NES Longplay #48: The Guardian Legend

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The Guardian Legend, known in Japan as Guardic Gaiden (ガーディック外伝 Gādikku Gaiden?), is a 1988 hybrid action-adventure/shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is the sequel to the 1986 MSX game Guardic, and was published and released in Japan by Irem in 1988, in North America by Brøderbund in 1989, and in Europe by Nintendo in 1990.
In the game, the player controls a lone protagonist, the Guardian, who is on a quest to destroy a large alien-infested world named Naju before it reaches the planet Earth. The player must deactivate ten safety devices scattered throughout Naju, thus activating the alien world's self-destruct sequence. The player explores Naju in a non-linear fashion and can acquire different weapons during the course of the game.

The Guardian Legend received mixed reviews from magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and Nintendo Power. While it has been praised for its impressive graphics, memorable sound, and responsive controls, it has been criticized for its repetitive gameplay and complicated password system.

The game received little fanfare upon its release, but it has since been considered a classic example of a multiple-genre game that set a standard for others such as the title Sigma Star Saga and incorporated gameplay elements from other titles such as The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and 1942.

Gameplay varies depending on the player's location within Naju. The player controls the Guardian in humanoid form when exploring the surface of Naju (the Labyrinth) and in spaceship form when investigating Naju's interior (the Dungeon).[9] The Guardian has a life meter that decreases after sustaining damage from enemies; it can be replenished by collecting various items. If the life meter runs out, the Guardian explodes, and the game ends. The player can use a primary rapid-fire weapon with unlimited ammunition as well as various powerful secondary weapons that consume "power chips" with each use. Power chips are also used as currency to purchase upgrades for the Guardian in a handful of shops throughout Naju. Found within the Labyrinth or obtained after defeating a boss, these upgrades include primary weapon improvements, new or upgraded secondary weapons, and round, brightly colored creatures called Landers.

Blue and Red Landers, recurring characters in many Compile games, increase the player's maximum life and power chip capacities, respectively. Blue Landers play multiple roles in The Guardian Legend. Some of them are not items but non-player characters that dispense advice to the player or exchange upgrades for power chips; others provide a password that allows the player to resume the game at a later time with their progress retained. These Blue Landers also serve as checkpoints; players can restart their game in these designated rooms after being defeated provided the system has not been turned off.
A red spaceship at the bottom of the picture, behind a blue background that resembles an ocean floor, dodges projectiles from the enemy boss, a round, green, amoeba-like creature, on the top of the picture.

In the shoot 'em up portion of the game known as the "Dungeon", the player battles through Naju's interior in spaceship form. The Dungeon consists of a series of enemy-filled corridors which are found during exploration of the Labyrinth. The player's objective in the Dungeon is to progress through each corridor and defeat the boss at the end. Upon completion, the player destroys the corridor and is returned to the Labyrinth, where a power-up (and sometimes a warp panel key) is collected as a reward. While some corridors can be accessed freely, others can only be entered by performing a particular action in the corridor room. Some rooms in the Labyrinth contain clues that indicate how to unseal these corridors. Ten of the corridors in the game serve as the safety devices which must be deactivated to win the game.

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Most under rated game out of the entire NES library.

javierbaez

As a kid in the late 80s. I remember this game. Friends dad had it.
I never saw it again till now. Spectacular.

Megatron

This is still my favorite NES game of all time...and I still play it from time to time.

mojojojo

This game is so underrated. I had this and was stupid enough to lone it to a friend and never got it back 😢

TheDeathWillCome

I loved this game when I was a kid, it still is in my top 5 NES games of all times.

59:30 - Unfortunately, since I didn't speak english at all at that age, I didn't know you had to speak to a blue guy a few times in order to open the corridor door. So I got stuck in that part, and didn't finish it until a few years later, once I learned how to speak english better... I'm pretty sure many, if not all, non english speakers hit a brick wall at that point in the game.

YaNoAwantoMas

That music I heard in the first corrider made me remember the normal boss music for Super mario bro's 2.

mistresskixen

the first NES game I ever played
that music was mind blowing
i didnt even know the name but i found it years later

Avrelivs_Gold

I never heard of this amazing game when I was a kid, but I stumbled across it a few weeks ago thanks to a sci-fi art Twitter posting the Japanese box art. I searched for a higher-res image and discovered this game. I'm kicking myself of course because a few years ago I was searching for images of the VF-1J Valkyrie piloted by Macross/Robotech character Milia/Miriya and had to minus the words "guardian" and "legend" to eliminate stuff about this game from my search results. Given that the game character is also named Milia, I wonder if one character inspired the other or if it was coincidence.

kattphud

Holy crap I forgot about this game!!! Thanks /b/ for reminding me

Aaron

I played it in 1992 but stuck in 1 stage (can not open the gate) and don't know how to pass. about 20 year later, after watch youtube to pass this stage and I can beat that game. this game is cool, many weapons to play, it is really brilliant game in NES

skidrow