The extra magic and physical attacks of the RM are nice, but what I found really makes them shine is the fact they can cast Haste. Hasting two fighters for boss fights increases your damage output immensely, more than anything a single character would be doing.[/QUOTE]
Very true, I mentioned the lack of Fast (as haste called in the NES version) is a big downside to no black magic. However, when you have 2 fighters, there are only a few battles where fast is really useful (though most of them are in the temple at the end). I used to list Lif2 as an asset for WM over RM, but now I typically beat the game at too low a level for level 9 spells to make a difference, so RM may be better. I am biased against RM since they are so expensive early on.