Jewel Master
Story. "Once upon a moment in time, there was kingdom known to all as Mythgard. " Mythgard prospered in peace until the first coming of the Demon King, Jardine the Mad. Leading his Dark Legion, Jardine was but a step away from obliterating the kingdom... It was then that the Twelve Masters of the Elements rose up to put an end to the Demon King's evil designs. A fierce battle ensued until there remained but four masters opposing Jardine. Pooling their powers into a Holy Blade, the Four Masters prepared for the Final Battle... Gameplay. The game is  a side-scrolling action-adventure. It introduces the ability to constantly customize your attacks and movement styles through various equippable rings. Using the "A" and "B" buttons as his left and right hands, you can then equip two rings to the corresponding hand. The "C" button is used for jumping. The nature of each attack varies greatly, and as a result, different attacks are suitable for different situations. A player familiar with the game can usually figure out which attack and combination of rings will be effective. For example, one enemy is weak to water and immune to fire, but  other than this, enemies are not susceptible to specific elements. Production. Development. "Jewel Master" originally began development on the Sharp X68000 under the title "Blade of the Great Elements". Audio. Motoaki Takenouchi composed the music for "Jewel Master" with a strong influence from progressive rock. Some of the track names (as seen in the sound test), such as "The Gate of Delirium", "To Be Over" and "Close to the Edge", seem to pay homage to the British rock band "Yes", as those were the names of songs performed by the band. In addition, "Talk to the Wind" could very well  be a reference to the song by King Crimson, "Vital Signs" could be a reference to Canadian rock band Rush, "Time to Kill" could be a reference to the 1970s British band U.K., "Fish Out of Water" could be a reference to the 1975 album "Fish Out of Water" by "Yes" Bassist Chris Squire and Firebird could be a reference to Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. Reception. Sega Pro magazine gave Jewel Master an overall score of 88/100 praising the detailed graphics, sound, gameplay and stating “Despite the repetitive gameplay, it does manage to continually impressive with graphics and sound  making you play and play”. Megatech gave an overall score of 55 out of 100 noting the game being a fairly standard platform game citing a few original features concluding "Has neither the challenge or addiction to keep you entertained for more than a few sessions."