Alisia Dragoon

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NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Alisia Dragoon
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Game Arts
Developer: Game Arts, Gainax, Mecano Associates (music, sound)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-04-24 ¥7,8007,800 T-45033 US 1992-02 $69.9569.95 EU 1992-04 PT 199x UK 1992-04 £39.9939.99 SE (Rental) 199x AU 199x CA 199x BR 1992-06

Alisia Dragoon (アリシアドラグーン) is a 1992 platformer for the Sega Mega Drive developed by Game Arts, with Japanese animation studio Gainax (famous for classic franchises such as Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion) providing art and story, and Mecano Associates providing music.

Story

The game's story is different in Japan and US/Europe:

• Japan: Alisia is the daughter of a sorcerer killed by evil Baldour's followers after her father banished Baldour in a cocoon to outer space, which has since crashed back to Earth, leaving Alisia to defeat Baldour and his followers.
• US/EU: Alisia is a female adventurer who is the only one who can destroy the evil delivered by a silver star that has returned to Earth (implied that Earth had managed to deal with it once before).

Gameplay

The player controls Alisia Dragoon in side-scrolling platforming environments. She can be moved around with and , jump with , and crouch with . Alisia can attack by summoning bolts of lightning from her hands with . Her lightning attack automatically targets enemies in the direction she is facing and splits itself as necessary. The shot lasts for as long as is held, but its power diminishes as Alisia drains her attack power. Her power replenishes when she is not attacking; when fully charged, it allows her to unleash a multi-target rolling bolt attack, hitting every enemy on the screen. Alisia is often swarmed with enemies from all sides, and the energy system encourages the player to manage Alisia's power judiciously to have her able to defend herself at critical moments. Alisia can attack while jumping or crouching.

Cutscene

Besides enemies, stages also contain conventional platforming challenges, such as gaps that must be jumped across, environmental hazards such as fireballs launching from the ground, and branching paths. Stages contain numerous hidden areas, often containing level-up items, encouraging exploration. Stages also sometimes have scripted sequences or cutscenes. Each stage is completed by defeating the boss at the end.

Helping Alisia in her quest are her pet monsters. These creatures fly around the heroine on their own, attacking her foes, and blocking enemy attacks from hitting her. There are four pets, each with its own type of attack. Only one pet can fight alongside Alisia in her quest, but the player can select any of the four (or none) as the active companion at any time by pressing (which also pauses the game) and pressing or .

Over the course of the game, Alisia and her monsters can find items to increase the size of their health bars and level up their attacks. Health bar segments are lost by taking damage from enemy attacks and traps. When Alisia's pets lose their entire health bars, they are removed from play and cannot be brought back until a Revive power-up is collected. If Alisia loses her entire health bar, she can restart the level by expending a continue. The game ends if all the continues have been used. The player does not start with any continues but can find them hidden in the levels. Alisia Dragoon has no features for saving the player's progress. After the game is completed, a screen is shown, charting the overall performance of the player based on the number of kills, the power level of Alisia's attack, and the frequency the pet monsters are used.

Companions

Dragon companions follow Alisia throughout the game. Alisia's monsters have a health bar and an energy gauge. They are controlled by the computer and attack automatically when the energy bar is full. Each one can be leveled up twice by finding a Level Up item when the companion is selected. Every level increments the companion's health bar by one segment, increases its attack damage, and changes its appearance.

The dragon can become exhausted by depleting its health bar. The appearance of dragon companions changes as they take damage. They can be rejuvenated by finding a Revive item. When revived, companions start over at level 1.

	Dragon Frye
	Shoots one, two, or three fireballs (depending on its level). The fireballs do good damage but cover a small area. Most useful against a small number of formidable foes.
	Ball O' Fire
	Attacks by touching enemies. Meager damage output but the most durable companion; any damage inflicted against it drains its power gauge first and only impacts its health bar when its energy gauge is empty. The only companion that attacks with less than a full energy gauge.
	Thunder Raven
	Attacks all enemies on screen simultaneously with its lightning flash. This is the slowest attack, but it does fair damage and has the best area of effect. An excellent companion against a large number of foes.
	Boomerang Lizard
	Shoots one, two, or three boomerangs (depending on its level). The boomerangs fly around and return to the dragon, hitting targets along the way. Attacks very quickly. Good when there are a large number of foes all around.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	Stage 7
	Stage 8

Items

Items are contained within winged receptacles, which Alisia can break open with her lightning power. The item then falls out and can be collected by moving over it. Sometimes the receptacle is hidden until Alisia approaches or hits it with her lightning attack.

