Published by The Edge in 1987, Shadow Skimmer is an overhead scrolling shooter set on a large, maze-like spaceship. At first glance, the game looks a bit like Andrew Braybrook‘s Paradroid, but it plays much differently.
Tag Archives: exploration
Seal of the Pharaoh, 3DO
Seal of the Pharaoh is a first-person dungeon-crawler with a tomb-raiding ancient Egyptian theme. It was developed by System Sacom and published in 1994, exclusively for the 3DO, by ASK Kodansha in Japan and Panasonic in North America.
Dungeon Master Nexus, Sega Saturn
Released exclusively in Japan for the Sega Saturn in 1998, Dungeon Master Nexus is a 3D dungeon-crawler based on the classic 16-bit RPG, Dungeon Master. And although FTL Games – the American developer of the original Dungeon Master – have been credited with creating this game, they actually had no involvement in the production of it. Dungeon Master Nexus was developed entirely in Japan, by Victor Interactive Software, and a fan translation into English was released in Sept 2023.
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.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, Game Boy Advance
Released in Japan only, Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart was developed by TOSE Co., Ltd. and published by Enix in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third game in the Dragon Quest Monsters series. A fan translation into English was released in 2008, making the game playable to non-Japanese speakers.
Continue reading Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, Game Boy Advance
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2, Game Boy Color
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 is the second game in the Dragon Quest spin-off series, which is a monster-collecting, training, breeding and combat style game in the tradition of Pokémon. It was developed by TOSE Co., Ltd. and was published exclusively for the Game Boy Color by Enix (Eidos in North America and Europe) in 2001.
Dragon Warrior Monsters, Game Boy Color
Dragon Warrior Monsters (aka Dragon Quest Monsters in Japan) is a spin-off from the famous Dragon Quest series, and this is the first game in the DWM series. It was developed by TOSE Co., Ltd. and published exclusively for the Game Boy Color by Enix (Eidos in North America and Europe), in 1998.
The Hobbit, Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance version of The Hobbit was developed by Saffire, Inc. and first released by Sierra Entertainment in 2003. This game is based on Tolkien‘s famous book, and not the Peter Jackson films (the first Hobbit film was released in 2012, and this game actually came out the same year as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King).
The King of Grabs 