#Landstalker

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Log Ride 'Landstalker' SEGA Mega Drive Support us on Patreon

[dreadlock-detective]

My god this project was a beast!

Early in the year I started trying to test my pixeling with my first go at Isometric, inspired by one of the foundational games of my childhood, SEGA's Landstalker. And uh. Ho Boy this was a hell of a thing to tackle! Just figuring out how to properly get the tiles to... tile... gave me a massive headache! And that's not even getting into figuring how to how animate at that angle!

It sat and gathered dust for a while until @neorice gave me some encouragement to keep at it, and thank you for that! Many hours later but I'm very happy with how it turned out! Photoshop wouldn't even let me export it at greater than 1x size, it ran out of memory at anything else lol!

Oh yeah, and I don't remember if I ever posted my OTHER set of spritework here from last year: the first set with these characters, done in the style of my other foundational SEGA game, Shining Force. These are definitely a bit smaller and simpler sprites but they were my first foray into making tilesets of my own after learning more about tiles doing that Wonder Boy Monster Land remake set. I'm still proud of them! :

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Landstalker by Climax Entertainment is a striking isomeric action RPG for the Mega Drive released in 1992. A Japanese copy of the game is pictured here

[doamarierose-honoka]

Yoshitaka Tamaki, the artist and character designer behind Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force, Landstalker and many other classic titles, passed away earlier this year, it has been revealed.

Tamaki passed away on July 13th following a battle with lung cancer. He was just 55 years old. A private service was held in his memory today.

Having initially worked as a freelance artist for Enix, Tamaki would join Hiroyuki Takahashi at the newly-formed Climax Entertainment to create Shining in the Darkness on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. While he is most famous for the art and character designs he produced, Tamaki would also contribute to story and scenario writing on several titles he worked on.

As well as working on the Shining series and the seminal action adventure Landstalker, Tamaki would also work on FEDA: The Emblem of Justice (Super Famicom), Lady Stalker (Super Famicom), FEDA Remake!: The Emblem of Justice (Saturn), Alundra (Playstation), Time Stalkers (Dreamcast), Shining Soul (GBA), Shining Soul II (GBA) and Shining Force Neo (PS2). He is also credited on Shining Force: Resurrection Of The Dark Dragon, a GBA remake of the original game.

Back in 2018, fellow Climax / Camelot Software Planning artist Hiroshi Kajiyama, who also worked on the Shining series, passed away.

[cursedprince08]

Phantasy Star got me interested not gonna lie

[bancho-zx]

【Genesis | Mega Drive】

Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole | ランドストーカー 皇帝の財宝 ~Opening

// Music: Motoaki Takenouchi | 武内基朗

// MiSTer FPGA / MegaDrive Nuked-MD core // Y/C Composite // Sony KV-13TR20 CRT TV

[awsmdog-blog]

Hiroshi Kondo - Timestalkers - Nigel's Theme

[thetripwalker]

LANDSTALKERS (1992) character art appreciation post :3

Dont talk to me about the American box art..

[seymourmusicclub]

[BGM] [MD] ランドストーカー ～皇帝の財宝～ [Landstalker The Treasures of King Nole]

[anthonyvaccarelli]

Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole streamed by HungryGoriya

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Big Bird 'Landstalker' SEGA Mega Drive

[dreadlock-detective]

For the hat trick!

Nigel & Friday from Landstalker on the SEGA Genesis~ One of my regular nostaliga trips. More sketches from work breaks~

[claire-starsword]

Landstalkers JP manual - Characters, Monsters and Items

Prologue here

Nigel - Protagonist Being a treasure hunter, a sort of thief aiming for treasures and gold, he is burning with enthusiasm when it comes to the treasures of King Nole. He is skilled with the sword and light on his feet. Nigel was born in a small elf village in the mainland, and has dreamed of adventure since he was a child. He's a forest elf, and 88 years old. Friday A kinda mean succubus (little devil) girl. She's 120 years old, and born in Mercator. She can heal others upon eating her favorite food, the EkeEke. Stays on Nigel's bag.

Kayla The boss lady of the trio of stooges who bother Nigel and Friday through their adventure. She has a harsh personality, and punishes Ink and Wally with her whip. No one knows what they want. Duke Mercator The lord dispatched to this island by the emperor of Gamul in the mainland. He lives at Mercator Palace. Being a pleasant guy, he is respected by the islanders, but due to his noble origins, he's not satisfied with life in the island, and holds greater ambitions. Something seems fishy about him.

