Devilish: The Next Possession

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J
Bad Omen/Devilish: The Next Possession
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: HOT-B (Japan), Sage's Creation (US)
Developer: Aisystem Tokyo
Sound driver: Terpsichorean (Hitoshi Sakimoto)
Genre: Action, Table
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-04-24 ¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e T-28043 US 1992-04 $49.9549.95 T-47066 KR 199x GM4046JT

Devilish: The Next Possession, known as Bad Omen (バッドオーメン) in Japan, is a 1992 Sega Mega Drive game by Aisystem Tokyo and HOT-B as a sequel to Genki's 1991 Game Gear game Devilish. When released overseas, the name was changed to highlight its relation to the previous game.

The game appears to not have been made with Genki's involvement, but this is unconfirmed (HOT-B was responsible for distributing Devilish in Europe and possibly contracted out to Genki on a number of occasions). It may have meant to be a port rather than a sequel (and the overseas release simply reuses the original's title screen).

The game's soundtrack was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto.

Story

Introduction

Long ago in a far away land lived a prince and a princess. Gamma, the lord of darkness, jealous of their happiness, cast a spell that dropped rocks from the sky, covering the land in stones and demons and transforming the prince and princess into two stone paddles. Suddenly, a mysterious and magical sphere fell from the sky that the prince and the princess could use to defeat Gamma.

Gameplay

The game plays similarly to Breakout. The player controls a pair of paddles and must use them to guide the sphere to the goal at the end of the stage, breaking blocks and finding items along the way. Each stage contains a boss or other challenge before the goal. Stages are mostly vertical tunnels and sometimes contain horizontal sections. Some stages contain branching paths.

The upper paddle can move in any direction with the D-pad. It moves independently vertically, but the lower paddle always follows it horizontally. The paddles can cycle between three different formations, which push the sphere in different directions, with (rotates counterclockwise) or (rotates clockwise). The player can change the speed of the paddles between three different speeds with .

The screen scrolls to follow the sphere but does not allow backtracking; if the sphere falls below the screen, the player loses it. If the player has extra balls remaining, a new sphere materializes after a moment. Each stage has a time limit, and the player loses a ball and must restart the stage from the beginning if time runs out. The game ends if the player runs out of balls. The player gains extra balls at certain points thresholds.

There is a two-player mode where the first player controls the upper paddle and the second player controls the lower paddle. There is also a Time Trial mode where the player can select any stage and try to complete it in the fastest time. In this mode, the timer counts up instead of down.

Formations

The upper paddle is the offensive paddle and used to directing the sphere. The lower paddle is the defensive paddle and used to catch the sphere to prevent it from falling through the bottom of the screen. The upper paddle does not block the sphere when it bounces from the lower paddle.

• 

  Basic formation

• 

  L formation

• 

  Reverse L formation

Items

	Treasure Chest
	Break open to release a bonus item, which falls to the bottom of the screen and must be caught by a paddle to collect. There is a colored dot on the top of the treasure box that corresponds to the item it contains.
	Time Stop
	Stops the timer for 10 seconds.
	Long
	Widens the paddles for a short time. It also revives the offensive paddle if it has been disabled by a Short Block.
	Buster Ball
	Temporary turns the sphere into a fire dragon that pierces through blocks without bouncing off, allowing it to quickly cut through groups of blocks.
	Flashing Bomb
	Destroys many blocks in the surrounding area in a flash.
	Roulette
	This item cycles between the four colors in intervals.
	Gargoyles
	Gargoyles resemble Treasure Chests but change into a winged form if hit by the sphere.

Blocks

The appearance of blocks can vary slightly depending on the stage.

	1 Density Block
	The basic block, blueish in color, destroyed in one hit.
	2 Density Block
	A tougher block, brownish in color, destroyed in two hits.
	Giant Block
	A large block, four times bigger than the standard block, destroyed in two hits.
	Mega Block
	An especially large block, nine times bigger than the standard block, destroyed in two hits.
	Short Block
	Temporarily disables the offensive paddle.
	Bonus Block
	Awards 100 points.

Stages

	Graveyard
	Clock Tower
	The Waterfall
	Air Passage
	Seaside
	Volcano
	Prairie

History

Legacy

The series saw another entry released named Devilish: Ball Bounder, released on the Nintendo DS in 2005.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Devilish: The Next Possession	Devilish: The Next Possession
Japanese	バッドオーメン	Bad Omen

Production credits

• Produce: Toyoden
• Program: Puru Puru, Naō & Satōshi, Kurage, Mutsushige Tsuji
• BG Graphic: Suzuki
• SP Graphic: "Lisa" Polaire
• Sound: YmoH.S
• Special Thanks: Ohyama Gen, Daikoku Hisaya, A·Tomonaga, Elephant, Kemono Itas., Suzuki, Mr. G, Y.H, Oomori, Conishi, Pearl

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Devilish: The Next Possession/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #32: "March 1992" (1992-xx-xx)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-01: "January 1992" (1991-12-07)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-03: "March 1992" (1992-02-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1992-04: "April 1992" (1992-03-07)

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) 40 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 58 Consoles + (FR) 75 Computer & Video Games (UK) 87 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 58 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 76 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 50 Joypad (FR) NTSC-J 73 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 60 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U 38 Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U 56 Mega Play (US) NTSC-U 48 MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J 79 Play Time (DE) 41 Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U 73 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 78 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 75 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 85 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 63 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 56 VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) NTSC-U 70 Video Games (DE) 38

	63
Based on 22 reviews

Devilish: The Next Possession

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Devilish: The Next Possession/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 d3f300ac MD5 6fa7cd092a175c9040b318d289ffff93 SHA-1 bc6f346a162cf91a788a88e44daa246d3d31ee8b	512kB	1992-01	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 975693ce MD5 81b14012e083985135ca8f1420074d0e SHA-1 5378af243fb6f592f1e1cd17e3722e2c5e807e72	512kB	1992-01	Cartridge (JP/KR)
?	CRC32 6c8eb5a2 MD5 55478f7c52fdd4839296cd9660a89370 SHA-1 a4c800c658bc15cc905eb0b063b4afa426da6a8d	512kB	1992-01-16	CD-R disc				Page