Magical Crusaders Matagi Magica

Mami battles Gertud.

Magical Crusaders Matagi Magica (魔法討伐隊 またぎ☆マギカ, Mahō Tōbatsu Tai Matagi Magika) is an fanmade action-adventure sidescroller based on the anime, developed by 耳小屋. The latest version can be downloaded here. In the game, the player selects between several magical girls and battles through various witches' labyrinths to defeat witches and obtain their Grief Seeds. As of version 1.28, players can play as Madoka, two versions of Homura, Kyouko, Mami, Sayaka, Kirika, Oriko, Yuma and Kyubey and play through stages based on Gertrud's, Suleika's, Charlotte's, Elly's, Albertine's, Elsa Maria's, Oktavia von Seckendorff's, Izabel's, Roberta's and Candeloro's labyrinths.

An English localization project has initiated here. A partial translation of version 1.10 is available here.

Installation

Download the latest version of the game and unzip it into a new directory.

• It needs the regional settings to use dot (.) and not comma (,) as decimal separator to run (control panel/region and language/formats/additional settings/decimal symbol).
• To see kanji and not random mojibake, change regional settings to Japanese or use AppLocale.
• It is a Windows binary, but works just fine on WINE for Linux or WINE for Intel Mac. It is recommended to start it using the following command:

env LANG=ja_JP.utf8 wine Player.exe

Controls

Magical Crusaders Matagi Magica Menu

Menu

Use ↑ / ↓ to select and X to change menu options:

• Start
• Lair: Tutorial, Gertrud, Suleika, Charlotte, Elly, Albertine, Elsa Maria, Oktavia von Seckendorff, Izabel, Roberta, Candeloro
• Magic Girl: Madoka, Homura, Kyouko, Mami, Sayaka, Megane Homura, Kirika, Oriko, Yuma, Kyubey
• Difficulty: Recruit, Veteran, Expert
• Framerate Processing: Reduce Frames Drawn, Reduce Game Speed

Basic Control

• ↑ / ← / → / ↓: Move avatar using the arrow keys.
• X: Jump, press X again to leap forward.
• X + ↑: High jump, press X + ↑ again to double jump, or X to leap forward.
• X + ↓: Dash forward.
• Z: Basic attack.
• [Charge] Z: Hold down Z to initiate a charged attack.
• Space: Pauses the game.
• Z (while paused): Goes back to the menu.
• X (while paused): Restarts the level you are playing.

Characters

Madoka

Move list

• Z: Bow Attack. Capable of rapid fire.
• Z + →: Bow Attack. Longer activation and duration, less powerful but penetrates wall.
• Z + ↓: Power charge. Double attack power. Stackable on one shot only. Consumes 100 MP.
• Z + ↑: Homing arrow. Turns vertically at the nearest enemy's direction once. Consumes 10 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Activates wings. Repeating the move will de-activate the wings.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Goddess form. Consumes 300 MP. Activates wings and becomes invincible, but health drops to zero and the kill count will be fixed at 0, ruining the chances for a good score. Advisable only for map recon.
• X (hold) + ←/→ (while with wings): Dash, moves faster across the map. Consumes MP while being used.

Strategy

• Take advantage of Madoka's wings since they only consume MP when air-dashing. They are very useful to explore the map and avoid enemy attacks.

Homura

Move list

Shooter mode

• Z: Pistol attack. Consumes 1 ammo.
• Z + →: Shotgun attack. Consumes 5 ammo.
• Z + ↓: MG attack. Shoots as long as you hold the down button. Consumes 1 ammo every second.
• Z + ↑: Melee attack.

Bomber mode

• Z: Lays down a bomb. Consumes 10 ammo. It's possible to lay down bombs in mid air.
• Z + ↓: Freeze bomb. Freezes enemies when they touch Homura. Consumes 5 ammo.
• Z + ↑: Drops a bomb from the top of the screen. Consumes 10 ammo. Bomb only makes contact with enemies and can fall through the map.

Common attacks

These attacks are the same in every mode

• [Charge] Z: Refill ammo.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Homura rides on a missile flying straight forward. Consumes 100 ammo.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Freeze time. Requires at least 100 MP to activate and consumes all of them.
• [Midair] Z + ↑: Switch modes.

