CGRundertow SWORD OF VERMILION for Sega Genesis Video Game Review
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Sword of Vermilion Review. Classic Game Room presents a CGRUndertow review of Sword of Vermilion, developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. Although this game promised to "do what Nintendon't," it's likely gamers will reminisce about Final Fantasy III or Secret of Mana more than they will about Sword of Vermilion. You control the hero of Vermilion as he fights to avenge his father King Erik V of Excalabria against the loathsome King Tsarkon and his minions through a maze-like world of monsters, villages, and dungeons. This video review features video gameplay footage of Sword of Vermilion and audio commentary from Classic Game Room's Eric.
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When people ask me about my favorite game during my childhood, I always say The Sword of Vermilion. This review made me a little uneasy.
I played this game for the first time some 20 years ago. It's one of my favourite games ever, because:
1. The music is EPIC, specially in the dungeons and some towns. I think the reviewer didn't say anything about it.
2. The world of Vermilion is huge. Even in the overworld trying to choose the right path is confusing and sometimes frustrating, not to mention the time you spend finding maps inside dungeons. I like the fact that it's not easy as pie.
3. Sure, the 1st person view can be upseting (the sound, the sequence when you run into a monster, it's so repetitive), but fighting monsters in a different scenario is great cause it requires some micromanagement, not only choosing a weapon and randomly dealing damage to an enemy that is standing still, motionless (like Phantasy Star). Even the boss fights are different (with shitty movement, granted; but the graphics are great).
4. The most important part for me is the plot, and I find this story quite well developed... that part with the little girl stealing the book of Sanguios Spells, the destruction of the town of Swaffham, the guy who steals all your stuff but it was for a good cause later...
So I guess I disagree in most part with the reviewer.
I know man, this was one of my first RPG's, and i absolutely loved it, it turned me onto the rpg genre, their loss!!! the boss fights were some of the most epic, there was allot of grinding, but i didnt mind it!!!
Same
"SNES RPGs were better"
This game was released before the SNES came out, lol
...So?
So by the time most of the now-cherished SNES RPG's came out (which wasn't very early even in the SNES's own life cycle), not only had the RPG genre evolved a great deal, but programmers were actually able to get much more out of the 16-bit systems themselves. CarozQH made an entirely valid point: Sword of Vermillion was a VERY early Genesis game. And for its time, it really wasn't that bad.
Jayce
Alright. But that doesn't change the fact that SNES RPG's were better. Ultima Underworld came out before Oblivion, but I think we can agree that Oblivion is a better game, despite how much influence Underworld had on it and despite the fact that Underworld itself is still a pretty good game.
Something? Anything? The point is that it doesn't really make sense to compare the JRPGs of the SNES apex to a 1989 Genesis game that is a very different type of RPG to begin with. Rather than try to compare the game to Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy VI, it would be a much better idea to judge the game on its own merits.
My brother owned this game when I was a child, and I didn't "get it" at all, at the time. So I stuck to playing Golden Axe instead. When, about 15 years later, I revisited it on a Genesis compilation disk for the PS2, I was surprised at what a charming, atmospheric little RPG gem it is. By no means is it flawless, or as ambitious and refined as Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger, no, but charming nonetheless. And taken for what it is, it certainly doesn't deserve the hate Eric gives it. Then again, like most people, I was never particularly impressed with Eric's reviewing skills. Much prefer TJ or Derek.
Something? Anything?
Ultima Underworld is wayyyy better than the dumbed down shitfest that Oblivion was.
The fighting system was at the time quite innovative allowing you to fight in real time in an rpg
This review was done poorly. I like CGR reviews as they seem to give most games a far chance. Even when a game is disliked by the reviewer they still point out good things in a game like the sounds or visuals. It seems no effort was put into this review which stinks as I recently bought and played though this game and was very interested to see what others had to say about the game. Anyone else feel this way after watching the video?
The reviewer doesn't seem to understand how to play very well. He leaves towns without his map instead of talking to different people persistently until he has the map. And he fails to use Candles or Lanterns in dungeons. Remember to do what you're supposed to, and this game isn't so bad.
Yeah man, I recently bought the Sega Genesis Classics on PS4 and after beating the Sonic games and Streets Of Rage, I decided to go for something else in the collection and tried this one and it's amazing! I play for hours haha.
Its really cool to roam and find new things. I enjoy it entirely, the only thing that annoys me is the constant battles but i suppose the game would be slightly stale without it so its fine haha. Regardless, I love the game and the feel, pretty thorough for its time and really enjoyable for me.
