Neutopia

Neutopia

TurboGrafx-16 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Hudson Soft Publisher Hudson Soft Published 1989-11-17 Platforms TurboGrafx-16 Genres Action-adventure, Exploration, Metroidvania Themes Adventure, Fantasy Series Neutopia Distribution Commercial

Neutopia is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Hudson Soft and released on the TurboGrafx-16 in 1989-11-17.

In the story, the princess Aurora has been kidnapped by the evil Dirth and only Jazeta (the player) can rescue her. In order to do so, you must collect eight medallions from eight underworlds. While in the dungeons you will push blocks to open shuttered doors, bomb through walls to find shortcuts, brighten dark rooms with a lantern, use a portable bridge to walk over narrow waterways, and find old men who give you hints. If that sounds awfully similar to The Legend of Zelda, just wait until you play it!

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. 100% completion. Used online maps.
Finished	2017‎-03-22.

I had never heard of this game growing up because I had so little interaction with the TG16. I played it because it was one of the highest ranked games for the TG16, and I was looking to expand my familiarity with the platform's library.

Review

4	4	6	5	4

Best Version: TurboGrafx-16

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• Overall, the game is pretty fun. If I didn't know about The Legend of Zelda, I would probably even be impressed by it.
• The backgrounds are just so-so, but the sprites are good, especially the large bosses.
• Although nothing stands out, the music is well-composed and fitting to the game.
• The fire wand, and its changing function relative to your health is a pretty creative weapon.
• The game has a nice full ending sequence.

Bad

• Player movement is a little clunky.
• The perspective makes the hit detection seem weird especially when you take damage from or hit a tall or jumping monster in an area that you shouldn't, given the perspective.
• Most of what the NPCs in the game say is useless or redundant.
• Like Zelda, you waste of lot of bombs trying to find hidden rooms, especially in the later dungeons, but, unlike Zelda, bombs are extremely rare drops, so this is a big setback.
• The wings and ring are rarely useful, and you get them as random drops even when you already have them which is wasteful.
• Items and enemy bolts stop the fire wand, which is annoying.
• Spike traps are differently colored in earlier dungeons, but are entirely hidden later on, leading to a lot of unavoidable hits.
• The strongest sword, armor, and shield are uncreatively called the "Strongest."
• The game box categorizes it as a role-playing game, but it doesn't have any of the elements traditionally found in RPGs. Instead, it's an action adventure with a fantasy theme.

Ugly

• It's a shameless rip-off of The Legend of Zelda. Most of what is stolen doesn't feel as interesting or refined, and most of what's new isn't very fun.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese box art could have been good if the hero didn't look like a sissy. At least the dark knight is cool looking.

• 

  The North American box art could have been good if it didn't look so childish. The dragon is pretty cool looking, but the knight looks like a child's toy.

Documentation

• 

  Game manual.

Maps

• 

  1.1 - Land Sphere.

• 

  1.2 - Crypt 1.

• 

  1.3 - Crypt 2.

• 

  2.1 - Subterranean Sphere.

• 

  2.2 - Crypt 3.

• 

  2.3 - Crypt 4.

• 

  3.1 - Sea Sphere.

• 

  3.2 - Crypt 5.

• 

  3.3 - Crypt 6.

• 

  4.1 - Sky Sphere.

• 

  4.2 - Crypt 7.

• 

  4.3 - Crypt 8.

Videos

Review - Hungry Goriya.

Longplay.

Play Online

PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are some female NPCs, but none are strong, and one is a damsel in distress and reward.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Women never speak to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Although it uses a cartoon style, I think every human character is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Neutopia
Japanese	ニュートピア フレイの章	Nyutopia Furei no Sho	Neutopia: Chapter of Fury

Links