Dahna: Megami Tanjou (Mega Drive) (1991)
Developer: IGS

Review by Faididi and Co.

More fun than Hundra

Story: Above Average

Dahna, a sword-swinging barbarian lady, charges to the rescue when the forces of an evil sorceress kidnap the wise mystic who has raised her. The plot feels like something out of the 1980s B-movies about medieval fantasy amazons, but the cutscenes do a nice job of telling the story.

Gameplay: Average

IGS' Dahna: Megami Tanjou is an action platformer where our heroine has to slay bad guys and avoid bottomless pits in 6 side-scrolling stages. Her main weapon is her sword, but she can also use a limited amount of magic. Dahna can suck up only so much punishment before she goes down, and the number of credits is limited.

Besides sharing some superficial similarities with Tyris, the heroine here works with a magic system that resembles the one in Sega's Golden Axe. Dahna has three different spells, but the one she casts depends on how many magic orbs she has collected. Two of the spells are used to damage enemies on the screen, while the remaining one renders her temporarily invulnerable (which is fantastic against the bosses). However, casting spells in this game doesn't consume as much energy as in Golden Axe, so Dahna can actually pull off several potent spells in a row, giving her an easier time.

The level and enemy designs are varied enough. The stages are divided into smaller areas, some of which have Dahna riding completely different mounts. For example, she begins the game by sitting atop a friendly ogre who can smash apart foes with a single blow. Then, in the second stage, she charges down a mountain slope on a horse, avoiding falling boulders. Later on, she'll fly through the skies on a griffin and blast down enemies, space shooter-style. The regular bad guys range from common soldiers and deformed gremlins to more exotic creatures, like winged bikini-clad warrior women who toss boomerangs. The interesting bosses include a fast-charging horseman, a four-armed giant who wields a sword in each hand, an evil doppleganger, and other impressive monsters. Although the hit detection isn't perfect, sometimes causing glances to count as frustrating misses, the bosses can die relatively quickly, which is a nice surprise.

Controls: Average

The controls are responsive enough, although Dahna swings her sword a bit slowly, and her jumping feels stiff. More control could've been given over which spell she casts, too, instead of making it depend solely on how much magic energy she has acquired.

Graphics: Above Average

The characters are all drawn brightly, but the backgrounds vary in quality from scene to scene. In some areas, such as the exterior of the burning building, the backgrounds appear very bland. In others, such as the rocky shores of an island, they look far more vivid with their splashing waves and other better-animated details. Perhaps the best part of the graphics is the blood that spurts from the severed limbs of the four-armed boss, because it looks funny as hell.

Audio: Above Average

The sound effects are loud and violent, be they of steel swinging through the air or of weapons thudding into flesh. The vocal effects consist mostly of the ogre's terrific roars and the bosses' rasping death groans, but Dahna's soft cry upon running out of stamina betrays her anime maiden's nature. Maybe that's for the best, considering how the dark, moody music comes one step short of making her seem like Rastan the Barbarian.

Overall: Average

Dahna is a simple but solid action platformer. Its magic system is a friendlier take on Golden Axe's, and its varied level and enemy designs have plenty to show off, especially the scenes with the unique mounts.