SWORD OF VERMILLION WAS PHENOMENAL FOR THE TIME, come on, you gotta think of this from the stand point of its time frame.
2018... I picked it up recently for the first time and to my surprise I got a 16 bit Skyrim.
I had this game and actually I thought it was a great action RPG. The graphics were excellent for the time. Enjoyed it.
I loved this game as a kid
I actually liked this game! I used to play this nearly everyday back in middle school on the PS2 Sega genesis collection, and its obvious that this guy wasn't even tryin to play it other than ranting (notice he'd didn't equiped the candle or lanturn) goes to show he sucks at it.
The music was pretty cool in this. That comparison of Shining Force and Zelda is like comparing Chess to Simon Says. A better comparison would be Zelda and Beyond Oasis. When it comes to Action RPGs "LIGHT CRUSADER" is my choice for 16 bit games. It wasn't until Light Crusader that I even like Action/Adventure RPG games like Zelda.
stringanime I’m super late here, but if you like Light Crusader, try Landstalker!
i signed in only to dislike this review. This game was great, and at the time there were not very many rpgs to chose from. This game kinda scared me when playing alone. And i liked the fact you could skip towns and go to harder areas
All I can think of while watching this is that Sword of Vermilion Retsupurae. You know, the reason Sega doesn't make consoles anymore.
This game came out in 1990 and thus cannot be judged by modern-day criteria. For its time, it was revolutionary and its graphics and gameplay were mind-blowing. While it hasn't aged well, it's still a classic rpg, and along with Shining in the Darkness, is a game that all rpg enthusiasts should experience.
dude the reviewer is terrible at this game. left town without a map even what a pleb.
pretty bad when your dislikes are as many as your likes.
I remember renting this so much the video store sold it to me for 5 bucks because they had 3 copies.
This game's awesome... played this through so many times back in the day. The reviewer doesn't have a clue
Is there a reason you keep wandering around the first dungeon without a torch in this video, or do you just want to make it looks worse than it is? The torch mechanic is an important part of the game, with how they burn out as you wander around so you need to come with enough for the dungeon so as to avoid being stranded in the dark.
On a related note, you can buy maps for the overworld too.
The game overall is certainly pretty flawed, but it's not quite as bad as this review makes it look.
My mom got this game back in the day. She was trying, and still is to this day, to recapture the magical experience that was Landstalker (best game 4 ever). Tbh, Sword of Vermilion kinda freaked me out. I was the only one in my family to try to make any progress in it, but the dialogue you showed there with that villager lady -- that stuff creeped me out. I did my best, though.
This reviewer is awful. He's comparing this to Secret of Mana which came out on a console that wasn't out yet around 5 years later. This was always the issue with CGRundertow, they were more """journalists""" than they were gamers, and know so little about the hobby/history.
I prefer Sword of Vermilion to Secret of Mana...that game is the most overrated game from the 16-bit era.
I love the style and presentation of this game. The box art is classic, too. And it's from the older, pre-Sonic days-which I have a thing for. Got to own it!
I played this game as a kid, and I absolutely loved it. I bought it from Funcoland lol. It was the third game I owned for the Genesis. Sonic, Shining Force, and Sword of Vermillion. Loved all three of them.
Yup...first RPG for me too. I spent a lot of time on this one till I beat it....
One of my all time favorite RPGs. This and Phantasy Star 2 got me into RPGs. It should have been part of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection.
Wow. That really was a lowpoint for CGRundertow.
Oh, and the music is fucking awesome. So is his death scream/growl URRAAAWWWRRRRR!
This is a horrid review, this is one of the best and most memorable Genesis games, great RPG for it's time.
This was one of my favorite games for the Genesis. I really really enjoyed it
Man, so many people review this game badly, are they doing this late in the game, or did they play these games in their prime, because thats when i played this game, and it was AWESOME!!!!! this game got me into RPG's
PatMacMusic kind of like nostalgia is taking over.
this game was really good. It's probably the best action/RPG for the genesis. and the music is out of league... probably the first game i got on the genesis, it was mind blowing when i heard that music. I was a zelda fan (mostly zelda 2 on nes) and I still like them a lot, but this one was a little more complex as a game and much less childish
God I hate when people who have no idea what game play was like back then, review games.At the time it came out, this game was awesome, I remember many nights with little to no sleep playing it. The reason they said Arcade style action, was because it wasn't turn based like many of the RPG's of the time. The fight scenes were hack and slash instead of attack and wait.
