As its name absolutely does not indicate, Mystic Defender is the sequel to Spellcaster, an action game tinged with textual adventure phases which was the heyday of the Master System. Leaving aside the taste for the staging and the storyline so dear to its predecessor, this sequel presents itself in the form of a pure and hard action game as Sega has the secret. Faced with the plethora of titles of the genre that flood the Megadrive game library, we are entitled to wonder where Mystic Defender fits. Is he prancing at the top of his game in the company of Shinobi or Gunstar Heroes, or on the contrary, is he languishing at the bottom of an abyss of mediocrity?

Before getting to the heart of the matter, it is not insignificant to point out that Mystic Defender is originally based on Kujaku-O, a manga published in the Land of the Rising Sun at the end of the 80s. In short, it is characterized by a story largely imbued with Japanese mythology and above all, a sinister atmosphere where occult sciences play a preponderant role. The producers must have undoubtedly thought that European players were not ready to welcome such an exotic game because, when localized in Europe, the title would be subject to virulent censorship. The myths, the legends, the gods and their fits of fury, all that has gone by the wayside. We ultimately find ourselves faced with a plot that has been completely remodeled to fit our Western habits and culture. This is how Joe the magician (difficult to find a more banal Western name) goes to the rescue of Alexandra, the daughter of a goddess who has been kidnapped to be sacrificed to a mysterious force of darkness called Zao. This time it is certain, this simplistic and tasteless scenario is not likely to set the brains of young Europeans in turmoil.

Bingo! Another good action/platform game on Megadrive! Certainly, no one will be able to deny that this machine is a veritable Ali Baba's cave for all action aficionados in need of a new challenge. Of course, the most grumpy will argue that the game has, visually speaking, become quite dated and they will not be wrong: the graphics are poor and suffer from a blatant lack of detail and variety. What makes Mystic Defender stand out from the crowd, however, is its gameplay, both simple and deep, which provides immediate pleasure. The game still fails to shake the tenors of the genre like Gunstar Heroes but we can't really blame it. Mystic Defender is an unconditional distributor of condensed fun and that's the main thing.