Risky Woods

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Risky Woods
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Electronic Arts (US, Europe), Electronic Arts Victor (Japan)
Developer: Electronic Arts
Distributor: Zegetron (GR), Electronic Arts Australasia (AU), Tec Toy (BR), Samsung (KR)
Original system(s): Amiga
Developer(s) of original games: Zeus Software, Dinamic Software
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-02-19 ¥8,900 (9,167)8,900e EM20006 US 1992-12 $49.9549.95 715601 EU 1992-12-14 E211SMXI UK 1992-12-17 £39.9939.99 E211SMXI GR 199x BR 199x 044430 KR 199x GM8086JT
Non-Sega versions Amiga Atari ST IBM PC

Risky Woods, known in Japan as Jashin Draxos (邪神ドラクソス), is a Sega Mega Drive action platform game developed and published by Electronic Arts. A port of the titular 1992 Amiga game Risky Woods, it was first released in the United States and Europe in December 1992.

The Mega Drive version, developed by Electronic Arts in-house programmer Steve Wetherill, has some deliberate aesthetic changes which differentiate the port from the original, Spanish-developed home computer version.

Story

The ancient monks who preserve the wisdom of the Lost Lands have been frozen in stone by antagonist Draxos and his minions. Young protagonist Rohan must venture into the Risky Woods to release them.

Gameplay

Monk

Gatekeeper

The game is an action platformer played as the young traveler Rohan, who must free the monks of the Lost Lands that have been turned to stone. Enemy monsters include skeletons and flying demons, and enemies respawn frequently. Each stage contains two or three monks, whose stone figures must be attacked to free them. When monks are freed, they cause an explosion that harms all enemies on the screen. Some monks are "bad" monks that harm Rohan instead. The number of monks left to rescue are shown on the bottom of the screen. Once all of the monks have been rescued, the exit to the stage appears.

Rohan walks with and . He crouches with and jumps with . He attacks monsters by throwing daggers with , which are unlimited. They are thrown in a straight line and cannot be aimed but can be thrown while crouching or jumping.

Statues called Gatekeepers block the path through the stages and can only be removed by collecting circle-shaped Gate Keys. Each Gate Key has two halves that must be collected. If Rohan is missing a piece when he reaches the Gatekeeper, he is teleported back to it; otherwise, Rohan can throw the Gate Key into the Gatekeeper with . The statue then plays a "chant" by pressing again, which is a random sequence of , , , and prompts. The player must memorize these and replay them in the correct order to destroy the statue. The chants grow in complexity as the game goes on. When a Gatekeeper is destroyed, it drops "treasure," which usually includes more powerful weapons that Rohan can equip. Picking up the same weapon again upgrades its power level, up to two times. The current weapon level is shown as notches on the bottom of the screen.

There is a time limit to complete each stage, and Rohan loses a life and must restart the stage from the beginning if time runs out. Rohan has a limited number of energy points, which he loses when he takes damage from an enemy monster, and he also loses a life if he runs out of energy points or falls down a bottomless pit and must restart from a predetermined checkpoint. Some items restore his energy points, and he gains an extra life if he gains energy points in excess of his full amount.

Rohan can collect Armor Links that are dropped by slain monsters. When he has collected 33 Armor Links, he gains a suit of Silver Armor that reduces the damage he takes by 50%. When he has collected 67 Armor Links, his armor is upgraded to Gold Armor that reduces the damage he takes by 100%. However, he loses an Armor Link whenever he takes damage (and several Armor Links when he loses a life), so he loses his armor when he drops beneath the required threshold of Armor Links for it.

Rohan can collect skulls that give him allow him to perform a skull-empowered staff ability by holding , where Rohan stamps his staff against the ground, attacking all enemies on screen. The attack is more powerful depending on the armor that Rohan has equipped. Using this ability consumes a skull and energy points, again depending on the armor equipped (6 energy points for no armor, 3 energy points for Silver Armor, and no energy points for Gold Armor).

Armor

	No Armor
	Rohan initially does not wear any armor and takes full damage from all attacks.
	Silver Armor
	After collecting 33 Armor Links, Rohan wears a suit of Silver Armor that reduces damage from attacks by 50%. He loses this armor if he drops below 33 Armor Links.
	Gold Armor
	After collecting 67 Armor Links, Rohan wears a suit of Gold Armor that reduces damage from attacks by 100%. He loses this armor and reverts to the Silver Armor if he drops below 67 Armor Links.

Objects

	Gatekeeper
	Gatekeepers appear in each stage to block the path. Rohan must collect the two Gate Key halves, then throw them into the Gatekeeper with . The player can then learn a "chant" from the Gatekeeper by pressing again, which must be repeated back using , , , and in order to break the Gatekeeper and clear the way.
	Treasure Chest
	Destroy to release items.
	Exit Sign
	After rescuing all of the monks in a stage or defeating the boss, the exit appears. Touch the exit to finish the stage.

Items

Items are found in treasure chests or sometimes dropped by defeated monsters. Items are picked up by crouching over them with .

