Star Arthur Densetsu I: Wakusei Mephius

Overview

Star Arthur Densetsu I: Wakusei Mephius (スターアーサー伝説I 惑星メフィウス), translates as Legend of Star Arthur I: Planet Mephius, is an adventure game authored by Eiji Yokoyama and published by T&E Soft for the FM-7 in July 1983, followed by many ports for various Japanese computers. The title was one of several hit adventure games in the early years of the Japanese PC market and was unique for its time for having full color graphics and an early example of a point-and-click interface [5][6]. The player has a limited number of actions, or "verbs," they can perform which can be listed onscreen by pressing the Enter key. After typing one of the available verbs into the game's text parser, the player can then use a cursor to select what they want to interact with in the environment [7].

The PC-6001 port also featured speech synthesis which allowed some dialogue in the game to be voiced using a speech synthesizer. Years later in 1985, a fully animated version of Star Arthur was created for the VDH (Video High Density) attachment for the MSX. The port featured FMV footage for both storytelling cut-scenes and background graphics with the game's interface overlaying on top of the video.

Star Arthur is part of a trilogy of games with the first title being followed up by Star Arthur Densetsu II: Ankoku Seiun (Legend of Star Arthur II: Dark Nebula) in December 1983 and Star Arthur Densetsu III: Terra 4001 (Legend of Star Arthur III: Terra 4001) in December 1984.

Story

The plot is an epic sci-fi space opera that takes inspiration from films like Stars Wars and the legend of King Arthur [4]. Set in the year 3826, the Galactic Federation is at war with the galactic fleet of the Jyamil empire. As the war wages on, Star Arthur travels to Planet Mephius in search of the legendary energy sword.

External Links

1. Project EGG Product Page
2. Star Arthur Legend: Planet Mephius gameplay (MSX VHD interactive game), YouTube
3. 惑星メフィウスの攻略! (retro-game.net, 2018).
4. スターアーサーシリーズ3部作はここから始まった「惑星メフィウス」by 佐々木 潤 (Akiba PC Watch, 2018).
5. 日本のマイコン文化発展に大きく貢献した「PC-8001」と、ハイドライドなどが大ヒットした「T&E SOFT」by 佐々木 潤 (Akiba PC Watch, 2017).
6. ボーステック、FM-7「スターアーサー伝説」3部作を復刻! WIN「レジェンド・オブ・スターアーサー・トリロジー」(Game Watch, 2003).
7. 賢者の塔 - FLOOR 28 『惑星メフィウス』 (The Tower of Retro Games, 2011).