Nazo no Murasame Jō

Nazo no Murasame Jō (謎の村雨城, The Mystery of Murasame Castle) is an action video game released by Nintendo for the Family Computer Disk System in 1986. Nazo no Murasame Jō was originally planned to be apart of a line of launch titles for the Famicom Disk System which included Castlevania and Metroid, but its release was delayed due to production issues. This game follows a samurai-in-training who must infiltrate five castles that are suspected of holding evil rulers. Despite its unpopular sales, Nazo no Murasame Jō has been re-released for newer consoles.
== Plot ==
During the Edo times of prosperity in Japan, an eminent castle known as the Murasame Castle was at its peak of abundance. Suddenly, during a storm, a golden object descended from the sky and crashed into the castle. However, the commoners quickly realized that the mysterious figure was a power-hungry alien. The alien divided its power to four daimyos from close-by kingdoms to successfully exterminate the villagers near the Murasame Castle. As a last resort, the shogun of the Murasame kingdom sends Takamaru, an apprentice, to invade the castles and ultimately disable the plans of the alien.
== Gameplay ==
Takamaru must ambush the corrupted castles in a numerical fashion; advancing to the next stage after defeating the lord of another castle in a total of five stages, the last one holding the alien itself. Each stage consists of an overworld outside of the castle, the castle itself, and the room containing the boss. The game is displayed in an overhead view in comparison with the previous Famicom title, The Legend of Zelda. The outside world and the interior of the castle teems with enemies that vary from ninjas to elemental shinobi.
Takamaru can attack using a katana to attack nearby enemies or deflect projectiles, and upgradable shurikens for long-distance fire. Defeating enemies can lead to upgrades to the shurikens, but are immediately downsized when Takamaru loses a life.
Category:Games released in 1986