Roland: Wizard's Curse

Roland: Wizard's Curse (Known as Roland and the Wizard's Curse in Europe and Roland 1: Aleister's Curse in Japan) is a platformer game with hack n' slash elements developed by AlpacaSoft for their own console, the Alpaca GD.
The game follows an Irish red panda named Roland, a thief whose treasure is stolen by the wizard cat, Aleister, and his "Order of Darkness", so, to get his treasure back, Roland must travel the world, defeating the Order of Darkness and other enemies along the way.
Roland: Wizard's Curse has the selectable stage style of Mega Man, mixed with Sonic's fast and expansive levels and Mario's hidden collectibles, bonuses and shortcuts, all coming together into a single game with many secrets to be found throughout it.
== Plot ==
As mentioned previously, Roland's treasure is stolen by Aleister, an evil cat wizard, who hands it to all of his underlings who, in turn, hide all of the treasure across the world, so Roland must get his plane and travel around the globe, finding and defeating Aleister's "Order of Darkness", 6 generals that command their specific location.
As the 6 worlds can be selected in any desired order, any story elements can play out in different orders for different players, depending on which level they'd like to do first, second and so on. Some levels trigger different events if beaten in a certain order, if Ballistic Battleship is beaten last, it will fall right next to Aleister's castle instead of going in the ocean.
In the end, Aleister's fortress is revealed and Roland storms it, destroying the wizard's minions until he finally faces off against Aleister and gets back all of his treasure.
== Gameplay ==
Roland: Wizard's Curse plays like a combination of Mega Man, Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, it has the Mega Man style of selecting stages with their own bosses, in this case though, the player selects worlds with various stages in them, the Sonic part comes in the fact that the player can rush through the level using the game's mechanics, destroying enemies and parkour-ing through the landscapes, but they are rewarded for going out of the main path and searching for treasures and shortcuts, which is where Mario comes in.
The titular character, Roland, has a cursed dagger that allows him to dash at enemies and certain scenery pieces by pressing the attack button while in mid-air and near the target, the closest enemy or piece is always the target. Roland can also do some parkour moves, such as run up walls, wall jump, grind on rails and slide along the ground to fit through small gaps, he can also spend some of his treasure after every level at the Traitor's Bazaar, a large market where thieves and criminals go to get their equipment, whether it's with money or by being sneaky is up to them.
The player can perform combos on enemies in a rather unique way, that being by pressing the attack button to a rhythm, for example, X-XX-X is one combo, while X-X-X is another, there is a decently sized window of time to press the button rhythm after the first hit, making combos easy to utilize on normal enemies or on bosses, but combos can only be done within the first 10 seconds of attacking the enemy, so it isn't too broken.
== Characters ==
=== Major ===
Picture	Name 	Description
 	Roland 	Roland the Red Panda is the main character of the game, he's a thief who wears boots and a jacket, he pilots his own plane and fights the evil Aleister and his Order of Darkness.
TBA 	Moxie 	Moxie is a gray and blue robot fox who serves Aleister, she serves as Roland's rival throughout the game, always messing with him and his progress.
 	Aleister	The main antagonist of the game, the evil wizard who stole Roland's treasure and who commands the Order of Darkness, he is fought at the end in his castle.
=== Order of Darkness ===
The Order of Darkness is the main set of bosses in the game, there are 6 of them, each in their own world of the game, guarding a share of Roland's treasure.
Name 	Description 	World
Flora Rhinocerous	A bulky white rhino in a set of armor with flowers and vines growing on it that dashes at Roland and tries to swat him away if he's too close, his second phase has him hiding in the plants around his arena and attacking from there. 	Flourishing Forest
Rock Mammoth 	A woolly mammoth in caveman garb who uses a club to attack Roland, in his second phase, he hops on a dinosaur skeleton and chases Roland down a long pathway, if not defeated in time, Rock will make Roland fall to his doom at the edge of the mountain. 	Prehistoric Pass
Power Eagle 	An eagle in shiny red armor who makes odd gestures and poses all the time, his attacks consist of dashing, attacking with his after-images and blinding Roland with a flash of light, his second phase consists of him using a giant robot to try and smash Roland.	Heavenly Heights
Frost Ursa 	A polar bear with golden armor who slashes at Roland and makes shockwaves by ground-pounding, her second phase is a fight against a large mechanical whale with Frost Ursa hiding inside of it. 	Icicle Incident
Techno Feline 	A technology controlling gray cat who flies around the arena and summons swords made of pixels and polygons, for his second phase, he centrols a massive computer and attacks with projections of normal enemies. 	Corrupt Computer
General Goose 	A tall goose in military garb, he attacks with a pair of swords, his second phase is just him being chased along the battleship as he destroys cannons and sends debris at Roland. 	Ballistic Battleship
== Worlds ==
There are a total 7 worlds, one for each of the Order of Darkness and the final world, Aleister's Castle. each world has its own gimmick of some sort, which is often played with throughout the levels. All worlds have 2 halves, the first usually ends with Moxie doing something and changing the setting or mechanics of the world and the second ending with the main boss.
