Master of Magic is an archaic Role-Playing Game that is a throwback to the earliest days of home computing – except that it was released in 1985.
The game was programmed by Richard Darling (of Codemasters fame) with graphics by James Wilson. It was published at a budget price (£2.99) by Mastertronic on their M.A.D. label.
The Atari 8-Bit version of the classic Mercenary is the original, published by Novagen in 1985.
From the opening sequence onwards you know that you are in for a special ride with Mercenary, and exploring the wireframe world of Targ (the name of the planet you’re trapped on) is a video-gaming joy – especially with the easy-to-use controls.
Paul Shirley‘s classic isometric puzzle/adventure game, Spindizzy, originated on the Commodore 64, but is also quite excellent on the Atari 800.
A controversial release from Gametek in 1996, this complex space sim is notorious for having a long and troubled development history.
Breath of Fire II is a direct sequel to Breath of Fire, first released in Japan in 1994.
Set 500 years after the events of Breath of Fire, you again assume the role of a young boy called Ryu, this time a descendant of the hero of the first game. You initially begin a quest to clear the name of one of your friends, and this snowballs into something epic.
Capcom‘s Breath of Fire is the first major, traditional Role-Playing Game from the company and was released on the Super Nintendo in 1993 in Japan, and 1994 in English-speaking territories.
The ZX Spectrum original of Ant Attack was so good that it spawned a decent 1984 Commodore 64 version, by Paul Fik and Bitterne Software.
Vagrant Story is an action/RPG released by Square in 2000 for the PlayStation. Some people rate it as one of Square‘s best games of all time. Which is saying something.
Golden Axe Warrior is an attempt by Sega to replicate the successes of Nintendo‘s The Legend of Zelda, and it kinda works pretty well.
This Japanese RPG was released on CD-ROM only on the PC Engine, so required a disc player to work. Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys was first released in 1993 and was developed by Hudson Soft as a single-player, cinematic, cartoon-style RPG, with real time combat and exploration.
The King of Grabs 