Young Merlin (Super NES, 1994)

Young Merlin is a game that was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games in 1994 for the Super Nintendo. The game could best be described as an action RPG and was in fact compared to Zelda in some reviews. Despite this, it never gained near the popularity of Zelda or many other similar games.

The plot of Young Merlin revolves, of course, around a young Merlin whose role you play. In an attempt to save a drowning woman, you get sucked into a fantasy world. Apparently, the girl you were trying to rescue was also sucked into this world and kidnapped by a Shadow King. Now it is your job to rescue her from an even more difficult situation.

Much like Zelda: A Link to the Past, you journey around this virtual world from an overhead view in an action style game. There are many enemies to fight, spells to gather, puzzles to solve and inhabitants to interact with among other things. One interesting unique aspect of the game is that conversations are handled with icons vs. text. Also, games are saved via password instead of battery.

Young Merlin got mostly positive reviews with very few exceptions. The biggest complaints seem to be that the game was too easy and could be repetitive. I'm not sure what the sales numbers were but it does not seem to have been all that popular. Possibly based on the name it was perceived to be more of a kids game. However, it is a decent action RPG if you like games in the style of Zelda.

If you do want to give it a try, finding an original cartridge or resorting to emulation would appear to be your only options. Young Merlin was only released on the Super Nintendo and has not appeared in any subsequent compilations or re-releases.

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