| Madō Monogatari | |
| Developer: | Compile (1989-1998) D4 Enterprise (2005-present) Compile Heart (2013-present) ZeroDiv (2013) |
| Publisher: | Compile (1989-1998) Sega (1993-1994) NEC Avenue (PCE) D4 Enterprise (2005-present) Compile Heart (2013-present) |
| Genre: | Dungeon crawl |
| Spinoffs: | Puyo Puyo |
| First Release Version: | Madō Monogatari Episode II: Carbuncle |
| First Release Date: | December 10, 1989 |
| Latest Release Version: | |
| Latest Release Date: | March 28, 2013 |
Madō Monogatari, known in the west as Sorcery Saga, is a series of first-person dungeon crawler role-playing video games by Compile. The first game was released in 1990 for MSX2. Sega published the Game Gear remakes based on 1-2-3. The characters of this series would later be used in the puzzle game Puyo Puyo.
The plot of the first game consists of a six-year-old named Arle Nadja, who has passed the written test and she needs to scale a giant tower to pass the actual test. In the second game, ten years later, Arle Nadja encounters Schezo Wegey, and also Satan (Dark Prince outside of Japan), and in the end Carbuncle joins Arle Nadja.
Gameplay combines role-playing elements with some unique twists. For example, there are no numeric stats; instead, everything is represented by character facial expressions and sprites. Another is the complete lack of physical attacks. Everything utilizes one of four magical elements: Fire, Ice Storm, Thunder, and Bayoen. Some enemies are weaker against one particular magic attack than another.