Tag Archives: 1985

Falcom, MSX, Square

Dragon Slayer, MSX

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Although it may look extremely basic, Dragon Slayer is an important game in the development of Japanese Role-Playing Games. It is a real-time action/exploration game where you control a fighter who must collect gold, orbs, potions, and various other useful items, inside a scrolling maze that is crawling with deadly monsters.

Dragon Slayer was initially released in 1984 for the PC-8801, PC-9801, X1 and FM-7, and the MSX version followed in 1985, being ported and published by Square. It was, in fact, one of the earliest releases from Square.

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Activision, Sega, SG-1000

H.E.R.O., SG-1000

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Activision‘s classic underground rescue game, H.E.R.O., was released on Sega‘s SG-1000 console – in Japan only – in 1985, and it is somewhat different to all the other versions of the game out there.

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Activision, Commodore 64, Epyx, LucasArts, Lucasfilm Games

The Eidolon, Commodore 64

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The Commodore 64 version of Lucasfilm Games‘ The Eidolon came out just after the Atari 8-bit original, in 1985. The game divided critics, but in my opinion it is an atmospheric and unusual cave exploration game, with weird-looking monsters and scary-looking dragons, and is still worth playing today.

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Arcade, Namco

Metro-Cross, Arcade

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Metro-Cross is a scrolling race/action game in which you control a character known as “The Runner“, who must cross the finish line on a course full of obstacles, before the timer reaches zero. It was developed and distributed into arcades by Namco in 1985.

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Activision, Atari 8-bit, Epyx, LucasArts, Lucasfilm Games

The Eidolon, Atari 8-Bit

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Using an enhanced version of the fractal engine created for Rescue On Fractalus, The Eidolon is a first-person action game – developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by Epyx in North America in 1985 and Activision in Europe in 1986 – that divided critics when it was first released. While Zzap!64 magazine gave it 97% and a gold medal; raved about the game, and said that it was “not to be missed“, the reviewers of Computer Gaming World disliked it, describing it as “one of the worst games of 1986“… There’s no accounting for taste…

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Konami, MSX

Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2: The Emperor Yie-Gah, MSX

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The sequel to the classic Konami arcade game, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2: The Emperor Yie-Gah was only ever released for home computers and was never produced as an arcade game. It was first released for MSX compatible computers, on cartridge, in 1985.

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Commodore 64, Firebird

Chimera, Commodore 64

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Set on an uninhabited spaceship, Chimera is an isometric adventure/puzzle game where you control a robot* that must destroy the ship before it crashes into Earth. The game was written by Shahid Ahmad and published by Firebird in 1985. The music is by Rob Hubbard.

*= The player character looks like a robot, but does in fact require food and water to survive, so there’s a bit of a contradiction going on in the story, as far as who or what the player actually is.

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