Shin Onigashima Series | NinDB (original) (raw)
While adventure games had found success on home PC's in Japan, the market for them on the Famicom was niche. Restricted by the system's memory limitations, the games on offer were not ambitious in scope, often focusing on murder mysteries with static characters to interrogate.
Following the launch of the Famicom Disk System, Nintendo entered the adventure game market with something a little different. The story borrowed from a number of Japanese fairy tales, predominantly "Momotaro" and "The Woodcutter's Daughter" for the main characters, and featured a chapter-driven fairytale that spanned two disks. The variety, style and scope of the game were unheard of at the time, and the characters quickly became fan favourites.
While Shin Onigashima was never released outside of Japan, players in the west have been made aware of the game, largely thanks to a number of references in the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series.
Games in the Shin Onigashima series
Famicom Fairytales: Shin Onigashima
1987 - Famicom Disk System
A classic adventure game based on Japanese fairytales. Donbe and Hikari travel to Onigashima to rescue their parents and the world from the Avatar of Darkness and his army of soul-sucking Oni.
Game Page | Walkthrough: Disk 1, Disk 2
Heisei: Shin Onigashima
1996 - Super Famicom (Satellaview-X / Nintendo Power / Cartridge)
Follows the same plot as Shin Onigashima, but tells the previously unseen stories of Ringo the dog, Matsunosuke the monkey and Ohana the pheasant before they meet the heroes.
Game Page | Walkthrough: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4