Strategy

• Homura has another bar besides the health and mana bar which indicates her ammunition.
• Be careful with your ammo. When Homura runs out of ammo she's pretty helpless.
• When you run out of ammo, you can hold Z to refill it, at the cost of 1 mana for 1 ammo.

Mami

Move list

• All of Mami's air dashes (in air X, X+←/→/↓, X+↑ after dash) summon a ribbon to swing Spiderman-like towards the arrow direction. This is otherwise the same as every other characters air dash.
• Z: Summon five guns. If used in midair, the guns fall on top of the avatar. Touching a gun fires it at the nearest enemy. Summoning a set of guns uses 10 MP.
• Z + ↓: Swing a gun in melee, useful for hitting something close fast.
• Z + ↑: Summon five guns in a row that fire in unison after a couple seconds, can be used in mid air. Uses 10 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Tiro Finale, uses 100 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Activate a buff that adds the bind property to all of your shots and takes 100 mp to activate. It still doesn't work on bosses. It does work on "Dark Sayaka" though if you land a hit with the trap activated. Before version 1.05, it summons a trap that immobilizes which doesn't seem to work on bosses, uses 50 MP.

Strategy

• X + ↓ dash into X + ↑ double jump to gain the most horizontal momentum possible. You can even jump clear over the first steps at the beginning of the level, even clearing the enemy's trail on Veteran.
• Z + ↓ can be canceled into X + ↓ or aerial X + ←/→. This is really useful for escaping Charlotte when she eats you. Conversely, you can also cancel dashes back into Z + ↓, so you can go X + ↓ to Z + ↓ to X + → for a really fast attack that covers a lot of ground.
• The fastest way to get access to small rifles is to do it on the ground and then short hop up and catch them in the air. Aerial rifle spawn is really slow, and this way is slightly faster than waiting for the grounded ones to land. Also, facing a wall and spawning rifles will spawn them all in the exact same place.
• Minor trick for Charlotte, if you go up on the top left platform of the three where she spawns, and stand all the way on the left, you can ↑Z and then move forward so that she spawns into a facefull of bullets.

Sayaka

Move list

• Z: Slash, can be used very rapidly or after a single jump upwards.
• Z + →: Thrust, deals higher damage but slower, can be used when jumping forward.
• Z + ↓: Dash forward, gaining temporary invulnerability and anything the avatar passes through is attacked. Stoppable by wall or ledge and uses 20 MP. In midair it's a down thrust and takes no MP.
• Z + ↑: Slash up.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Attack everything on the screen, uses all MP and takes at least 100 MP to activate.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Gives a temporary buff. While activated any damage taken is refunded at the end the effect. Drains MP rather fast and if HP reaches 0 before it runs out, the buff will have no effects.

Strategy

• Sayaka's Z + ↓ dash attack will stop at the edge of platforms, so there is no need to worry about falling off. It's convenient for clearing lines of enemies or avoiding attacks.
• Sayaka's midair Z + ↓ can be used as a safeguard for when enemies are below you, but you aren't sure of their location and are falling. When you damage an enemy with her down thrust attack, she bounces back up slightly, and using Z + ↓ again will usually finish off the enemy at lower difficulties.
• Sayaka's normal attack can deflect range attacks.

Kyouko

Move list

• Z: Thrust forward, hitting anything three squares ahead, and misses everything else.
• Z + →: Sends a spearhead forward, does no damage on return and has a minimum range of 3 squares. Uses 10 MP. It can be used in midair and Kyouko can jump after using it.
• Z + ↓: Twirl spear for a few seconds, hitting everything close. In midair this uses 10 MP and sends a spear-chain out, 270 degrees from avatar's back. Like Z + →, only the spearhead deals damage and it hits nothing in a 4 square radius, or anything beyond.
• Z + ↑: Rosso Fantasma, summons an illusion for 20 MP, it will automatically attack any nearby enemies and move on its own. It only lasts for a few seconds.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Summons a huge spear from the ground three squares ahead. The shaft does not block or damage enemies, uses 100 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Kyouko's nuke from Episode 9, blasts all enemies on screen, uses all MP. Requires 100 to activate, deals 50 damage to self at the end (yes it can kill you).

