My Played Video Games Review: Arcus Odyssey for the Sega Genesis

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Arcus Odyssey is an action RPG video game developed by Wolf Team (now known as Namco Tales Studio Ltd.) and released by Renovation Products for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991.

I got the Japanese version back then so I didn't get to finish because of the damn language barrier. Now, I get to continue thanks to emulators with the USA version.

Cool Japanese version cover (image source)

The Story

Tonight is the thousand years night of the full moon! Four brave warriors will battle the Dark Lords of Castomira in an ancient ruined shrine and face the Dark Sorceress. These heroes have pledged their lives to the king of Arcus to recapture the stolen Sword of Light that defeated Castomira a millenia before.

The four heroes must not fail in their quest, or the evil Castomira will assume full power, and the darkness will reign forever.

Sega Genesis box, cartridge and manual of the game (image source)

The Graphics and Sound

The graphics have an old PC game quality to them, so this game might be a port. The cinematic sequences are quite good. The sprites and backgrounds kinda looked okay. And the effects too are decent to look at. The animation is a bit lacking though, but overall, the graphics are just passable for an old Sega Genesis game. The character death animations looked a bit cute for my taste.

The sound is okay. There are a few catchy tunes here and there. A few boring tunes in some dungeon levels. Nothing really special in this one.

Gameplay sample of Arcus Odyssey on the Sega Genesis

The Gameplay

The play view is in overhead isometric view.

The gameplay is great and is very fun to play for either one or two players. There are four characters with different fighting abilities you can choose from. I think the whip user lady character is powered up a bit. But all the characters are fun to play with.

Controls are easy. The "A" button is for your menu and managing items and spells. The "B" button is for casting spells. The "C" button is used for both attacking and blocking. You tap "C" to attack and hold it to block. It sounds not easy having those actions on the same button. But in actual play, it is amazingly simple to play with.

Once you have become good at the game you will have no trouble beating enemies coming from any direction while blocking projectiles and dodging traps.

Replay value is very good. Trying to beat the game using each of the four characters, or playing with a 2nd player friend using character team combinations, is fun.

My Verdict

Arcus Odyssey is not the type of game that takes you many hours to beat. It is an arcade-style action RPG that will provide some retro gaming fun alone or with a friend.

Go play this retro gaming classic on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or play it on emulators for the handy save state feature.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!



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4 comments
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wow, interesting videogame, reminds me a lot of sword of mana.

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Yes, they both have familiar gameplay.

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