	Armor Link
	Most monsters drop Armor Links when they are killed. Collect 33 pieces to equip the Silver Armor, which reduces damage by 50%, or 67 pieces to equip the Gold Armor, which reduces damage by 100%. Rohan can carry up to 99 Armor Links at a time, and he drops Armor Links whenever he takes damage.
	Star
	Awards 5,000 bonus points.
	Battery
	Awards 5,000 bonus points.
	Cross
	Awards 10,000 bonus points.
	Arrow
	Either awards 10,000 bonus points or sends Rohan back to an earlier point in the stage.
	Apple
	Either awards 10,000 bonus points or puts Rohan to sleep. When Rohan is asleep, he regenerates energy but loses time.
	Jewel
	Awards 50,000 bonus points.
	Ring
	Awards 50,000 bonus points.
	Heart
	Restores 3 energy points.
	Potion
	Restores 6 energy points.
	Lightning
	Temporarily renders Rohan immune to damage.
	Fire Djinn
	Summons a fire spirit that temporarily follows Rohan and flies toward enemies to attack them.
	Hourglass
	Restores one minute of time.
	Skull
	Gives Rohan one use of the skull-empowered staff ability by holding down . The strength of the attack increases depending on the armor equipped. The attack costs energy points to use, but this is also reduced depending on the armor equipped (6 energy points for no armor, 3 energy points for Silver Armor, and no energy points for Gold Armor).
	Continue
	A miniature Rohan that runs away. If Rohan can capture him three times, he gains an extra life.
	Gate Key Half
	Collect 2 Gate Key halves to form a complete Gate Key, which can be used destroy a Gatekeeper that bars the way to the rest of the stage.

Gatekeeper treasures

These treasures are dropped by Gatekeepers when they explode. Weapons have three power levels, which are upgraded by picking up the same weapon again.

	Axe
	Equips Axes, which are thrown in an arc.
	Boomerang
	Equips Boomerangs, which fly in a curved path for a distance, then return back to Rohan.
	Fireball
	Equips Fireballs, which are fast and fired in a straight line.
	Magic Dagger
	Equips Magic Daggers, which are similar to the default daggers but do more damage.
	Morning Star
	Equips Morning Stars, which are thrown in a straight line.
	Golden Potion
	Restores energy points.

Stages

Every third stage is a boss fight, with no monks to rescue or Gatekeepers to destroy.

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	Stage 7
	Stage 8
	Stage 9
	Stage 10
	Stage 11
	Stage 12

Versions

Compared to the home computer versions, Rohan has a different outfit (both in-game and in the ending), and the armor system and the puzzles required to destroy the statues are unique to the Mega Drive version. The Mega Drive version also lacks the item shops between stages. Rohan's unarmored appearance and the look of the Gate Keys and Armor Links (called Eye-Keys and Coins in the computer versions) are different.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Risky Woods	Risky Woods
English (US)	Risky Woods	Risky Woods
Japanese	邪神ドラクソス	Jashin Draxos

Production credits

• By: Steve Wetherill
• Original Design: Ricardo Puerto, Raul Lopez
• Musical Scores: Jason A. S. Whitely, Jose A. Martin
• Product Testing: Rupert Easterbrook, Chris Johnson, Matthew Webster
• Additional Graphics: James Savage
• Quality Assurance: Richard Gallagher

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Sega Version: Steve Wetherill
• Original Game Design: Ricardo Puerto and Raul Lopez, Zeus Soft
• Additional Graphics: Jimmy Savage
• Music: Jason A.S Whitelv, José A. Martin
• Producer: Steve Wetherill
• Product Testing: Matthew Webster, Rupert Easterbrook, Chris Johnson
• Product Manager: Neil Thewarapperuma/UK. Yvonne Petrak/US
• Package Design: D•ZYN:PARM
• Package Illustration: David Rowe
• Documentation: David Luoto
• Documentation Layout: Emily Favors
• Ouality Assurance: Jim Newmn

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Risky Woods/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1993-03: "March 1993" (1993-02-08)

Artwork

• 

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 55 №6, p32/33 Sega Pro (UK) 72 №18, p67

	64
Based on 2 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 55 Consoles + (FR) 83 Cool Gamer (RU) 50 Computer & Video Games (UK) 79 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 40 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 74 Freak (IL) 79 Game Power (IT) 75 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 78 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 20 Joypad (FR) PAL 81 Joystick (FR) PAL 84 Mega (UK) PAL 64 MegaTech (UK) PAL 84 Micromanía (segunda época) (ES) 78 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 74 Player One (FR) 80 Play Time (DE) 75 Sega Power (UK) PAL 65 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 79 Sega Zone (UK) PAL 90 Sega Force (SE) 81 Sega Force (UK) PAL 74 Sega Force (UK) PAL 64 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 37 Supergame (BR) 84 Supersonic (FR) 89 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 65 Video Games (DE) PAL 63

	70
Based on 30 reviews

Risky Woods

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, GR
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Risky Woods/Technical information.