Princess Lara Princess of the region of Shurel in the country of Maple. She was raised in a strict manner due to being of the royal family, and is thus not used to being in the real world. She speaks nonsense at times. It seems she came to Mercator to study music, but… Wizard Mir A great wizard said to have great magic power. He creeps around the underground of Mercator Palace. Zak A mysterious man who calls himself a bounty hunter, despite being of the noble race of dragonewts. The handsome and playful type. King Nole The tyrant who ruled the continent many centuries ago. Did he hide his vast treasures in this island?

Notes for characters:

Mir isn't underground in game, he lives in a tower away from the actual town.

Let's talk names. Nigel's original name can be read as Ryle or Lyle. I do'nt know why they changed it but I appreciate not having a repeat name with the Shining Force guy, so I stick to it.

Kayla and Lara are Kara and Loria in the original, this is a very meaningless change just to make the names flow better I suppose.

Kayla's goons are not important enough to even have their own profiles here, but I wanna talk about them anyway. Their original names are Goose and Zuwham. Goose is a pretty on the nose name for a bird guy. Zuwham on the other hand is a weird one but after cracking my head about for a while I think it might come from some japanese onomatopoeia for sliding or thumping, and "wham". That because this guy is heavily based on the bouncing ball enemies from Shining in the Darkness, while Goose is based on a treasure chest enemy from there as well.

[Edit: I've since realized that Kayla herself is based on the item shopkeeper of SitD as well. Gang's all here.]

Zak is Zed in the original version.

Monsters Mercator Island is home to people of many different species, but once you take a step out of towns and villages, you find lots of monsters crawling around. Slime An organism born spontaneously due to magical elements drifting in the atmosphere. Its body is mostly liquid, and it envelops opponents with it. It can also move by jumping. Orc Soldier A kind of monster race found anywhere in the world. They movements look sloppy, but they have strong muscles, and crush enemies swinging their axes from above their own head. They fight in groups. Rough Lips A giant carnivorous plant more than one meter tall. They're shaped like mushrooms, and the caps release strange spores. They usually hide underground, and pop up suddenly when an enemy approaches. They're slow, but relentless in their chase, frightening adventurers.

Skeleton Immortal monsters summoned from the world of the dead. Being dead spirits, they don't know fatigue and don't fear death, attacking with sharp sword skills. It might be impossible to dodge they swift stabbing? They can also avoid attacks, blocking the enemy's blade with their shield. Larva An earthworm monster with a human face. They can be larger than two meters, and move underground looking for corpse flesh. Monoeye The strongest hunter race who lives in Mercator since ancient times. Their culture is not very developed. They attack with no mercy those who come into the island. Being more than three meters tall, a swing of their clubs has massive power. They're more violent than other races.

Lizardmen A humanoid race close to reptiles, who live in marshlands and such. They look like dragonewts, but are not a dragon race. They are not very smart, but their skin is incredibly thick so their defense is high. Guard Knight Sword wielding soldiers who are the main force of the personal troops commanded by the lord of Mercator. It's unknown what species is within the armor. The thick armor gives them high defense, but their movement is slow. Unicorn Trooper A humanoid race with unicorn heads, who can be found in big amounts on the Mountain Region. They're known as a warrior race, and many work as mercenaries. They're prodigious fighters, quick and skilled at melee combat. Growl Ghost A by-product of King Nole's evil magic experiments. Swarms endlessly on enemies due to their deep grudges.

Silent Commando The most different monster race out of all summoned by King Nole. They're the dead spirits of those killed in combat during wars with the eastern countries, called by King Nole's strong magical powers. They terrify opponents attacking with absurd jumps and teleportation.

Chaos Visitor As their name says, they're visitors from Chaos, the land of the dead. These monsters too were created by King Nole's magic experiments. Besides gathering treasures, King Nole is said to have also devoted himself to arts such as alchemy and raising the dead. Maneater Monsters that look just like the chests within dungeons. They bite on people who happily approach to grab treasure. Most believe they come from the grudges of old treasures hunters lost during their hunts. Hangman Immortal monsters said to bring others to their death. To protect King Nole's throne, they were turned into their current evil forms. Many monsters were born due to King Nole in this way.

Notes on monsters: I used the japanese names here since the english one are barely used anyway, and these are more interesting. Not totally sure about the ghost one, but others should be okay.

Equipment and Items for Nigel Swords Broad Sword A regular sword made of reinforced iron. Not easy for regular humans or elves to use, though. Nigel's standard equipment. Ifrit Sword A sword engraved with enchantments of fire spirits. Incredibly rare in Mercator, only a single one is recorded to have been imported to the island. Sword of Ice A sword filled with the condensed energy of ice spirits said to reside in the northernmost point of the continent. Anything cut by this sword becomes completely frozen. Armor Leather Breast Armor made of flexible leather. Since it's light it makes movement easy, but it's not made for battle. Nigel's standard equipment. Steel Breast Chest armor made of steel treated to still have flexibility. It's strong, but its height still slows the user down. Chrome Breast Armor made with chrome, an alloy of steel and other metals. The sturdiness of the materials weakens enemy attacks pretty well.

