Why is Cadash for the Sega Genesis so Mediocre? | hungrygoriya 

Like several others have mentioned, when talking about the game's shortcomings I think you have to keep the fact that it's a port of a late 80s arcade game in mind. Just due to the environment it was designed for the devs pretty much had to really strip down and simplify the RPG elements. It is a shame that the Genesis version's missing the priest and ninja, though. They definitely added some variety to the gameplay in the oher versions. As a kid I was always amazed by the fact that 2 of the arcade cabs could be connected together so 4 people could play at the same time on 2 different screens. It was unique for the time. I can't think of any others that could do that back then off the top of my head.

I have to say: I love how your reviews feel really personal and you don’t have a ”reviewer character” that affects the way you talk about these games. It gives a sense of honesty and builds interest in a different way. So many game reviews on RU-vid feel like the reviewer is trying too hard to be funny or likeable while you are just you and listening to your review feels like a friend telling you what they experienced when playing a game but in a way more informative way. Thank you for making awesome content. Ps. I have nothing against characters and jokes. It’s just fresh to have something different.

Nice review! It's too bad this version didn't venture more beyond its arcade roots, to expand NPC dialog

Cadash seems to be in that short lived fad of wanting to turn RPG's into arcade games, Tower of Druaga probably started it, but WonderBoy in Monsterland was the most famous. There was also a cancelled Magic the Gathering arcade game in the '90s.

I saw the Arcade as a teenager, a couple in their twenties was playing the game co-op and I was mesmerized by what I saw and was happy to see a home port for the Genesis which I owned looking jealous to the pc-engine who already had a port. Played it in my local video game store and was underwhelmed myself and didn´t bought it. Story did repeat for me with Wardner, the arcade was so gorgeous, the Genesis Port only ok-ish.

The soundtrack may well be devoid of the familiar Mega Drive-Genesis... erm, 'bass tone'... but it still manages to have that undeniable Sega sound to it. A compact yet thorough review, very nice indeed. Cadash is another entry on the long list of games that I've never played and am unlikely ever to experience myself, but I now feel I know it well. You've got a tremendous review series going here!

I didn't find out about cadash till recently and played it for the first time on SEGA and instantly fell in love with it. It's a very strange game because it tries to replicate the arcade as much as it can, making it seem really off the mark because of the limitations of the hardware and the things they chose to take out of it. The charm is still there and I was left craving more of it as I played on. I'm waiting to play it on real arcade hardware to see what the arcade was all about, i've seen some video to know what to expect but not enough to spoil me, i'm really excited.

Looks like what I would have considered a good weekend rental game. I've never played it but it kinda reminds me of Rastan Saga.

Cadash immediately reminded me of Ghosts and Goblins(and Zelda 2) and that game destroyed my sanity as a child. Another really fun, arcadey game from that era is Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Never really saw Cadash as an RPG, since my first experience of this game was in the arcade and then on the Turbografx so I always saw it as more of an arcade side scroller hack & slash like Golden Axe. I think had the devs put more effort into the game when they ported it to the home console they could have made a game similar to the Adventures of Link. Great video.

It’s a shame the characters don’t change dialogue when you complete their quests. That may seem like a small feature that wouldn’t affect gameplay, but it gives the feeling that the game doesn’t acknowledge your achievement, and ultimately discourages talking to NPCs at all, like you mention. Great insightful review as always!

I always liked this game on the Genesis, its kinda short, and not too difficult to get through. Its a great port of the arcade game even though it lacks the other 2 character classes (TG-16 has all 4). The arcade version was 4 player, too bad Taito didn’t make a 4 player Sega CD version with an expanded story, enhanced sound and cinematics.

The characters being named Hun and Gor was a nice comedic touch.

I definitely would've loved the character's sprite changing with different equipment if I had played this when I was younger. Thanks for the thorough review!

