Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Size: 4 megs
No. of players: 1
Got it for: $20.00, complete. Got it at the overly-wonderful West Exit.
Short, little kid is up against all sorts of bullies...but they don't realize he's got the "mad-magic skillz"(trying to sound as "street" as possible, yo)! Alright, that was beyond lame...look, I have no fucking clue what's going on. Near as I can tell, there are some people who don't much like the kid, they try to mess with him and he ends up ripping their asses in half...

What's it all about?
It's a slower paced sidescroller. The basic flow of the game consists of running around, looking for the hot anime chick, listening to her say something in Japanese, then beating the boss and moving on to the next level. Playing as this weird little kid, you take out enemies by slapping them down with your wand, or throwing an assortment of items that can be levitated using that same wand. Though it's not much, you can also use a little bit of magic(little...as in *two* spells) to your advantage. Initially you have a spell that will render you invincible for about ten seconds, later on you'll acquire a spell that summons a wannabe witch the clear the screen of enemies. Bosses are made up of overly cute and/or goofy characters that attack you in a variety of not-so-violent ways...except the guy in the chopper...who actually *fires machine gun bullets* at the kid while he's running through the halls of the high school! Yeesh, and I thought high schools here in the US were tough...
Graphics - Gorgeous. Everything has such color in it, and all is done in a very cool anime-style. Levels have a large amount of parallax scrolling and detail, the enemies and bosses all look very good, and Taruruuto himself has a solid amount of animation.
Sound - Pretty much what you'd expect: Really cutesy sound effects, typical anime-style voices and a variety of happy, upbeat tunes.
Control - Smooth. Your character pretty much does what you tell him, and without any delay. You have excellent movement in the air, and can even float via a double jump-like double button press.
AI - For the most part, the enemies pretty much ignore you. They run around in their set patterns, if you happen to be in their way, they'll hurt you...but that's about it. Bosses do a bit more to actually attack you, but you can easily watch what they'll do, and defeat them. About the only questionable bit of AI, would be during the cloud ride stage. You are zipped about through the sky and have to jump around from cloud to cloud, while avoiding apple throwing monkeys, giraffes and other obstacles. It's one of those "one hit and it's pretty much over" sorta stages...
Replay value - Relatively high. The game is so amazingly short(like fifteen-to-twenty-minutes-short), but it's still a lot of fun. The AI isn't anything to worry about, nor the bosses...but on the other hand, that fucking cloud ride may have you thinking twice before popping the game in again.
Tips for better gaming experiences:
The cloud ride stage is the *hardest* level on the game....which is weird, because the rest of the game is very, very easy. For the most part, as long as you stay on either the very last cloud, or the next to last cloud, you'll do alright. There are only a few places where you actually have to jump over the giraffes to continue on. Also, remember to use your wand! The hanging monkeys are a guaranteed hit for you if you don't knock them down first...

My rating: 85(out of 100) - A great sidescroller that's just a lot of fun. The graphics are amazing, the anime-style events are cute and the control is right-on. It only looses points due to how amazingly short it is, and the overly-frustrating cloud ride level.

Cat's review: Wow that's a lot of color for a Genesis game! It's fun up until you get to the cloud ride...but after that, I'd just start chewing on the controller if I were you...it's a lot easier and much more satisfying.

Taruruuto's cape turns into bat wings, allowing him to float.
Soccer ball to the stomach...gotta love it!
The infamous cloud ride...
Back, spikey-boy!

"Seeeegaaaaa"
Magical *what*!?:
Depending on where you see it, this game has about five to ten different names it goes by. Here's a quick rundown of what I've seen: Magical Troll Adventure, Magical Taluluto Adventure, Magical Guy, Magical Talurut, Magical Tarot, Majikaru Taluluto-kun, Magical Taruruuto kun, Magical Poo-Poo Head, Magical Panda-headed Flapjack Slapper, etc...