Tag Archives: Role-Playing Game

Electronic Arts, Game Boy Color, Griptonite Games

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

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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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Famicom Disk System, NES/Famicom, Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda, NES

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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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Chunsoft, Enix, NES/Famicom

Dragon Warrior, NES

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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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PlayStation, Square

Brave Fencer Musashi, PlayStation

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Square‘s 1998 PlayStation release, Brave Fencer Musashi, is an entertaining single-player action/RPG, with real-time sword combat and a 3D environment and characters.

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CD Projekt Red, gog.com, iOS, Linux, PC, Steam, Windows, XBox 360

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, PC

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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was first released in 2011 by Polish developer CD Projekt Red.

It is the predecessor to the smash hit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and also follows the exploits of Geralt of Rivia – a Witcher, or monster-hunter – on a series of open-world adventures.

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Bad Video Games, Carnell Software, Commodore 64, Mastertronic

Black Crystal, Commodore 64

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Black Crystal is infamous for being an overpriced and under-produced RPG from the early days of home computing.

This Commodore 64 version plays pretty much the same as the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum versions, in that: it’s absolutely awful and will have you both tearing your hair out in minutes, and also wondering who on earth would make such a game…

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Bad Video Games, Carnell Software, Mastertronic, ZX Spectrum

Black Crystal, ZX Spectrum

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Black Crystal is infamous for being an overpriced and under-produced RPG from the early days of home computing.

The first version of Black Crystal was the ZX81 version, which was designed and programmed by Roy Carnell and Stuart Galloway and released in 1982. A ZX Spectrum version followed in 1983, then a Commodore 64 version later in 1985.

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Electronic Arts, Megadrive/Genesis, Naughty Dog

Rings of Power, Megadrive/Genesis

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Rings of Power is an isometric Role-Playing Game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Electronic Arts for the Sega Megadrive in 1991.

Unlike many RPGs of the time, Rings of Power is very open-ended.

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Neverland, Super Nintendo, Taito

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, Super Nintendo

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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 Nintendo – Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals.

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Almanic, Enix, Super Nintendo

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

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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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