Black Jewel Reborn Is An Ambitious Multiplatform Retro Release
The small team at PSCD Games has been working on a hack-and-slash game for the Sega Genesis called Black Jewel Reborn. They were planning to just release that version, but they they thought, why not go bigger? With the funds from the Kickstarter campaign that’s wrapping up now, they plan to develop the game not just for Genesis, but for the NES, SNES and Game Boy!
The storyline of Black Jewel is the kind of yarn an 8-year-old might weave with his action figures: the evil Darkor has broken into the Temple of Power and stolen the titular Black Jewel. He plans to use it to become sole ruler of the world, and the two strongest warriors in the land — swordsman Ryan and amazon Julia — are summoned to fight his army and get the Black Jewel back. By no coincidence, Ryan, Julia and Darkor bare more than a passing resemblance to He-Man, Teela and Skeletor respectively.
But who cares about the story in a retro sidescrolling hack-and-slasher — it’s all about the gameplay. Black Jewel supports one or two players, so Ryan and Julia can go at it alone or together (except in the Game Boy version). Ryan has his mighty sword, while Julia uses her whip. You have three normal attacks, a jump attack, and a special attack that charges up as you defeat enemies. It can destroy several enemies onscreen, or deliver deep damage to a boss. But there’s also the ultimate attack: the ability to summon a god, who will lay waste to everything in the area instantly. This ability will only be available on rare occasions and can only be activated with a hard-to-find potion, so use it wisely.
An $11 pledge will get you a digital ROM of Black Jewel for the console of your choice. If you want all four (and you probably do), the digital combo pack tier is a $36 pledge. Physical carts will run you $41 each, while the carts in their proper boxes and materials will cost $62 each. The tier with EVERYTHING takes $143.
Black Jewel Reborn is in the final days of its campaign and sales will only be open until August 12. Hit the link here to get your copies.
aarsenelupin
August 10, 2022 @ 5:00 am
I simply used Fusion emulator to play this demo today. It performed smoothly. The game is quite enjoyable for it’s limitations. The plot premise is intriguing, and the graphics are excellent. In the final version that will be built, I think the developers will provide the player a choice of additional characters. I didn’t hear the order to lower the character’s head so they might avoid the monsters’ bullets. Maybe the entire version of this will be accessible. Anyhow, I succeeded in finishing the demo version, and I really liked it. Kudos for the creators. I wish a successful completion of the work ahead.
DeniseRichards
August 10, 2022 @ 5:05 am
At this point, it seems a little too redundant. Particularly during the opening five minutes. It will be more intriguing with a little more variety in the stage design. definitely benefit from having more environmental elements. The actual action appears to be rather good. Going back to older computer systems has the advantage that there is no longer a limit on the amount of additional storage that can be used because those older systems were capable of processing a whole lot more.