Totally Rad

aka: Magic John
Moby ID: 22106
NES Specs
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Description

Totally Rad is an action game in which you play Jake, a magician wannabe being trained by the Master Magician Zebediah. One day, during his training, Jake is attacked by surprise by unknown foes who kidnap Allison, his girlfriend. Then, Jake has to save her and discover what lies behind that attack.

This game is a side-scrolling one, with the basic controls common to many of those games that fall in the same category: moving, jumping and shooting. Your basic weapon is something like an energy ball that can be charged by holding the button for a few seconds until its maximum power. Although Jake is supposed to still be learning his magic from Zebediah, from the very beginning you can use all his magical powers. You can select which magic you want to use from a list, displayed when you press the start button.

The magical powers available include healing, time stopping, invincibility, the power of the elements (fire, watter, wind and earth) and 3 different metamorphosis. You can morph into a flying guy who throws something like a boomerang (that doesn't come back), a fish-like guy, who throws something like ninja stars and can swim, and a feline-like guy, who releases electrical shocks from his hands and becomes invincible while jumping. You do not evolve during the game, as your health and magic bar doesn't grow.

Totally Rad, as the name points out, is a game full of slang, with the constant use of words like totally, gnarly, dude, excellent, decent, righteous, etc.

Spellings

  • マジック・ジョン - Japanese spelling

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (NES version)

10 People

Main Program
  • GT-R
Sound Program
  • Soarer
Sound
Character Design
Monster Design
BG Design
Animation
Planning
Presented by
  • AICOM
Cover Artwork by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 64% (based on 12 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 9 ratings with 0 reviews)

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Trivia

Cutscenes

The US "80's surfer dude" storyboard was made up by the localization team, who also changed character sprites and most cutscenes. A comparison of both cutscenes can be seen at The Rad Project.

Analytics

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Related Sites +

  • The Rad Project
    A detailed dissection of how the Japanese game Magic John was americanised into Totally Rad.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 22106
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by chirinea.

Antstream added by lights out party.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Игги Друге, Luis Silva, Rik Hideto.

Game added April 19, 2006. Last modified April 12, 2024.