This was my first RPG on the Mega Drive. At first, the game seemed too strange but the magnificent music helped me overlook that fact. Despite being extremely repetitive, I'd say I like SoV. It has a very unique (though pretty uninteresting) gameplay, the guy screams when he dies and the enemies look awkard. Great game!
Yeah I know. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection doesn't have Sword of Vermillion, but Sega Genesis Collection (PS2 and PSP does). They're different collections for different systems.
Shining in the Darkness is my favorite Genesis RPG.
Taking off the nostalgia glasses, i see a interesting game. Huge world [although there is not much to see] first person dungeons, great bosses that instead of spamming fire3 or curaga, you simply must avoid the attacks and time right. I agree, there is much better rpgs. But this game remains a underrated gem that sits in the pool of 16 but games.
Oh for God's sake, dude the game is not that bad. Sure it doesn't look like Nintendo's games do, but this game still rocks.
Does anyone at Undertow realize that Nintendo isn't the only company that makes good RPGs? I have such a hard time talking to anyone about RPGs because all that's ever brought up is Nintendo, they're great but come on why is everyone ignoring other titles, Phantasy Star, Beyond Oasis, Shining Force etc.
I completely disagree with this review. I still have lasting nostalgic memories of this game to this very day. It had wonderful graphics and music and gameplay. It left an idelible impression upon me.
I would describe this game's atmosphere as dark and foreboding with a poetic angle. The gameplay and graphics were compact in thier execution.
@DaveTheSodaGuy0 Not really saying much as of late. All the good reviewers left. I can barely get through a review from most of these guys anymore.
This was my second rpg next to zelda, its what turned me onto the series, i had that cursed black sword, was stronger then vermillion, was bad ass, all the spells, i miss this!
They made great RPGs, just not the only great ones.
This game is bad, but fun and with a great sense of humor. It's the towns with their unique stories and characters that really make this game. But, yeah, SoV combat and design were disappointing when I got it back in 1990.
@appletsauce Huh?It is.On the PSP Genesis Collection.
Dude, I totally agree with you. This game was brilliant. Probably one of my favorite Genesis games of all time.
There was no square enix when the snes was in its prime. Remember that.
No problem! I loved the console too by the way. But alas, I sold it decades ago.
@DaveTheSodaGuy0 I think that each reviewer should have a day devoted to him and her, just so they have that extra time to put the finishing touches on a review. I mean, it must get physically and mentally taxing writing a review every single day. I think we could all tolerate one review a day.
I love all the sega rpgs, phantasy star, shining force, fatal labbrinth, and even this one.
*sips tea*
Yeah,and do you realize that the SECOND SENTANCE IN THE REVIEW was "that doesn't mean i prefer sonic over mario,shining force over zelda or anything like that".I just love it the way you undertow/nintendo fanboys blindly defend each other.
At least the music sounds good!
At least the soundtrack was solid, or some of the melodies anyway. :) so playing the game can't have been a too painful ordeal.
Vermillion is a great color to.....
This is one of those games where you love it or hate it
@redsoxfan1984 yeah, I guess doing a review a day may actually be the reason for it. You know, you can't really bring up quality if your option is quantity.
@DaveTheSodaGuy0 Because when they're good, they're real good. I just go into each video with no expectations, and hope I get surprised.
I'm not gonna say this game is outstanding, because I haven't played it and because it probably isn't true. But comparing it to Secret of Mana isn't really fair-Sword of Vermilion first came out in December 1989, about a year and a half before the first Mana game (Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu) and nearly four years before Secret of Mana. Comparing it to Final Fantasy doesn't put it in nearly as bad a light as you're implying-Vermilion launched a mere year after Final Fantasy II (the real FF2, not American SNES FF2), which is not only pretty easily the worst core Final Fantasy title, but fairly widely acknowledged to be pretty poor just in general. Final Fantasy III (the real FF3, not American SNES FF3) would release a few months after this, and while I'm sure I'd prefer FF3, this is more because I have specific tastes in RPGs of that era that FF3 caters to than it representing a particular leap forward in quality over something like Vermilion. The best JRPG of the era was probably gonna be something like Phantasy Star 2, which, to be fair, probably does put Vermilion to shame and came out several months before, but the point I'm making is that the 4th generation classics by and large didn't exist when Vermilion released. The SNES was still nearly a year away. By the standards of late 1989, even of 1990, this probably looked really innovative and ahead of the trends. It still wouldn't have held a candle to Phantasy Star 2, or probably even Dragon Quest III, but this would have been at the very least a visual and technical spectacle for its era of RPG, even if, yeah, it probably doesn't really play that well or have a very noteworthy story.
