is a video game developed by Game Studio

Game Studio

is a video game production company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded on August 14th, 1985 by former Namco employee Masanobu Endō, who continued to develop projects for Namco through his company...

 and published by Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

 for the Family Computer

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

. It is the third game in Babylonian Castle Saga

Babylonian Castle Saga

Babylonian Castle Saga is a series of video games created by Masanobu Endō and released by Namco. Many characters are taken from the Babylonian mythology.-List of games:There are four games in the main series....

 series which started with the arcade game, The Tower of Druaga.

Story

The story of The Quest of Ki is actually a prequel to the original Tower of Druaga. It occurs shortly after the demon Druaga

Druaga

Druaga refers to a Babylonian/Sumerian deity, who was ruler of the underworld. Druaga is occasionally used as an alternative name for the evil Zoroastrian deity, Ahriman, enemy of the god Ahura Mazda.-Popular Media:...

 has stolen the Blue Crystal Rod and taken it to his tower. The goddess Ishtar

Ishtar

Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...

 sends the priestess Ki to the tower in order to retrieve it. The game then follows her doomed quest to the top of the tower, and leads directly into the story of the original game.

Gameplay

The game is a side-scrolling platformer with one hundred levels. In each level, the player's goal is to pick up a key and open the door leading to the next area. Various enemies, including slimes, ghosts, and wizards, appear on each floor, and any contact with them results in death. Ki has no weapons, and thus can not damage or defeat any of the enemies. Her only abilities are to dash and jump. As long as the player holds the jump button down, Ki can rise indefinitely into the air. However, contact with the ceiling will cause her to drop to the ground and become stunned for several seconds. Many of the levels consist of puzzles in which the player must carefully regulate the height and direction of Ki's jumps. Each stage in the game contains one or more treasure chest, which hold various items. Although many of the items bestow helpful abilities, the effects only last for the floor on which they were found.

Bonus stages

After completing the game, players can gain access to forty bonus stages. These stages contain cameos from the Pac-Man

Pac-Man

is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...

 ghosts and the enemies from Dig Dug

Dig Dug

is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

.