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Slowly building the Squad. Cormac got added as my "seasonal that I can play while the husband is busy" character. The only problem I have with his build is that the Barbarian is apparently forbidden to smile. Which is sooooo not my lovable boy. So have him looking confused instead.
References below the cut. Just because I'm so pleased with how they are turning out.
some more julians (second image is a colleb with my friendo minkiefury)
"A respectable queen fights alongside her people. Not pristine and protected on a pedestal guarded by her subjects." -Cassandra
For Christmas I drew all my friends DnD characters. I did it in about a week and a half and I’m not super pleased with them all but I did my best. So here’s 2/5. Varis, Xurek & Miranda, who belong to my friend Austin! @kampaustin #dnd #dungeonsanddragons #elf #highelf #halforc #orc #cleric #mystic #wizard #barabrian #oc #friendsoc #art #digitalart #myart
*Barabra sees Ian* // *Doctor sees Jamie*
(x) (x)
RASTAN: BARBARIAN BEEF-CAKE!
In the 1980's we were inundated with greased up muscle men. Considering the games industry at the time wasn't taken very seriously as anything other than little boys toys, one wonders who Marketers where targeting with all this pumped up man-skin? After all, I was a wee lad in the 80's and I don't remember any of my friends reading their mums Mills and Boon novels, well there was this one kid.
The Fabulous Fabio! Thanks to the box office success of Conan the Barbarian as well as the He-Man cartoon and toy-line being every kids favourite thing, Sword and Sorcery was big business. This was a golden age for sword swinging mayhem and we were spoiled for choice with hundreds of decapitatingly entertaining titles. Chief, in my opinion, being the Mortal Kombat of its day, proto-one on one fighter Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior. Also known as Death Sword.
Stay tuned because at the end of this blog I'm going to thrown down a direct link between this series and Rastan Saga using magic, that being threatened, lets move onto one arcade Chippendale who's remembered particularly fondly. Taito's 1987 epic platform hack 'em up Rastan.
Rastan is a pretty well known Arcade game and is similar to other fantasy games of the period like Rygar and Castlevania. Rastan stands out because of its great graphics, fist pumping soundtrack and fast as you like action, as well as it's fox headed bats and LIzard strangulation.
It also had a wonderfully illustrated Arcade cabinet that really tuned into the Masters of the Universe craze.
Rastan himself was a cute little barbarian beef-cake who had decided that he was allergic to all clothing except for loin cloths and metal cod-pieces. He would slice his way through a variety of cool monsters, mostly taken from Greek mythology, using multiple weapons, his trusty sword, a fire ball sword, an Axe and a Morning star.
He was in no way a shallow imitation of Conan and I curse anyone with steel who says otherwise.
Nope, not seeing it. The game didn't have a discernible plot. Just some blurb about how Rastan made his fortune slaying bastards and stealing their gold, all in the name of slowly working his way up to becoming a grumpy old muscle-king. Most of the accompanying artwork implies that he really had a problem with Lizard men
In the Japanese original, titled Rastan Saga. There are expository cut-scenes explaining how he intends to hack a Dragons focking head off for cash. These were cut from the Western release. Possibly because the distributors weren't sure if Rastan was wearing any underpants.
Rastan was a pretty big hit and was ported to virtually every home computer and console. The Zx Spectrum release is considered one of the finest titles on the machine and the Sega Master System and Game Gear conversions are notable for having different level design to the Coin-op whilst still maintaining the core game play.
In fact only the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC ports are lacklustre and they're still pretty playable. The Amstrad game does redeem itself by having the goofiest loading screen.
Smile you're on Rastan Cam. RASTAN SAGA 2: AKA Nastar or some such shit. So successful was our man Rastan that he returned for the sequel Rastan Saga 2.
Known over in the West as Nastar or Nastar Warrior for some reason, possibly due to a typo, this sequel was not as well received. Mainly because it was primo-bunk. It was only deemed worthy of a single home port by Sega which was probably for the best. It's really just a load of crap about opening fires.
You would think the addition of a two player mode and some funky new weapons like the Wolverine style claws would up the appeal but Nastar just falls flat in so many ways.
Rastan accompanied by the Player 2 character Blackstan. The platforming is inherently broken and while chunky sprites are often a good thing these just look awful even for the time. Like shuffling cardboard cut-outs, lacking the visual flare of the original game. It really is unusual for a sequel to have inferior graphics to its predecessor yet here we are.
It's a shame that Rastan Saga 2 was such an utter crock of fock because it meant that nobody wanted to risk releasing the 3rd game outside of Japan and man but they should of cos it's kick ass, balls to the wall, king of the jews awesome! RASTAN SAGA 3: Mind balls get blown! Few people outside Japan have played Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga 3 but nowadays thanks to the glory of M.A.M.E arcade emulation it is finally here for all to enjoy. Basically, if you like Golden Axe then you're going to dig this.
Nope, still don't see the Conan thing. Warrior Blade steps away from the platforming roots of the previous games into the 2.5D perspective of our favourite Final Fighting beat em ups. Rastan was back strangling Lizards.
"I hate thee Lizard!" The Arcade Cabinet was unique for having a double screen, giving it a nice cinema-scope look, and it gives us two more playable characters. The whip wielding Sophia, who definitely isn't Red Sonia, and the unfortunately named Dewey. Don't let his dumb name fool you though as this guy is no village idiot, he's a hardcore ninja bastard.
We're also introduced (although it's implied that he's a reformed villain from the first game) to a fourth NPC character. A mighty wizard with an unpronounceable name.
After finding a power up this guy follows you around and performs screen clearing magic when you knee him in the groin or ass. I shit you not.
Again there is little plot other than Rastan having another get rich quick scheme involving killing Lizards. We get some nice little cut-scenes between levels but they give little exposition except to imply that Rastan likes sparkly things and may also be a Jedi knight.
For a game from 1991 it has superb graphics and some nice action set pieces to break up the usual monotonous hack und slash. Such as a high octane, or hoctaine, chase on horseback.
…and this literally beastie vertically scrolling level, riding dragons like a heavy metal mother.
It's also a surprisingly violent game. Although the blood letting is so fast that it's blink and you miss it stuff. keen aficionados of the pause button are going to see things that will make them loose their lunch.
Yes those are his intestines.
"Mahadidekaradi approves of bursting Lizards!" The character design is also top-notch with some great screen filling bosses. All of the mythological beast boxes get ticked with celebrity appearances such as when they release the Kraken.
…and everyone's favourite multi-headed serpentine, the Hydra.
All, of course, can be pulped into bloody mashed potato.
So awesome are some of these boss fights that one or two look like they've escaped from a heavy metal poster.
Here Rastan takes on a Black Sabbath album. So all in all. There is a lot to like about Rastan's third outing. if you're a Golden Axe fan wanting more shameless barbarian tosh than I heartily recommend downloading it and calling an equally brutish friend over to assist you. It's a rollicking slash fest.
…but was it the final Rastan game? Technically no and here's that Barbarian magic I promised at the beginning of this blog. Not so many moons back when Game Cube, Xbox and PS2 where our gods a Warrior Blade reboot was created for the Japanese Game Cube.
When this was released in the West it was re-titled to appear as a re-boot of the entirely different, but identically themed franchise, Barbarian. Some ports even featured a bonus 3D version of the original Barbarian game.
That's right, just call me Skull Groin! So that concludes my blog on all things Rastanian. If you want to read more I have a fair few articles floating about on Mature Gaming.com, just don't expect as much nudity as this blog.
Christmas Milling.