Strategy

• When Kyouko is in midair and sees an enemy she will sometimes put a cross hair over them, briefly. If you press Z and ONLY Z, you will fly towards the enemy. If you hit them you will bounce back. You can use it again while you're bouncing back. This uses 10 mp per attack.
• Kyouko's nuke skill can be interrupted by some attack(for example, Oktavia's sword).

Megane Homura

This character is based on the glasses-wearing Homura in the second timeline, not the one we know for much of the show.

Move list

• X: All of Homura's jumps and dashes do not travel as far as other characters.
• Z: Golf Swing: melee attack with a golf club. Can be used to punt bombs.
• Z + →: Thrust: Push enemies back. Launches bombs forward with greater force.
• Z + ↓: Drop bomb: Drops a bomb which activates when an enemy touches it, the explosion can hurt you too, uses 20 MP. When used in midair the bomb is thrown.
• Z + ↑: Bunker Shot. A golf swing that sends enemies or bombs primarily upwards.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Creates a portal, reusing the skill will cause her to return back to where the skill is first used. Both usages cost 50 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Time warp: Freeze time as long as you have MP left but drains rapidly. You can still attack but your attacks will only take effect after time unfreezes.

Strategy

• Take advantage of Homura's ability to punt bombs with her golf club.
• Bombs can be detonated by other bombs. Hence, you can toss two bombs in quick succession, or create a bomb, punt it with Z, and repeat. Since each explosion has a large radius, this method is useful for taking out most enemies.
• Enemies hit by a bomb will also explode like a bomb. This is useful when there are a lot of enemies in one place.
• Homura's time stop special, activated by Z + ↓, is crucial against bosses. It allows you to deal a large amount of damage in a short period of time.

Kirika

Move list

• Z: Slash, same as Sayaka's but does not deflect projectiles.
• Z + →: Dash forward, unlike Sayaka's, and she will instantly stop when she hits an opponent dealing damage to it. Can also be used in mid-air. Uses 20 MP.
• Z + ↑: Rising Cut. Can be used in mid-air. Uses 10 MP.
• Z + ↓: Projects a large circle that severely slows down enemies inside it. Uses 30 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Sweeps everything in a horizontal line, can be used in mid-air. Uses 100 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Slows down all enemies on the screen. Uses 100 MP.

Strategy

• Kirika can be described as a harder to control Sayaka with less attack options. Her moves are all usable in mid-air, unlike some of Sayaka's.
• Kirika is much heavier than the other characters and cannot jump as high. Her walking speed is very slow but her dash is the farthest.
• Z + ↑ can be used to give her extra momentum after double-jumping to reach ledges she would otherwise not be able to get to.
• While Kirika's slowing attack can't affect bosses, it can affect Charlotte's fake doll body and the real body, although not the caterpillar.

Oriko

Move list

• Oriko's high jump and dash will temporarily make her invulnerable.
• Z: Summons 6 blue orbs around her, can be stacked up to 18 orbs. Consumes 10 MP.
• Z + ↑: Summons an row of orbs above her, the orbs will pursue the nearest target. If used in mid-air, the orbs will go in an alternate arrangement. Consumes 10 MP.
• Z + →: Fires a stream of danmaku in vertical line. Consumes 10 MP.
• [Jump] Z + ↓: Showers danmaku below her. Holding down will keep her in mid-air while using this, however it drains her MP at the cost of 1 MP per orb.
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Showers the whole screen with danmaku that penetrates wall. Consumes 100 MP.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Summons a large ball. If it makes a contact with Oriko, it will bounce forward depending on where she is facing. Consumes 100 MP.

Strategy

• Oriko is the danmaku user in this game. Take advantage of her abilities at your disposal. Despite of this she has NO melee attacks.

