Chronicling the completion of the backlog, one game at a time.

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This is Coffee from Games with Coffee, and welcome to Backlog Busting! As the tagline above says, I’m writing about the games in my backlog that I’ve completed in 2024. I’ll share what I enjoyed, what I didn’t, and whether or not it was worth my time and investment. At the end, I’ll share a Busting Grade – an aggregate rating made up of four categories: Length, Difficulty, Replay Value and Fun Factor. Scoring explanations will be found at the end of the post for reference.

My second completed game of 2024 was Light Crusader for the Sega Genesis. Let’s dig into the report.

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A Medieval Quest of Simple Proportions

Light Crusader was released in October 1995. It was developed by Treasure and published by Sega. Treasure is best known for games such as Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heroes. Light Crusader is a 3D Isometric Action RPG title, blending platforming, puzzle and RPG elements in a similar fashion to Climax Entertainment’s Landstalker.

The story revolves around a knight named David, a famous swordsman in the service of the king of an unnamed land. The king invites him to the town of Green Row after a recent journey. Upon his arrival, David notices the townsfolk are agitated and learns from the king that people have gone missing recently. The king instructs David to take up his sword, hunt down the missing townspeople and uncover the mystery behind their disappearance. We also are introduced to the major antagonist of the story, a sorcerer name Ragno Roke (har-har-har) who has a personal vendetta against the king.

Light Crusader was the first of many Sega Genesis titles that I had never encountered growing up. As a avowed Sonic fan who never owned a Genesis, my exposure to the system library was extremely limited. So, thank goodness for the Genesis Mini, as I would have never tried this game without it.

As I researched the game’s development, I learned that Light Crusader was an action spinoff of the RPG series, Wizardry. Treasure really doubled down on utilizing the 3D Isometric viewpoint. However, Treasure encountered various programming and performance challenges during development. In fact, development of the game stalled when Treasure started over from scratch at one point. It was estimated by the director at the end of 1994 that the game was only 30% complete. Eight months prior to release, Sega would have shifted their focus towards marketing the title, but it’d be hard to do so when the game was barely functioning. Light Crusader would be the last game Treasure would develop for the Genesis, having moved on to the Sega Saturn for their next title.

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Busting Report

About 90% of Light Crusader is spent in the dungeon near Green Row. The dungeon is split into six levels. Each level could be considered a sub-dungeon as they have their own mechanics that David has to work around to progress. B1 is a standard dungeon where you have to find keys to progress. B2 has David finding orbs to break a seal leading to B3. In B3, you have to navigate a town inhabited by goblins. Players need to find a disguise to infiltrate the town, while adjusting water levels to navigate through the floor. B4 is occupied by sorcerers, who will only speak to David if he holds a Crest. B5 is a neat floor. It’s basically 8 mini-dungeons set in various time periods – from western to the far-flung future – where David must rescue eight sorcerers. The final floor, B6, is the stronghold of the final boss: a demon named Ramiah who was sealed by the old king and the sword, Light Crusader. Which is also the name of the game!

Even though the king and townsfolk give you some basic information on where to find the dungeon, no one mentions that you have to push a certain gravestone in the graveyard to access it. That is one of my main complaints with Light Crusader. I suppose that the instruction manual gives better details on that regard. I had to look up a guide for that.

Combat-wise, David can swing his sword and utilize magic. He also does this jumping diving stab that’s almost guaranteed to hit. It’s pretty useful when fighting bosses. He also doesn’t carry a shield – either he’s impressively confident in his swordsmanship or Treasure didn’t get around to programming one into the game. David can equip different swords, armor and gloves. Swords influence attack power, armor influences defense and gloves influence how fast David swings his sword. The best armor and gloves can be obtained by farming enemies, while the best sword – the titular Light Crusader – is given to you at the end of B4.

Magic is one of the main draws of the game. Instead of magic points, David has access to a finite number of elemental energy, based on Air, Water, Earth and Fire. David can use each element individually or combine them with other elements to unlock powerful magic. It’s exactly like the weapon combinations seen in Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heroes; not surprising since those games are also by Treasure.

David starts off with 100 health. He can extend his HP by picking up Life Up orbs in treasure chests. He recovers health and removes poison by eating food or drink. In fact, the Auto-Recover option is really nice feature in Light Crusader. With it enabled, David will automatically consume food to recover without input from the player. It really helps when you’re focused on the heat of the battle. Getting food and drinks are also quite simple too. Enemies drop them by the boatloads, you can purchase them in town and you can even trade food in the goblin town. And even if David falls in battle, you’ll return to the start of the dungeon so long as you have a Pendant in hand.

There are certain sections of the dungeons where you have to solve puzzles to progress. The most common ones are using explosive barrels or bombs to open doors. David has to push these explosives while manipulating his environment (hitting switches, jumping on platforms, shutting off traps, etc.). Sometimes when you enter a room, you are asked to “Answer the riddle!” It just means you have to solve an easy puzzle, nothing fancy. On the other hand, if you enter a room and hear “Beat them!” it means you have to clear the room of enemies to move forward.

Part of David’s mission is to rescue the townsfolk. You’ll find them spread out over the dungeon floor. Some of them give you treasure, while others have information about the villain or the demon Ramiah to share.

Light Crusader, on the whole, is an easy-going ARPG. All in all, it took me about 4 or 5 hours to clear the game. The story is pretty generic, but combat, dungeon and puzzle designs and magic experimentation makes up for that shortcoming. Despite the learning curve, I can see myself coming back to this one. But not for a very long time. Perhaps if the mood strikes?

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Backlog Busting Grade

Length: 3/5

Difficulty: 3/5

Replay Value: 3/5

Fun Factor: 3/5

Busting Grade: C-

The Backlog Busting Grade is an aggregate letter grade made up of four categories: Length, Difficulty, Replay Value and Fun Factor. A high grade means that the game in review is an excellent addition to the backlog. On the other hand, a low grade means that you can choose to pass up on this title if you wish. Honestly though, the grades aren’t meant to be taken seriously – this is just me having fun with clearing my backlog. Your mileage may vary depending on preferences, time commitments, etc.

Each category is given a score out of five. Length measures how long a game took for me to complete. 5 being extremely short (30 minutes – 1 hour) and 1 being extremely long (40+ hours). Difficulty is self-explanatory – 5 for being very easy and 1 for being very hard. Replay Value scores how likely I’ll return to play again. 5 for most likely and 1 for never touching it again. And Fun Factor measures how much fun I had with the title. 5 for lots of fun and 1 for no fun at all.

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