The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road

North American boxart
Developer(s) Media.Vision
Publisher(s)
Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Director(s) Nobuo Nakazawa
Producer(s) Tetsuya Okubo
Composer(s) Hitoshi Sakimoto
Michiko Naruke
Masaharu Iwata
Platform(s) Nintendo DS
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, known in Japan as RIZ-ZOAWD, is a role-playing video game developed by Japanese developer Media.Vision for the Nintendo DS. The game is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, using its characters, locations and plot. The game was originally published in Japan by D3 Publisher on December 25, 2008. Xseed Games published the game in North America on September 29, 2009.

Gameplay

Gameplay is restricted entirely to the Touch Screen, to move Dorothy requires the player to use the stylus to move the green trackball on the bottom screen. Battles take place in a first-person view similar to such games as Dragon Quest and Earthbound. Along the way Dorothy gain abilities by meeting the elemental spirits and by defeating the dragon masters. Each time Dorothy defeats them she will gain magical abilities such as the ability to heal or to double the power of one friend's move.

Plot

The game follows Dorothy and her group of friends as they complete a task for the Wizard of Oz. He asks them to defeat four different witches. After this, he promises to grant each of the companions' wishes.

Each of the witches has a magical egg that the player is supposed to collect, there are ten in all, three each in the spring, summer, and fall levels and one in the winter level. After the player gets these Oz turns against them and they have to go defeat him by traveling the yellow brick road. Once in the castle there is only one way out, which is to defeat Oz.

Characters

The game's depiction of the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man and Scarecrow

Development

The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was developed by a Japanese video game studio Media.Vision, the company behind the Wild Arms series. The game was produced by Wild Arms designer Tetsuya Okubo and directed by Nobuo Nakazawa, who joined the company starting with Wild Arms 2.[3] The game's Japanese title, RIZ-ZOAWD, is an anagram of "Wizard" and "Oz". According to Nakazawa, the name come about through Japan's "tendency to like meaningless enumerations of letters and coined words" and that they chose the title because "it had a ring to it, the feeling of the word, and it sounded good to our ears".[4]

The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was first unveiled in the Japanese magazine Famitsu in June 2008, and was later shown in more detail at the Tokyo Game Show months later.[5] The game includes a limited edition music CD for its initial release in Japan, featuring six tracks including the game's title theme, composed and performed by Michiko Naruke and Kaori Asoh respectively. Xseed Games announced in July 2009 that they had acquired the North American publishing rights to the game with licensing by Warner Bros.[6]

Reception

Critical reactions to The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road have been generally mixed. The game currently holds aggregate scores of 69% on GameRankings and a 68 out of 100 on Metacritic respectively.[7][8] IGN reviewer Mark Bozon gave the game 8/10 stating: "It's great for younger (or casual) players, and it's also a haven for awesome RPG's – seldom is it both at once though...The Wizard of Oz is all about compromise, since the game is literally out to satisfy two very different crowds, it's simple enough for newcomers while still being deep enough for open-minded hardcore players too." He also goes on to praise the use of the trackball running/walking tool (calling it "catchy") and the sole use of the Nintendo DS's touch screen function.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "『RIZ-ZOAWD』の発売日が1週間前倒し！ 12月25日に変更" ["RIZ-ZOAWD" release date one week ahead of schedule! Changed to December 25] (in Japanese). Dengeki. November 25, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Now Shipping for Nintendo DS" (Press release). IGN. September 29, 2009. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ Tanaka, John (June 13, 2008). "Wild Arms Developers Bring Wizard of Oz RPG to the DS". IGN. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  4. ↑ Spencer (September 25, 2009). "What's In A Name? Origins of "Riz-Zoawd"". Siliconera. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ Tanaka, John (September 3, 2008). "CESA Shares Partial TGS Game List". IGN. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  6. ↑ Ishaan (July 20, 2009). "Xseed Confirms The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road". Siliconera. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  7. ↑ "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road". GameRankings. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road for Nintendo DS". Metacritic. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
  9. ↑ Bozon, Mark (October 5, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review". IGN. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
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