Ludography
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Rod Land cover

1990 · Jaleco · Action · Platformer

Rod Land

Nintendo console exclusive

The player(s) control one or two fairies called Tam and Rit armed with a magic wand (rod). Following the concept of Taito's Bubble Bobble, the rod doesn't kill the monsters directly, but only leaves them immobilized, crying. To kill them, the rod can grasp them in a magic force-field and the player can smash them down over her head until they disappear and leave a power-up behind.

Released
3 April 1990
Platforms
AmigaAmstrad CPCArcadeAtari STAtari ST/STECommodore 64Commodore C64/128/MAXGame BoyNESNintendo SwitchZX Spectrum
Genres
ActionPlatformer
Developers
Jaleco
Publishers
JalecoHamster CorporationStorm
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
ActionFantasy
Country
Japan
Composers
Tsukasa Tawada

About

Rod Land is a 1990 platform video game developed and published by Jaleco for arcades. Originally only released in Japan in April 1990, it was ported to various home consoles and personal computers, which were released internationally. A spin-off, Soldam, was released in 1992.

Keywords

  • shark
  • fairy
  • high score
  • kidnapping
  • whale

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player(s) control one or two fairies called Tam and Rit armed with a magic wand (rod). Following the concept of Taito's Bubble Bobble, the rod doesn't kill the monsters directly, but only leaves them immobilized, crying. To kill them, the rod can grasp them in a magic force-field and the player can smash them repeatedly against the ground, from side to side, until they disappear and leave a power-up behind.

Each level is only one small screen composed of monsters, platforms, ladders and, later, tunnels. Unlike other games of the genre, the players can never jump, but have to use ladders. They can conjure one custom ladder above or below them in order to go to the appropriate platform. There can be only one such 'custom' ladder; therefore if the fairy summons it again, it will disappear from its previous position in order to appear again next to the fairy. This can be beneficial for the player, if a monster is climbing that ladder to approach her.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Arcade31 December 1990Worldwide
Commodore C64/128/MAX1 August 1991Worldwide
Amiga31 December 1991Worldwide
ZX Spectrum31 December 1991Europe
Atari ST/STE31 December 1991Worldwide
Amstrad CPC31 December 1991Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Included in
Jaleco Arcade 1Jaleco Collection: Vol.1Legends Core PlusStar Flashback Blast!
Derivative works
Soldam
Ported as
Arcade Archives: Rod LandRod-Land
Basis for
Soldam
Built on it
Rod-Land

Games like this

Collections6 collections

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.