Video Game / Rastan

"The story of how I become king is so long that I can't tell it in one night."
"But, I'll tell you as long as I can. About those days filled with danger and treasures..."

Rastan Saga is a series of Arcade Games released by Taito.

The first game is released in 1987, where players assume the eponymous Barbarian Hero, Rastan, on his quest to become king as he travels the lands, slaying various evil-doers, undeads, and assorted monsters using his trusty sword and an assortment of weapons and available power-ups.

A big hit upon release (being noted by Japan's Game Machine magazine as the second most successful table arcade unit of the month), the game received a sequel, Rastan Saga II, immediately a year later, which was more or less a rehash of the first.

Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga Episode III, the third and final installment, is an Arcade Game featuring a dual-screen display also used on one version of Darius II. It forgoes the platforming elements of the first two games, being a Beat 'em Up / Hack and Slash actioner instead (inspired by the then-recent Golden Axe franchise). This time Rastan gains a pair of allies, his sidekick Dewey and a thief named Sophia, allowing up to two players at once, on a quest seeking the Jewels of Depon.

The unrelated fighting game Barbarian (Titus) is a Dolled-Up Installment of the series in Japan due to Taito being the publisher there.

---

The Rastan trilogy contains examples of:

• And the Adventure Continues: The endings of all three games have Rastan continuing his journey to become king after defeating the Final Boss.
• Assist Character: In the third game, you can obtain the assistance of Mahadidekardi the wizard, who assists you by casting a variety of spells, either by blowing up all enemies onscreen, casting a Medusa's Gaze petrifying them, unleash a freezing mist turning enemies into ice, or turning them into frogs. But if he runs out of his Magic Level or if you lose a life, Mahadidekardi leaves.
• Attract Mode: The attract mode (in the first two games) covered the Excuse Plot in a few short blurbs and had a list showing what every item in the game did.
• Baphomet: The third game has a boss being a Living Statue of a demon modelled exactly like Baphomet himself, a goat-headed monster sitting in a cross-legged pose as he sics monsters on you.
• Bat Out of Hell: Giant bats are a recurring Airborne Mook in all three games.
• Battle Boomerang: The third game (only) have boomerang-throwing mooks, which they throw in an unlimited supply.
• Big Red Devil: The Final Boss of the third game, fought at the exit of the Temple of Gulestopalis. He first appears as a human, before casting a spell turning him One-Winged Angel; a horned, red-skinned, winged demon which is as difficult to defeat as he appears. Kill him and he'll turn back to human form in his dying throes.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: The second game suffers from this a lot, at least in the arcade version. So is the third game, with typos all around.
• Breath Weapon: Almost all the bosses and some lesser enemies can breathe ranged attacks on the heroes. The dragon and hydra from the original game breathes fire, unsurprisingly, while King Zananstaff from the third game breathes blue flaming skulls which damages you when hit... and spawns a new skeleton mook when hitting the ground.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: King Zananstaff from the third game, when you confront him, is revealed to be cursed by a spell reducing him into a skeleton, incapable of even leaving his throne and must attack literally everyone who enters his throne room. For the entirety of the boss battle, as you cut down his skeletons, King Zananstaff will repeatedly plead, "Help me... kill me... help me..."
• Classical Chimera: Chimaeras, resembling a lion with the heads of a goat and a snake growing from its shoulders as well as having a serpentine tail, are an enemy from the first game. It's not as tough as it looks though, a couple of slashes finishes it immediately.
• Creepy Centipedes: The second game have giant centipedes several times larger than Rastan, who crawls from underground and along walls to bite at the hero.
• Dem Bones: Skeletons are a recurring enemy in all three of the games, with the first game notably having King Graton, a halberd-wielding skeletal warrior as it's first boss.
• Epic Flail: An available weapon in all three games, Rastan can collect a flail (in the form of a spiked ball on a chain) to use in place of his sword, which offers greater range. In the third game Sophia can collect a power-up that upgrades her whip into a flail.
• Evil Wizard:
  • The Final Boss of the second game, one who threatens the land with his army of monsters which Rastan must slay.
  • The third game have an unnamed, purple-clad sorceror as a boss who seems to have Mind over Matter abilities, levitating rocks and blades to be flung at you. He can also cast fireballs and Teleport Spam all over the place until you killed him.
• Fish People: Fish men are another enemy in the series. Plenty of these shows up in III's harbour stage.
• Flame Spewer Obstacle: Later rounds in the first game feature wall traps that emit blue flames at regular intervals.
• Flaming Sword: The Fire Sword was the strongest of the weapons Rastan could obtain, and shoots fireballs when swung. Rastan Saga II turned the flames into an add-on power-up instead of a weapon in itself.
• Flunky Boss:
  • The Final Boss of the second game, an Evil Wizard, alternates between blasting you with projectiles and casting summoning spells bringing mooks to fight you.
