Danan: The Jungle Fighter

Danan: The Jungle Fighter
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Sega Master System
Release	1990
Genre(s)	Action, platform

Danan: The Jungle Fighter is an action/platform-adventure game for the 8-bit Sega Master System Video Game Console. Sega published it in 1990. The game was released in Europe and Brazil

Gameplay

Danan: The Jungle Fighter borrows elements from different game genres, such as Hack 'n Slash action, vertical and horizontal platforming; non-linear level designs; an elaborate plot mostly unraveled by talking to npc's; item collection, summons (animal aid); levelling up; ... It's often described by game journalists and game bloggers as a cross between Hack 'n Slash action in the vein of Rastan, Golden Axe and The Legendary Axe, and action-adventures games like Lord of the Sword and Faxanadu.

Although It contains some action-adventure- and lite-rpg mechanics, the emphasis in Danan falls more heavily on action and platforming. The player can walk, jump, duck, climb stairs, enter doors and thrust his knife into enemies. The game is divided into 4 relatively nonlinear "rounds". Danan must sometimes enter houses, through ladders inside he can enter the doors on the top floor, which is required to reach the higher plateaus and to advance further in particular areas. Though exploration (underground caverns, sideways, ...) rewards the player with extra power-ups, most of these are non-essential (upgraded knives being the exception). In contrast to games like Metroid, there aren't any previously inaccessible areas to backtrack to after powering up. Especially in the third maze-like round, the timer - which at the beginning of each round is set to 100 seconds, though 30 seconds can be added through picking up a clock symbol - regularly encourages the player to take the fastest road to an end level boss.

Danan obtains power-ups through little treasure chests, whose content is revealed upon touching them. There are little and large stars who increase your "experience" or maximum health: 2 types of meat ("beef" and "chicken") who replenish your actual "strength" or health; and the aforementioned upgraded knives (required to beat certain bosses) and clocks.

Danan can also collect animal icons, which enables him to summon 3 animal friends. The armadillo helps you fight enemies, the eagle transports you to high places and the gorilla restores 3/4ths of your strength. Though strictly not needed to finish the game, animal aid is a unique feature to this game and especially the Gorilla will come in handy

Synopsis

Setting

The story of Danan: The Jungle Fighter is set on the fictional Earth-like planet Gian. The mysterious "Legend of Moralos" plays an important role within the mental framework of this invented universe. In short: A long time ago, the evil supernatural creature Gilbas was defeated by the mythical Godsend hero Aganan. Through the aid of 3 sacred objects - The Orb of Light, the Amulet of Light, and the Knife of Light - Aganan was able to seal Gilbas in a tomb

On his quest, Danan will travel trough varied scenery, including an "Amazon" town, underground caverns, a mountain village, a temple, but also a battleship. "Round 3" is Mostly set on this latter high-tech ship, which forms a major break from the other ancient South and Central American based locales

Plot

The "young white-skinned" Danan is the sole survivor of a plane crach, some 18 years ago in a densely forested part of the tropical region of Gian. The tribesman Jimba who had come across Danan - a baby back than - at the crash site, raised the boy into a brave and strong man. Danan befriended many animals in the jungle. He learned much from them and his guardian Jimba

Returning from hunting one day, Danan finds Jimba lethaly wounded in their hut. Jimba's last words to Danan, are to seek out the prophet Niai in the Northeast. Devastated by his loss, Danan immediately sets out on a journey to avenge his mentor.

Eventually, Danan finds out that Jimba was killed, because he was in the possession of one of the sacred objects. According to the prophet Niai, the "Moralos Warriors" (curiously enough descendants of the hero Aganan) were after Jimba's murder. Apparently They want to ressurect Gilbas and unleash his evil powers on the world once again. As to prevent a future hero from derailing their plans, the Moralos Warriors attempt to obtain the 3 sacred objects that are necessary to defeat Gilbas. So Danan must now focus on retrieving these sacred objects before the enemy does

From here on a lot of major plot twists rapidly succeed each other. As to not give away important clues, ensuing plotlines can not be further discussed here. They will however be fragmentarily adressed in the "Analysis of underlying Themes" chapter. As to conclude this section, it's important to note that halfway through the game, the storyline will stray quite a bit from the more generic fantasy/adventure tropes.

