 frames. This resets to 0 upon death and at the beginning of each stage. The maximum rank value is 63.
Stages
There are six stages and a finale. A typical completion of all stages in the first loop might take approximately 29 minutes.
Loops
This game has 2 loops with the second being much harder due to the increase in rank. The second loop no longer rewards score extends and upon death the player character does not release any subweapon items to be recovered. Due to the increased rank, enemies have much more HP and are more aggressive.
Scoring
Summary
Scoring is very simple and consists mainly of destroying enemies, any destructible projectiles and collecting excess items.
The most significant scoring point is destroying the destructible projectiles shot by the stage 4 boss. These provide 5800 points each but are only shot by the boss at random times. Each attack the boss can choose between a time-consuming laser attack, and firing the projectiles with an equal probability of each. This means the number of projectiles that can be destroyed before the time limit and the boss escapes depends heavily on luck.
Points
Action | Points |
---|---|
Very small enemies (such as the goblin foot soldiers that run along the ground) and destructible projectiles destroyed | Multiples of 10 points |
Popcorn and other small enemies destroyed | Multiples of 100 points |
Large enemies destroyed | Multiples of 1,000 points |
Boss or parts of a boss (including the inactive boss ships at the end of stage 5) destroyed | Multiples of 10,000 points (up to 120,000 for final boss) |
Collecting coins when shot is at full power | 100 points per coin |
There are no points awarded for the completion of a stage or completion of a loop.
Example Scores
A typical score at the end of a first loop where a large portion of enemies and all bosses are destroyed might be 1,500,000. Record scores at the end of the first loop exceed 1,900,000. See the STG Hall of Records for more scores.
Strategy
See Mahou Daisakusen/Strategy for stage maps, enemy and boss descriptions, walkthroughs, and advanced play strategies.
Story
Development History
This is the first game developed by Raizing.
Version Differences
Western release, Sorcer Striker, is a much easier game in both loops due to reduced rank. However, the Korean version of Sorcer Striker has even higher rank than the Japanese version and so is the most difficult version.