Released in 1983 by Sierra On-Line, Ultima on the Atari 8-bit is more archaic and frustrating than the original Apple II version. And it looks pretty awful too, with a real lack of colour – especially in towns where the game is in monochrome unless you play on a machine (and monitor) that supports “artifacting“. In artifacting mode the dungeon and town graphics look similar to Apple II graphics, but they don’t really take advantage of the Atari‘s superior graphics capabilities.
Tag Archives: Dungeon Crawler
Ultima, Apple II
The original 1981 Apple II version of Richard Garriott‘s Ultima was the first version of Ultima ever released. It was published by California Pacific Computer and is a stripped-down version of the more widespread re-release version put out by Origin Systems in 1986 (which can be seen here).
Darkest Dungeon, PC
Darkest Dungeon is a Roguelike Role-Playing Game in which you control a party of four heroes who must fight monsters through a series of procedurally-generated dungeons. It was developed by Red Hook Studios and was first released in 2016. It is currently (at the time of writing) available for Windows, Linux, Macintosh, iPad, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS Vita and XBox One.
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, GameCube
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is a turn-based level-grinder, developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts in 2004, loosely-based on the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. It is NOT based on J.R.R. Tolkien‘s famous novel, because the rights for the book were held by Vivendi Universal Games at the time, although Electronic Arts did hold the rights to make video game adaptations of the New Line Cinema films. Which is a little confusing, but the plot in this game is a non-canonical story that runs parallel to the narrative of the films. Anything from the novels not specifically mentioned or depicted in the films could not be represented in this game.
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Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean, Sega Saturn
Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean was developed exclusively for the Sega Saturn by Sunsoft and first released in 1996 in Japan. A brilliant English language translation, by Working Designs, was released in North America in 1997 (actually the first Albert Odyssey title ever to be translated into English).
Albert Odyssey is a quintessential Japanese turn-based RPG, full of weapons, armour, spells, magic and combat, actually laugh-out-loud, funny humour, and imaginative boss battles and encounters.
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The Legend of Oasis, Sega Saturn
The Legend of Oasis is the Saturn-exclusive sequel (and prequel) to Beyond Oasis on the Megadrive/Genesis. It’s also known as “The Story of Thor 2” in some territories. The game was developed by Ancient and published by Sega in 1996.
Shining Soul II, Game Boy Advance
The sequel to Shining Soul – Shining Soul II – was once again developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture and was first released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. It’s another real time RPG, only this time it’s more detailed and challenging than the previous game.
Shining Soul, Game Boy Advance
Shining Soul is an isometric RPG with real time combat, developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Sega in Japan and Europe and Atlus in North America. It was first released for the Game Boy Advance in 2002.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, Game Boy Advance
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team is a ‘Roguelike‘ RPG, paired with Blue Rescue Team, and released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in 2005 by The Pokémon Company. It was developed by Chunsoft (famous for creating the early Dragon Quest games) and is based on Chunsoft‘s “Mystery Dungeon” franchise, but with Pokémon in it. It was the last Pokémon game released for the Game Boy Advance.
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Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, Super Nintendo
Torneko no Daiboken: Fushigi no Dungeon (translating as “Torneko’s Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon“) is the first game in the Mystery Dungeon series from Chunsoft, the developer known for creating the Dragon Quest series. It is a ‘Roguelike‘ dungeon-crawler, with randomised maze-like dungeons and was first released in 1993.
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The King of Grabs 