I'm assuming here, I haven't played it.
Nah. I really preffer to play the real thing on the real console. Good news is I've just bought a complete copy with the hint book and all. Now all I have to do is wait.....
But thanks for the suggestion nonetheless.
This game was awesome
Lol, almost half the ratings are dislikes. That's a lot of trolls...
RA-RA-RA- RAAAWWW! SoV ftw!
First RPG here. Trying to find it again
@redsoxfan1984 Not in my opinion, I think he is much better than a lot of cgr reviewers.
am i the only one thinking he isnt a much a genesis fan as he says he is?
Looks similar to the lower tier SNES rpgs like soul blazer, Y's or Lagoon.
You barely got through the game. Play it start to finish and you'll see it's a great game for the time.
U young Dufus's r so spoiled by the new games out here. Vermillion was, for its day an awesome game. First, it had killer background music that for it's time was creative, exhilarating and "fit the scene". 2nd, it used 3+ different types of gameplay throughout so you didnt get bored. 3rd, it wasn't so freakin' ez that it was a waste of time. 4th, it was a first of it's kind using multiple game styles. Finally, if u think this had lots of text or readable content then you're probably such a young rufus that u dont even remember Zelda 1 (all text, self imagined graphics and so damn cool). These games come from a time when 5 mb was a freakin HUGE amount of code for a game. The 1st Doom I believe I remember was 3 mb. So.....before u trash a classic like Sword of Vermillion because it's not Skyrim quality, remember........this was made b4 u were even a glimmer in yo mama's loose eye.lolol PEACE!!✌
New games are horrible. This games great
Try Crusader of Centy for the Genesis.
And this is why we should ignore CGRUndertow. Mark is the god of classic game reviews. If there's any fun to be found in a game, he'll find it. These guys just crap on games that they aren't willing to spend the time to figure out.
The review is bad, but the game is still quite bad.
I just played Shining Force the other day, and I couldn't stand it. Am I missing something?
You should try Super Hydlide for Genesis if this makes you cringe like Hydlide.
This game was amazing! Borrowed it from a friend back in the day and could not stop playing it. Shame I had to return the game to the heartless bastard before finishing it. I´m out looking for a complete copy for a reasonable price now.
And yes this review sucks. Dude didn´t even try to play the game. He started off by simply trying to compare it to other games and make it look ridiculous. Those were the reviews that made me hate CGR undertow only to find out there are really good ones later.
i loved the music to this game ,, heavy and ringy
I played much of this game on the Genesis Classics Collection and gave up on it because the boss battles gave new meaning to the word "stupid".
Go to vizzed.com!!!! Download the plugin and register. It doesn't cost a thing.
I'm sorry dude, but I have to disagree. This game was awesome when it came out!
Eric, son, I am dissappoint
This game is awesome!
Voice crack at 3:37
I'm kinda assuming he didn't make it that far. lol
@DaveTheSodaGuy0 How can you be disappointed by his reviews anymore? He's always this...average.
La espada de Vermilion es un excelente juego y aunque lo jugué más de 10 veces en estos más de 12 años, no me aburro de jugarlo, porque estos juegos de antes si tenían trama e intriga. Los RPGs de ahora son demasiado lineales y muy predecibles, ganaron en gráfica si!, pero perdieron mucho en desarrollo y aventura.
@redsoxfan1984 if you think so, then why do you still watch it?
This game is gold... you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
Umm Hydlyde isn't first person....
it may not be great... but it is probably a Top 10 RPG on Genesis.
I liked this game. Not the best, but good for its time.
Loved this game back in 1996
graphics yeah it's ok. music it's pretty good. gamplay OH HELL NO
Cool music but the game looks dull as hell.
This "review" shows nothing past the very beginning of the game.
The review has nothing to do with fanboyism. This game just had a terrible combat system.
You lost me at the square made better 16bit RPGs.
ugh cgr has an irate gamer, -____-
omg.. some points:
If your in a dark cave, use a light source.
If you find a chest, open it, don't just try to take it.
Your text is slow, speed it up.
Combat: magic, melee, 2 types of veiw.
Moving: map view, first person veiw and town (3rd person) veiw.
You just got a dislike for doing a shit review.
You are shit at the game and can't work it therefore you don't like it.
Don't review a game you can't play, or, start using your brain, see my previous points for tips on that.
you have no business doing reviews
lol
I give you a dislike, nintendo fanboy. Horrible review.