Sword Master
Sword Master (Japanese: ソードマスター) is a 1990 side-scrolling action game developed by Athena and published by Activision for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game is set in medieval fantasy setting and focuses primarily on strategic fighting using shield and sword. The game is also one of the NES games to include parallax scrolling.
Sword Master
- Date
- 1990
- Genre
- platformer
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q16267432
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Sword Master • Developer — Athena • Designer — Hironobu Tamai (Undead Tama), R. Nakashima • Composer — Shotaro Sasaki, Kouichi Ishibashi • Released — 21 December 1990 • Genre — Action • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Nintendo Entertainment System
Plot
Plot
The Sword Master is a knight who was summoned into a kingdom of Eledar in order to defeat an evil wizard and a powerful demon god called Vishok, which he summoned and rescue of Princess Aria, the daughter of King Aragon. The game follows the knight as he marches through forest, village, and all around the enemy's castle, until both the wizard and Vishok are destroyed.
Gameplay
Gameplay
The player must use sword and shield to battle through 7 game levels, from the forest, to a cursed town, to multiple levels of the villain's castle lair. The player encounters giant bats, wolves, skeleton warriors, evil knights, wizards, barbarians, lizard men, gargoyles, and other fierce enemies on his quest. The Sword Master can swing his sword, defend with his shield, and gather power-ups which enable him to change his form. For example, the Sword Master can transform into a mage and cast offensive magic spells.
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
The full dated record · 2 entries
1990
Sword Master published.
1990
Sword Master is recorded as published in 1990.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Japan
Named but not plotted · 1
Sword Master is associated with Japan.
Country
Release and reception
Sword Master was released in Japan for the Family Computer on December 21, 1990. Ichiro Tezuka in Hippon Super! found the game's atmosphere good, but the game suffered in monotonous gameplay and dull enemy design.) It was re-released in Japan for the Retro-Bit Generations II Microconsole in 2017.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Sword Master (video game), revision 1364490464 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sword Master Review.
- 2.Plasket, Michael. Sword Master. Hardcore Gaming 101. September 12, 2017.
- 3.Sword Master for NES (1990) - MobyGames better source. June 2026.
- 4.Andy. Sword Master. Total!. 7. 44–45. July 1992.
- 5.Tezuka, Ichiro. FC. Hippon Super!. JICC. January 1991.
- 6.Sword Master. 4Gamer. June 15, 2017.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
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