Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima

Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima (マーヴェラス ～もうひとつの宝島～, lit. "Marvelous: Another Treasure Island") is a video game for the Super Famicom. It is the first title directed by Eiji Aonuma, and was published and released in Japan by Nintendo. Two special versions of this game titled BS Marvelous: Time Athletic (BSマーヴェラス タイムアスレチック) and BS Marvelous: Camp Arnold (BSマーヴェラス キャンプアーノルド) were released for the Satellaview.

Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima
Original Japanese Super Famicom boxart
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D2
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Eiji Aonuma
Producer(s)Masayuki Uemura
Programmer(s)Yasunari Soejima
Composer(s)Yuichi Ozaki
Platform(s)Super Famicom
Release
  • JP: October 26, 1996
Genre(s)Adventure/role-playing video game
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot synopsis

Long ago, the seas were ruled by treasure-seeking pirates. The most famous of these was the legendary Captain Maverick, who supposedly left a great treasure known as "Marvelous", guarded by unsolvable puzzles and bizarre creatures. Countless adventurers have gone looking for the "Marvelous", but none have seen it and returned alive. Many years later, a group of children on a field trip landed on the island, which was rumored to house the "Marvelous".

Main characters

Dion (ディオン) (in red and brown; age 12) – He is short but spirited. He is a fast runner and a good pitcher. His small size allows him to get into places where the other two boys will not fit. Putting him at the head of the team will make them walk faster.

Max (マックス) (in green; age 12) – He is the largest and strongest of the three. He likes to eat, but also likes to play soccer and swim. He is also a good boxer. He also can lift up heavy objects.

Jack (ジャック) (in blue and red; age 12) – He is the smartest of the three. He is good with his hands. He likes to build things and work with machines. He is a good jumper. He is taller than the others, which comes in handy if the player needs to get to something high.

Ms. Gina (ジーナ先生) – She is the teacher of the three boys. She gave the boys a Leader Hat, which looks like a cowboy hat, but it helps them know who leads the group. She also gave them a Whistle, which allows the leader to call and bring the other two boys back to him.

Gameplay

The game was influenced by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.[1] The game has a top down viewpoint, and an additional cursor can be used to search objects on screen.[2]

The player controls three boys across the land by the bird's-eye view. A command window will pop up whenever the player encounter an object or person. The window will give the player choices on what to do with the person or thing, like picking up objects, talking, or reading.

The BS Marvelous games are based on the idea of stamp collecting. Stamps are obtained from non-player characters in the gameworld, but they must be retrieved in a specific order. Clues to the location of the next stamp are given in-game and via SoundLink voice. The goal is to collect as many stamps as possible in the time available. Players could compete against each other by sending in their scores to win prizes.

Development

This was the first game directed by Eiji Aonuma.[3][4] Aonuma wanted to work on a Zelda game ever since he had played The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and made Marvelous as close to Zelda as he could.[5] The game uses the engine from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.[6]

In a move which Aonuma attributes to his position on the Marvelous team, Miyamoto recruited him to join the development team for the Zelda series.[4][5] Aonuma then worked on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.[7]

Release

Marvelous: Another Treasure Island was released on October 26, 1996, for the Super Famicom.[8] The game was only released in Japan.[9] The game was released late into the lifespan of the Super Famicom, when Nintendo was not investing into language localizations for the system outside of Japan.[10] At this time, Nintendo wanted to focus instead on the newly released Nintendo 64.[6] The poor sales of Earthbound is also cited as another reason.[10]

BS Marvelous: Time Athletic was considered for re-release in 2003 as a stand-alone game that later became The Legend of Zelda spinoff title Tetra's Trackers.[11] Although the stand-alone Tetra's Trackers was ultimately cancelled, the game's code was included in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords+ (the Japanese version of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures) as the Navi Trackers minigame. Among the oxbow code remaining in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords+ can be found 3D character models for the original camp instructor from the BS Marvelous games as well as maps taken directly from BS Marvelous: Time Athletic.[12]

Marvelous: Mōhitotsu no Takarajima was released on the Japanese Virtual Console for the Wii U on February 12, 2014.[8][13] In 2016, a complete English language fan translation of the game was released.[14][15]

Legacy

In 2014, IGN placed the game as 118 on their list of 125 top Nintendo developed games of all time.[9]

The Nintendo 3DS title The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is considered to be a spiritual successor to Marvelous: Another Treasure Island.[16]

Dion, Max and Jack appear as a singular unlockable "Spirit" in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

References
  1. "A Link to Zelda's Future". IGN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
  2. "スーパーファミコンミニが発売されたら、収録してほしいソフト、教えてプリーズ！！". 電ファミニコゲーマー – ゲームの面白い記事読んでみない？ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-10-23. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. Otero, Jose (2013-10-15). "A Link Between Worlds' Impact on Zelda's Past, Present, and Future". IGN. Archived from the original on 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  4. Szczepaniak, John. "Before They Were Famous". Retro Gamer. Imagine Publishing (35): 77.
  5. "シリーズ初の続編は、いかにして生まれたのか。『ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース２』青沼プロデューサーインタビュー - ファミ通.com". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). 26 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. "Eight great SNES games that never made it to the U.S." destructoid. Archived from the original on 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. "「ゼルダの伝説」のフランチャイズの進化について "ゼルダらしさ"を損なわず、継承と変革を判断する". game.watch.impress.co.jp. Archived from the original on 2018-06-02. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  8. "マーヴェラス 〜もうひとつの宝島〜 [スーパーファミコン]". Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  9. "The Top 125 Nintendo Games of All Time". IGN. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2018-11-19.
  10. "Forgottendo: 10 Nintendo Games You've Probably Never Heard Of". USgamer.net. Archived from the original on 2018-09-02. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  11. Aonuma, Eiji. 駆け込み大改変？　開発スタッフインタビュー Archived 2018-07-31 at the Wayback Machine (development staff interview). Nintendo.co.jp. March 2004.
  12. Iwant. Marvelous: Mouhitotsu no Takarajima Archived 2018-03-22 at the Wayback Machine. HardcoreGaming101. 2 March 2014.
  13. "マーヴェラス ～もうひとつの宝島～ | Wii U | 任天堂". 任天堂ホームページ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  14. "Eiji Aonuma's Marvelous: Another Treasure Island Gets A Definitive Fan Translation - Siliconera". Siliconera. 2016-01-04. Archived from the original on 2018-08-19. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  15. "Eiji Aonuma's First Game recieves [sic] A Fresh English Language Patch". Nintendo Life. 2016-01-05. Archived from the original on 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  16. 株式会社インプレス (2015-06-20). "息を合わせたプレイ必須！ 「ゼルダの伝説 トライフォース3銃士」 「マーヴェラス ～もうひとつの宝島～」の精神的続編を期待？". GAME Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
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