Sorcer Striker

M2 rerelease's title card

**Sorcer Striker**, known in Japan as **Mahou Daisakusen** (魔法大作戦, *Magical Campaign*) is a Shoot 'em Up game developed by Raizing and originally released in 1993 for Arcades. It is the first game in the *Mahou* trilogy, followed by *Kingdom Grandprix* and *Dimahoo*.

The game was ported to both the Sharp X6800 and Fujitsu FM Towns in 1994 by Electronic Arts, and later ported to the PlayStation 4 in 2017 by M2. All of these ports remained Japan exclusive.

## Gameplay

Sorcer Striker is a typical vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up, with one button for shooting and another for using screen-clearing bombs. The main shot is powered up by coins dropped from flying bags, increasing the player's firepower by small increments. During the stages players will also find huge fairies who carry treasure chests. When shot they will drop magical books which will equip the player with options which add a secondary shot and can also be powered up by collecting books of the same color.

* **Frontal (Wind)**: Equips the ship with options which fire strong frontal attacks.
* **Wide (Ice)**: Equips the ship with options which fire projectiles covering the ship's sides.
* **Homing (Fire)**: Equips the ship with options which fire homing projectiles.

## Story

No one knows when it began. The mobilization of the Goblins gradually expanded, until they at last succeeded in establishing a single Empire of their own.

All this weighed heavy on the brow of King Cadwenner. He gathered all the loyal knights at hand and launched an attack on the Gobligan Empire, but it was a total disaster. All he managed to learn was that the Goblins were ruled by a single charismatic leader? A human no less? And that the development and mass production of magical weapons was well underway.

The King was shocked. Magical weapons, which used mana to operate, were known to exist. But no one had ever succeeded in reproducing them, and their full operation was limited and not well understood. What could the Goblins be plotting...?

The King foresaw the approaching doom of his kingdom. But the Order of Knights themselves had failed! After much internal debate, the King decided to place a tremendous bounty on the Gobligan King’s head.

Now he could only wait for a hero to arrive and save them all...

## Other Media

The game received a manga adaptation in 1994 published by Shinseisha. It was officially endorsed by Raizing, who lent their design notes and sketches from the game for reference, some of which was included on the manga as a bonus. The manga retells the story of the game, elaborating on the characters and setting while taking a few artistic liberties with the story's structure.

## Gallery

Arcade flyerPC version flyerX68000 coverManga cover
## Trivia

* The *Daisakusen* (大作戦) in the Japanese title refers to a military campaign, with the full title being a reference to the game's theme. The developers originally wanted to use the word *Daisensou* (大戦争, which can be translated as "war"), but dropped the idea as the name had already been taken by Irem's *In The Hunt* (known as *Kaitei Daisensou* in Japan).
* On it's early concept stages the game was originally called *Haougekiden Saifua*, with the whole idea being that it would be centered around a Chinese martial arts theme. This idea was dropped, however, as the designers settled with the Swords & Sorcery/Steampunk theme of the final product in order to reach a wider audience.
* The game draws heavy inspiration from Compile's STG titles, especially M.U.S.H.A. and Seirei Senshi Spriggan, all of which feature a similar fantasy/machinery blend and a similar power-up mechanic.

## External Links

* Official Site (Translated)
* M2 Official Site
* Manga scanlation

## References

1. ↑ At first we had the name “Mahou Daisensou”, but Irem had just released “Kaitei Daisensou” (In the Hunt) before us. There were many ideas until we came up with the name we have today.
2. ↑ In the beginning it was titled Haougekiden Saifuaa and was planned around a Chinese martial arts theme, but some staff from Toaplan gave us some advice that “shooting games should have worldwide appeal,” so in order to attract more players we revised the game, and Mahou Daisakusen was the result.
3. ↑ As for the powerup system, we intentionally followed Musha Aleste on that.

**♪ DESTINY AND AMBITION**