The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

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The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
File:The Wizard of Oz - Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Coverart.png
North American boxart
Developer(s) Media.Vision
Publisher(s)
    Director(s) Nobuo Nakazawa
    Producer(s) Tetsuya Okubo
    Composer(s) Hitoshi Sakimoto
    Michiko Naruke
    Masaharu Iwata
    Platforms Nintendo DS
    Release date(s)
      Genre(s) Role-playing
      Mode(s) Single-player

      The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, known in Japan as RIZ-ZOAWD, is a role-playing video game developed by Media.Vision for the Nintendo DS. The game is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, using its characters, locations and plot. The game was originally published in Japan by D3 Publisher on December 25, 2008. Xseed Games published the game in North America on September 29, 2009.

      Gameplay

      Gameplay is restricted entirely to the Touch Screen, to move Dorothy requires the player to use the stylus to move the green trackball on the bottom screen. Battles take place in a first-person view similar to such games as Dragon Quest and Earthbound. Along the way Dorothy gain abilities by meeting the elemental spirits and by defeating the dragon masters. Each time Dorothy defeats them she will gain magical abilities such as the ability to heal or to double the power of one friend's move.

      Plot

      The game follows Dorothy and her group of friends as they complete a task for the Wizard of Oz. He asks them to defeat four different witches. After this, he promises to grant each of the companions' wishes.

      Each of the witches has a magical egg that the player is supposed to collect, there are ten in all, three each in the spring, summer, and fall levels and one in the winter level. After the player gets these Oz turns against them and they have to go defeat him by traveling the yellow brick road. Once in the castle there is only one way out, which is to defeat Oz.

      Characters

      File:RizzoawdCharacters.jpg
      The game's depiction of the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man and Scarecrow
      • Dorothy Gale: The protagonist, who, with her dog Toto, ended up in the land of OZ after being sucked into a tornado. They must complete Oz's task in order to grant her wish of returning home
      • Scarecrow: A friendly scarecrow Dorothy meets who, while an optimist, lacks a brain.
      • Tin Man: A metal woodsman Dorothy encounters in the woods who lacks a heart.
      • Cowardly Lion: A lion who lacks courage, who Dorthy meets after the Scarecrow.
      • Snowso: The Witch of the Winter: Her domain is South of Oz Castle. She is the mother of the three witch Sisters. (Riz-Zoawd's Glinda the Good.)
      • Delphi, the Summer Witch: A carefree witch whose only wish is to live a fun and enjoyable life. Very liberal' but can be a bit unpredictable.
      • Holly, the autumn Witch: Although she is the oldest, she takes childish pleasure in scaring people.
      • Flora, the Spring Witch: A gentle-hearted witch who loves flowers. She is around Dorthy's age and not so secretly hopes to be friends with her.
      • Cat Hoods: Cat-like beings that serve the Three Witch Sisters. (Riz-Zoawd's Nekozukin.)
      • Oz: The ruler of OZ Castle. (Riz-Zoawd's "Great and Powerful" Oz.)

      Development

      The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was developed by a Japanese video game studio Media.Vision, the company behind the Wild Arms series. The game was produced by Wild Arms designer Tetsuya Okubo and directed by Nobuo Nakazawa, who joined the company starting with Wild Arms 2.[3] The game's Japanese title, RIZ-ZOAWD, is an anagram of "Wizard" and "Oz". According to Nakazawa, the name come about through Japan's "tendency to like meaningless enumerations of letters and coined words" and that they chose the title because "it had a ring to it, the feeling of the word, and it sounded good to our ears".[4]

      The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was first unveiled in the Japanese magazine Famitsu in June 2008, and was later shown in more detail at the Tokyo Game Show months later.[5] The game includes a limited edition music CD for its initial release in Japan, featuring six tracks including the game's title theme, composed and performed by Michiko Naruke and Kaori Asoh respectively. Xseed Games announced in July 2009 that they had acquired the North American publishing rights to the game with licensing by Warner Bros.[6]

      Reception

      Critical reactions to The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road have been generally mixed. The game currently holds aggregate scores of 69% on GameRankings and a 68 out of 100 on Metacritic respectively.[7][8] IGN reviewer Mark Bozon gave the game 8/10 stating: "It's great for younger (or casual) players, and it's also a haven for awesome RPG's – seldom is it both at once though...The Wizard of Oz is all about compromise, since the game is literally out to satisfy two very different crowds, it's simple enough for newcomers while still being deep enough for open-minded hardcore players too." He also goes on to praise the use of the trackball running/walking tool (calling it "catchy") and the sole use of the Nintendo DS's touch screen function.[9]

      References

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      External links

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