I loved the full version of this game in the arcades and would usually play it at least once each time I went there. I didn't know about the TG-16 version being a far more complete port at the time, so I used to rent this version whenever I wanted to play through it at home. It "scratched the itch," but it definitely was quite lacking with only half the playable characters and all the other changes. Ah well... emulation allowed me the chance to play the TG-16 version years later, so I eventually got to enjoy it as it was meant to be enjoyed. Thanks HG! Always love seeing your vids pop up in my YT feed (well, when I catch them)!

You expect people to read a book while standing in front of a TV in a noisy bowling alley waiting for their pizza to be ready (the original context of playing the arcade game Cadash in the late 80s).

kinda unrelated but i think it's a bummer that most sega genesis music is sub par only because composers/programmers were too lazy to find out how GEMS worked (which i believe was the sound driver back then). right, sorry for little composer rant, haha! the game looks really nice! i like how they used the color pallet. Not much of an RPG player or similar. it's a bummer the game seems to have some weird gimmicks that are more frustrating than helpful. the auto-use thing kind of reminds me of the shantae games. you can choose to buy auto heals but it's not mandatory as you can use normal heals on your own too. good video! can't remember how i found you but you cropped up in recommendations again. i should probably sub this time. love your content

Apparently in the Japanese version of Faxanadu you could give the "nameless" hero a name. Semi-officially the character's name is "Fieg" (feeg/fiig) as seen in the Xanadu anime.

Beware the black pudding! I rented the Genesis version in my younger days. I ended up picking up the TG-16 version a couple of years ago because of the extra characters. The TG-16 version is the final game I beat last year. I played through as the Ninja. The ranged attack was very nice. It was an enjoyable experience but after some early grinding there isn't much of a challenge. Worth a play through but not sure I would play through it again any time soon.

The Arcade game was one of my favorite games growing up and I still play it once a year, I didn't know there was an Arcade port until a couple years ago until I discovered the Genesis and Turbografx 16 ports a couple years ago. While the Sega version is the closest port, it was a port of an 80s game ahead of it's time in the mid 90s.

"Cadash!", the long lost brother of "POW!," "Bam!" and "Smash"

I only have the trubographix version of this game, and I could not figure out how to use magic for the longest time. Watching this video makes me want to play again

7:40 Here's where this being on SNES could have really helped, as the button mapping on the default controller would have allowed cycling back and forth through magic types to be assigned to the two shoulder buttons. And that would still leave four face buttons for everything else, maybe even assigning using the spell to a button press, so you can assign/equip it without immediately using it as soon as you select it. And it would also make using the same magic attack repeatedly in quick succession practical too. I think that alone would totally change and improve the gameplay experience right there.

For what it's worth, some of us fondly remember "that one fight in particular that wore down [your] patience." More so when you decided to not go back to the inn to refill health & herbs. :D

I'm fairly new to the channel, but you do a great job of reviewing these old games. 👍

The Arcade version is now available on PS4/5 and Switch. I've always preferred that version, as the Genesis doesn't add any content, other than having lesser graphics, sound, animation, and 2 characters missing. This game was very impressive when it came out in the arcades in the late 80's/early 90's. Compare it to what you could play at the time, whether at home or in the arcade..... When you are playing retro games today you don't notice the difference in graphics, animation, and sound as much as you did back then because back then, this was pretty much the pinnacle of graphics and sound in a video game. You didn't know what the future would hold either, how fast things would have progressed. The Genesis DID NOT have the hardware necessary to make arcade perfect ports, that was just advertising. Not only were the carts smaller, but the sprites, sound chip, colors, ect. were inferior to Sega's own hardware that was 1-2 years older. I think they did a fine job porting it other than not using a large enough ROM to include the other characters. It's true that they could have also added totally new content, but then again in the case of Golden Axe, I still prefer the much superior graphics, animation, and sound of the arcade version.

I remember liking this game a bit as kid even though I don't think I ever got that far. I quite enjoyed RPGs. My dad used to play some PC games like Doom, Eye of Beholder, some point and click adventure games... I quite like seeing him playing those, but my tiny child brain couldn't figure it out how to play Eye of the Beholder haha. And I was also too scared to play Doom. Cadash had those characters that looked more or less like the portraits that you could choose in some classic RPG Dungeon Crawler games and it felt easier to play since while you could level up and stuff, it was not nearly as complicated as classic PC DnD games for that matter. Plus! Whenever you can see your character changing a bit when you get new stuff is always fun. Yeah... the game wasn't that great, but I have some nostalgia for it.

