Once the commercial viability of the NES was proven in North America by the late 1980s, Japanese developer Culture Brain opened a company branch in the United States and chose to publish an English-language version of "The Magic of Scheherazade" after making several changes to the graphics and musical score. It has received mostly average review scores but generally positive commentary from critics for its visuals, gameplay, and difficulty balance. The game has been noted for its fusion of the adventure and RPG genres, though journalists have referred to its gameplay mechanics as lower-quality versions of what was seen in both "The Legend of Zelda" and the "Dragon Quest" series.