  • King Zananstaff from the third game, being a Stationary Boss as a skeleton on a throne, couldn't move about, but instead will repeatedly summon skeletons while shooting blue fireballs at you from his throne. You'll need to bypass his attacks, fight off his skeletons, and hit him on his throne until he goes down.
• Gashadokuro: Two of these shows up in III. A two-headed giant skeleton with scythes for arms is a boss of the harbour stage, which must be killed twice, and the boss of the Spiral Tower is a gigantic, ox-headed, flaming skeleton monster.
• High-Altitude Battle: The third game have a level where Rastan (or the other two characters) rides a winged lizard and flies up a canyon, while battling enemy soldiers on their own steeds.
• Horseback Heroism: The third game have a stage where Rastan (or Dewey or Sophia, depending on which character the player is using) rides across a forest while fighting enemy bandits, similarly on horseback. Said stage is fittingly called "Horseman's Forest".
• Interesting Situation Duel: The third game have a stage where Rastan, Dewey, and / or Sophia slides down a steep, ice-covered hill, just as they're pursued by hostile lizard men on their own sleds, at which point the heroes must fend off lizard men mooks while skidding downhill all the way. Every now and then there will be crevasses halfway through, that the players must jump over (while lizard-men enemies not killed by the players will instead fall into the cracks en masse to their demise), only for more lizard-men to appear. The entire stage keeps sliding downhill until the player reaches the foot of the hill.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: For the third game, at least. It ditches all the single-player platforming elements from the previous two and turns it into a Hack and Slash actioner. Also, Rastan now has two companions, which the game treats like they're there all along, despite the first two games having Rastan going on his quest alone.
• Lizard Folk: Armed lizard men are a recurring enemy in all three games, which Rastan (and also Dewey and Sophia in III) slays by the ton.
• Medusa: Medusa the Gorgon shows up as a boss in the second game. Strangely enough she isn't depicted as a half-snake half-woman monster common in various media, but instead follows the more classical depictions in myths. She also has a Teleport Spam ability making her difficult to hit.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The wizard Final Boss of II grows extra arms when Rastan confronts him. He wields swords on two of his arms, and uses the other 4 for casting attacking spells or summoning mooks on Rastan.
• Noodle People: The monks, an enemy in the third game, are groups of impossibly skinny mooks who looks almost boneless when they're walking. They naturally have pathetic health, but can be quite fast on their feet as well as attacking with ranged projectiles.
• Our Centaurs Are Different: Centaurs working for the forces of chaos are an enemy in both games. They're usually armed with lances and despite their size, goes down as easily as any other mook; the second game have a twenty-feet-tall giant centaur as a boss.
• Our Dragons Are Different: A red, fire-breathing dragon is the Final Boss of the first game.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: Gargoyles appears in all three games as an Airborne Mook enemy.
• Our Hydras Are Different: A green, five-headed hydra shows up as a boss in the first game. It can shoot fireballs from all five of its heads, and Rastan must decapitate all five of them to defeat said hydra. Interestingly, the Hydra Problem is averted, the monster dies once all five heads are cut.
• Shield-Bearing Mook: Human warrior enemies tends to use shields and swords in tandem. It offers them slightly more defense than the lesser monsters, but they still go down without too much trouble,
• Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: All three games in the series have these in the castle areas, in the form of spiked platforms lowered from the ceiling.
• Spikes of Doom: Spikes make a regular appearance as jutting spears. They are also found on Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom.
• Standard Hero Reward: The Sega Master System version of Rastan (first game) ends with Rastan saving the princess and being offered her hand in marriage by the king of Chamois, as well as a large amount of treasure. However, he declines it on the grounds that "she's not the person to be the wife of a thief like me."
• Sword Beam: One of the recurring power-ups in all three games, which allows Rastan to fire beam attacks from his sword with each swing.
• Tentacled Terror: The captain of the pirate ship from the third game initially appears humanoid, but as you confront him, he reveals the multiple tentacles tucked in his back. And then the ship collapses, dropping the captain into the sea water and revealing his true form as a gigantic tentacled abomination.
• Throne Room Throwdown: The boss, King Zananstaff from the third game, is fought in his throne room. Which the king, cursed into becoming a skeletal demon, must remain on his throne until he's killed.
• To Be a Master: Rastan narrates at the end of the arcade version: "This is only part of my long story — only a part to become a king."
• Two Guys and a Girl: In the third game, Rastan is joined by his sidekick Dewey, and Sophia, the token female joining them, makes them a trio.
• Vine Swing: For the first two games, swinging on conveniently placed vines or ropes helps Rastan cross pits of obstacles. It's not quite clear what they're hanging from in some outdoor areas.
• Wolverine Claws: The second game introduces clawed gautlets Rastan can use instead of his sword (it's in fact proudly depicted on the game's cover). These claws are among the fastest weapons in the game, though it's predictably limited in range compared to swords or axes. These claws return in the third game.

---