Surprised I've never heard of this one. It looks like something I would've rented and possibly liked as a kid... For some reason while watching this footage I couldn't help but wonder what Zelda II or Faxanadu would look like on the Genesis.

You made some good points about the megadrive/ genesis version. Things I overlooked when I was a kid that noticeably stand out today when playing. Despite its flaws, i have some great memories playing Cadash growing up. A game I actually had on import from the states due to it not being released in the uk. Great video.

Have you tried Blades of Vengence on the Genesis? It is similar to Cadash...3 Character Classes, RPG elements, and Side scrolling action platforming. However, it can be difficult and there is a necessity of exploration to locate a power item found in each level. Great content. Action RPGs were a staple of my past.

loved the Sega version mainly because I LOVED the Arcade version years earlier... definitely simple, but it was nostalgia being able to bring essentially a favorite arcade game home with you

Since I bought my Megadrive in 1992, I’ve been trying to nail down what to call that spludgy squishy sound games used. HG you’ve solved my dilemma…’flatulant,. Perfect 😂 Top notch review as always.

This was another game I always wanted to try from seeing in magazines but never got a chance to but it looks like I didn't miss a whole lot here watching your playthrough live. The character sprite changing with different equipment is awesome, and something very few games did. Even a lot of modern RPGs today do not do that, so when it happens, it's really unique and interesting! However, that spell system with the Mage character is one of the worst ways to cast a magic spell I've ever seen! Slow, clunky, easy to miss and can be interrupted? Good grief. Also, that auto use of poison antidote was horrendous. That looks like something that wasn't tested at all before the game was released. I wonder if this would be more fun with two players? It would be neat if the difficulty scaled based on that, but I'm guessing it doesn't.

This is one of those games my brother and I played in Arcades, and we were so disappointed with the Genesis port. :(

You know what the problem with trying to find Sega games off of a paper Funcoland chart was? Games like this one, sure it looks underwhelming, but I would have liked that game back in the day... For like a minute, maybe more but I had no background for this game, so it went under my radar until now. Gorra finds the good in the games she plays, thanks for bringing back old memories of things I forgot that I loved, but this wasn't one of them. I don't think I have the dexterity to enjoy a game like this anymore, however, I can appreciate 3-letter words for names... "Ass", I would've named my character that, and snickered doing it, then gone to school and shared my video game name with my best friend, because bad words are funny. Dangerous thing to do though, because bad words written, could still get my mouth washed out with soap back as a child. Anyway, I really liked Altered Beast as a kid, and if I had known about this game, I would have played it, at least with an emulator, but no, this story is dead, I've never played this game. Good video, all the same.

This channel needs to blow up asap! New fave channel !

I loved this one so much as a child but I developed my greatest fondness of it in the arcades in its original form as a quarter-eating arcade game. I never experienced an arcade game quite like it that is blending some minimal amount of non-linearity and role-playing mechanics. Also I spent the bulk of my time playing it co-op with strangers who'd join me starting out or mid-game (I loved to play the ninja class which isn't even present in the Genesis version). Also something I had rarely seen in other games in the late 80s was the ability to see the equipment we wore on our character as we could in Faxandu. It's a very small touch but something that seemed so unusual in that time period. At the same time, it's so skewed in its design to be an arcade game. For example, the lack of variation in NPC dialogues may have even been intentional to some degree, since the designers may not have wanted players to be stretching out their quarters (or 100 yen coins in my case) just spending the bulk of their time interacting with NPCs. The arcade version even had a timer that required we put in another coin when the timer ran out, so the design was skewed towards pushing the players into action and spending relatively little time questing and speaking to NPCs. A lot of the replay value for me originally in the arcades was to speedrun and beat the game with as few coins as possible with each of the 4 classes as well as both competing and cooperating with other players in the arcades this way. It was also the type of game played co-op where we'd have to talk to each other a bit more than usual about which direction to cooperatively go so I liked that social aspect like, "Follow me! We need to go this way to rescue the Mermaid and get the scales that allow us to breathe underwater." It's difficult to find anything that beats Faxanadu. I find traces of its original appeal to me here and there in the likes of Cadash, Zelda 2, Simon's Quest, Ys, Getsu Fūma Den, Zeliard, etc, but I'm left with only traces of Faxanadu's original appeal.

