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Totally Rad

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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 atta...

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Developer
Aicom

Released on
1990

Size
1 Player

Version
NES

Requirements
Nintendo Entertainment System

Downloads
Platform

Publisher
Jaleco

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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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.

Totally Rad

Overview & History

Released by Jaleco for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, Totally Rad (known in Japan as *Magic John*) is a delightfully eccentric action-platformer that leans heavily into the radical, neon-soaked slang of late-80s youth culture. The story follows a teenage slacker named Jake (or John in the original Japanese release) who studies under the mystical sorcerer ZZ. When Jake's girlfriend, Allison, is kidnapped by the villainous Retrocognition Gang—led by the sinister King Goon—Jake must trade his skateboard for pure arcane might. Unlike standard medieval fantasy titles, this game blends wizardry with suburban teen tropes, creating a bizarrely unique atmosphere that captures a very specific era of Saturday morning cartoon aesthetics and comic book styling.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Spanning six distinct levels, the game combines standard side-scrolling platforming with a unique magic transformation system. Players navigate Jake through urban streets, cavernous hideouts, and surreal dreamscapes. Along the way, Jake collects various colored potions that grant him temporary transformations into magical beasts: a fish for aquatic navigation, a bear for brute strength, a hawk for aerial flight, and a lion for swift ground combat. Magic points act as ammunition for Jake's standard projectile attacks and his powerful screen-clearing spells, requiring players to carefully manage their resources rather than mindlessly button-mashing through hordes of eccentric grunts, punk rockers, and robotic mutants.