Analysis of underlying Themes (contains game Spoilers)

Nazi references

At one point, an NPC informs Danan that it is mainly the Gaits Empire that is behind the drive to awaken Gilbas. Emperor Wolf, who is in command of the "Gaits forces", hopes to apply Gilbas' evil powers in his struggle - against the Allied Mallus forces - for world dominion. Later Danan needs to fight the captain - The captain is named Schtrouheim, which might also refer to a character of the manga series "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure"; namely "Rudol von Stroheim" a high-ranking nazi officer with cyborg capabilities - of the Gaits battleship. The captain's cabin is adorned with a big tapestry or banner above a fireplace and 2 vertical flags on both sides of it. all three elements depict a round emblem with 2 intertwined snakes, against a larger plain red background, clearly echoing Nazi symbolism.

Apart from these more superficial references to Nazi Germany - the description of an expansionist totalitarian regime, German sounding names, certain symbols - The game also puts parts of it's ideology on display:

Rascism

- Danan and his people are considered to be subhuman or evolutionary closer to other animals

“Well, well, what have we here? An animal aboard my ship. Do you like it animal?”

“... maby I’ll make you the Emperor’s pet.”

- Danan's intellect is questioned:

In response to Danan's inquiries about The captain's "cyborg capabilities":

“The technique is really very simple, but you wouldn’t understand because you are just an animal.”

In response to Emperor Wolf's plans:

“… the likes of you will never understand his greatness.”

speculative claims

- Industrialised Warfare

The high-tech battleship, it's military crew and the advanced weoponry onboard; seem to strongly contrast with the more "primitive" locales and foes throughout the rest of the game. Whether this was intentionally so, remains open for discussion. In any case, if this critique was intended, the Nazi forces as well as the WW2 Allied forces are susceptible to it.

- Purification

The Priest of Moralos who works in tandem with the Gaits forces, states the following concerning the pending "destruction"

"All will be consumed in flames and a paradise will be built on the ashes"

Though higly speculative, this presumed necessity to start over with a purified base, seems to somewhat parellel the genitic purification (etnical cleansing, ...) policies of the Third Reich

- Hollywood Romanticisation of Nazi plunder and archealogy

The Gaits Empire's large effort to retrieve a mythical sacred object (perceived to be crucial in their war effort) on a far away continent, strongly resembles the plot of adventure films like Indiana Jones: The lost Ark. This last film offers a fantastical variation on the historical themes of "Nazi Plunder" of art in occupied territories and "Nazi Archeology".

"Noble Savage" references

The Amazon characters in the game are generally portrayed as deeply spiritual and noble. And even though the Moralos warriors momentarily collabarated with the evil Gaits forces, their chief "Gaza" seems to indicate that they were just welcoming their guests.

"Until a few days ago, life in our village was as it has been since the day of 'Aganan' Then the white man came with their black steel battleship. They deceived me. They deceived the whole village. They acted like our friends but in reality they were looking for the 3 sacred objects that 'Aganan' had"

The above quote seems to be indicative of a static society (not essentially evolved since the days of Aganan), that not actively sets out goals for itself, but passively (They deceived me. - The confrontation with "white" Gaits forces had a devastating impact on the Moralos Society, while the tribesmen were not able to vise versa affect the Gaits forces) undergoes situations. Their people's hospitablity, though well intended, proves naive and "irrational"

The only tribe member "willingly" collabarating with the Gaits forces is the "priest". A likely suspect, because of his presumed greater knoledge that might somewhat parallel that of a scientist in Westeren society. The fact that Danan, the most active agent amongst the tribesmen, is an adopted "white" is probably no coincidence either.

strong female Characters

The female opponents, Danan fights in the "Amazon" round, look as strong and capable as their male counterparts in later rounds. Throughout his quest, Danan gets rescued twice by a female character named Linda. She is the only survivor of an Allied Mallus force that previously tried to infiltrate the Gaits rangs, this fact alone stands as testimony of her true strength. At the very end of the game Linda is shortly held hostage. Nevetheless the "Damsel in distress" trope seems not really applicable here.

Reception

Contemporary (UK) Game magazines

At the time of it's release, Danan: the Jungle Fighter received mixed to positive reviews in the UK. The 5 magazines featured here, gave it scores ranging from 54 to 85%. With the average score being 67,4% and the median score being 66%.

The biggest flaws attributed to "Danan: The Jungle Fighter", were that it is too easy and short to provide a real challenge. Also Danan's soundtrack was considerd to be somewhat "repetitive".

The genral consensus among reviewers, was that Danan's graphics were technically well-realised.. While Mean Machines's authors Matt and Julian nevertheless found the backgrounds to be rather uninspired, Raze on the other hand lauded its "high level of detail and colour" Mean Machines especially took aim at Danan's fluidity of animation, calling the scrolling jerkey. And while Raze was in awe of the game's big sprites, Mean Machines termed them not very "life-like".