Developed and published by HAL Laboratory, Arcana is a fantasy Role-Playing Game that mixes card-battling with first-person dungeoneering, and it is a reasonably enjoyable experience overall. Also known as “Card Master” in Japan, Arcana was first published in 1992, exclusively for the Super Nintendo.
Tag Archives: magic
Golden Axe: Beast Rider, PlayStation 3
Golden Axe: Beast Rider was developed by Secret Level, Inc. and published for the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 by Sega in 2008. What initially drew me to this game was the fact that it was 18-rated, in an age when few games are. I wondered why it was an 18. I also wondered if it was worthy of the Golden Axe name.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, PC
This is the expanded version of Diablo II, called Lord of Destruction, released by Blizzard in 2001.
Cadaver, Amiga
Created by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Image Works in 1990, Cadaver is an isometric platform/action game with puzzle elements, but with Dan Malone‘s distinctive artwork adorning it. We’re looking at the Amiga version here today, but it also came out for the Atari ST and PC MS-DOS.
Dark Souls, PlayStation 3
Considered by many to be a masterpiece of video game design, Dark Souls is an action-based fantasy role-playing game, and was developed by From Software and first published by Namco Bandai Games in 2011.
Dark Souls was so successful, in fact, that it created a succession of similar games, called ‘Souls-likes‘. Not many games can claim to have created a whole sub-genre on its own, but this game did.
Tōgi Ō: King Colossus, Megadrive/Genesis
Released in Japan only, by Sega, in 1992, Tōgi Ō: King Colossus is an obscure JRPG with real-time combat that has been fan-translated into English (and Spanish) and is therefore playable to gamers outside of Japan.
Sword of Mana, Game Boy Advance
Sword of Mana on the Game Boy Advance is an enhanced remake of the first Seiken Densetsu game, which was released as Final Fantasy Adventure on the original black and white Game Boy in English-speaking territories. It was developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown and was first released as “Shinyaku: Seiken Densetsu” in Japan in 2003.
Sorcerer’s Kingdom, Megadrive/Genesis
Developed by NCS Corporation and published exclusively for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis in 1992, Sorcerer’s Kingdom is a relatively obscure JRPG with tactical, turn-based combat.
Turok: Evolution, GameCube
Released for the GameCube in 2002, Turok: Evolution is the fourth game in the Turok series (fifth, if you count the non-canon Turok: Rage Wars), and serves as a prequel to Turok; Dinosaur Hunter (the first Turok game in this series), and will appeal to those who want a First-Person Shooter with dinosaurs in it. Because that is exactly what this game is!
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, GameCube
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is an action/RPG collaboration between Square Enix and The Game Designers Studio, Inc.
It was first released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan in 2003, and in 2004 for the rest of the world.