Neutopia

Neutopia is an action adventure game which features a top-down perspective and labyrinthine exploration similar to that of The Legend of Zelda. The player controls Jazeta as he sets out to rescue Princess Aurora from Dirth. The game has four levels called spheres which Jazeta must explore and recover the two medallions from each. The medallions are hidden in crypts, where each medallion is guarded by a boss.

After collecting all eight of them, Jazeta gains access to the North Pole, where Dirth resides. The player controls Jazeta by moving in any direction with the control pad. Jazeta can also attack with his weapons or use items, scroll through messages, or access the "status screen" with the controller. Jazeta's life meter, the weapons he is currently holding, and the amount of gold and bombs remaining are displayed during gameplay on the top of the screen.

Neutopia takes place in the distant past in the land of Neutopia – a prosperous and peaceful land in which the people worshipped at a Sacred Shrine and were watched over by Princess Aurora. The land was divided into four contiguous areas called spheres: land, subterrain, sea, and sky. The people lived in prosperity and happiness with the help of eight spiritual medallions which were controlled by the Princess and were used for good; a "Climactic Castle" was built as a symbolization of their prosperity. Each of the medallions represented powers of an ancestor whom Neutopia's nemesis, the evil demon Dirth, turned to stone but whose spirit remains.

Then, one night, Dirth appears and invades the land. He sends his army of demons to ravage the land, and he captures Princess Aurora and holds her captive in the Climactic Castle, where he would rule over the invading demons. He also steals the eight medallions, which he now controls for evil purposes; he scatters the eight medallions across the four spheres and places them in crypts. A young warrior named Jazeta arrives at the Sacred Shine, where he is given a "charmed compass" which "has the force of the medallions" and can guide him to them.

Neutopia was developed by Hudson Soft and was released on November 17, 1989 in Japan for the PC Engine and on April 15, 1990 in North America for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 console. It received preview coverage in video game magazines Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro, and was described in the latter as "a magic and monsters type role play". The game received a brief description in GamePro's May 1990 issue and a full walkthrough in the premiere issue of TurboPlay in June that year. It would later be released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in Japan on May 1, 2007, in North America on August 20, and in Europe on August 24; it was released alongside Super Metroid and Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master.

It was released for the PlayStation Network along with a series of other TurboGrafx-16 titles that were published by Hudson Soft; it was released in Japan on June 16, 2010, and in North America on April 19, 2011. It was also later released for the Wii U Virtual Console service in Japan on April 16, 2014, and in March 2017 for North America and Europe.

Since its release, people have widely regarded Neutopia as a clone of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. The PC Engine version of the game was reviewed in the February 1990 issue of German magazine Power Play, where reviewer Martin Gaksch called the game "Zelda on the PC-Engine" and said that the "differences between Zelda and Neutopia must be found with an electron microscope". They said that the graphics, music, and gameplay were good, and that the only thing that kept Neutopia from being superior to Zelda was the 24-character password system and that the text was in Japanese.

Neutopia received much coverage from various video gaming websites after its release on the Virtual Console, and each drew comparisons to Zelda. Marcel van Duyn from Nintendo Life noted many similarities to Zelda, including the existence of 8 dungeons and medallions, the need to blow up walls or burn bushes to uncover secrets, the dungeon designs, and the need to push blocks to uncover staircases, but also said that what sets it apart from Zelda are the fire rod, the ability to warp with wings, and a lower difficulty level. He concluded that the game, while copying Zelda, might be better as it added additional features that set it apart. Destructoid's Tony Ponce compared the game's copying of Zelda to China Warrior's copying of Kung-Fu Master, and he pointed out what are also considered Zelda clones such as Crusader of Centy and Alundra for the Sega Genesis and PlayStation, respectively.