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Cadash (ARC, 1990/PCE, 1991/MD, 1992)

Cadash (ARC, 1990/PCE, 1991/MD, 1992)

Subgenre: ARPG (similar to Wonder Boy in Monster Land/Zeliard/Ys III/Dragon Buster; leveling, towns w/ shops and NPCs, some NPCs and shops in the dungeons, basic item inventory for consumables, upgradeable life bar w/ life bells (besides leveling up) although they can only be bought in one or two shops, a few hidden items, background doors)


Other: 2-Player Co-op (4-player in some ARC versions), 4 different classes to choose from (fighter - strong melee attack/no magic, mage - strong magic/weak physical attack, priestess - ranged attacks+some magic, ninja - ranged attacks/no magic+moves really fast (also high def but slower to level? ARC ver.); only the first 2 are available in the MD ver.), Time limits in the ARC ver. only (can buy hourglasses to increase time)

  • Linear structure (increasingly maze-like dungeons with some detours for items connected to towns, some points of no return inside the dungeons, no alternate paths leading to new towns or bosses), No backtracking with gained tools/abilities to open up optional paths for items

  • Key gating only (scales to let you move through water (movement is like on land), have to backtrack a little at one point to get a magic item needed to go through a wall, brief gnome transformation to enter small buildings in one town which is used automatically, thread placed automatically at one point to climb a wall, etc)

  • Two passwords/skip codes on PCE only (use one of two special names when starting a new game; no continues - can buy 1-ups in the MD ver. though they are pretty expensive (ARC ver. allowed for credit feeding as you'd respawn on the spot), can resurrect the other player at inns in 2-player however)

  • Rest at inns for healing, Fairly easy to stock up on a bunch of herbs by grinding

  • No maps

  • No fast travel but there are some shortcuts back to previous towns

  • New weapons and armor also show on your avatar (WBiML)

  • Can go back to previous towns (not needed though besides for restocking consumables)

  • Several sequence breaking possibilities (PCE ver.: can skip a minor part in dungeon 2 (underwater path) - lets you reach gnome village before the second boss but it's kinda pointless for a casual player since you'll be underpowered and unable to go back and restock healing items for a while (in the MD ver. this is easier to pull off due to a much shorter underwater path so might be more useful there), can skip most of dungeon 3 with a damage boost jump (let a spider hit you to skip getting the thread from the worm boss), can skip the fourth boss (plant) but you'll miss an elixir which is a stronger version of the herb (there are only three in the game), can skip part of dungeon 5/graveyard with a damage boost jump)

  • Kinda short (about 1h if you know what you're doing)

  • PCE ver.: Some less spongy enemies compared to the ARC ver., Not that much grinding required as you level up pretty quickly+the changes are immediately noticeable, Fast text speed, No hidden gnome familiar? (zombie town, short time/health limit), Lower difficulty than in the ARC ver. after the first three areas

Some notable cons:

  • The ninja becomes very OP around lvl 12 on PCE (makes the final level and boss too easy) - no difficulty options here

  • Some control/interface issues (no jump height or mid-air control, can't see your item inventory nor how much money you have outside of shops (PCE), huge knockback from certain attacks, if you jump next to a wall/hedge then you can't steer your jump forward in mid-air, odd way of selecting spells on PCE, etc)

  • Some trial & error (boss patterns, the swinging ball and chain hazards - can jump through the chain)

  • Some unavoidable damage (in 1-player anyway)

  • Sometimes uneven difficulty

  • Some boring backtracking (zombie town/graveyard area, castle) - no new enemies or hazards appear

  • Pretty spongy graveyard area enemies and very spongy tree enemies in the castle


Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review (ARC) & PCE ver.



Influenced by: Wonder Boy in Monster Land, probably Dragon Buster or Zelda II (downstab), Ys III, Zeliard, possibly Faxanadu, Kung Fu Master or Bad Dudes


Influenced: Probably Blades of Vengeance, possibly Diablo

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