The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, known in Japan as Riz-Zoawd, is a role-playing video game developed by Japanese developer Media.Vision for the Nintendo DS. The game is an adaptation of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, using its characters, locations and plot. The game was originally published in Japan by D3 Publisher on December 25, 2008. Xseed Games published the game in North America on September 29, 2009.
Gameplay is restricted entirely to the Touchscreen. Moving Dorothy requires the player to use the stylus to move the green trackball on the bottom screen. Battles take place in a first-person view similar to such games as Dragon Quest and Earthbound. Along the way, Dorothy and company gain abilities by meeting the elemental spirits and by defeating the dragon masters. Each time the group defeats a dragon master, they will gain spells and skills, such as the ability to heal or to lower an enemy's defense parameter. Since the party never naturally learns any spells or abilities via leveling up, it is imperative to seek out the dragon masters and challenge them. The elemental spirits function as exploration items during dungeon excursions, similar to the Tools system from the Wild Arms series, and are generally used to open doors that lead to rare treasures and additional areas that were previously inaccessible.
Each party member specializes in combat against a specific type of enemy and thus their physical attacks do more damage to that species. For example, Dorothy excels at dealing with ghost-types while Lion best handles beast-types. Combat is set up in a unique system where each of the four companions can attack based on an allotment of slots per turn. Every turn, the party always has four slots to utilize and each party member uses a specific number of slots when selected to perform any action; Dorothy and Scarecrow each use one slot, Lion uses two, and Tin Man uses three. This means that Tin Man can only ever perform one action per turn and that Lion can never attack in the same round with him. Characters who don't participate in a round of combat are safe from damage, allowing for some strategy as to who should act and who should stay on the sidelines.
Plotedit
The game follows Dorothy and her group of friends as they complete a task for the Wizard of Oz. He asks them to defeat four different witches. After this, he promises to grant each of the companions' wishes.
Each of the witches has magical eggs that the player is supposed to collect. There are ten in all: three each in the spring, summer, and fall levels, and one in the winter level. After the player gets these, Oz turns against them and they have to travel the yellow brick road to defeat him. Once in the castle there is only one way out, which is to defeat Oz.
Charactersedit
The game's depiction of the Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man and Scarecrow
Dorothy Gale: The protagonist, who, with her dog Toto, ended up in the land of OZ after being sucked into a tornado. They must complete Oz's task in order to grant her wish of returning home.
Scarecrow: A friendly scarecrow Dorothy meets who, while an optimist, lacks a brain.
Tin Man: A metal woodsman Dorothy encounters in the woods who lacks a heart. Unlike other iterations of the character, Tin Man is incapable of speaking intelligibly and simply makes loud metallic grunts to communicate with others.
Cowardly Lion: A lion who lacks courage, who Dorthy meets after the Scarecrow.
Protea, The Witch of the Winter: Her domain is south of Oz Castle. She is the mother of the three witch Sisters. (She is this game's interpretation of Glinda the Good.)
Delphi, the Summer Witch: A carefree witch whose only wish is to live a fun and enjoyable life. She is a free spirit but can be a bit unpredictable.
Holly, the Autumn Witch: Although she is the oldest, she takes childish pleasure in scaring people.
Flora, the Spring Witch: A gentle-hearted witch who loves flowers. She is around Dorthy's age and not so secretly hopes to be friends with her.
Cat Hoods: Catlike beings that serve the Three Witch Sisters.
Oz: The ruler of OZ Castle. (The game's interpretation of the "Great and Powerful" Oz.) His primary role in the game is to fully heal the party as well as sell them items and equipment.
Developmentedit
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was developed by the Japanese video game studio Media.Vision, the company behind the Wild Arms series. The game was produced by Wild Arms designer Tetsuya Okubo and directed by Nobuo Nakazawa, who joined the company starting with Wild Arms 2.[3] The game's Japanese title, RIZ-ZOAWD, is an anagram of "Wizard" and "Oz". According to Nakazawa, the name come about through Japan's "tendency to like meaningless enumerations of letters and coined words" and that they chose the title because "it had a ring to it, the feeling of the word, and it sounded good to our ears".[4]
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was first unveiled in the Japanese magazine Famitsu in June 2008, and was later shown in more detail at the Tokyo Game Show months later.[5] The game includes a limited edition music CD for its initial release in Japan, featuring six tracks including the game's title theme, composed and performed by Michiko Naruke and Kaori Asoh respectively. Xseed Games announced in July 2009 that they had acquired the North American publishing rights to the game with licensing by Warner Bros.[6]
The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7]IGN reviewer Mark Bozon said, "It's great for younger (or casual) players, and it's also a haven for awesome RPGs – seldom is it both at once though...The Wizard of Oz is all about compromise, since the game is literally out to satisfy two very different crowds, it's simple enough for newcomers while still being deep enough for open-minded hardcore players too." He also went on to praise the use of the trackball running/walking tool (calling it "catchy") and the sole use of the Nintendo DS's touch screen function.[14] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of one seven, one eight, one seven, and one six for a total of 28 out of 40.[9]
Referencesedit
^IGN staff (September 29, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Now Shipping for Nintendo DS". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^"『RIZ-ZOAWD』の発売日が1週間前倒し！ 12月25日に変更" ["RIZ-ZOAWD" release date one week ahead of schedule! Changed to December 25]. Dengeki (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. November 25, 2008. from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Tanaka, John (June 13, 2008). "Wild Arms Developers Bring Wizard of Oz RPG to the DS". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Spencer (September 25, 2009). "What's In A Name? Origins of "Riz-Zoawd"". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Tanaka, John (September 3, 2008). "CESA Shares Partial TGS Game List". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Sahdev, Ishaan (July 20, 2009). "Xseed Confirms The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road". Siliconera. Enthusiast Gaming. from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^ ab"The Wizard of Oz: Beyond The Yellow Brick Road for DS Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
^Liang, Alice (October 27, 2009). . 1Up.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^ abValay, Brian (December 17, 2008). "Famitsu review scores". Nintendo Everything. from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Moore, Raychul (September 29, 2009). . GamePro. GamePro Media. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Windy (November 17, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Stella, Shiva (November 12, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review". GameSpot. Red Ventures. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
^Sykes, Tom (October 1, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road review". GamesRadar+. Future plc. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
^ abBozon, Mark (October 5, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
^"The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road". Nintendo Power. Vol. 246. Future US. October 2009. p. 90.
