9.2 /10 1 Votes
Mode(s) Single-player Publisher Irem Designer Irem | 4.6/5 Emuparadise Initial release date 28 April 1989 Developer Irem Genre Platform game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Platform Nintendo Entertainment System Similar Irem games, Platform games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Holy Diver (Japanese: ホーリー・ダイヴァー, Hepburn: Hōrī Daivā) is a platforming video game software developed and published by Irem on April 28, 1989 for the Famicom (Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System). The game was scheduled for a North American release in the same year, and even received a brief write-up in Electronic Gaming Monthly. However, possibly for licensing reasons, the game was never released outside Japan.
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Similarities to other games
Although Irem designed the game, its plot and setting is designed in the same vein as Konami's Castlevania and Getsu Fūma Den. In fact, one of the stages has sprites and graphics similar to those found in Konami's other game, Contra (the final boss is also very similar to Contra's). The HUD is like the one used in Nintendo's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Relationship to Dio album "Holy Diver"
Although there is no official connection to the Dio album of the same name, there are numerous references to heavy metal music; multiple characters are named after heavy metal performers, and bands, and the imagery of the game's graphics are evocative of Hell.