Yuma

Move list

• Z: A single upward swing.
• Z + ↑: Creates a single pillar shockwave. Consumes 10 MP
• Z + ↓: Creates a shockwave in the ground. Consumes 20 MP.
• Z + →: A "sonic-boom", can be used in the air. Consumes 20 MP
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Creates a shock wave in the ground that hits all enemies on the ground in the screen.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Recovers twice of your HP (eg. if you have 40HP left, after using this spell you will now have 80HP). Consumes 300 MP and half of your remaining time bonus.

Strategy

• Yuma has the highest jump of all characters.
• Her Z + → is perfect for fighting against Elsa Maria, since the sonic-boom will follow the Sebastians till they disappear.
• Yuma is shorter than most of the characters; this makes dodging and exploring the Suleika stage a little easier.

Kyubey

Move list

• Z: Melee attack; becomes rolling attack when in mid air
• Z + →: Slower melee attack with longer range
• Z + ↑: Upward kick
• [Charge] Z + ↑: Kyubey will attack with a pink ball. When an enemy touches that ball it will start losing HP. Enemies killed by this attack will become a number of homing pink balls to take out other enemies.
• [Charge] Z + ↓: Short lasting barrier that converts enemy projectiles into homing pink balls.

Strategy

• Kyubey is able to walk on walls.
• Kyubey is shorter than most of the characters; this makes dodging and exploring Suleika stage a little easier.

Stages

Tutorial

This is a training stage, for new players to get accustomed to the game controls. It features several obstacles to clear, like tall walls and spikes, which need to be jumped, high-jumped or double-jumped to get through. All your attacks have no effect: for example, summoning guns with Mami will make them spawn, but touching them will not fire them. However, Homura's bombs would still explode and can damage her in this stage. In the second part, It will require you to use different skills on objects. Other characters will give you advice, depending on the character you selected.

Gertrud

This stage is a vertical stage, with the boss door on the top floor. Beware of pitfalls, they can send you back several levels or even kill you. Time is of the essence, the level is one of the longest on the game.

Hovering Anthonies will drop damaging flower petals: they can be dealt with easily, though. Green ones will follow you (and shoot petals in Veteran and Expert), but run away if you approach them. Kill them with a ranged or fast attack (for example, Sayaka's Z + ↓). Some others will hover up and down, shooting scissors. Just get close carefully and kill them. Large blue Adelberts have sizable HP and will use a soundwave attack which damages in a wide area. If you need to approach it, do it between waves. Be careful with roses: destroying or picking one will summon a pink Adelbert, which will pursuit you aggressively. Do not worry if you kill a stationary Anthony holding them, the rose will harmlessly fall as the familiar is killed. The number of roses dropped and maximum number of pink Adelbert will change according to the difficulty level. There is a shortcut on the extreme east side of the map which requires good jumping skills to clear. It is riddled with minions, so be ready for high intensity combat. The time saved is only recommended for expert players.

Gertrud is one of the biggest bosses of the game, by size. Her only weak point is her head, and she is invulnerable when her witch seal covers it. The fight has three stages. First, Gertrud walks around while shooting roses at the player. These roses aren't harmful, but summon pink Adelberts on contact, like in the regular map. Due to the constant stream of roses, it can get out of hand if not dealt with quickly. After getting rid of her first life bar, Gertrud will fly horizontally around the battlefield at the same height as the player. She attacks at high speed and you will usually only have one chance per run to hit her with close-range attacks. Her last stand involves shooting pink petals, dealing damage on contact. Harder levels will increase the number of petals, with Expert being quite close to a Touhou game. Throughout the battle, she will summon mini Adelberts that, while not inflicting direct damage, attempt to attach themselves to the player, slowing the player and draining their MP. Too many of them will cancel any attack as well as draining the player's MP completely. A simple attack will kill them.

Suleika

Just like Elsa Maria's stage, this is a labyrinth maze. As time progresses, the stage gets darker and darker; to prevent that, you must hunt and kill Ulla to brighten the area. Be careful of killing too many Ullas in a short period, since the background will be so white that you won't be able to tell where an Ulla is.

The boss is a shaped ball that becomes larger and larger as it gets darker making it easier to be hit by range attacks. Beware of hitting Ullas in the 2nd round, for it becomes too small for any range attacker to hit it.(With an exception to Oriko)

Charlotte

Charlotte's level is simple, although you should be careful with the platform mid-section.

