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.
Tag Archives: real time combat
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.
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, PlayStation 2
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness was the second game released for the PlayStation 2 by Konami, initially coming out in 2005. Much like its predecessor (Lament of Innocence), this game is also a hack and slash 3D action game, with horror and RPG elements.
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Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, PlayStation 2
Coming out in 2003, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was the first Castlevania game released for the PlayStation 2. The story is set in 1094 – making this, chronologically, the first Castlevania game in the series’ timeline – and it focuses on the origins of the Belmont clan and Dracula.
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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.
Dragon’s Lair 3D, GameCube
Known as “Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair” in North America, this fully-3D action adventure is a reimagining of Don Bluth‘s classic laserdisc arcade game, Dragon’s Lair. And it works brilliantly well. Dragon’s Lair 3D was published for the GameCube by THQ in Europe, and Encore, Inc. in North America, in 2002. It was also released for PlayStation 2, Windows and XBox.
Diablo, PC
Developed by Blizzard North and first published by Blizzard Entertainment in 1997, Diablo is a classic point-and-click action/RPG that features quests, monsters, real-time combat, magic, and dungeon-delving, in a way that is meant to appeal to those who prefer a more immediate style of gameplay, than the more ‘hardcore’, turn-based style of many RPGs. And – as a result – Diablo was a smash hit, and spawned a series that still (infamously) persists to this day.
Willow, NES/Famicom
Based on the 1988 Ron Howard film of the same name, Willow is an adventure/RPG that was developed and published by Capcom in 1989. It has nothing in common with the arcade game, called Willow, which was released by Capcom the same year.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, PC
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a “reboot” of the Castlevania series, developed by Spanish studio MercurySteam and first published by Konami in 2010. Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, helped produce the title.
In Lords of Shadow you play as Gabriel Belmont, a member of the Brotherhood of Light, an elite group of holy knights who protect and defend the innocent against the supernatural. His quest is to defeat a malevolent order known as The Lords of Shadow, and to resurrect his dead wife, Marie.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, PC
Developed by Troika Games and published by Sierra On-Line in 2001, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a rich and complex RPG with isometric 2D graphics, set in a fantasy world undergoing an industrial revolution. The game mixes magic and technology in a Victorian-styled “Steampunk” setting; is completely open-ended, and features lots of different races (humans, orcs, gnomes, elves, dwarves), with complicated – even racist – societal themes developing as you discover the world and interact with its many characters.
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The King of Grabs 