Plot. In the past, Chakan was the greatest warrior in all the land. Neither man, nor beast, could best him in mortal combat. One day in his arrogance he said: "One day, even death himself shall bow before my swords". Death appeared, and smiled saying: "A wager. If you win, eternal life is yours, but if I win, your soul is mine, to do with as I wish." Foolishly, he accepted the deal. They fought with sword and sorcery, and the earth trembled at their clash. Chakan struck him so hard, that Death found himself at his mercy. Chakan was rewarded, but with a fatal twist, he is cursed to live eternally with Death's visage. In order to seek solitude and rest in peace, he must destroy all four supernatural evils of the world.
Concept. At the beginning you start in a central hub stage, you can choose four elemental stages such as the lair of the Dragonfly King, the Spider Queen's lair, Elkenrod's lair, and so on. While roaming through stages you get a variety of weapons as mentioned above in the gameplay. The game is very well known for it's higher difficulty. Also you have a variety of elemental magic, in which you also have the ability to reset the stage, but at a price to return to the very beginning. There will be an hourglass in every stage, you have to be quick and nifty.
Memories. When I was 8 years old, and I was on vacation in New York, since I was living in the Dominican Republic at that time, I played this game with my cousin. Me and him spent several hours of fun and excitement. Sometimes, whenever we got pissed of the difficulty, we have played games like Sonic The Hedgehog, and Street Fighter II. Oh, the memories.
History. Chakan: The Forever Man, is a video game released in 1992, based on the comic book of the same name by Robert A. Kraus. Ed Annunziata met Kraus at a convention, and was impressed with the production of the game. There was also a game on the short-lived Sega Game Gear, but it was the same thing and it was not that good. By the early 2000's there was a remake planned for the Sega Dreamcast, but after some work they quit for some reasons, and then the concept of that remake is seen in Blood Omen 2.
Rantings. This game for years, has given me nothing but nightmares and headaches due to it's staggering difficulty. The boss battle at the water stage will give players ten minutes of tedious moments, and it will make him/her cry, break the controller or throw it against a wall. Also I hate the time limits in this stage, in which I felt forced to get everything back after I cast the reset magic. Also one of the biggest ripoffs a gamer has ever recieved, was the final ending, after defeating the incredibly difficult final boss, you see nothing but an hourglass, no text, no nothing. Because the lazy ass developers thought that gamers would never be able to beat this game. Developers believed that only 5% of the gamers are capable of beating this game. At the Dragonfly King stage, riding the dragonfly was a gut-wrenching moment, because when you rode it and if you crashed against a wall, Chakan would fall.
Good Aspects. Well, the game has it's good points. For example: The music of the game was pretty well made in the Dragonfly King stage, but some of the music was not as catchy. Also I really liked the Grappling Hook weapon which was awesome in my opinion. The hammer was a pretty strong weapon as well. Also the stages were done perfectly, but still, the difficulty is what makes this game unique in it's aspect whether good or bad.
Overall. Chakan The Forever Man, though it is a long forgotten game, it still lives in the hearts and minds of old-school gamers like myself. This game gets a 7 out of 10.