Sorcerian is the fifth instalment in the Dragon Slayer series. It was originally released in 1987 – in Japan – for the PC-88, and the MS-DOS version was converted, localised into English and published by Sierra On-Line in 1990.
Tag Archives: 2D graphics
Flat, two-dimensional graphics, usually constructed of pixels. Not three-dimensional.
Legacy of the Wizard, NES/Famicom
Legacy of the Wizard is the North American localisation of Dragon Slayer IV, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Brøderbund in 1989. It’s a fantasy-based platform/action game featuring a family of four heroes – and their pet – on a mission to retrieve a mystical sword and slay a dragon, inside a sprawling dungeon.
Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family, MSX
Originally released in Japan as “Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family“, the version I’m showing here is the fan-translated MSX2 version of the fourth game in the Dragon Slayer series. The game was developed and published by Falcom in 1987, and the fan translation was released by “MSX Translations” in 2010 under the title of “Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family“.
Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr., NES/Famicom
The Nintendo Famicom version of Romancia – aka Dragon Slayer Jr. – was developed by Compile and published by Tokyo Shoseki, in Japan only, in 1987. A fan translation makes the game playable in English (and Spanish), which is good because this version of the game is considerably better than the MSX version.
Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr., MSX
Romancia: Dragon Slayer Jr. is the third game in the Dragon Slayer series and was developed and published by Nihon Falcom in 1986. This game was designed to be “cute”, and more attractive to younger players (thus the “Jr.” suffix), and is therefore more simplistic than Xanadu, the previous Dragon Slayer game.
Faxanadu, NES/Famicom
Faxanadu is an action/platform game, developed by Hudson Soft and first published for the Nintendo Famicom in 1987. It is a spin-off from the Falcom Dragon Slayer series and its name is a combination of the words “Famicom” and “Xanadu“, so could even be considered a remake of the second Dragon Slayer game.
Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II, MSX
Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (aka just “Xanadu“) is the 1987 sequel to 1984’s Dragon Slayer. It was developed and published by Falcom in Japan only, but the game is entirely in English so is playable by non-Japanese speakers/readers.
Xanadu is an action RPG that looks and plays similarly to Falcom‘s own Ys series, with side-scrolling town and dungeon sections and overhead, real-time combat taking place on a separate screen. Xanadu was a much bigger hit than its predecessor and was released in MSX and MSX2 versions.
Dragon Slayer, Game Boy
A Game Boy port of Falcom‘s maze-based fantasy action game, Dragon Slayer, was developed by Epoch Co., Ltd. and published by Falcom – in Japan only – in 1990. While Dragon Slayer is an ideal match for Nintendo‘s monochrome handheld marvel, this conversion does leave a bit to be desired.
Dragon Slayer, MSX
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.
Rainbow Islands, Sega Master System
Rainbow Islands on the Sega Master System was released in 1993 in Europe, Australia and Brazil, and it is a reasonably good port of the classic Taito arcade game.
The King of Grabs 