Battle Princess Madelyn Preview
Battle Princess Madelyn Hits Kickstarter
Updated 3/15/17
Battle Princess Madelyn has been announced as coming to the Nintendo Switch, as well as a host of other platforms. The developers have taken their project to Kickstarter to try and generate enough money to finish the game.
Right now, assuming you were solely interested in a digital copy of the game, you could join The Connoisseur – Early Bird pledge for $35 Canadian (about $22 US). Check the official Kickstarter page for details on how to pledge, if you so choose.
Causal Bit Games has today launched its Kickstarter for Battle Princess Madelyn, seeking a modest goal of $60,000 CAD and unlocked the Pre-Alpha to the public to sample pledging!
Set to release on Nintendo Switch and Wii U, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Battle Princess Madelyn looks to honor classics such as Ghouls N’ Ghosts and Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap. Although the game style may be pleasantly familiar, the game has its own distinct and unique qualities and features – including an original story written by a professional children’s author that has hand drawn artwork bringing the game to life.
“After what seems like an eternity, we’re finally ready to show the world Battle Princess Madelyn! We’ve been hard at work over the last few months refining our Pre-Alpha build in order to let our fans sample our game before they pledge on our Kickstarter.” said Creative Director at Causal Bit Games, Christopher Obritsch. “We are also pleased to reveal that we have teamed up with Limited Run Games to offer some incredible physical rewards for supporting us on our crowdfunding journey and beyond. Play our Pre-Alpha and if you like it, please support our campaign!”
Game Features Include:
– Old School gameplay and presentation
– A mixture of gameplay styles all merge to become one polished offering
– Soundtrack by John McCarthy of Nintendo Quest fame & a true retro style FM/PCM arcade style soundtrack by the legendary Gryzor87
– Utilization of the Unity engine giving incredible dynamic lighting effects
– Special (and secret) weapons for special occasions
– Ten levels, with up to five stages each, with some hidden for players to discover
– Plus much, much more
Original Preview:
Battle Princess Madelyn has been announced for the Nintendo Switch. It’s also coming to other platforms, but it’s great to see so much Switch love recently, and this one looks really spectacular.
If you grew up as a gamer in the ’80s, chances are you came across Ghosts ‘N Goblins or its sequels, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. All of them were fun side-scrolling action games with a knight as the hero off to rescue the princess against all sorts of diabolical supernatural beings. They were tough as nails and each stage had to be memorized in order to make the precise platform jumping and to eliminate the hordes of enemies.
Battle Princess Madelyn takes many of the endearing qualities of that series to create something new. You play as a princess, who is a young knight in training (who says girls can’t be knights?) and must save her kingdom from an evil wizard.
The game’s graphics really capture the arcade and Sega Genesis color palette and give it a distinct nostalgic look. The hand drawn pixels look fantastic and it’s nice to see a more 16-bit take on gaming as the 8-bit style has been done to death in recent years.
One of the hallmark traits of the Ghouls ‘N Ghosts games are their bone-crushing difficulties. It appears this title will feature self-adjusting difficulty, which should allow for a wide range of gamers to properly enjoy the game. This is a nice touch, especially since the gaming market is so saturated with games these days (especially on Steam) that overly difficult games could be abandoned quickly because there are so many other games just waiting to be played.
There’s not currently an official release date for Battle Princess Madelyn. It did just get a Steam Greenlight page, so if you would like to express your interest on the PC version, be sure to do so. We will keep you updated as more details are divulged. We like what we’re seeing so far, and hope it turns out to be as fun as it looks!
Battle Princess Madelyn is a game that follows the journey of a young knight in training, Madelyn, and her ghostly pet dog, Fritzy. They set out on a journey to save her kingdom and her family from the clutches of an evil wizard.
Set in the vein of classic Ghouls N’ Ghosts and Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap, the instantly classic and familiar gameplay will transport old-school gamers back to their heyday, and the self-adjusting difficulty will allow for even the most novice of gamer to pick up and play!
Join Madelyn as she battles through graveyards, swamps, castles, the countryside and more! Polished gameplay, breath taking visuals, jaw-dropping dual soundtracks and epic adventures await!
HOT GAMEPLAY FEATURES!
– A mix of fast paced classic arcade action with the adventure elements of classic console games from the golden age of console gaming.
– Amazingly detailed hand drawn pixel art brought to life by the magical lighting of the Unity Engine.
– Battle Princess Madelyn can be played through quickly as an arcade game, or for the full experience stop at towns to help the locals! How you play to complete the story depends on your personal choice!
– Find all of the collectibles hidden throughout the stages for extra rewards, and additional hidden stages!
– 10 levels, each of which include up to 5 stages – including 1 or 2 branching hidden stages!
– Fully re-playable stages at any point – if you’ve unlocked it, you can play it as much as you want!
– Combo meters for destroying and juggling enemies!
– 10 types of weapons which change with the 3 sets of armor found in game!
– Up to 10 unique enemies per level!
– Your ghostly dog companion, Fritzy, gains powers as you progress through the game allowing you to unlock puzzles and otherwise inaccessible areas of stages!
– Special weapons for special occasions! If an area calls for a unique ability, search the area for the needed item!
– An original story written by a professional children’s author.
– A story that spans the globe and time! A story told by her grandfather while she is sick, Madelyn will experience life as her magical portal traveling counter part and will save her family no matter where they are in the world.AN AMAZING DUAL SOUNDTRACK!
– Two completely different soundtracks to suit your tastes! Classic Arcade FM/PCM to set the hectic pacing, or Modern Orchestrated to set the mood for the scene!
– Arcade Soundtrack by Gryzor87 of Maldita Castila fame!
– Orchestrated Soundtrack by John McCarthy of Nintendo Quest fame!STUNNING VISUALS!
– Masterfully crafted pixel art by vetern pixel artist Christopher Obritsch.
– Amazing visual cut scenes to help tell the story between the action
– Dynamic lighting to add depth to the detailed pixel art!CLASSIC GAMEPLAY WITH A TWIST!
– Madelyn’s pet ghost dog “Fritzy” acts as both a weapon and a way to solve puzzles, allowing the player to strategize boss fights and manoeuver puzzles.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AND WHY DOES IT LOOK SO MUCH LIKE GHOULS N GHOSTS?!?
When Creative Director Christopher Obritsch’s daughter Madelyn wanted to be in Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, and fight “Green Head”, he said it was someone else’s game – but he could make her one that was like it. “But girls can’t be knights, Daddy. Only boys…” she said, to which he answered “Pshh…What color do you want your armor to be?”. The answer was pink 😉 And that’s how this game started. Chris’ daughter Madelyn loves the first stage of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and makes him play it over and over because she wants to see him fight “Green head”, the Shielder boss at the end of the first stage. It’s not hard for her to twist his rubber arm, as it’s been his favorite game since it came out all those years ago.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
