Down the World: Mervil's Ambition

Down the World: Mervil's Ambition
Down the World: Mervil's Ambition Cover art
Publisher(s)	ASCII
Composer(s)	Jeff Pfeifer Rob Pfeifer
Platforms	Super Famicom
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single-player

Down the World: Mervil's Ambition (ダウン・ザ・ワールド, "The World Down") is a Final Fantasy IV-like role-playing video game where the player takes the role as Mervil as he tries to become the most successful man in his world. This game was released for the Super Famicom in the fourth quarter of 1994.

Susumu Matsushita was the Art director and Character designer. Jeff Pfeifer and Rob Pfeifer were the music composers.

During the course of the game, he fights rough monsters, goes on perilous quests, and becomes tougher as he acquires stronger equipment and fights evil forces. The first fifteen minutes of the game is completely non-interactive, including the random monster fights.

The theme song for the game was sung by a female vocalist for the first time in the history of Super Famicom video games.

Gameplay

It takes place in the Dark Ages of Japan. The player controls a cadet that has to guard the castle. Once the monsters kill the king, the player is transported to the modern day where he has to fight evil clowns near a Ferris wheel. The player finds a golden statue on the Ferris wheel after defeating the clowns. As a result, he is transported to a house that has recently been flooded to begin the interactive portion of the adventure.

File:DowntheWorldMervil'sAmbitionSampleBattleScreen.jpg

The main character of the game is dealing 16 hit points of lethal damage to a hermit crab using his knife.

After gaining control of the character, he starts out at experience level 3, as opposed to most games where he starts out at experience level 1. The player has to cross a bridge to the south in order to get to the village where there is a weapon shop, an item shop, and an inn. Japanese literacy is required to play the game. It is considered the player's responsibility to save; he can save up to three different games anywhere in the game.

In battle, the player can use his weapon or a variety of magic spells of both healing and destruction. Combat is usually done automatically; with players merely having to establish a certain behavior pattern to some extent. Low level enemies include hermit crabs, snakes, and mobile cactus plants. Certain monsters can also poison the character, which require an antidote to cure the constant loss of hit points in battle.

One of the controller buttons is used to automatically navigate the player back to a certain landmark; while another is used to check up on the player's statistics.

See also

• Turbo File (ASCII)

External links

• Down the World: Mervil's Ambition at superfamicom.org
• Down The World Music - Episode 1 at VGMdb