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An early example of a "Metroidvania"-style platformer, Legacy of the Wizard tells the tale of a family of adventurers who must use their combined abilities to seek the Dragon Slayer sword and defeat a powerful dragon deep in a twisting labyrinth.
A Japanese role-playing game originally released in 1987 where the player character must investigate the death of two boys who were found near the entrance of a mansion.
The 1987 sequel to Pirate Ship Higemaru, Makaijima greatly expands upon the classic maze game's concept. It was released on MSX and Famicom and never left Japan.
A young man is changed into a lizard and must chase his aggressor through time in this Famicom platformer from Bandai.
The second game in the Dragon Warrior/Quest series. It continues the legacy of Erdrick/Loto.
A game based on the Charles Bronson movie. The player mows down criminals with an assortment of weapons.
A turn based first person 3D dungeon crawler written by Dan Sureau and published in France by Chip for the Amstrad CPC.
Known outside of Japan as "Takeshi's Challenge", this game is an unconventional action-adventure platformer created by famous Japanese comedian Beat Takeshi. Along with its open world exploration and mature themes, the game is known for its unorthodox game progression (where the game can easily be made unwinnable).
This adventure game has the player searching ancient Mayan temples for a lost professor and his team.
An arcade beat-em-up that received many ports for other systems. The game pioneered gameplay elements which would become the foundations of the scrolling beat 'em up genre.
Rescue the princess and defeat the evil Dragonlord in this landmark RPG from Enix.
A first-person adventure game with RPG elements, released by Microcabin in 1986. The game featured environments rendered in 3D polygon graphics, for possibly the first time in a home video game, along with early survival horror elements. However, the game is better remembered for its cyberpunk narrative, which was adapted into a sci-fi novel shortly afterwards.
Book I: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum was the first game in what would become known as the Might and Magic franchise, featuring a Dungeons and Dragons inspired role-playing adventure across a vast and unforgiving world.
An action RPG released by Nihon Falcom in 1985 that was the company's first blockbuster success, becoming one of the best selling Japanese PC games of all time.
Tritorn is an action RPG developed by Sein Soft and released in 1985. It was one of the first action RPGs, improving on Dragon Slayer and Hydlide with the use of an action button to attack enemies, and one of the first Metroidvania-style games.
Ultima IV is a seminal role playing game focused on the protagonist's moral journey rather than defeating a nemesis.
A side scrolling arcade shoot 'em up and the first in Konami's famous series. The game became famous for its extreme difficulty and varied power-ups.
The Screamer is a 1985 cyberpunk-horror action RPG taking place in a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi setting. It was released by Magical Zoo, for the PC-8801 in 1985 and for the PC-9801 and X1 in 1986. An English fan translation was released in January 2015.
As a practitioner of a secret form of Shaolin kung-fu, kick your way to victory in this arcade beat-'em-up platformer by Konami. GUTS!
One of the first action RPGs, released in 1984. It was also the first fully-scaled open-world video game.
Dragon Slayer is an action RPG designed by Yoshio Kiya and developed by Nihon Falcom. The title helped to pioneer the action RPG genre in Japan and spawned many sequels that would spin-off into their own franchises over time.
One of the progenitors of Japanese RPGs, The Black Onyx brings the world of high-fantasy RPGs to Japanese computers as five brave adventurers set out through a deep underground labyrinth to find the legendary Black Onyx and break a curse set upon on the fantasy town of Utsuro.
Designed by Yoshio Kiya and released by Nihon Falcom in 1983, this was possibly the first action RPG. It introduced real-time combat, sci-fi elements, a persistent open world with day-night cycle, and survival mechanics. This was a precursor to Falcom's seminal action RPG franchise, Dragon Slayer.
The first chapter of what would become one of the defining series for PC-based RPGs, this instant classic pit a group of adventurers against the evil wizard, Werdna, in a quest for an amulet that they must retrieve for Trebor, the Mad Overlord.
Loosely based on TSR's Dungeons and Dragons pen-and-paper RPG, DND borrowed from D&D many of the things that later became staples of video games, such as player statistics, items, bosses, and leveling up.
The first dungeon crawler role-playing game.
Save the world of Tarmalon from an evil scroll and the forces pursuing it in this RPG from Quest Software & EA
The first ever retail expansion pack for the Dark Age of Camelot franchise.
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