Elfland is an unlicensed NES/Famicom game, developed by Tip Top in 1992 and first released on a 200-in-1 multicart. It was later released on a 20-in-1 multicart, likely by the same developers, and had a single-cartridge release by an unknown publisher. The game is also found on various JungleTac systems.
Overview[]
Gameplay screenshot.
The game opens with a screen showing two ghosts (referred to as "Saint Elves" on the 200-in-1 cover) praying to three deity-like figures, colored in red, yellow, and blue. The ghosts state that they wish to become human kids; the center deity instructs them to find six hearts in order to transform into human beings.
The game is an "elimination platformer" where the player goes through a series of levels, which are one screen in size, with the goal being to clear each screen of enemies. However, the player can only attack enemies which are the same color as themselves. To change their color, the player must jump into the paint pots spread across the level; this can also be done to refill their paint, which fully depletes after attacking 3 enemies. When the player attacks an enemy, they turn into an angel; hitting them a second time will give the player either a bonus food item for points (e.g. bananas) or a power-up.
There are a total of six power-ups in the game, each with different functions:
- Bottles, which refill the players paint level by one.
- Glass jars filled with paint, which fully refill the player's paint level.
- Shields, which change the player's paint color (seemingly to a shade that nearby enemies are in color).
- A clock, which freezes all enemies on screen for a few seconds.
- Hearts, which will give the player an extra life if a total of three are collected. These are separate from the hearts alluded to in the opening cutscene.
- Clouds, which will automatically send the player to the next stage if a total of three are collected.
There are 36 stages total; every six stages, a cutscene appears of angels flying by with one of the six hearts. After level 36, an end credits screen appears, showing the ghosts as being transformed into humans.
JungleTac version[]
A VTxx port of Elfland (both VT03 and VT09) was produced by JungleTac in the early 2000s, appearing on various plug & play and dedicated handheld devices. A VT3xx version would be produced in the later 2000s/early 2010s with modified graphics. JungleTac's version of the game appears to be fully developed from scratch, despite repurposing the graphics from the original 1992 version. It is unknown if JungleTac's version is a licensed recreation of the game, or if it was a bootlegged clone.
There are various differences between the VTxx JungleTac variant and the original 1992 release:
- The story, two-player mode, difficulty selection, and the ability to continue are all removed.
- Only two enemy types are present, being the jesters and spheres from the first few stages of the original.
- The special geometry of later-stage platforms (e.g. platforms that the player falls through when standing still) is not present.
- All music and sound effects are replaced with the stock sounds of other VT03/09 JungleTac games.
The VT3xx version is seemingly further recoded from the VTxx port, and is much slower-paced. The player is changed to a character resembling a Chao from the Sonic the Hedgehog series; jesters are changed to what appears to be Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.
Credits[]
- Design: Ate
- Program: Douglas, Ate
- Picture: Yun
- Hardware: Lee
- Music: Lumin
Trivia[]
- Elfland had a standalone release in 1993, lacking the Tip Top copyright.
- On the single cartridge release, the sprites are glitched from level 13 onwards. All of the graphics appear to be missing after level 22 or 23. Regions of the CHR-ROM appears to be missing or have been unintentionally corrupted for this release.
- Some multicart revisions do not bankswitch correctly to load the graphics for levels 13-24, despite the CHR data being present in the ROM; levels 25-36 load the correct graphics, however.
- This is the only game credited to have been created by the company Tip Top. It's likely that this company also created a series of four "Fantasy Gun" lightgun games (Space Fight of Gun, Fantasy of Gun, Abyss of Gloom, and City Adventure), which were all developed in 1992-93.
- The unknown developer is theorized to be further connected to the "Unchained Melody" multicarts and the game Super Fighter III, though this is largely unconfirmed.
- The game was also featured on a 5-in-1 multicart from 1993 (with a 20-in-1 DIP switch setting) featuring the four games mentioned above. It is identical to the single release version of the game, though all of the graphics are present.
- Graphics of the player characters sleeping appear in the game's data, though appear to go unused.
- The font used for this game's ending is from Borland Turbo Pascal - this same font is also used in many NTDEC games.
Gallery[]
