[img width=346 height=494]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/lotwbox.jpg[/img]When talking about "unloved" games I think this one takes the cake so far. Most of the other games I have featured I have at least heard mentioned in some capacity. However, I have not heard one person mention Legacy of the Wizard in my many years of playing and collecting video games. Its a shame because its a spectacular NES title that deserves some attention.
Legacy of the Wizard has the unusual cast of an entire family. In the first screen, you get to choose whom to play as: Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, or Family Pet? Don't worry Grandma and Grandpa are there to help give you pass codes so you can continue playing later without losing all the goodies you've collected. Each character has abilities and items that are specific to them only. At any time you can return home and swap out characters to help you progress in your quest.
LotW is one of the least linear games I've ever played on the NES. There is a MASSIVE map to explore and it can be done in many different ways. You can literally spend hours upon hours exploring this beast of a dungeon and easily get lost.
[img width=504 height=474]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/lotwtitle.jpg[/img]
The premise of the game is that a dragon is poisoning the land and only your family has the power to destroy it. You encounter the Dragon early in the game, but it is trapped inside a prison so you have the long epic quest of finding the 4 crowns to unleash the dragon in order to kill it. The task of collecting each crown is almost a separate game in its own. You must utilize each character for different areas to reach each crown and defeat the boss guarding it. Along the way you'll find many items which are character specific and expand the abilities you have, therefore opening up new areas of the dungeon for exploration.
A lot of dungeon crawling games can get very repetitive and eventually you'll lose interest. The constantly changing environment, large cast of playable characters, interesting puzzles and areas to overcome, and wicked awesome music help keep the game exciting and quick paced (for a dungeon crawler).
[img width=256 height=232]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/lotwdragon.gif[/img]
If you're looking for a NES title that will keep you busy for days and possibly even weeks then check out Legacy of the Wizard. The music alone is reason enough to just wander around killing baddies. This great title needs to be played by any NES/retro fan that hasn't already.
Final Score - 8.5PS - This game is incredibly difficult to play without the manual, because it describes each character and item's abilities in depth (which the game does not). Here is a link to nintendoage.com. If you intend to play this game than just click on the "M" and it will pop up a page for page scan of the entire manual. I recommend checking it out prior to and during play when encountering new items and using different characters.
http://nintendoage.com/in...rch.Results&Search=simple
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I own this this game, and I've never made much progress. It's pretty hard, but I do intend to make it back to it one day and finish it 
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I couldn't agree more, and this one has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I'm glad you decided to share this one.
This game is Dragon Slayer IV for the Famicom. I haven't played the other in the series, but they may be worth a look.
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This does sound pretty cool
I've heard of it before.
Being an NES title i don't think i'll be checking it out soon though.
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@ Duke.Togo
Thanks for the info on the Dragon Slayer series. Once I finish off my NES collection I plan on grabbing some Famicom stuff and more of this would be right up my alley.
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This game is awesome but hard as frickin' HELL!! Crab Master is right, though. You must read the manual to even have a chance in this game. I beat the game but I needed a guide to do it and this was before the internet came into it's prime. It's a great game and you should definitely play it.
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Legacy of the Wizard is a game that was both great and horrid. When people speak of games that use backtracking as a means to make the game longer by a couple hours, they have no clue what true backtracking is like. I enjoyed this game the first couple hours but it quickly became boring as each family member was required to find a peice of treasure. Including the pet. It had decent gameplay outside of constantly repeating everything over and over. People tend to ignore this in place of other Broderbund released titles like the Guardian Legend and the Battle of Olympus. I'm surprised by the few responses so far how few have played it. Maybe that's a good thing.
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Although this was published by Broderbund in the US, it was developed Falcom, who also created the Y's, and the Xanadu series (where Faxanadu comes from, although Xanadu is Dragon Slayer II.)
The Guardian Legend was developed by Compile, who also made Zanac, Gun-Nac, and the Aleste series, among other great shooters.
Imagineer developed Battle of Olympus.
So although Broderbund didn't create a thing, they at least had good taste in publishing some great Famicom titles here.
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@Fuyukaze: You are right. You had to backtracking soooooooooo much. I think at least half the game was backtracking. You constantly had to go back and get a different family to progress further in the game. This might be the reason that not many people beat it let alone played it longer than a few hours.
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Didnt you guys use the crystals? If you take one with you or just buy it in a shop you get warped back to the cabin which eliminates a lot of the back tracking.
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Haha, I used to love this game back in the day.. never did beat it though
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@Duke.Togo
Broderbund last I knew only developed for PC. Still do PC stuff to this day. As far as Guardian Legend, I could have sworn Irem developed it. Maybe they only published it in Japan though.
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