Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family, MSX

Originally released in Japan as “Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family“, the version I’m showing here is the fan-translated MSX2 version of the fourth game in the Dragon Slayer series. The game was developed and published by Falcom in 1987, and the fan translation was released by “MSX Translations” in 2010 under the title of “Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family“.

Dragon Slayer IV was officially localised and released as “Legacy of the Wizard” in North America, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Some websites state that the MSX version was also localised as Legacy of the Wizard, but I don’t think that’s true. After searching for some time, I was not able to find an MSX version of Legacy of the Wizard, and don’t believe that one exists. This doesn’t really matter, though, because the fan translation of the original Japanese MSX version is more than adequate.

Dragon Slayer IV is a platform/action game that centres around a family that must work together in order to retrieve the famous Dragon Slayer sword, and then use it to slay the dragon that has revived and is hidden inside a sprawling dungeon. Just like in every other Dragon Slayer game preceding this, before you can wield the sword you must first find four crowns that protect the sword from being taken. Only when you have all four crowns can you actually take the sword.

The game begins inside the family’s house, and a floating pointer allows you to choose which person to take out. There’s the father, Xemn, who is a strong warrior and can use magic gloves to move blocks; there’s the mother, Maia, who is a powerful wizard and can fly and use a variety of other magic; there’s the son, Royas, who is a ranger who throws swords and is the only one who can wield the Dragon Slayer; there’s the daughter, Lyll, who is an “elf” who can use some magic and can also jump higher and further than everyone else, and there’s Pochi, the family pet, who is a “monster” and is therefore unharmed by contact with monsters in the dungeon. The Grandmother and Grandfather allow you to save and load games using passwords.

Since Pochi doesn’t take damage when in contact with monsters, he’s the one you should take out initially, until you’ve got a basic understanding of the dungeon layout, the game controls, and the inventory screen. The inventory screen is only available at home and in inns, and this is basically a ‘loadout’ screen from which you can choose any three items to take out with you on each run. You simply walk up to the item you want and press fire to add it to your character inventory, which is shown in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Also shown at the top of the screen are four sets of dual bars showing Life, Magic, Keys and Gold. The bottom (blue) bars show how many single items you have for each. The top (red) bars show how many multiples of ten you have for each. Magic is consumed when you shoot at enemies, though each character’s weapon has limited range. Keys are used to unlock chests and locked doors, so it’s vital you always have a few on you at all times. Gold is used to buy items from shops or rest at inns.

The dungeon itself is large and is divided into five mains areas – a general area, and four other areas that require a specific family member to make their way through (because it requires their special abilities to solve the puzzles within). You know when you’ve entered a new area because the in-game music will change.

The dungeons have a number of features that you need to look out for. Destructible blocks are important because they can often open shortcuts or secret passages to hidden rooms. These blocks – if you look carefully – are slightly different to regular blocks, and if you push up against them, they’ll disappear. There are also spikes (that will even damage Pochi); shops where you can buy certain items; and blocks that can be pushed (if you use the power gloves).

If your life is low, or your magic runs out, you can either top them up with items dropped by defeated monsters, or return home to recover them for free. You can also rest at inns for a small fee.

It is possible to become stuck in Dragon Slayer IV (although there is often a way out of these seemingly impossible situations, if you search hard enough), in which case you can use a red orb to teleport out of the dungeon (if you have one – they’re quite rare and are expensive to buy from a shop). You can also jump on top of monsters, without getting damaged, to use them to jump up to seemingly out-of-reach areas.

Dragon Slayer IV is a well-designed game with varied, colourful background graphics and great sprites. It also has excellent music, and the gameplay is refined and clever. It’s less of an RPG than previous games, and more of a platform game, and it’s also a very challenging game to complete – requiring lots of back and forth to make progress.

I’d say that it is definitely one of the better Dragon Slayer games, and is still well worth playing today. If you’re going to play the game seriously, though, you’ll definitely need some good maps and maybe even a walkthrough.

Dragon Slayer series on The King of Grabs:
Dragon Slayer (MSX), Dragon Slayer (Game Boy), Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (MSX), Faxanadu (NES/Famicom), Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. (MSX), Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. (NES/Famicom), Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family (MSX), Legacy of the Wizard (NES/Famicom), Sorcerian: Dragon Slayer V (PC), Sorcerian: Dragon Slayer V (MSX), Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC Engine), Xanadu Next (PC).