Dungeon Magic – also known as “Light Bringer” in Japan – is an obscure Taito arcade game, first released in 1993. It is a fighting fantasy action game, with an isometric setting, and enough controllers for up to four players*.

At first I thought: “Isometric Gauntlet“, when I played this, but it’s more like an isometric Double Dragon, than anything.

You can choose between four playable characters – Ash (Knight) Human, Cisty (Archer) Elf, Gren (Fighter) Human, and Told (Wizard) Human – and each one has their own skills and abilities.

*= The version of Dungeon Magic that I played was for maximum two players only, but it had control settings for four players. Which I tried to get working, to no avail. I also tried the Japanese version and that was the same. Maybe a four-player version of Dungeon Magic exists? Maybe it doesn’t? I don’t know.

The basic aim of the game is to make your way through a series of rooms to find and defeat the boss at the end. You often have multiple exits to choose from, so you can take different routes. A map flashes up in every new room you enter, which shows you where you are.

Inside a room will be various enemies, which can be fought, and sometimes you’ll also find treasure chests and other objects of interest. To open or ‘use’ them you must hit them. The same for wall switches, of which there are many. There are also moving floors, spikes, and many other traps that will hurt you.

You can collect gold coins and other treasure and this will award you EXP, so you can eventually level a character up. It doesn’t take too long and is shown by an animated sequence around whoever is levelling-up.

Some doors will only open if you complete a sequence somewhere. Usually by breaking statues, but also by standing on switches, and other methods that you have to work out. Destroying statues is also worth doing to find goodies, although some statues are booby-trapped… So beware.

Of course, this being an arcade game, you can keep inserting those “virtual coins” into the cabinet to continue… Which is worth doing because Dungeon Magic is nuts, and those graphics – and bosses – are fantastic.

Dungeon Magic is a fun fighting fantasy game. And another great arcade ‘hidden gem’ to add to the list! 🙂

More: Dungeon Magic on Wikipedia