Cadash

About

Cadash is a 1989 action-RPG that blends side-scrolling platformer mechanics with level-up systems and resource management. Players control one of four classes, fighter, mage, priestess, or ninja, each with distinct abilities and stats. The goal is to progress through five stages filled with monsters, treasure, and environmental hazards. Combat requires balancing gold, healing items, and experience points to survive increasingly tough battles. Shops let you buy better gear, while villages offer upgrades and clues. The arcade version supports four-player co-op, though console ports limit play to two. Progression involves navigating above and below-ground worlds, unlocking paths with collected keys, and fighting bosses to reach the final castle. The game’s structure stands out with its mix of exploration and tactical upgrades. Each stage shifts from sunny meadows to underwater dungeons, populated by creatures from folklore and original designs. The narrative about a demonic ruler kidnapping a princess adds stakes, though the real draw is the gameplay’s ahead-of-its-time fusion of genres. Console versions let players extend playtime by collecting hourglasses, a clever incentive loop. While not a household name, Cadash earned a cult following for its depth and multiplayer options, particularly in arcades where co-op runs tested teamwork and strategy.

Storyline

The game setting is a medieval fantasy world similar to that of the high fantasy seen in The Lord of the Rings. The demons and abominations of nature who reside in the underground kingdom of Cadash have not forgotten that, thousands of years previously, they once shared the light with humans. Then one rose among them who was especially powerful, a demonic wizard born of a human woman – the Balrog (Baarogue or Baalogue in the arcade version, and Barlog in the TurboGrafx version). The Balrog promised his followers they could, in time, emerge from their subterranean prison and rule the world of men, taking revenge on humans for their prior defeat in battle and subsequent exile, if the Balrog could mingle his blood with that of a human king. The Balrog and his demonic armies gathered in force over the centuries, and are now powerful enough to emerge to the surface and make war with the unprepared human kingdoms which had not known war for millennia, all of which quickly fall to the Balrog. The human world is almost entirely laid to waste by the Balrog. However, this was not enough for the Balrog, whose prize is the mightiest of all human kingdoms, the Kingdom of Dirzir. One night, the beautiful Princess Salassa is kidnapped by the Balrog from the Keep of Deerzar, the capital city of Dirzir, and taken underground to the dreaded Castle Cadash. There the Balrog plans to initiate the ritual which would magically bind himself to the human princess, becoming all-powerful and invincible. Dilsarl, the distraught and helpless elderly King of Dirzir, has vowed to give his entire kingdom to the one who would rescue his beloved only daughter, and many brave heroes have disappeared into the depths of Cadash on this quest.