Tag Archives: Level-Grinder

Neverwinter Nights, PC

BioWare‘s 2002 release, Neverwinter Nights, is a bit of a giant on the RPG scene.

Not only is it a detailed and engrossing Role-Playing Game par excellence, but it also plays host to a huge modding community. It’s also well-known as a multiplayer game too and features campaigns that can be played single or multi-player, and also features Player-versus-Player (PvP) combat.

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Nox, PC

Nox is an excellent isometric action/RPG created by Westwood Studios and first released in 2000.

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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Game Boy Color

Let me say: I’m no fan of Harry Potter. I haven’t read any of the books or seen any of the films. But I do like this Game Boy Color game…

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Game Boy Color

Before you skip the page, just a second while I quantify something… This game – and its successor, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – are both really good games… Even though they are based on something that I don’t care about. Harry Potter. I haven’t read the books (and I do like to read), and I haven’t seen the films (and I love films). Harry Potter just doesn’t interest me… But I do like both of these Game Boy Color Harry Potter games. They are fun RPG/level-grinders, with turn-based combat and Zelda-like adventure sections. They have good interfaces and lots of interesting items and spells. They are different.

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The Legend of Zelda, NES

1986 saw the release of the original The Legend of Zelda on the NES, although it wasn’t on cartridge – it was on floppy disk. Specifically: for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System (FDS).

A cartridge version, with battery backup-up saves, was released in North America in 1987.

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Dragon Warrior, NES

Developed by Chunsoft and released for the Famicom by Enix in 1986, Dragon Quest was a landmark moment in video game history.

Dragon Warrior is the American NES release of Dragon Quest, translated into English and tweaked here and there (I say “tweaked here and there” but the US version had battery back-up saves and the Japanese version used password saves, so there was a big difference there), and released by Nintendo in 1989. These grabs are from the later North American English language release.

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Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, Super Nintendo

I was going to add a Final Fantasy game to our Super Nintendo special this week, but – you know what? – Final Fantasy on the SNES is messy, because of all the US and Japanese title discrepancies, so… Instead I’m going to pick this: probably my favourite turn-based level-grinder on the Super NintendoLufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.

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E.V.O.: Search for Eden, Super Nintendo

E.V.O.: Search for Eden was a wonderfully original Role-Playing Game back in 1992, when it was first released, and is still quite original now, nearly three decades later.

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Dungeon Master, Super Nintendo

This is a very effective Japanese conversion of the great US, 16-bit classic, Dungeon Master, by FTL and Software Heaven.

The conversion was handled by JVC Interactive and was first released in Japan in 1992, before being translated and released in North America and Europe later.

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Mother 3, Game Boy Advance

The third and final game in the Mother series, Mother 3, was released in Japan only in 2006 for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.

Nintendo published the game, with development by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory – directed by Nobuyuki Inhoue and written by series creator Shigesato Itoi.

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