Dropping the timer from the arcade version is the very thing that both the Genesis and PC Engine ports get wrong. Aside from the RPG pretentions the home versions have that they can't live up to, the timer *was the whole point*. Cadash the arcade game is all about time management, a speedrunning game before that was even a thing. To finish it with no deaths, you have to learn enough about the game world on early runs to be able to ignore NPCs later; you have to figure out the quickest path through and apply your arcade skills ruthlessly efficiently to shave off precious seconds; you have to balance between grind and cash to afford what you want when you need it (including extra time) and save time without leaving yourself too weak later; and since grind is unavoidable, you have to find the best place to do it (it's the rock monsters). All this adds up to an entirely different form of challenge. Take away the timer, you take away the challenge, and you're pretty much left with no game.

Cadash for the Turbografx 16 was great fun when playing two-player co-op as you could take better advantage of different characters strengths. The spells become more useful when you can have someone else distract the enemies too. As a single player game it is a bit too basic though.

I agree with the Mage that since the play timer was removed that there's no need to have real time magic use anymore. Or at least create the option of a pop-up menu that stops the action for a sec. I think Cadash is a solid port despite it's late 1992 release but a lot of that stuff could have been resolved if the cart size wasn't so small. I don't know what on Earth they were thinking going with a 4 megabit cart in 1992 when most games had already moved onto 8 and 16 megabit. The reason Cadash on PC Engine could pull it off without cutting characters despite being on the same cart size was with the reduced sprite size and removing some NPCs. It's also a shame that this was just a one and done novelty at the time and Taito didn't keep going with another sequel or two. I would have liked to see something with more detailed sprites, new locations like a desert or ice cavern, and different classes like an Archer or Necromancer.

The coin operated arcade version is pretty experimental for trying to marry a console action rpg to a simple side scrolling arcade title like magic sword or belt scroller like final fight. So I can see how an arcade game needs to strip everything down and simplify the gameplay to the bare bones because you’d expect the player to be standing in a crowded pizza parlor or laundromat. It’s still kind of wild to drop a coin in and be faced with several screens of story text and have to walk out of town to begin swatting at monsters. Thing is, Genesis arcade port is faithful to the arcade, game didn’t get the Rygar or Bionic Commando treatment where the home port was significantly redesigned.

This game had to have been a business failure in the arcade. As the cleric, once you got the shield spell you were basically immortal. Always protected you from damage long enough to regain enough magic back to cast it again. Even terrible players never put a single quarter into it after that.

What is the "I've got the pendant" game at the beginning of this video? Found it: Faxanadu!

Your critique of this game helps my own game development. How important it is, to show that the player's actions changed something within the world The townspeople not reacting to your heroics, it really bothered you. It wouldn't even have been difficult to add some small changes, I'm sure they had the room to do so. Some other old games like Terranigma, or Chrono Trigger, there your actions had huge consequences

You have to keep in mind the era this came out in. It (and the Turbografx version) were as faithful as possible ports of an '89, 16 bit arcade game in a time when playing near perfect ports of arcade games was still a huge deal. A lot of early 16 bit games were better visually than they were on gameplay. Just to list some of it's contemporaries (either arcade that got ports or made for console): Altered Beast, Ghouls N Ghosts, Mystic Defender, Golden Axe, Forgotten Worlds, Last Battle just to name a few. Games like that is where this one belongs. The fact it didn't see a Genesis port, where the most people would have played it, until 92 makes it seem dated compared to games then or slightly later like Castlevania Bloodlines. However it does make one appreciate the leaps forward a game like Castlevania Bloodlines brought to the table. As for myself, only having played the Turbografx version (with a bit more interesting, for better or worse, dialogue thanks to Working Designs) I like it for what it is, but I also have nostalgia for it remembering when a home port of it was a big deal.

