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The game of Usas or Treasure of Usas as it says on the title screen, is a platform game
Platform game

Platform game, or platformer, is a computer and video game genres characterized by jumping puzzle or over obstacles. It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps....
 for the MSX
MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi....
2 with two main characters called Wit and Cles. The name refers to the goddess Ushas
Ushas

Ushas , Sanskrit for "dawn", is a Vedic deity, and consequently a Hindu deities as well.Ushas is an exalted divinity in the Rig Veda, sometimes spoken of in the plural, "the Dawns." She is portrayed as welcoming birds and warding off evil spirits, and as a beautifully adorned young woman riding in a golden chariot on her path across the sk...
.

Each of the game's five stages
Level (computer and video games)

In video games, a level is a discrete subdivision of a video game's virtual world or set of challenges.Each level almost always has an associated objective, which may be as simple as walking from point A to point B, though the objective can be far more elaborate than that....
 is divided into four sub-stages ('ruins') and a boss
Boss (video games)

A boss is a computer-controlled opponent which is found in video games. Their purpose is to test the skills that the player has accumulated over the course of a game....
 area ('shrine'). All four ruins need to be completed and their respective sub-bosses defeated before the shrine can be entered and the level's boss beat.






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The game of Usas or Treasure of Usas as it says on the title screen, is a platform game
Platform game

Platform game, or platformer, is a computer and video game genres characterized by jumping puzzle or over obstacles. It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps....
 for the MSX
MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi....
2 with two main characters called Wit and Cles. The name refers to the goddess Ushas
Ushas

Ushas , Sanskrit for "dawn", is a Vedic deity, and consequently a Hindu deities as well.Ushas is an exalted divinity in the Rig Veda, sometimes spoken of in the plural, "the Dawns." She is portrayed as welcoming birds and warding off evil spirits, and as a beautifully adorned young woman riding in a golden chariot on her path across the sk...
.

Each of the game's five stages
Level (computer and video games)

In video games, a level is a discrete subdivision of a video game's virtual world or set of challenges.Each level almost always has an associated objective, which may be as simple as walking from point A to point B, though the objective can be far more elaborate than that....
 is divided into four sub-stages ('ruins') and a boss
Boss (video games)

A boss is a computer-controlled opponent which is found in video games. Their purpose is to test the skills that the player has accumulated over the course of a game....
 area ('shrine'). All four ruins need to be completed and their respective sub-bosses defeated before the shrine can be entered and the level's boss beat. Each sub-stage or shrine can be entered by only one of the characters at a time. If one of them perishes while attempting to clear a ruin, the other will have to come to his rescue.

Both characters have unique abilities. By touching one of four special 'emotion' icons
Pictogram

A Pictograph is a pictorial representation of an object. Earliest examples of pictographs include ancient or prehistoric drawings or paintings found on rock walls....
 found in various places within the game, the character will change to the corresponding mood: happy, angry, sad or neutral. Each mood bestows special powers (or lack thereof) and attacks, different for both Wit and Cles. This requires a careful management of what ruin to play with what character in what emotion. Moreover, a happy character has an additional 'secret' power: Cles can walk over gaps and Wit can jump mid-air.

The game has a graphic style that heavily borrows from Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
, Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
 and South-East Asian art and architecture in general. In accordance with this, the game's passwords refer to actual ruins or ancient cities in southern and south-eastern Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, for example 'Mohenjo Daro' and 'Harappa
Harappa

Harappa is a city in Punjab , northeast Pakistan, about 35 km southwest of Sahiwal.The modern town is located near the former course of the Ravi River and also beside the ruins of an ancient history fortification city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization....
 Ruins'.

In tradition with other Konami cartridge
Cartridge (electronics)

In various types of electronic equipment, a cartridge can refer to one method of adding different functionality or content; for example, a video game played on a video game console; or a method by which consumables may be replenished, such as an ink cartridge for a printer....
 releases of the same era, there are also some possible cartridge combinations.

Popularity

Although not as popular as earlier releases like Nemesis
Gradius

The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985 in video gaming, is a series of Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms....
 and Knightmare
Knightmare (video game)

Knightmare is a 1986 MSX vertical Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters computer game. The player is a knight, Popolon, who has to fight his way through several levels to defeat Hudnos and rescue Aphrodite....
 (mainly because other home computer systems became available at that time), the game was another step in the direction of Konami as the leading MSX software company. Clearing this game needs perseverance, and the artwork is generally considered above average.

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