^Balicki, Lukasz (November 9, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
^Marchello, Sam (September 29, 2009). "[The] Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road - Staff Review". RPGamer. CraveOnline. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
^Wallace, Kimberly (November 7, 2009). "The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road". RPGFan. Emerald Shield Media LLC. from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
External linksedit
The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road at MobyGames
April 10, 2024
wizard, beyond, yellow, brick, road, known, japan, zoawd, role, playing, video, game, developed, japanese, developer, media, vision, nintendo, game, adaptation, frank, baum, 1900, novel, wonderful, wizard, using, characters, locations, plot, game, originally, . The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road known in Japan as Riz Zoawd is a role playing video game developed by Japanese developer Media Vision for the Nintendo DS The game is an adaptation of L Frank Baum s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz using its characters locations and plot The game was originally published in Japan by D3 Publisher on December 25 2008 Xseed Games published the game in North America on September 29 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick RoadNorth American box artDeveloper s Media VisionPublisher s JP D3 PublisherNA Xseed GamesDirector s Nobuo NakazawaProducer s Tetsuya OkuboComposer s Hitoshi SakimotoMichiko NarukeMasaharu IwataPlatform s Nintendo DSReleaseJP December 25 2008 2 NA September 30 2009 1 Genre s Role playingMode s Single player Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 2 1 Characters 3 Development 4 Reception 5 References 6 External linksGameplay editGameplay is restricted entirely to the Touchscreen Moving Dorothy requires the player to use the stylus to move the green trackball on the bottom screen Battles take place in a first person view similar to such games as Dragon Quest and Earthbound Along the way Dorothy and company gain abilities by meeting the elemental spirits and by defeating the dragon masters Each time the group defeats a dragon master they will gain spells and skills such as the ability to heal or to lower an enemy s defense parameter Since the party never naturally learns any spells or abilities via leveling up it is imperative to seek out the dragon masters and challenge them The elemental spirits function as exploration items during dungeon excursions similar to the Tools system from the Wild Arms series and are generally used to open doors that lead to rare treasures and additional areas that were previously inaccessible Each party member specializes in combat against a specific type of enemy and thus their physical attacks do more damage to that species For example Dorothy excels at dealing with ghost types while Lion best handles beast types Combat is set up in a unique system where each of the four companions can attack based on an allotment of slots per turn Every turn the party always has four slots to utilize and each party member uses a specific number of slots when selected to perform any action Dorothy and Scarecrow each use one slot Lion uses two and Tin Man uses three This means that Tin Man can only ever perform one action per turn and that Lion can never attack in the same round with him Characters who don t participate in a round of combat are safe from damage allowing for some strategy as to who should act and who should stay on the sidelines Plot editThe game follows Dorothy and her group of friends as they complete a task for the Wizard of Oz He asks them to defeat four different witches After this he promises to grant each of the companions wishes Each of the witches has magical eggs that the player is supposed to collect There are ten in all three each in the spring summer and fall levels and one in the winter level After the player gets these Oz turns against them and they have to travel the yellow brick road to defeat him Once in the castle there is only one way out which is to defeat Oz Characters edit nbsp The game s depiction of the Cowardly Lion Dorothy Toto Tin Man and ScarecrowDorothy Gale The protagonist who with her dog Toto ended up in the land of OZ after being sucked into a tornado They must complete Oz s task in order to grant her wish of returning home Scarecrow A friendly scarecrow Dorothy meets who while an optimist lacks a brain Tin Man A metal woodsman Dorothy encounters in the woods who lacks a heart Unlike other iterations of the character Tin Man is incapable of speaking intelligibly and simply makes loud metallic grunts to communicate with others Cowardly Lion A lion who lacks courage who Dorthy meets after the Scarecrow Protea The Witch of the Winter Her domain is south of Oz Castle She is the mother of the three witch Sisters She is this game s interpretation of Glinda the Good Delphi the Summer Witch A carefree witch whose only wish is to live a fun and enjoyable life She is a free spirit but can be a bit unpredictable Holly the Autumn Witch Although she is the oldest she takes childish pleasure in scaring people Flora the Spring Witch A gentle hearted witch who loves flowers She is around Dorthy s age and not so secretly hopes to be friends with her Cat Hoods Catlike beings that serve the Three Witch Sisters Oz The ruler of OZ Castle The game s interpretation of the Great and Powerful Oz His primary role in the game is to fully heal the party as well as sell them items and equipment Development editThe Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was