Neither the PC Engine or Mega Drive ports are good, but the Mega Drive could have handled an arcade perfect port, or close to it, if Taito really wanted. Maybe someone in the future could do it? There are such impressive arcade ports that are still being released on Mega Drive such as Fantasy Zone or Darius + all the WIP ones such as Ghouls 'n Ghosts or Final Fight. These people are a blessing to the retro scene 😊

Kinda hope a rom hack comes out, like a near arcade perfect, having all payable characters and a rebalance gameplay.

The fighters animation going down the vine had me loling. I think I have this on my PC engine (called turbo grafix 16 in North America) mini from Japan. I think so...I dunno, tho. I bought it more for my spouse - hes way more into retro arcady style games then me. But I swear I played this recently. If you want an actual good RPG/arcade hybrid, go play Chronicles of Mystara. Its a Dungeons and Dragons arcade beatem up with a *lot* of RPG elements for an arcade game. Story, items, shops, level choices, level ups. Its my fav retro arcade game.

I wish there was a Cadash 2. I love this game. there is still something special about it

Have you since acquired a turbografx or pcengine? It so I would recommend playing through with the other two classes.

I swear I saw the mage swashbuckle those skeleton's kneecaps, in that early footage 💯

I do love the appeal of different classes but you totally nailed some big points here. NPC's that don't react to their conflict being resolved just sounds like a bad design choice. It's weird they didn't let you toggle auto use either on your items. This looks fun, but that Wizard looks like a handful with what you've shown! Thinks for always bringing these games to my attention!

Cadash at its core is an arcade coin op game that was made to eat quarters and offer challenging gameplay based on starting off with little to nothing. The player starts by picking one of 4 character classes that go from Warrior, Priestess,Wizard and Ninja. Damage ratio was set high so that enemy hits drain your life to nothing with 4 to 5 hits depending on the enemy, the overworld is a quick respite to buy items you would need to descend into dungeons where monsters could easily overwhelm you if your rushing through. Through all this there is a timer that starts you off at 55 minutes to go from one place to another so while rushing can get you to the end making you waste tons of quarters, it also kept you from losing all your time and having to face an indestructible monster that would kill you in a few hits regardless of your healthbar being full or not. This made the player memorize enemy patterns from flying bats zig zagging up and down to trees that would shoot out project tiles to even traps like the 4 guardian statues that whip a ball and chain at you, thing is the first guardian's ball and chain swing was slow and by the time you reach the last statue, his swing was so quick you would take 2 to 3 hits by the time you get by him because you move slower then the ball and chain so you would take cheap hits no matter what. The story is simplistic with very little emphasis on fleshing out ANY story cause this was an arcade game that focused on gameplay and little else. Taito wanted to offer an adventure that would be easy to sit and play without bogging down the player with needless text that would not fit in a arcade game at the time. Leveling up is based on how many kills you do with the first few levels only taking about 20 enemies to level up, if you had enough quarters you could level up by killing enemies that re-spawn back in place whenever you went from side to side back and forth which would net you a TON of gold to spend on items and weapons before you even truly begin your quest. Best part is if you ran out of quarters, Cadash was one of the FIRST arcade games to offer a Password system so you could write your password down and continue when you got more change or the had to wait to get more allowance to come back and play. The game WAS a quarter eater cause a lot of the game play would not let you just rush ahead as enemies could hit you from off screen unless you memorized their location where they would fly from, this leads to a lot of memorization of enemies, memorizing each dungeon layout and what to expect from traps and enemies that deal status attacks. Bosses also have patterns that when you figure them out make them cake walk. The Silk Worm that is in the underground vine garden is very simple as when he bounces off the wall he will like a ball bounce once more so you keep close to the middle of the play field and jump over him when he rolls towards you after his little jump, patience is KEY if you rush into the battle you will get killed as he deals poison on hit so check out his pattern its VERY simple anyone can get it on the first try. The last stage of the game is tough because it has a series of doors you have to go through in a specific order to get the last and more powerful weapon for your class and then to make it to the final boss, without giving up too much watch for the strength of the enemies and be prepared to face Silk Worm again in a much smaller room then when you first fought him in the underground vine garden. I think Sega did a miraculous job with the game but had to skimp out on two characters to fit the game onto cartridge which is a shame but it still kept the 2 player option which is awesome. Both the Priestess and Ninja are missing from the Sega game. The levels are all in tact and the difficulty of the game is still present BUT the time limit that was in the arcade is GONE so you can level up to your hearts content on the first stage and reach level 10 before you even face the first boss. I was quite surprised how close to the arcade the Sega Genesis version was and how the music and graphics being slightly touched up. There was two home ports of Cadash with the Turbo Grafix getting a port that was handled by Working Designs. Out of the two while the Turbo had all the characters it took a major hit in the graphics and sound department but offered all the characters and still kept the 2 player option. Cadash is a feat unto itself because this came out before the legendary Dungeons and Dragons game came out later on and Cadash offered an RPG like game to arcade goers which was not very common at the time and literally has become a cult classic. The game is not about following a story or thrilling the player with a vibrant world to explore, its a dungeon crawler with some unfair traps and a pretty steep learning curve for new players look before you leap approach. While was not a killer hit in its time its WORTH the play through cause what it does offer up back is a great Arcade hack and slash RPG with some great music and some tough as nails game play. And yes I am a HUGE fan of this game and even owned the original arcade board at one time...this is by far one of my most memorable arcade games of all time for me so I felt I had to clear up some things so people don't get the wrong impression from this video.

