Overview
Holy Diver is an action platformer, similar to Konami's Castlevania, developed by Irem and was released in Japan on the Famicom in 1989. Much of the game was inspired by heavy metal music, such as borrowing the name of Ronnie Dio's single and LP Holy Diver and the protagonist being named after Randy Rhodes, of Quiet Riot.
A hacker/translator named Monaco released an unofficial English translation patch for Holy Diver on April 28, 2007.
Gameplay
The game’s protagonist, Randy, is a hero who must persevere through six stages of various settings, including cliffs, a castle, lava cave, ice cave and what could be the inside of a living creature, as in the Contra games. His task at hand is to seek out the five emblem seals of the King Crimson family in order to destroy the evil Black Slayer.
Randy has the ability to shoot holy fire blasts from his hands, and through defeating bosses, is given such magical fire powers as Blizzard and Thunder spells. Later on in the game, he also obtains the ability to transform into a dragon, which turns the game temporarily into a shmup.
Holy Diver features a wide array of unique enemies, ranging from demons to dragons to golems. The level bosses are huge and require using all of Randy’s magical powers and abilities. Each boss drops a power-up; Blizzard Magic, Breaker Magic, Overdrive Magic, Thunder Magic and the Cape of Protection.
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