Princess Crown

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Set in the fantasy Kingdom of Valendia, you play the role of the 13-year old princess Gradriel, the daughter of a the warrior queen Elfaran De Valendia who defeated an evil demon tried to resurrect its demon lord Larva years ago. Much like her mother, little Gradriel, who ascends to the throne now, needs to prevent once more the evil Larva who awakens after a long slumber and possessed her sister Eriel transforming her into an evil sorceress who begins to wage magical mayhem on Valendia. At the same time, Gabriel needs also to crush the demonic forces controlled by Larva threatening her land, by using the might of her sword and the magic of the gems (there is a gem shop where you can buy magic gems) and save once more the Kingdom. Should you run into difficulty fighting a certain kind of monster, a few gems are usually the simplest solution. While the melee fighting options are limited, there are several throwing weapons (daggers, axes, bombs but they have to be picked up after each use) and scrolls as single use items of attack or enhancement to utilize. Of course, energy can be healed by eating apples found on trees, but may also find other types of food such as corn, meat, fish, and eggs, which are raw and cannot be eaten as they are, thus needs to cook first before tasting (you can grill the food with a pan and a pot found, but can be broken as you can thrown at an enemy!).
Gameplay focuses on a beat em up-style fighting system while incorporating role-playing elements, navigation through towns, castles and dungeons along with several character interactions and scenarios to be unlocked by completing Gabriel's quests. Despite the Japanese dialogue between the characters, the game is very playable and you won't have any difficulty with it.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
This game is a brilliant testament to the 2D prowess of the Saturn, featuring amazing animation, brilliant color, and some of the best hand-drawn video game artwork this side of a Capcom fighting title. Sprites are huge, very detailed and beautifully animated e.g., the goblins are all cute and fuzzy and malicious all at the same time, while their expressions on their faces when they get smashed are priceless! Same quality stands for the backdrops, offering a vast selection of landscapes (castles, medieval towns, caves, forests etc.).
The game's sound has sixteen CD Audio tracks (composed by Toshikazu Tanaka who also worked in many SNK games) while there is a wide array of sampled sound effects during gameplay (but no speech).