Played the arcade game a few times, but ever progressed too much. I guess I’ll give it a try on MAME, considering all the points you highlighted in this video.

I haven't seen anything from any other version of the game, but I do wonder if the super basic NPC dialogue may be because there weren't a lot of RPGs on the Genesis, and they wanted to make sure new players understood how everything works? Yes, there's the manual, but I vividly recall people I knew ardently refusing to read them back then (I actually got some free manuals that way xD) For me personally, the auto-potion mechanic that you can't turn off would drive me up the wall, especially as much of an item hoarder as I am.

I love your videos Hungry. Enjoy your day!

Oh no... I played the HECK OUT of the Arcade game of this. The home version was so....... meh. Lets see how your review goes. ;) Interesting. In the Arcade game, the old woman does change her dialogue. You give her closure. Most don't change in the arcade either though lol. Grinding for exp and gold in the arcade was stressful haha had to do it 'fast' because of the timer but oh you just mentioned it. :P They took out a few things, but honestly it's a good version especially for home. Even with the Priestess and Ninja being removed. :P Pro Tip: When stuck in water, or fire and you have to walk through the pain.... everytime it's about to hit you, turn around so the hit will knock you 'back' in the direction you are trying to go. ;) Great review, I pretty much agree with you completely on this one. :D

The village of marinade sounds like a tasty place. I bet they make all the best foods.

I loved Cadash in the arcade, difficult as it was. I don't think I could get into playing this version without the Ninja class.

Love our channel!

Did a second player make it any better or worse? I didn't hear (or notice) you mention the coop aspect of the game (if you did).

Hmm too bad. I kind of enjoy the Turbo16 version though outside of some different graphics they look like they play pretty similar though you get to hold a lot more of the healing items and the 4 characters do each have a fairly unique play through as they all have different equipment and the priestess combines strong fighting with some easy healing magic and is the most fun of the bunch in my opinion. The game is also similarly beginning heavy where you should really level up a bunch right off the bat then you're pretty clear from that point on. I'd also say the two player co op for an rpg is a pretty cool feature but I'm always playing alone so it doesn't make any difference. In the end I don't think you're missing too much from the Turbo version though I would be curious what you think if you ever pick it up.

Also would you please consider diving into and reviewing Wizardry 8??? But if you do I highly recommend you use the simple speed mod

Your youtube handle cracks me up every time I see it.

