Ultima: Runes of Virtue is a cut-down version of Richard Garriott‘s famous Ultima games, in particular the Age of Enlightenment trilogy, because Runes of Virtue features some of the main characters from those games. It was developed by Origin Systems and published by FCI in North America, and Pony Canyon in Japan, in 1991.

Ultima: Runes of Virtue is viewed from the top-down, over a scrolling landscape. You must explore, fight monsters, collect loot, and survive for as long as possible. Long enough, even, to complete the main quest.

While I wouldn’t call this a ‘roguelike’ (because it’s the same game you play every time you start), it does look like one. I’d call it a “Tiny RPG” instead. The kind that work really well on the Game Boy.

The combat in this is real-time too, which makes it feel more like a Zelda game than a ‘roguelike’.

Pressing Start brings up a menu that allows you to change the two weapons you can carry, which are bound to the A and B buttons.

Richard Garriott has been quoted as saying that Runes of Virtue is his favourite Ultima spin-off as it was built from the ground up for the Game Boy, which allowed him and his team to really refine and focus the gameplay.

Critics at the time of the game’s release weren’t particularly kind to it. I think Runes of Virtue is a decent little dungeon-crawler, though. What it lacks in story, it gains in simplicity and straightforward action. And – if you’re careful – you might get far into it.

A sequel to this game, called Ultima: Runes of Virtue II, was also released for the Game Boy in 1993, and it is more of the same, but with a completely new set of dungeons.

More: Ultima: Runes of Virtue on Wikipedia