Marl Kingdom - Characteristics

Characteristics

Like most Nippon Ichi games, the Marl games feature bright, anime influenced graphics. All the games use 2D backgrounds and sprites, with the exception of Tenshi no Present, which has 3D backgrounds with 2D sprites. Each of the games were created by Yoshitsuna Kobayashi and feature the artwork of Yoshiharu Nomura, whereas the music was composed by Tenpei Sato, a regular for handling Nippon Ichi games. Sato described Rhapsody's music as a "complete musical with both solos and choruses" and said "...it was a fun and refreshing experience."

The Marl games, similar to other Nippon Ichi video games, feature goofy senses of humor, tongue-in-cheek melodrama, and quirky casts of heroes and villains. For instance, Cornet, in Rhapsody, attacks enemies with monstrous storms of confectionary foods, while her rival, the seemingly polite Etoile, pulls out machine guns on her enemies. Along with the humor, there is a certain level of girlishness to each game, the plot often focusing on issues of love rather than complex politics and evil demon lords. Each game also features musical numbers.

Each of the Marl video games, with the exception of the puzzle games, are role-playing video games. Rhapsody and Little Princess are geared to be simpler RPGs, focusing more on story than complex gameplay, while Tenshi no Present's gameplay has more depth in it.