Devil World (NES)
In the 1980s when Nintendo of America was trying to find its footing, a squeaky clean family friendly image was deemed the best route and as a result many games coming in from Japan had to censor elements. While it was easy to scrub away an image or two that was deemed too lurid or overtly religious, Devil World is a game where you use crosses and Bibles to fight an actual Devil. A fairly simple maze game, Devil World might not have earned much attention even if its theming was entirely changed, and thus it remained a Japanese and European exclusive for years. What is considered kosher for a Nintendo published title would evolve in the decades since it first skipped American shores, so in 2023 when the game was added to the Nintendo Switch Online selection of NES games in all territories, Devil World was no longer deemed inappropriate for U.S. release. 40 years of waiting wasn’t really going to have an incredible payoff since this is a fairly humble game despite the involvement of game development legend Shigeru Miyamoto, but it is nice to see that Devil World isn’t a game that feels too much like a product of its time.
Devil World stars Tamagon, an adorable little green dragon with buck teeth who finds himself in the Devil’s World. The original release of Devil World features exclusively English elements making it easy to play outside of its home country of Japan, but there are some unusual interpretations of Christian imagery found in the game that make it clear it wasn’t developed by people more familiar with the religion. The Devil himself is at least clearly meant to be more comedic than imposing, the blue-skinned fiend with his red eyes and large fangs undercut by his choice to harangue you while dressed in a red speedo and boots. The Devil doesn’t actually attack Tamagon directly, instead using his power to influence his domain by pointing in the direction he wishes for the screen to move. Little minions can then be seen turning cranks to help shift the perspective on the maze you’re in, the barriers that box you in moving up, down, left, or right and proving to be quite solid if you should rub up against them. Thankfully they’re harmless to the touch, but the Devil aims to crush Tamagon with them, the little dragon dying and needing to hatch again from a new egg should he get caught between two walls and crushed.
Tamagon’s goal while navigating the devil’s maze is to collect what are known as boa-boa dots. These are white pellets with no immediately apparent effect, although at the end of a round once all are collected, the Devil will leave his perch from the top of the screen and appear with a new maze that is often fairly similar but shifts your objective up. Devil World actually features three types of play, the first round being the boa-boa dot collection scramble while the second type involves instead gathering four hovering Bibles to place into a central box one at a time. After successfully clearing the Bible stage, you’ll be thrown into a bonus round where no enemies are present and you are actually the one in control of the maze scroll, hitting arrows on the ground with Tamagon to move the maze to help you reach the six bonus boxes to earn points before the timer runs out. Earning extra lives isn’t too hard so point collection is worthwhile, and while levels are grouped together by repeating this three round format, you do start to see new enemies down the line like a more demonic foe who patrols the center area and a new version of the pink cyclopes where its red coloration indicates its increase in intelligence. There are only ever three enemies max in the maze at a time, but should they be taken out, they will regenerate after a bit and go back to trying to kill you with a touch.
Devil World doesn’t allow Tamagon to attack foes any time he wants. The crosses scattered around the level in the boa-boa dot rounds are actually there purely as a power-up. With a cross in his possession, Tamagon can spit fireballs that kill the cyclops enemies in a single shot, the small devil immune but not as much of a bother due to his more predictable movement. Crosses are limited time power-ups but replenish around the maze, and even if you play two-player where another human can join you as a red variant of Tamagon, it’s not too hard to collect crosses as necessary to repel the devil’s minions as needed. In the Bible focused rounds though, you need to be holding one of the books to be able to breathe flames, although Bibles only disappear once they’re slotted into the central chamber so you can better control when you’re able to attack or not.
Despite conditions set on when you can attack, Devil World still remains a fairly easy game even as you get deeper into it. Dying doesn’t reset progress in a stage at all meaning it doesn’t hamper your efforts too much, lives aren’t too hard to come by, and most of all, the opposition isn’t too threatening. The Devil always points the direction the screen will move a few times before it actually gets going, giving you time to get out of a tight spot. The minions of the devil aren’t too aggressive, you can often lead them around as you move to grab the power-ups needed to turn the tables. The pressure remains pretty low even as the new enemy types become a bit more prevalent and the maze designs don’t ask you to often make dangerous commitments on the direction you’re heading. Even if those last few dots are in an odd spot, there’s no timer pushing you to be quick so you can bide your time as needed until the coast is clear enough, only the bonus round really asking you to be hasty and collecting items there is not necessary for success. Devil World isn’t easy to the point of boredom, although its simplicity does mean long sessions aren’t really going to be overly exciting. Instead, it’s a fairly nice little maze game to hop into where the odds aren’t stacked that heavily against you, and while you will die from time to time, it’s always easy to see why since you either got greedy or didn’t respect the danger the minions do present if you let them get too close.
THE VERDICT: Devil World may be fairly easy when it comes to maze games, but it can be a delightful little romp for a bit. The Devil’s moving walls and his minions do demand some attention, but clearing each round of play is fairly simple and that need to focus on the moving parts makes it just involved enough that the game doesn’t become too boring. The shifting play formats between rounds help a bit there, but it is possible you’ll have your fill of the game before you’ve run out of lives because of its rather tame take on the underworld.
And so, I give Devil World for the Nintendo Entertainment System…
An OKAY rating. Tamagon’s little underworld invasion is definitely inspired by the mold more familiar to games from the Atari and arcade era. While the rounds do get a bit tougher as you get deeper in, it doesn’t feel like Devil World wants you to play it for long stretches. You hop in and play for a while, content that the game isn’t forcing failure onto you with its easy readable design and straightforward mechanics. Elements like your attack being attached to power-ups lets the minions occasionally get the upper-hand, and simple player greed can lead to those moving walls crushing you as you try to grab a few more boa-boa dots before they’re out of reach. Levels are generally only filled with small scattered clusters of dots so you don’t need to move all around the maze either, just to the areas of importance, although the hovering Bibles and bonus blocks at least move with the screen to make tracking them down a touch more difficult. Devil World could likely afford to fill its maze entirely with dots to make things a bit tougher, but having them separated does lead to areas of interest that make the moving walls far more meaningful. You can’t just putter around always doing your work when sometimes it moves out of reach, but as you reach deeper rounds the game could have afforded to up the danger level a bit more. A speed increase helps, but enemies who could maybe do more than just run around might have been a nice addition since it’s fairly easy to manage the minions as is.
Devil World being barred from American release gave it an interesting story, and without it, it might have sat next to games like Clu Clu Land on the NES instead. Both were made by Nintendo and don’t have much going on, but they’re not full on misses like Urban Champion or some of the NES sports games. A service like Nintendo Switch Online actually feels like the exact spot it should always have been in, a little supplement to a larger collection that doesn’t need to be individually sought and purchased. It’s fine enough for short and occasional play, it’s got an idea to set it apart from other maze games, and it respects the player rather than trying to force them into failure. It may not be the exciting conclusion to waiting 40 years for it to officially reach the U.S.A., but it at least can be played easily enough now and appreciated for its simple charms.