The Magic of Scheherazade is a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released by Culture Brain in 1987. The player attempts to rescue Princess Scheherazade from the evil wizard Sabaron, who has summoned the demon Goragora to do his bidding. The game was innovative for its time, incorporating elements of adventure and RPG styles.

Story

The player controls the magician Isfa, who unsuccessfully attempted to defend Arabia from the evil wizard Sabaron. As a result, Isfa's memories are erased, and his beloved, Princess Scheherazade, is captured. Isfa must travel across five worlds to rescue Scheherazade's three sisters, her father, and finally Scheherazade herself. Along the way, eleven NPCs join the party to fight against Sabaron.

Gameplay

Adventure

The majority of play takes place on an overhead map where the player moves between screens, as in The Legend of Zelda. In each world, the player must complete a number of tasks and recruit the area's allies, traveling between two eras of the world using the Time Gate found on a particular screen. Landscapes are numerous and include the tree-lined overworld, towns, deserts, underwater areas, dimly lit dungeons, and palace labyrinths.

The player's primary weapons are a sword, used for powerful close-range attacks, and a rod, used for shooting missiles that travel the entire length of the screen. Magic spells and items are also available for defeating enemies and negotiating obstacles.

Each chapter concludes with a demonic boss that must be defeated with magic and the rod.

Battles

When traveling between screens on the adventure map, the player will sometimes encounter random, turn-based battles. Two allies can participate in each battle with the player's character, along with up to four mercenary troopers. Certain ally pairings create formations, which enable the party to cast powerful group magics. Enemies also frequently appear in formations, whose best counters are discussed in "magic universities" found on the adventure map.

Passwords

The game uses a password system to save player location, abilities, and inventory. Specific passwords are over 50 characters long, but the player can start at the beginning of a world by entering the first two characters (Wn to start on the nth world with minimum items; nW with maximum).