Sylvan Tale

Sylvan Tale

Game Gear - Japan - 1st edition.

Developer Sega Enterprises Publisher Sega Enterprises Published 1995-01-27 Platforms Game Gear Genres Action-adventure, Metroidvania Themes Adventure, Fantasy Distribution Commercial

Sylvan Tale is a action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega Enterprises for the Game Gear on 1995-01-27 only in Japan.

In the game you play as Zetts, a teen boy who is magically whisked away to Verda, a land in turmoil as dangerous monsters are attacking the once peaceful villages. You are tasked with obtaining six magic droplets in order to prevent chaos from descending on the land. On your journey you will find magic tablets that let you transform into different animals like an armored turtle, fast-running mouse, and aquatic loving merman, each will help you bypass dangerous hazards.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes. Unofficial English translation.
Finished	2024-05-24.

This game was given high praise in a video which listed various hidden gem games, and it looked pretty nice, so I sought out a fan translation and played it.

Review

5	5	6	7	4

Best Version: Game Gear

Good

• Over all, it's a pretty enjoyable game. It doesn't break any new ground, and has a few annoying sections, but I'm glad I played it.
• Although limited by the cartridge size of the Game Gear, the game has nice graphics with a pretty art style reminiscent of a 16-bit action adventure.
• Saori Kobayashi did a great job making good music on such a weak audio chip. The soundtrack is not only enjoyable, but it's cohesive and reuses melodies.
• The game uses a battery backup which is very helpful for a portable game.
• The out-of-water animation for the mermaid is hilarious.

Bad

• Despite all the dialogue in the game, the story is rather scant, and most of what the NPCs say isn't relevant to the story.
• Having to so frequently access the menu to switch between items and different animal forms is a bit annoying.
• The game allows saving anywhere which promotes save scumming. However, it being a portable game, this wasn't such a bad tradeoff.
• Some of the bosses are a lot harder than the rest of the game. This isn't too bad since you can save right before them and keep trying until you defeat them, but a couple are poorly designed, like the flame and shield boss which has a very narrow opening which, if you don't hit it at near-frame perfect timing, you will get hit.
• I spent a few minutes solving one of the outdoor block-pushing puzzles in Sylva only to discover it is completely unnecessary as you can bypass it. While I'm still glad I solved it, I felt cheated of my victory.
• Once while I was playing the game I got stuck in the walls, and sometimes I would get caught up on a wall, but then pop out before I was stuck. I bit more work should have been done to solve this problem.

Ugly

• Near the end the game, it becomes unfair with its puzzles. They require you to go against what the game has taught you about how it works. See the spoilers below.
• To get into the Wind Prism tower, you have to try and push a boulder for several seconds before something happens. Every other pushable object in the game moves immediately.
• To get into the Light Prism tower, you have to fly off the ledge in turtle form. This only makes sense in retrospect.
• Although it looks and sounds like you're damaging the final boss with regular attacks, you're not. You have to hit him with power slashes if you want to actually hurt him, though there is not indication that this is necessary.

Media

Box Art

• 

Documentation

• 

  Manual.

Videos

Longplay - English translation.

Speedrun - Japanese.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are some female NPCs, but none are important.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Although race isn't mentioned, everyone appears white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Play Online

Game Gear (Japan), Game Gear (Japan) (English Translation)

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
Japanese	シルヴァン テイル	Shiruvuan Teiru	Sylvan Tale

Links