Few can argue that Arkista’s Ring is one of the most obscure NES games released in the US officially. Growing up I never saw it in stores, never read about it in magazines, and never saw it at a rental shop. Hell I’ve played through it and still find it hard to believe it actually exists. Now before you get the idea that this is some long lost classic, it’s not. While Arkista’s Ring is certainly interesting it is also incredibly shallow and unfortunately suffers due to its ridiculous length.
As the Elf Princess Christine arrows are your primary weapon. The bow is weak and arrows only travel a short distance initially. These can be upgraded through random drops up through eight stages. Your life bar starts at five hearts but collecting armor pieces extends it considerably, up to ten hit points. For some odd reason there is a score but it is meaningless just like the stupid wealth amulet that increases it.
The large list of other secondary items are not however. The thunder staff clears all enemies on screen (usually) while the holy stick does the same to the undead. The fire wand is incredibly powerful and passes through walls while potions and hearts restore health. At first your inventory is small but will more than likely be upgraded over the length of the game to seven slots. There are number of rarer items such as the elf mirror that protects against all projectiles, even from the final boss. For beating the final boss you get the Arkista Ring in the title which restores a point of health every ten steps. If you have the fortitude to keep going after stage 31 it is absolutely crucial to your survival.
The object of every level is simple. Kill a certain number of enemies until a specific one appears who holds to the key to the level’s exit. For each level the amount of enemies you need to kill varies but most stages only take a few minutes. Later levels introduce false walls for shortcuts and trick exits that spawn more enemies but nothing too complicated. There are a few boss battles though you’ll hardly notice as these encounters are introduced with no fanfare. Part of the disappointment comes from the fact that most enemies largely ignore you until you get close and are so braindead they pose little threat. Depending on the map layout it might get tricky at times but is nothing your inflated inventory can’t handle. And that is part of the problem.
There is nothing wrong with simplicity as long as the game is designed around it but here it isn’t. Arkista’s Ring feels like half of a game. It is almost as if someone designed a Zelda inspired adventure but stripped out everything except the dungeons and combat. It has all the elements of an action RPG in the making but only implements half of them. The repetition of the game’s setup is enhanced by the ease with which you will cruise through the game, at least up until a certain point.
For the majority of the time spent you will find the game incredibly easy. That lasts up until Stage 22 where it spikes significantly due to one word: ninjas. Ninjas are the ultimate bad asses of the Elven Kingdom. Where most enemies are slow and barely acknowledge your presence ninjas are aggressive, attack in groups, and can finish you quickly. They are so bad ass in fact that there is an item specifically to deal with them. Ninja stunners will bring them to their knees for a few seconds. As if regular ninjas weren’t bad enough master ninjas can even jump over walls to pursue you!
As grueling as it gets later on most will brute force their way to the end due to the incredibly generous item drops. But after defeating the shogun in stage 31 the game loops, with all enemies becoming faster and stronger. Though technically there are thirty one stages you’ll have to “complete” the game four times to reach level 124 and see the true ending. To that I doubt any sane individual will bother. Even though a single run only takes a little over half an hour Arkista’s Ring is simply not interesting enough to entice anyone into playing through it four times with no passwords or battery backup. They should have quit while they were ahead.
In Closing
I found Arkista’s Ring to be a decent enough game but not so good that I would recommend it. The simple design and mechanics work well in the short term but over the course of over one hundred levels? No. There are better ways to spend your time.