Boots Leather Boots Like the Leather Breast, these too are made of leather. Light and easy to move in, but not trustworthy for battle. Nigel's standard equipment. Aqua Guard One size fits all boots made of a semi transparent and heat insulating gelatinous material. They're nice and cold and soft, and protect your feet.

Rings Mars Stone A ring made with polished minerals that some wizard acquired from another planet with magic. Wearing it protects your body from blood and paralyzing poisons.

EkeEke Fruit A perennial plant that looks a lot like mulberries. It is the specialty of Mercator Island and known as a energetic. They can be eaten raw, but are far more delicious when put on alcohol. Super high valued, only nobles can get their hands on them in the mainland. They're the favorite food of Friday, inhabitant of this island, and eating them gives her a boost on magic power, making her capable of healing Nigel. He hates this fruit. Antidote A weed used since ancient times as antidote to poisons. Poison from the monsters of Mercator Island can be nullified with it. Mind Repair There are monsters whose attacks cause hallucinations as well. When stricken by those, you won't be able to move in the direction you think you are. But using this medicine, you'll be free of the hallucinations and return to normal. Anti-Paralyze When struck by monsters, you may suffer strong muscular paralysis, and become unable to move for some time. This medicine restores you back to normal. It is a precious item extracted from the liver of deep-sea fish, so its price is high.

Ticket Entry ticket for the amusement center in the town of Mercator. It's not sold anywhere so it's hard to get your hands in one, but lots of people say the casino sounds super fun, so you definitely want one. Golden Goddess Statue In Mercator Island, there are many mysterious goddess statues, and the villagers make copies of them to sell as souvenirs. They boost the power used by Nigel's magic swords for a certain amount of time. They disappear after a single use. Gaia Statue A wooden statue made in the image of Gaia, guardian goddess of the earth. It is said that by holding it up you can borrow the power of earth spirits, causing a massive earthquake, but the details are unknown. They disappear after a single use. Jewels Five jewels said to be in somewhere in the island since ancient times. But no one knows their significance. Perhaps they have some relation to the treasures of King Nole…???

Notes on items: again just used the japanese names as there isn't much difference and also as someone who likes special weapon names, changing Ifrit Sword to Magic Sword is some sort of war crime. Also, the "Aqua Guard" is a peculiar name in the manual only, they're called Flame Boots in game.

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Shining Force Character Designer Yoshitaka Tamaki Has Died

[doamarierose-honoka]

Man, what’s with all the bad news lately? I’m sorry today’s been such a downer, Sega fans. I’ve saved the saddest, most serious news for last though.

Beloved artist and character designer behind some of the Shining Force and Stalker games at Climax Entertainment, Yoshitaka Tamaki, unfortunately passed away from lung cancer on July 13th, 2023 at the still-too-young age of 55. He was just recently mourned in a private funeral service, according to a post from his own twitter that was translated by Gosokkyu.

Tamaki-san’s artwork was easily recognizable with its stylized merging of anime and Disney-esce visual styles. Sega fans will remember his art best from games like Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force, Landstalker, Time Stalkers, and Shining Soul I and II, each of the Sega games he worked on during his time at Climax Entertainment, the developers of all except for the two Shining Soul games. Before all that, he got his start in the video game industry working freelance at Enix until getting noticed by Climax and asked to design art for their first Genesis game, the aforementioned Shining in the Darkness. Besides those games, he would also illustrate for games like FEDA: The Emblem of Justice (both the Super Famicom original and its Sega Saturn remake), FEDA 2: White Surge, Alundra, and Assault Suits Vaiken. Unfortunately, photos of him are rare because he was rather camera shy in life.

We at Segabits humbly thank him for gracing us with his talent and wish the best for his friends and family. His stamp on Sega and video game history will remain long into his absence.

Feel free to take in some of his amazing art from the Sega games he worked on as well as leave some best wishes and fond memories in the comments after the break.

[randomisedgaming]

In rather sad news last week it was announced on his twitter and covered on TimeExtension, that the artist Yoshitaka Tamaki had sadly passed away in July of this year. He drew the iconic artwork for many of the games including The Shining Series, Landstalker, Alundra, FEDA: The Emblem of Justice & Spectrobes.

A detailed list of many of the games he worked on can be found here: https://www.mobygames.com/person/65625/yoshitaka-tamaki/

The above artwork comes from Landstalker & Shining Force: Legacy of Great Intention.