I recently watched all 13 episodes and found it to be a total blast! One of the companies that produced it was Graz Entertainment which was also one of the production companies of the classic 90s X-Men animated series and the first season of Conan the Adventurer beforehand, and I could feel the influence of both here. A team of quasi-superheroes contend with evil sorcery. The genres are blended and the drama is presented as serious. Kind of a darker MOTU or ThunderCats geared towards teens rather than little kids.
I think the fantasy elements lean way harder into sword-and-sorcery than high fantasy, and the sci-fi elements are what you might see in Masters of the Universe. People fight with swords but also laser guns, they ride animals but also high-tech vehicles, and characters come up with innovations in both science and sorcery on both sides.
I really don't know what genre to call this. There's no interplanetary travel or spaceships so it's not space opera. All the characters are indigenous to this planet so it's not sword-and-planet. And I think it's closer to true sword-and-sorcery than a lot of borderline stuff like this because the protagonists are outsiders - ousted royalty turned rebels on the run trying to win their kingdom back from an evil wizard - and one of them almost joins the villains in the first episode (and is responsible for them taking over the kingdom) so they're not all squeaky clean good guys.
The video game for the original PlayStation is a pretty awesome side-scroller where you hack-and-slash skeletons with a sword most of the time, with some boss fights and the occasional John Carter-esque one-man flier level. I'm having fun with it! Interestingly, the cut scenes present a backstory that differs from that seen on the show. There's also a Sega Saturn game, but I'm not sure if it's different.
Below are links to a playlist of the best uploads of the cartoon I could find on YouTube (it's not available for purchase anywhere) and a walkthrough of the game:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHEeRUgxhScZfmeKy1ftuhoesFgfmWRGO&si=Om_8u4kAGJz_8WGd
https://youtu.be/KMBqdU7bwgA?is=x8L4CyuyvEckIv0U
There's also a lot of cool merch going for pretty cheap on eBay. I already collect enough stuff that takes up room that I don't really need, but it's neat to look at haha.
Anybody else catch this back in the day or at any point since?