Several Pyotr variations will attack you. Red ones are fast and will run along a straight line, leaving damaging bubbles in their path: either deal with them before they reach you or jump and deal with it when it comes back. Yellows are slow, but have a lot of health and fire large blue circles. They are dangerous in numbers, and can leave you with no place to run. Be especially careful on the uphill section. Finally, orange Pyotrs will jump around, emitting a shock wave near where they land. Avoid it and hit them afterwards, or in midair. There is also a shortcut near the ceiling of the map, entered by high jumping to the first high platform. It requires careful jumping, and the end section is crammed with opponents.

Like in the anime, Charlotte will first appear as a little doll. According to the difficulty level, she might fire blue balls and jump around, but she is an easy foe regardless. After the doll is destroyed, her "caterpillar form" will emerge and start following the player in the battlefield. The caterpillar can "chomp" the player and the only way to get out is using an attack. The caterpillar can also be stopped for a moment if the player hits her head with an attack. Charlotte's real form, another doll, will appear in the left top platform for a few seconds from time to time. The only way to beat Charlotte is killing the real doll. Use the caterpillar's temporary hit stun to hit it, or leave a trap on the platform (Homura's bomb, Mami's in-line rifles).

The size and speed of Charlotte's "catterpillar form" vary within the difficulty. Harder being the biggest and fastest.

Elly

Her map is a very long vertical stage. It is best to be careful when you go upwards, since a wrong jump can send you to the bottom of the stage. You will be pursued by the Witch but you can't kill it. Destroy the TV boxes where her minions spawn to reduce your difficulty of going over her stage. Also beware when its minions get too close to you, as they will drag you to the bottom of the stage. When the boss stage is reached, every time you kill Elly, she will send out a ball with other witches faces which grows larger and larger. The number of lives depends on the difficulty. If you don't attack the balls, they will get out of hand and leave no space for you to walk in. Attacking the balls make them smaller.

Albertine

Her map is almost the opposite of Elly's. To get to the witch you must head downwards, with arrows pointing to directions you can take. The Anja minions are the biggest concern on this map, they come in three different types. One flies around in an aeroplane, one drives around in a boat and the last type is static and shoots bouncing balls out of a tank. These balls will bounce you around the stage if you get caught. Their life bars decrease as time passes. Anjas of all types are only attackable if they are in the yellow patterns on the wall. When you get to the boss, she will the opposite of the minions since she is invisible on the paper-type walls. Hit her carefully when she's visible(Homura or Moemura's time stops are effective,but Mami's Charge Z+Down can work too).

Elsa Maria

Her map is a true labyrinth, being horizontally continuum: walking to the left of the right mindlessly will eventually bring you back to the start. The boss room is right below the start, you will just need to find the way there. For that, you will need to go down a few levels before coming back up.

Several beasts will attack you. Mice run fast on horizontal surfaces: jump when needed. Ogre heads hug the walls and fire large amounts of bullets, be careful and use long range attacks if possible. Birds will fly around, hit them when they're inbound. Snakes hang horizontally and shoot bullets, but shouldn't be too worrisome. Dragons will bounce up and down the map, simply hit them when they're visible. Finally, several trees will block you way; mow them down from a distance as getting stuck in one will drain your HP at higher difficulties.

Elsa Maria can neither move nor hit nor be hit. From time to time, a Sebastian will come out of her, carrying a tree's root. The Sebastian will move in predetermined patters: some will run in circles, some will home at you. Take a close look at the shape of the head, as similar heads have similar attack patterns. If the player falls in a root, it will become stuck: a simple attack will destroy a section of the root. Destroying a Sebastian will destroy the root where it came from and damage Elsa Maria. Taking too long will cause the Sebastian to disappear and fire a single bullet at the player, with no damage done to Elsa.

Oktavia von Seckendorff

Her stage is a time attack: a giant Sayaka-like cutlass will move across the map, behind the player. Getting hit by it damages the player and getting stuck between the sword and a wall is an instant kill.

