Smart bombs and invincibility power ups (however they activate as soon as you pick them up) Cool and mostly useful sub weapons (though less varied and useful than on NES) Good variation (most enemies require a different strategy to beat) Vampire Killer/Akumajou Dracula? (MSX, 1986) - Proto-Platform Adventure/Maze Platformer/Action Platformer (linear and level-based shops, locked doors and chests Pippols (MSX, 1985) - Humanoid-Based Vertical Shoot 'Em Up Password save which doesn't save your items. Some traversal/exploration abilities gained (bombs to open skull doors and spring shoes to reach a hidden warp from stage 3 to stage 5) Pretty good enemy AI (the human enemies) Gear that carries over to the next level The Goonies (MSX, 1985) - Maze Platformer/Proto-Platform Adventure (level-based), Collectathon/Rescue Mission, Side view Starquake (PCs/MSX, 1985) - Platform Adventure/Proto-Metroid Second loop (didn't seem harder? tried one level) Some interesting level design (one way gates that change direction after passing through them) and puzzles A thrown weapon stays in the level where it landed King's Valley (MSX, 1985) - Puzzle Platformer/Trapping ( Lode Runner/Montezuma's Revenge-like), Collectathon Some interesting items (can't be attacked while carrying a cross and it also kills the reaper enemy (which makes you unable to cast spells), tombstone - spawns monsters) and spells (teleport (to the last item a ghost dropped after stealing it) with the jump spell or home with the return spell, break - breaks blocks, kick - moves blocks which can also kill enemies, freeze - freeze all enemies near your avatar, flash - temporarily paralyze all enemies on the map, fly - temporarily transform into a bird to move over obstacles (also changes the bgm))Ĭourageous Perseus (FM-7, 1984/MSX, 1985) - Open World ARPG, TD View Other enemies can permanently reduce your attributes Ghost enemies can steal any item in your inventory (they'll put the item somewhere else on the map) Pushable blocks (need the ring - similar to the bracelet in Zelda) and you can also push your house around (!) Single use auto revive item called “fake medicine” (needed for the final boss)ĭragon Slayer (PC-88/PC-98/FM-7/X1, 1984/MSX, 1985/GB, 1990) - ARPG/Dungeon Crawler RPG (tile-based movement), Collectathon, TD View Partially destructible environment via magic Switch between attack and defense modes/stances Health and magic slowly regenerates when standing still

One of the first ARPGs (along with Courageous Perseus and Dragon Slayer) Hydlide (PC-60/PC-88, 1984/MSX/PC-98, 1985/NES, 1986) - Open World ARPG (overworld & dungeons split, no NPCs, inspired by The Black Onyx and The Tower of Druaga), TD view Good puzzles overall and starts off fairly easy Can use some enemies as shields against other enemies - later used in SMB2-3 and Phantom 2040

Limited special abilities in some levels (flip arrow tile, place bridge, place block) Unlockable final five levels (get part of the special word in the bonus levels - these are quite hard though) Two game modes (types a and b - a plays like the NES game, b adds a time limit and hidden items you can collect for points) Password save (pretty short but only once every five levels) Pretty creative level design (evolution of Sokoban: can move half a tile's length, can block two tiles with one block, distinct enemies, can shoot some enemies (certain jewel icons give shot ammo) to turn them eggs which can be pushed around (can be used as temporary boats if pushed into water in some levels) or shot to remove the enemy from the level for a short time, timing based puzzles, arrow tiles - one way movement, still water and water streams) Influenced by Major Havoc according to its devs (who later made Thexder): Įggerland Mystery (MSX, 1985) - Action Puzzle, Collectathon, Top Down View Pretty smooth scrolling in all directions Theseus (MSX, 1984) - Maze Platformer (similar to Major Havoc), Collectathon-lite ( Breakable clocks (Bomberman however they all look the same here) Enemy radar in the GUI (smaller than average on MSX and larger on X1) Boulder Dash gets some of its physics from here I think (or Dig Dug inspired both)ģD Bomberman (PC-6001/X1/FM-7/MSX, 1984) - Faux 3D Maze Action, FP view, Tile-based movement Bombs that temporarily light up dark roomsįlappy (X1, 1983/FM-7/MSX, 1984/NES, 1985) - Action Puzzle, TD/SV Hybrid gameplay

(PCs/MSX, 1984) - Maze Shooter/Rescue Mission, Side view Pick between four different cars with different properties Map out your route before traveling to your location via top down racing segments Ghostbusters (PCs/MSX, 1984/SMS, 1987) - Early RTS/Trapping/Sandbox game

Control mechanic used as a metaphor for a bond between people (later used in Brothers)

Hg101 little big adventure 2 box art