The Magic of Scheherazade

The Magic of Scheherazade is a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released by Culture Brain in 1989. It is the translation of the 1987 Famicom game Arabian Dream Scheherazade. The player attempts to rescue Princess Scheherazade from the evil wizard Sabaron, who has summoned the demon Goragora to do his bidding. The game was innovative for its time, incorporating elements of adventure and RPG styles.

Story
The player controls a player-named hero who is a descendant of the great magician Isfa, who unsuccessfully attempted to defend Arabia from the evil wizard Sabaron. As a result, the Hero's memories are erased, and his beloved, Princess Scheherazade, is captured. Isfa must travel across five worlds to rescue Scheherazade's three sisters, her father, and finally Scheherazade herself. Along the way, eleven NPCs join the party to fight against Sabaron.

Adventure
The majority of play takes place on an overhead map where the player moves between screens, as in The Legend of Zelda. In each world, the player must complete a number of tasks and recruit the area's allies, traveling between two eras of the world using the Time Gate found on a particular screen. Landscapes are numerous and include the tree-lined overworld, towns, deserts, underwater areas, dimly lit dungeons, and palace labyrinths. The player's primary weapons are a sword, used for powerful close-range attacks, and a rod, used for shooting missiles that travel the entire length of the screen. Magic spells and items are also available for defeating enemies and negotiating obstacles. The character has three classes, a Fighter who uses the currently-equipped sword but who always uses the weakest rod (regardless of what's equipped), a Magician who uses the currently-equipped rod but uses a dagger instead of a sword, and a Saint who can only attack with the weakest rod and a dagger but who is required for certain tasks (like gaining the NPC Pukin in Chapter 3). Changing into specific classes is often required for other quests as well. The player can change classes (for a fee) at a Mosque or by casting the Great Magic spell Moscom during an Alalart Solar Eclipse. Each chapter concludes with a demonic boss that must be defeated with magic and the rod.

Battles
When traveling between screens on the adventure map, the player will sometimes encounter random, turn-based battles. Two allies can participate in each battle with the player's character, along with up to four mercenary troopers. Certain ally pairings create formations, which enable the party to cast powerful group magics. Enemies also frequently appear in formations, whose best counters are discussed in "magic universities" found on the adventure map.

Alalart Solar Eclipse
After some time passes on the adventure map, the screen will darken and a message will state that an Alalart Solar Eclipse has begun. During this time, many favorable things will occur. For example, it will be easier to win at the Casino, a player can plant a Rupia tree in the earlier period to harvest for 500 Rupias during the later period. As well, the five Great Magic spells can be cast by the player.

Great Magic
A wise man lives in each of the five chapters, and will grant the player the ability to cast one of the five Great Magic spells. Once used, the spell cannot be cast again without going back to the Wise Man.


 * Chapter 1: Monecom - Summons a Rupia Tree, which gives the player the maximum money and many helpful items.
 * Chapter 2: Raincom - Causes rain to fall on the desert, stopping it from draining the player's hit points. Only useful during the Present period of Chapter 2.
 * Chapter 3: Spricom - When cast during the Future period of Chapter 3 (an eternal winter) it will cause spring to arrive for a short period of time. The cold of the winter drains the hit points of the player, so it is a useful spell to conserve hit points.
 * Chapter 4: Moscom - Summons a mosque which will change the player's class for free.
 * Chapter 5: Libcom - Summons a mosque which will revive all allies for free.