Most Metal Video Games (Part 4)

Hails and pixels! It's been a really long time since anything has happened on here. It's just myself being incredibly lazy but decided it's time to stop and actually do something for this little blog!

I'll continue on with the Most Metal Video Games feature with today's game: Demon's Crest!

Released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo by Capcom, this gothic and demonic title is a fantastic adventure platformer similar to Super Castlevania IV and Super Metroid. What makes this game metal? How about the fact that you play as a demon!?

You play as Firebrand (the same demon that was the star of Gargoyle's Quest and Gargoyle's Quest II and was an enemy in Ghosts'n Goblins) in a quest to collect all the elemental crests which will grant him infinite power and the ability to rule over the lands. Quite an ambitious demon! Of course, there is another demon, Phalanx, who is after the same elemental crests and will retrieve them at any cost, including knocking Firebrand out of the air and taking all the elemental crests save for the fire crest.

Aside from the fact you play as a demon that makes this game metal, it's also the art and graphic style. As you can see from the cover (heavily inspired by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell) it looks like it would fit well on some second-rate 1980s thrash metal cover or even a standard heavy metal cover. The Japanese box art is slightly different (and looks cooler) but is nonetheless still metal! The in-game graphics are quite amazing with detailed undead, melting ghosts, bone dragons, and other various beasts from the underworld.

The soundtrack itself isn't explicitly metal but it is very good and would fit in just fine with a symphonic black metal band. It's dark and melodic which fits the mood of the game just fine. There have been a few metal and hard rock arrangements of select tracks from the game as well.

The gameplay itself is solid as well even though the controls are a bit stiff; characteristic of early '90s SNES titles. There are portions of the game (especially during boss battles) that require precise timing and pattern memorization which is pretty standard for games of the day and it doesn't detract from the overall game. The one draw back that I have with this game is that it uses a password save system rather than a battery backup save system. Attempting to go back to the game after several years and misplacing the piece of paper that had the password written down doesn't really make for a enjoyable experience.