Flatulent bass sound has me loling. Thanks HG! Love your reviews.

I'm impressed the sprites look so good and are also huge. Usually giant sprites look like poo poo

The tree enemies remind me of the henchmen from Scooby Doo's Ghoul School, the Grim Creeper. Honestly the game doesn't seem to do a very good job to paint the Balrog as entirely the villain. Like, yeah what he's doing is wrong but at the same time the humans are kind of awful too for casting the demons into the underground.

Well, one thing Cadash shares with Faxanadu; you can smooch the king.

Most of the complaints you have about the RPG shortcomings are valid on console, but like you said yourself at the beginning of the video, this was an arcade game. In that context, it's crazy that it allows you to spend so much time interacting with NPCs, backtracking, and upgrading your equipment. No wonder that there's not that many games like this one, it must've been very unprofitable compared to other machines. BUT, I will tell you that if I had ever run into this machine back then, I would've spent more money than I ever did on any arcade machine. It ticks all the boxes for me personally, which is another proof that it most certainly wasn't profitable. :D Try the arcade version, if you haven't. Works great on MAME, being a fairly simple game, and the cleric rules. It has pretty almost as much equipment as the fighter, and a few spells as well. Plus, those flails are amazing with their reach, and the dresses are very fashionable.

Also, why not just have a warrior-mage or would that make the player character too powerful?

"Mediocre", the most brutal neutral evaluation.

The TG-16 version is pretty good...better than the actual arcade even (due to the removal of that stupid timer). Glad it came on the TG-16 mini.

The features you want such as changing NPC dialog are missing because this is an arcade cabinet port. It was designed to eat quarters. There was even a timer so you were forced to keep going onward or pay more quarters for addional time. Same with equipment not dropping off enemies. To get better items you had to forge ahead. To forge ahead you had to insert more coins. You eeren't meant to return to previous towns. The formula was, farm enemies for gold, gear up, level up, buy more time, get to the next town, repeat. If you want to see mediocre, try the turbografx-16 version of Cadash. Now that is mediocre.

Yes, Cadash wasn't great on the Sega Genesis. However, it does play quite a bit better than the TG-16 port. One thing the TG-16 did better was to include all arcade characters...I believe there was 4 of them. Warrior, Mage, Cleric, and Ninja.

Rented this a few times as a kid and enjoyed it. Not great, but a worthy way to spend a weekend off school!

Simple, the Genesis port is missing the Priest and the Ninja, both of which are the most fun to play.

I didn't stick with this version of the game when I tried it. The TG16 version is better, I really enjoyed playing as the Priest/Cleric since you get defensive/healing magic and a longer-range attack in exchange for being a bit weaker. The original arcade game is great as well, the Ninja is really fun to use. The devs were lazy with this port, that's the answer to your question in the title. Maybe there's some excuse like it was rushed, but basically it was a cash grab to try and capitalize on the success of the original arcade version and they didn't put enough work into it to make it a good home console game.

So... No version of this game is a must-experience major life event, but the Turbografx version is the best one. I even pick it over the arcade by a small amount, but it crushes the Genesis version. If give it a try because it is short. Might be good for a one and done. I'm glad I played it. Use the priestess for maximum difference from what you've already played.

some of the criticisms are a product of its time, it was based on a 1980's arcade game. I prefer the Turbografx-16 version even though it had no parallex scrolling, smaller less animated sprites, and only one life for the ENTIRE game with no passwords/saves, it had 4 playable characters, IMHO better use of brighter colors. But if you emulate the TG-16 version, you can use save states so the one life thing isn't as unforgiving as it was in 1991.

It's a bit sad because the arcade is so much fun. Maybe if there was more time and maybe more memory space...

Excellent OST. With that said, Taito's output on the Genesis was less than stellar. If it got the Rygar or Bionic Commando nes port treatment it could have been amazing, like a Faxanadu spiritual successor. One can dream

Only RPG I thought was truly outstanding on Genesis was Sword of Vermillion, which also had the best music on the entire console, imo. A friend of mine really loved Phantasy Star II, but I just never could get into it. I don't think I ever even tried this one.