=== Flourishing Forest ===
This is the green, grassy world, the gimmick of this world is that Roland can maneouver with different types of plants and environment pieces, like vines, large spinning flowers and other things. After the level 2 boss, Plantox, a wilted flower infused with Aleister's power, Moxie drops Roland into the underground, where he eventually comes across and fights Flora Rhinocerous.
=== Prehistoric Pass ===
This level takes place in a mountain filled with fossils and tar, which makes up the world gimmick, tar makes Roland get stuck on the ground or walls and the player must mash the jump button to escape, but it also makes Roland jump much higher/farther, so tar on the walls allow him to perform longer wall jumps. The level 2 boss is a living stegosaurus skeleton refered to as "Steggie", after it is defeated, Moxie takes Roland to the top of the mountain, where it is full of pitfalls and "tar falls" that can drag Roland to his death, at the top, the red panda thief fights Rock Mammoth.
=== Heavenly Heights ===
Heavenly Heights is the sky world of the game, so it takes place high in the clouds, which means there are many bottomless pits and tricky jumps, in this world, Roland can ride small clouds with smiles on them to get around, but the clouds don't last long under his weight. The level 2 boss here is a living storm cloud with beady eyes named Starker, it chases Roland all across its stage until it can be defeated the end, Moxie doesn't do anything after the fight with Starker, so Roland simply continues to battle Power Eagle.
=== Icicle Incident ===
The frozen ice world of the game, it first takes place on an ice berg covered in snow, after the level 2 boss, which is a small robotic whale named Lessu, Moxie drops a small bomb on the iceberg, causing it to shatter and become several platforms floating in the water, Roland is able to traverse the platforms and reach the world's boss, Frost Ursa and her robot whale, Mora.
=== Corrupt Computer ===
Techno Feline's world is inside of a computer in an abandoned factory, the first half of it has the gimmick of gravity manipulation, Roland can press buttons to flip the gravity of the stage, the boss in level 2 is a red cross with a blue eye and four segmented tendrils which is named Safeguard, after this anti-virus is defeated, Moxie uses the computer from the normal world to put Roland in a completely different program, which has the gimmick of having to complete certain puzzles in zero gravity. At the end, Roland finds and defeats Techno Feline and escapes from his computer.
=== Ballistic Battleship ===
A flying warship armed from every angle, Roland manages to land on it and proceeds through the main decks, eventually fighting off a towering cannon known as the Anti Air Destroyer, destroying the AAD causes the battleship to start falling, so Roland moves quickly to the ship's main bridge, where he fights General Goose and defeats him.
=== Aleister's Castle ===
After beating all other bosses, Roland can enter Aleister's Castle and get back his treasure, the red panda makes it into the dark fortress, destroying almost every enemy in his path and comes across a type of arena with Moxie waiting for him, Moxie fights Roland with a rapier and, later, with a large tiger in armor, she is defeated and Roland continues into the castle to find and defeat Aleister. He later finds the wizard cat and fights him, after his first defeat, Aleister transforms the pitch black cloak he wears into a massive monster to try and destroy Roland, but he is victorious and gets his treasure back.
== Enemies ==
The most common enemies in the game are cursed animals, such as lions and snakes, while each world has its unique enemies, for example, Heavenly Heights ha mainly birds and other aerial threats, while Icicle Incident has penguins, seals and fish, Aleister's Castle has a bit of every world, in the form of all of the past normal enemies made out of darkness.
== Soundtrack ==
Roland and the Wizard's Curse (Title Screen theme)
Select a File
Trouble Making Android (Moxie's theme)
Flourishing Forest
Prehistoric Pass
Heavenly Heights
Icicle Incident
Corrupt Computer
Ballistic Battleship
Aleister's Castle
Traitor's Bazaar
Fight! High Class Underling (Mini-Boss theme)
Fight! Order of Darkness (Boss theme)
Fight! Great Wizard, Aleister (Final Boss Phase 1)
The Final Battle, Nimrod (Final Boss Phase 2)
The Adventure Ends... (Credits)
== Trivia ==
* The villain, Aleister's, name comes from Aleister Crowley, an author known for his works involving satanism and other dark arts.
* The parkour elements and the cursed dagger mechanic are similar to the expansion Specter of Torment for the indie game Shovel Knight.
Category:Original Games
Category:Platforming Games
Category:2D Platforming Games
Category:Hack and Slash Games
Category:Rated E10+ Games
Category:Rated 7 Games
Category:Rated A CERO Games
Category:Alpaca GD Games