Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord

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NSTC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord
System(s): Sega Master System
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega R&D 2
Distributor: Tonka (US), Tec Toy (BR)
Licensor: ASCII, Kogado
Original system(s): PC-8801
Developer(s) of original games: Kogado
Peripherals supported: FM Sound Unit
Genre: RPG, Adventure Role-Playing
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: 日本語 English
Release Date RRP Code JP 1987-10-18 ¥5,8005,800 G-1331 US 1988-11 7500 EU 1988 MK-7500-03 DE 19xx UK 1988-11 £32.9532.95 MK-7500-03 SE 19xx BR 199x JP ▼ 2021-10-04 ¥550550 KSK0040
Non-Sega versions Famicom FM-7 MSX Nintendo Entertainment System PC-8801 X1

Haja no Fuuin (覇邪の封印) was originally developed and released in Japan, and later localized as Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord. It is a role-playing game developed by Kogado and ASCII for the PC-88 and ported to the Sega Master System by Sega in 1987. It is one of the earliest Japanese RPGs to be localized and released in the West.

The Japanese release for the game came in a big box with a cloth map and a steel figure. It also made use of the Mark III's FM Sound Unit add-on for enhanced music (the Japanese Master System had the FM unit built-in).

Story

The demon queen Terarin (テラリン) has returned. She has stolen the Golden Seal and opened the Pandora Passage, letting loose dark creatures into the world. A young hero is tasked by a king to restore peace to his world. He must step into footsteps of his ancestor Iason, who once fought to seal the demoness in another dimension, to finish the job and bring an end to Terarin's evil once and for all.

The hero must enlist the aid of three companions: Guy the warrior, Medi the amazon, and Treo the pirate. Together, they must find the three keys to Terarin's Lair in an underground temple and find a set of ancient mystical weapons and armor in order to defeat Terarin.

Gameplay

Overworld and battle

Character status

The game is a role-playing game. The player character must gather his allies and their equipment before battling the demoness Terarin. The game screen is divided into four parts.

In the lower left is a list of party members. Each character has two bars adjacent to his or her name: an experience bar on the top and a health bar on the bottom. A character gains a small amount experience by attacking an enemy. When the experience bar is filled, the character gains a level. The experience bar is emptied and both bars are extended, resulting in more maximum life for the character and more experience needed to gain a new level.

In the lower right are statistics for the entire party: the amount of guilders, the amount of herbs, the amount of fangs, and the party's character points. The currency in the game is the guilder which can be used to buy items or heal the players. Herbs can also be bought in town, which are used to heal characters out of battle. Defeated enemies also yield fangs, which are proof of valor in battle. Fangs can be used to buy some exclusive items or traded in villages for guilders. Defeating enemies increases or decreases the player's character points (fame). Killing monsters usually increases the player's fame while killing good characters (for example, travelers or merchants) decreases the player's fame. Many bosses also decrease the player's fame. A certain number of character points is required to enter certain villages.

The upper left shows the party members (accompanied by Ica the Fairy) and their surroundings when traversing the overworld, non-player characters that are talking to the party when in a town, or the enemy when in battle. The upper right shows a map that the player can navigate using the D-Pad or a menu if invoked. The game takes place in a world of five lands spread out over three continents. Battles occur randomly when moving through the overworld. There are four types of terrain: plain, forest, mountains, and desert. Enemies become more dangerous in different types of land, with plains being the safest terrain to cross. The continents are separated by oceans and storming sea around the last continent. A ship must be purchased to sail the oceans (making light water tiles traversable). A special ship is needed to cross the storming sea (dark water tiles), but it can only be helmed by someone with pirate blood in his veins.

Battles involve the party fighting a single foe. The player chooses one character to attack per turn. This character is also the one subjected to the attack of the enemy, unless the enemy uses a spell that attacks multiple characters. Some enemies can use flame spells to attack all party members or sleep spells that can put multiple party members to sleep. Every time a party member is put to sleep, they take damage. They can wake up and be put to sleep many times during a battle, taking damage each time they fall asleep again. Once every party member is sleeping, the enemy uses a flame spell to attack every party member at once. As an alternative to attack, a player has several options, including talking, retreating, using a magical item, or casting a spell. Some enemies respond to talking and give hints.

Throughout the world are several towns. Towns have smiths, who can be hired to repair weapons and armor, which wear out as they are used in combat. Towns also contain healers, who can heal party members for a fee and sell herbs that can be used for healing out of battle. Shops sell weapons and armor. Some towns provide information in exchange for guilders, while one person in every town buys fangs for fifty guilders each. There are also villages, which serve special purposes, such as selling ships or special magical items. Several caves exist in the world, which house guardians that protect the mystical armors of legend. Finally, there are also various castles that can be visited to get the weapons of legends if the kings are impressed enough.

If a party member dies in battle, he or she can only be revived at the Village of Restoration, nestled in mountains surrounded by a forest, for a fee. If all party members die, the game ends in defeat and can only be continued from a saved game.

Characters

	Main Character
	The main character is named by the player. He can equip the Iris Axe, the Armor of Kronos, and the Ulysses Shield.
	Guy
	He is found in the seaside town of Kadia and joins the party if the main character has the Iris Axe. He can equip the Turos Sword, the Titan Armor, and the Hector Shield.
	Medi
	She is found in the coastal town of Doris and joins the party if the main character has the Armor of Kronos. She can equip the Sword of Eros, the Armor of Athena, and Celene Shield.
	Treo
	He is found in the island cave in the middle of the mountain lake. He can equip the Halberd of Babel, the Armor of Kaos, and the Shield of Kimaira.

Versions

Localised names

The original title of the game is the Japanese one.

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord	Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord
English (US)	Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord	Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord
Japanese	覇邪の封印	Haja no Fuuin

Production credits

Main article: Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord/Production credits.

Hints

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  US hints 1

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  US hints 2

Magazine articles

Main article: Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 81 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) PAL 81 Console XS (UK) PAL 84 The Games Machine (UK) PAL 40 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 81 S: The Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 77 Sega Power (UK) PAL 75 Sega Pro (UK) 81 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 82 Smash (DE) PAL 42 User (GR) PAL 80

	73
Based on 11 reviews

Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord

Master System, JP
Cover
Cart Manual Map

Master System, US
Cover
Manual Map

Master System, EU
Cover

Master System, EU (Sega®)
Cover
Cart

Master System, EU ("No Limits")
Cover

Master System, DE

Master System, SE

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart File:MiracleWarriors-SMS-BR-Manual.pdf Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 0e333b6e MD5 e0a9cf889c27f3cb14903288f646d183 SHA-1 f952406bca4918ee91a89b27e949e224eae96d85	256kB		Cartridge (EU/US)	8kB backup
?	CRC32 b9fdf6d9 MD5 b54989c58520516f4c10ce4e7a446725 SHA-1 46a032004d49fec58099aa6bf0dd796997e95142	256kB		Cartridge (JP)	8kB backup

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Haja no Fuuin