Power of the Hired is a turn based SNES strategy RPG similar to Arc the Lad on Playstation. It was developed and published by NCS’s video game division Masaya, which was released exclusively in Japan in December 22, 1994.

The game features a party of four playable heroes called “Beast Mages” that the player must use to fight off overwhelming waves of enemies. The characters are each able to summon two beasts to help in battle and with the help of these beasts, the player is able to tactically conquer each of the game’s scenarios. Depending on the beasts summoned, the characters’ magic will change and their spell composition will differ. Several scenarios require that the player acts quickly to avoid various dangers, such as a burning bridge that the characters need to quickly vacate in order to survive. Whereas other scenarios require the player to protect NPCs while they are escaping from danger themselves.

“Power of the Hired” is the first Strategy RPG that Dynamic-Designs has released in quite some time, but its style departs from several typical conventions that players encountered in “Feda Emblem of Justice” and the “Shining Force” series. Similar to how Arc the Lad on Playstation worked, one departure from typical SRPG game play is the lack of town functionalities, wherein characters may walk around, visit shops, speak to NPCs, and so forth. This game is divided into 18 scenarios, all of which must be cleared in order to keep advancing forward. Party composition selections occur in between scenarios, then game play resumes. Another sometimes disconcerting development is to have waves of fresh enemy replacements keep pouring onto the battlefield until the player satisfies a previously stated objective!

Another unique feature of this game is “Beast Magic”. Up to two “monsters” acting as “familiar beasts” per playable character (not just Neina) may be added to the party roster prior to starting each scenario. These beasts can also increase their levels during battle and provide their respective Beast Master various magic spells that can be used in battle as long as they are in a square directly horizontally or vertically adjacent to them.

• Size before patching: 1.50 MB (1,572,864 bytes)
• Size after patching: 1.50 MB (1,572,864 bytes)
• File: Power of the Hired(J).sfc
• Name: Power of the Hired
• Company: NCS
• Header: None
• Bank: LoROM
• Interleaved: None
• SRAM: 64 Kb
• Type: Normal + Batt
• ROM: 12 Mb
• Country: Japan
• Video: NTSC
• ROM Speed: 120ns (FastROM)
• Revision: 1.0
• Checksum: Good 0xBCEA
• Game Code: ALUJ
• CRC32: CF276C80
• MD5: 4296780E368C36B59DE3C17AE9148F87