developed by the Japanese video game studio Media Vision the company behind the Wild Arms series The game was produced by Wild Arms designer Tetsuya Okubo and directed by Nobuo Nakazawa who joined the company starting with Wild Arms 2 3 The game s Japanese title RIZ ZOAWD is an anagram of Wizard and Oz According to Nakazawa the name come about through Japan s tendency to like meaningless enumerations of letters and coined words and that they chose the title because it had a ring to it the feeling of the word and it sounded good to our ears 4 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road was first unveiled in the Japanese magazine Famitsu in June 2008 and was later shown in more detail at the Tokyo Game Show months later 5 The game includes a limited edition music CD for its initial release in Japan featuring six tracks including the game s title theme composed and performed by Michiko Naruke and Kaori Asoh respectively Xseed Games announced in July 2009 that they had acquired the North American publishing rights to the game with licensing by Warner Bros 6 Reception editReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreMetacritic68 100 7 Review scoresPublicationScore1Up comC 8 Famitsu28 40 9 GamePro nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 10 GameRevolutionC 11 GameSpot5 5 10 12 GamesRadar nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 13 IGN8 10 14 Nintendo Power6 5 10 15 Nintendo World Report8 10 16 RPGamer3 5 5 17 RPGFan85 18 The game received average reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic 7 IGN reviewer Mark Bozon said It s great for younger or casual players and it s also a haven for awesome RPGs seldom is it both at once though The Wizard of Oz is all about compromise since the game is literally out to satisfy two very different crowds it s simple enough for newcomers while still being deep enough for open minded hardcore players too He also went on to praise the use of the trackball running walking tool calling it catchy and the sole use of the Nintendo DS s touch screen function 14 In Japan Famitsu gave it a score of one seven one eight one seven and one six for a total of 28 out of 40 9 References edit IGN staff September 29 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Now Shipping for Nintendo DS IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on June 21 2022 Retrieved June 21 2022 RIZ ZOAWD の発売日が1週間前倒し 12月25日に変更 RIZ ZOAWD release date one week ahead of schedule Changed to December 25 Dengeki in Japanese ASCII Media Works November 25 2008 Archived from the original on May 11 2021 Retrieved June 21 2022 Tanaka John June 13 2008 Wild Arms Developers Bring Wizard of Oz RPG to the DS IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on June 21 2022 Retrieved June 21 2022 Spencer September 25 2009 What s In A Name Origins of Riz Zoawd Siliconera Enthusiast Gaming Archived from the original on February 19 2019 Retrieved June 21 2022 Tanaka John September 3 2008 CESA Shares Partial TGS Game List IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on June 21 2022 Retrieved June 21 2022 Sahdev Ishaan July 20 2009 Xseed Confirms The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Siliconera Enthusiast Gaming Archived from the original on May 24 2022 Retrieved June 21 2022 a b The Wizard of Oz Beyond The Yellow Brick Road for DS Reviews Metacritic Red Ventures Archived from the original on June 8 2020 Retrieved September 5 2021 Liang Alice October 27 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review 1Up com Ziff Davis Archived from the original on June 9 2016 Retrieved June 21 2022 a b Valay Brian December 17 2008 Famitsu review scores Nintendo Everything Archived from the original on April 25 2018 Retrieved June 21 2022 Moore Raychul September 29 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road GamePro GamePro Media Archived from the original on October 3 2009 Retrieved June 21 2022 Windy November 17 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review GameRevolution CraveOnline Archived from the original on October 9 2015 Retrieved June 21 2022 Stella Shiva November 12 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review GameSpot Red Ventures Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved September 5 2021 Sykes Tom October 1 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road review GamesRadar Future plc Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved September 5 2021 a b Bozon Mark October 5 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review IGN Ziff Davis Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved September 5 2021 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Nintendo Power Vol 246 Future US October 2009 p 90 Balicki Lukasz November 9 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Review Nintendo World Report NINWR LLC Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved September 5 2021 Marchello Sam September 29 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Staff Review RPGamer CraveOnline Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved June 21 2022 Wallace Kimberly November 7 2009 The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road RPGFan Emerald Shield Media LLC Archived from the original on September 6 2021 Retrieved September 5 2021 External links editThe Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road at MobyGames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Wizard of Oz Beyond the Yellow Brick Road amp oldid 1212440692, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
