#copya systems

A clumsy, primitive, first-person maze shooter. It’s not very fun. But man, that box art is something else, huh?

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Paladin’s Quest / Lennus

Copya System's Lennus series falls somewhere between bad and weird. They're a duo of grindy and time-consuming turn-based JRPGs, but their bizarre art design is unlike anything the genre has seen before, or ever again. The planet Lennus is a pastel-colored world of geometric trees, strange humanoid races that live in eggshell houses, and ravenous beasts of all shapes and sizes: From bug-eyed rabbits to great dinosaurs, with ladybug men in between. It gives the distinct air of 1970s French science fiction, ala Fantastic Planet or the works of the late Jean "Moebius" Giraud, something seen rarely in any video game. Lennus' concept art was by award-winning science fiction illustrators Hiroyuki Katō and Keisuke Gotō, famed for their intensely-detailed covers of Hayakwa S-F Magazine, with monster designs handled by Shuji Imai, illustrator for Nintendo Power (including Howard and Nester, of all things). These three artists, under the guidance of the game's writer/director Hidenori Shibao, managed to create a world that, while not always visually attractive, stood apart from its fantasy manga-style contemporaries. The music is by the prolific Kouhei Tanaka (Gravity Rush, The Granstream Saga, Tengai Makyō), and although it's nothing to write home about, it still manages to fit the game's mood while being pleasant to the ear.