Dragon Slayer (video game)

This article is about the video game. For the series, see Dragon Slayer. For other uses, see Dragon slayer (disambiguation).
Dragon Slayer
Developer(s) Nihon Falcom
Publisher(s)
Designer(s) Yoshio Kiya
Series Dragon Slayer
Platform(s) FM-7, FM Towns, NEC PC-8801, MSX, X1, Super Cassette Vision, Game Boy, Sega Saturn
Release date(s) PC-8801
  • JP September 10, 1984
PC-9801 & FM-7
  • JP October 18, 1984
X1MSX
  • JP July 15, 1985
Super Cassette VisionGame Boy
  • JP August 12, 1990
FM TownsSega Saturn
Falcom Classics
  • JP November 6, 1997
Genre(s) Action role-playing game
Mode(s) Single player
Distribution Floppy Disk
ROM Cartridge (GB)
CD-ROM (SS)

Dragon Slayer (ドラゴンスレイヤー Doragon Sureiyā) is an action role-playing game,[2][3] developed by Nihon Falcom and designed by Yoshio Kiya.[4] It was originally released in 1984 for the PC-8801, PC-9801, Sharp X1[1] and FM-7,[5] and became a major success in Japan.[6] It was followed by an MSX port published by Square in 1985 (making it one of the first titles to be published by Square),[7] a Super Cassette Vision by Epoch in 1986 and a Game Boy port by the same company in 1990 under the name Dragon Slayer I (ドラゴンスレイヤーI Doragon Sureiyā Wan). A remake of Dragon Slayer was also included in the Falcom Classics collection for the Sega Saturn.

Dragon Slayer began the Dragon Slayer series, a banner which encompasses a number of popular Falcom titles, such as Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu, Sorcerian, and Legacy of the Wizard.

Gameplay

Dragon Slayer is regarded as an early example of the action RPG genre, which it laid the foundations for.[2] Building on the prototypical action RPG elements of Panorama Toh (1983), created by Yoshio Kiya and Nihon Falcom,[8] as well as Namco's The Tower of Druaga (1984),[9] Dragon Slayer is often considered the first true action RPG.[2][3] In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes, Dragon Slayer was a dungeon crawl RPG that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat,[3] combining arcade style action mechanics with the RPG mechanics found in traditional RPGs like Wizardry and Ultima.[9]

Dragon Slayer featured an in-game map to help with the dungeon-crawling, required item management due to the inventory being limited to one item at a time,[7] and featured item-based puzzles which later influenced The Legend of Zelda.[2] Dragon Slayer's overhead action-RPG formula was used in many later games,[6] laying the foundations for future action RPG series such as Hydlide, Ys, and The Legend of Zelda.[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Falcom Chronicle, Nihon Falcom
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kamada Shigeaki, レトロゲーム配信サイトと配信タイトルのピックアップ紹介記事「懐かし (Retro) (Translation), 4Gamer.net
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Falcom Classics". GameSetWatch. July 12, 2006. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  4. ↑ John Szczepaniak. "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier Retro Japanese Computers". Hardcore Gaming 101. p. 3. Retrieved 2011-03-29. Reprinted from Retro Gamer (67), 2009
  5. ↑ "Dragon Slayer". Oh!FM7. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kurt Kalata, Xanadu, Hardcore Gaming 101
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Kurt Kalata, Dragon Slayer, Hardcore Gaming 101
  8. ↑ Sam Derboo (June 2, 2013), Dark Age of JRPGs (7): Panorama Toh ぱのらま島 - PC-88 (1983), Hardcore Gaming 101
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jeremy Parish (2012). "What Happened to the Action RPG?". 1UP. Retrieved 2015-01-14.

External links