Cadash, Monster World… looks like you’re on track to play Exile! Also worth at least one playthrough.

I LOVE this game! Thanks for reminding me about it....haven't played it in years.

I was rather underwhelmed when I played this game myself. At first I thought this must be an early Genesis game, back when Sega was being more stingy with the cartridge size. But it actually came out in 1992, well after higher capacity cartridges should have been available, so there's just no excuse here. And I hope that shot of Genesis RPGs you put there isn't your entire collection. By my count there's something like 20+ RPGS on the Genesis. They're not necessarily good RPGs mind you, but in simple quantity, the Genesis is not quite as sparse as the rumors would have you believe.

I like it. Especially in coop. Only bought it around five years ago, as this did not get a PAL release.

Thanks for the great review =)

9:39 - Hush!

I use the same kind of description for that sound Genesis games always make.

This game is giving me Zelda II vibes (only without the secrets and innovation....)

Never even heard of this one, but i was a NES person in the late 80s. I had a friend with a genesis, but i don't really remember playing anything other than Altered Beast, Streets of Rage, and Mortal Kombat. Anyway - too bad this one wasn't a better experience. On the surface it looks pretty good. It's frustrating when a mediocre game could have just done a few things to make it good...

great review, all valid critiques. I still like the charm of the game

If you like sidescroller action-RPGs, you can also try Monster World IV (which has an English patch) and Ys III. There's also Exile, but the version on Genesis is, like this game, not very good.

I'm guessing because this was an arcade game initially, it was purposely left barren of story and geared more toward action and taking your quarters lol. I played it in the arcade, too, when it first released back then. It was a looker at the time. It's another "why did they do this?!" port where they *could* have added more story to a home port, but didnt. Also, why didnt they add all 4 characters to play as? In a rush? Lazy? The TG16 port isnt bad at all, the graphics are just a hair less detailed than the Genesis port, but at least the TG16 port has all 4 characters. Getting ahold of the TG16 port would be folly because buying an original TG16 console is upwards of $300 or more and the Cadash game is $100 or more. The TG16 mini would be the way, it has Cadash and a slew of TG16 rpg titles on it you've never played. But the TG16 mini, if you dont already have one, is folly as well - it was MSRP for $100 two years ago upon release by Konami.. now it's selling online for upwards of 400-500 bucks! I'm glad I bought mine at release on Amazon because that was the only way Konami was selling it. For those who wonder about the weird name "Cadash" it's just reference to the final level in the game, Castle Cadash. 10:38 the mage is constipated lol

Cadash is a conflicted game, design-wise. Wherever it's most RPG-ish - talking, shopping, minor backtracking - it's most at odds with the whole "Hurry up!" thing that arcade games have to do. Simply removing the timer in the home version doesn't change its basic nature as an arcade game designed to be fairly brief, mostly linear, and (most of all) to munch coins by killing the player repeatedly.

"... now go, Hun!" Please tell me "Hun" is your 3 character "name"! If it isn't, that's *_hilarious_* that they call the character "Hun!" "Save the kingdom Hun! " "Can you vanquish the enemy, Hun?" "Did you want butter for your corn, Hun?" 😂😂 **further in the video edit** I'm guessing that's your character name. You'd think that they could have afforded the miniscule amount of memory required for 2 or 3 more characters for the name.

Kind of like Rastan. You have a video on that one lady?

So, with a bit of tweaking to the things you pointed out that make this game annoying, this could have been a really good game. I guess the other ports are better, have you played them?

this game os on TurboGrafx 16 as well and is a bit better there with other classes available too.

First time seeing this port of the game and the characters and animation look nice! Very unfortunate the priest isn't in this port. That's my favorite character by far, with her castlevania-style chain flail that can attack in multiple directions, and cure spell. Shame the dialogue wasn't updated for the console ports, as it's mainly there to guide arcade game players on how to navigate a more rpg-style experience, hence why it's a bit mundane seeming at times telling you how to navigate stairs and such. Give the Turbografx port a try sometime if you have any desire to try the other characters in the future. 🙂