Xin Qi Gai Wang Zi
From Sega Retro
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| Xin Qi Gai Wang Zi | |||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||
| Publisher: Original ?? Translation Super Fighter Team | |||||
| Developer: Original C&E Inc. Translation Super Fighter Team | |||||
| Genre: RPG | |||||
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Xin Qi Gai Wang Zi (新乞丐王子) is an unlicensed role-playing adventure game by C&E Inc. originally released in 1996 for the Mega Drive and later released in 1998 on Windows PCs. Super Fighter Team acquired a the translation rights to the Mega Drive version and translated it in 2006, releasing it under the title Beggar Prince, released in three print runs totaling 2,400 copies.
Some versions of the game have SRAM mapped to the $40xxxx memory area, which prevents it from working on systems with a Sega Mega-CD attached. (The Mega CD maps its own boot ROM to M68K $400000 when a ROM cartridge is present.)
The Windows PC version is a direct port of the Mega Drive version with the music recorded from a general MIDI module, but playable as CD Audio. It contains all of the same glitches that plagued the original Mega Drive release, and in many ways is broken. Because of technical issues and limitations in being able to reverse engineer this version, among other things, localization of the PC version was scrapped in favor of the Mega Drive version. Super Fighter Team wanted to reinvent the physical cartridge market. The convenience of being able to port the game using an emulator (as is the case with its digital release as part of the RPG Trifecta Pack) made the localization of the Mega Drive version more ideal. The new english version by SFT contains numerous bug fixes. It was said in interviews by the head of SFT, Brandon Cobb, that some liberties were taken to bring out the personality and humor of the original dialogue, making it superior to the Chinese original in many ways.
Story
Steven, prince of Shatt Kingdom, is undergoing his diligent studies in the royal castle. After complaining to the Cat Minister of his boredom with these affairs, Steven plots to escape out of the village and succeeds by tricking the guards. In the fashion of Mark Twain's classic "The Prince and the Pauper" novel, Steven finds a pauper who looks exactly like him and trades places. However, watching from above the castle, the Cat Minister sees this and uses the opportunity to overtake the kingdom himself with the prince now gone. In the course of time, the Prince discovers that not only is life as a beggar difficult and gritty, but also learns of the Cat Minister's campaign to seize the kingdom, from which he attempts to re-enter the castle, only to find himself thrown astray by a trap. After his second escape, he goes on a journey to find a way to overthrow the Cat Minister, meeting various friends and trials along the way.
Gameplay
Although a JRPG, the game differs from the standard formula in several ways: -The player does not obtain money. Disposable items such as food to recover HP are found on the map in chests. Weapons and Armor are also discovered by similar means and not bought. -The battle system is driven by spending SP points, indicated by the red bar (green for enemies) which determines how much energy it costs to execute a command. Stronger spells require more SP to be spent, but with normal attacks for instance, multiple strikes can be delivered in small increments. The same is true for enemies' turns. Turns are taken as the bars are depleted. -There are no allies to accompany the Prince in battle, but he will occasionally gain allies as part of the Summon magic ability.
Physical scans
| Mega Drive, TW |
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| Mega Drive, World (1st/2nd Print) |
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| Mega Drive, World (3rd Print) |
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