Original

Overview

Swords and Serpents is a dungeon crawler released in 1990 and developed by Interplay. The game does not have a strong emphasis on storyline. The basic plot is that the player is tasked with defeating a serpent, which is at the bottom level of a 16 level dungeon. The game is a simple exercise in destroying Dungeons and Dragons style monsters, collecting loot, and leveling characters up. The game can be played by one or two players using any NES controller or joystick, or it can be controlled by four players using a multitap device and four controllers or joysticks. The first player, who is also the party leader, controls the movements of the party through the levels of the dungeon, but every player is allowed to control their character's decisions during battles.

When a new game is started each character can be one one of three classes: thief, magician, or warrior. The player can decide to design a new character and choose their attributes, or can use a pre-made character. Swords and Serpents does not contain a backup battery for saving, so a password system is used for saving and restoring games. A series of five passwords is used to restore a game. One password is for the overall game progress, and the other four passwords are for the four party members.

The interface and gameplay is extremely simplified, making for a casual role playing game experience. Especially when compared to other similar role playing games on the system, specifically the Wizardry series.

Proposed Change