Brown wheels hop around, while grey wheels roll. Avoid them and destroy when possible, but beware that grey wheels will push you back along it's path. There are a couple of giant grey wheels, where jumping is not an option: hit them with everything you got. The Holger fires musical notes (a beamed pair of sixteenth notes) in all directions. They're not dangerous individually, but beware of groups.

Oktavia attacks by summoning wheels and swinging her sword. Her lair is continuous, so the wheels will keep coming back until they are destroyed. Destroying her hand will allow the player to attack her head without any obstacles, but her hand is recovered when the player gets rid of one of her life bars. Destroying Oktavia will not end the map, but engage the player in a fight with Dark Sayaka.

Dark Sayaka

A bonus stage after killing Oktavia von Seckendorff, the dark Sayaka can attack with any skill from her moveset and block attacks using quick slash (Kyoko's nuke and Megane Homura's bomb notwithstanding), making her a formidable opponent. Dark Sayaka also has a move from Mami's move list: she can produce several swords (instead of rifles) and when she touches them, she throws them towards the player. Maintain some distance and do not attack recklessly: you will be punished. Diversify your attacks if you want to stand any chance of hitting her. She is guardless when airborne, so give her no mercy when she jumps or dives.

Izabel

This stage is a vertical stage with a twist. The boss door is at the very top and being not careful with causing you to be trap in the maze and possibly being swarmed by Izabel's minions.

The Boss will spawn minions and teleport over time, but be careful as getting too close to her will suck you in rapidly draining your HP.

Roberta

Her stage is a long pathway. With bunch of Gotz flying around like fishes. Beware of the spikes below as it will cause a big nuisance.

As for the boss, attacking it from afar in the 1st round is hard, due to its shields that block any range attack (except those that penetrate wall), and she will attack in danmaku style even at easy level. It's best to attack in close-range. In the 2nd round, it will now charge at the player and cause a dropping motion in an attempt to crush you. It will be easier to hit from the chains. Finally when it breaks out of cage, it will be jumping around as some Gotz appear below it.

Candeloro

This is a maze-like stage, only the path to the witch is shorter. The Madoka and Kyouko familiars attack with bullets (Madoka with a single slow-moving arrow, the Kyouko-type with several spear thrusts). Sayaka-types move fast towards the player, Homura-types stay still, teleporting away from you if close enough and counter-attack with bullets if you hit one.

Version History

• 1.28 - Added Candeloro's lair.
• 1.27 - Updated Albertine's lair (adding a boss).
• 1.26 - Added Izabel's lair.
• 1.25 - Added the Rosso Fantasma move on Kyouko.
• 1.24 - Added new moves for Megane Homura and Oriko
• 1.23 - Added Roberta's lair.
• 1.22 - Updated Suleika's lair (adding a boss).
• 1.21 - Oriko added as playable character.
• 1.20 - Yuma added as playable character.
• 1.19 - Added Albertine's lair.
• 1.18 - Added new moves for Kirika.
• 1.17 - Added Suleika's lair.
• 1.16 - Kirika added as playable character.
• 1.15 - Fixed a bug on Perfect Homura in Bomber form when eaten by Charlotte.
• 1.14 - Homura added as playable character.
• 1.13 - Added Elly's lair.
• 1.12 - Fixed a Bug with Madokas Godess Form in the Oktavia Stage
• 1.11 - Madoka added as playable character.
• 1.10 - New tutorial stage
• 1.09 - Kyubey added as playable character.
• 1.08 - Added Tutorial stage.
• 1.07 - Added Elsa Maria's lair. Added character and lair picture to the main menu.
• 1.06 - Fixed bonus stage to Oktavia von Seckendorff. Bug fix.
• 1.05 - Added Oktavia von Seckendorff's lair.
• 1.04 - Megane Homura added as playable character.
• 1.03 - Added Charlotte's lair stage and Kyouko as playable character.
• 1.02 - Added Gertrud's lair.
• 1.01 - Sayaka added as playable character.
• 0.02 - Charlotte's stage completed
• 0.01 - Public beta

External links

• Gameplay series
• Kirika gameplay demo