Alisia

	Winged Receptacle
	Attack to break the item free.
	Thunder Level Up
	Increases Alisia's attack level, up to level 8.
	Potion
	Replenishes one segment of Alisia's health bar.
	HP Up
	Permanently adds one segment to Alisia's health bar, up to 6 segments.
	1 Up
	Gives the player an extra continue.
	Invincible
	A fairy that protects Alisia and makes her invulnerable to attacks for a duration.
	Thunder Power Max
	A fairy that grants Alisia a full power bar and removes the cost from her attacks for a duration.
	Platform
	Two fairies who create a platform for Alisia to reach otherwise inaccessible heights.

Companions

	Level Up
	Increases the level of the currently selected companion, up to level 3, which increases its attack power and gives it another health bar segment.
	Beef
	Replenishes one segment of the currently selected companion's health bar.
	Revive
	Revives all exhausted companions. Revived companions start over at level 1.

History

Legacy

The game was re-released internationally on the Mega Drive Mini in 2019.

Production credits

• Main Programer: Naozumi Honma
• Assistant Programer: Osamu Harada
• Main Graphic Designer: Masatoshi Azumi
• Assistant Graphic Designer: Meiko Wada
• Music Programer: Mister Tom, Ari Kamijoh
• Assistant Music Programer: Ken-ichi Kunishima
• Story Concept Designer: Yuzo Sunaga
• Scenario Writer: Yoshimi Kanda
• Character Design of Monsters: Hajime Satoh
• Character Design of Alisia: Hiroyuki Hataike
• Technical Support: Toshimichi Masubuchi
• Art Work: Mariko Uemura
• Music Composer: Mecano Associates
  • Music Producer: Kass
  • Musicians: Nobuyuki Aoshima, Mamoru Ishimoda, Youko Sonoda, Mariko Satoh
• Special Thanks: Takeshi Miyaji, Kazuyuki Ohata, Takahiro Okano, Gainax, Takami Akai, Toshio Okada, Yasuhiro Takeda, Takeshi Sawamura, Kazuhiro Nakazawa
• Special Test Player: Masahiko Ikeya
• Test Players: Akio Matsuda, Ken-ichiroh Ohmi, Nobuo Horii, Naotsugu Honma, Hideto Masubuchi, Hidetomo Tanaka
• Original Concept: Satoshi Uesaka
• Executive Producer: Yoichi Miyaji

Source:

In-game credits (Japanese version)

Digital manuals

• AlisiaDragoon MD US digital manual.pdf

  Mega Drive Mini US manual

• AlisiaDragoon MD EU digital manual.pdf

  Mega Drive Mini EU manual

• AlisiaDragoon MD JP digital manual.pdf

  Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Alisia Dragoon/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Alisia Dragoon/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 65 Consoles + (FR) 94 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 50 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 10 (RU) 80 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 87 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 48 FX (UK) 87 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 88 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 96 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Hobby Consolas (ES) 87 Joypad (FR) 92 Joystick (FR) 91 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 83 Mega (UK) PAL 81 Mega (UK) PAL 81 Mega Force (FR) 80 MegaTech (UK) PAL 88 MegaTech (UK) PAL 88 Mean Machines (UK) 87 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 87 Player One (FR) 86 Sega Power (UK) PAL 82 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 85 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 82 Sega Force (SE) 85 Sega Force (UK) PAL 72 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 82 Supergame (BR) 89 Supersonic (FR) 93 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 66 User (GR) PAL 83 Video Games (DE) 53

	80
Based on 34 reviews

Alisia Dragoon

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, SE (rental)

Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, CA
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 d28d5c40 MD5 77be06102101759f30b416d80872c8da SHA-1 69bf7a9ebcb851e0d571f93b26d785ca87621b01	1MB	1992-03	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 4d476722 MD5 87f6aeedef313d6d9d5126e55514d812 SHA-1 04cf02a0004f2eba16af781dd55b946176bb9dbf	1MB	1992-03	Cartridge (JP)
✔	CRC32 28165bd1 MD5 0028a8f30e471dd14a20bf3e18f7529b SHA-1 c8a3667631fdbd4d0073e42ada9f7199d09c0cfa	1MB	1992-03	Cartridge (EU)