53| Dungeon Explorer

Released: 1989 (Exact release date unknown)

Definitive Version: PC Engine; Also on: PSN for PS3 and PSP, Virtual Console for Wii

Atlus is one of the most respected role playing developers out there. The company has shown to provide quality products in the genre with games as avant garde as the modern Persona series to as traditional as Etrian Odyssey. But even way back in the 1980s the company still produced high quality RPGs. Dungeon Explorer was a game I downloaded off of the Virtual Console on whim. The game seemed archaic at first, but before I knew it I was hooked. It soon became a game that friends and I would regularly play after school. It was a cult classic in the making.

Dungeon Explorer is extremely similar to Gauntlet. Up to four players can play the game at once. The game starts off with the player(s) picking a character class. Each character class has different speed, health, attack power, and possibly a special ability. The players attack enemies by shooting swords, magic balls, or arrows at them. The game primarily focuses on the players entering dungeons and defeating enemies until they get to the dungeon boss. What makes this game different from Gauntlet is that it actually has a story and is more open ended. Being that the game was released in post Dragon Quest world, Dungeon Explorer had a story about serving King while the player had the ability to walk around various towns and talk with local residents to gather hints of where to go and what to do. It certainly isn't the most advanced storytelling in the era, but even today it is pretty rare to find local on screen multiplayer games with any sort of story attached to them.

Make no mistake, Dungeon Explorer isn't a masterpiece. The game has many flaws including an awkward difficulty curve, classes which simply can't beat certain bosses, a so-so artstyle, and a paper thin plot. However, it has a strange aura about it that pulls people toward it. Despite being in an age of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I still had friends who preferred to play Dungeon Explorer. I feel that this is because despite the game's flaws, it does some things very well. The first is that it nails the feeling of exploration. Despite it technically being limited, players are forced to actually explore their surroundings. They have to talk to towns people, look for well placed caverns and doors, and keep various hints in mind. Personally I found these parts of the game just as fun as the dungeon segments. This isn't to say that the dungeon segments are weak. In fact the dungeons are great. The enemies are no pushovers and there is a ton of variety to them. And unlike Gauntlet, enemies are challenging due to their attack patterns and placements rather than due to them being a horde. The classes all feel different as well. Some classes allow the player to move around very quickly, but lack powerful attacks. Others may be moderately fast in speed and have poor attack power, but have longer range. On top of this some classes have special abilities such as the ability to heal or even change the game's music! There is a lot of variety to choose from which means that there is a bit of play when it comes to the games tactics.

Presentation wise, as said before the game isn't a looker and the story isn't that good. But the soundtrack is excellent. It outputs off the synthy and arpeggio sounding PC Engine very well. Showing that its sound style can offer a healthy alternative to both the melodic Super Nintendo and the hard hitting grunge of the Mega Drive. The music was done by Tsukasa Masuko who did the pre-Nocturne Megaten games. His standout works are Shin Megami Tensei II and Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers. He fathered the entire Megaten sound style and tone. It comes to no surprise that his talent excels no matter what title he works on.

Dungeon Explorer is admittedly a pretty odd game to have on this list. Most would dismiss this entry as nostalgia, however I didn't play the game until it released on the Wii's Virtual Console. The game's flaws have always been apparent, but it is still wildly fun to play. I am also not alone in this as I had friends who enjoyed the game as well. The best way I can describe this game is that it is a cult classic. While it has flaws, it contains specific strengths that aren't too commonly found in most other games. Its sense of exploration and cooperative play mix very well to give off a unique experience that stands the test of time. There was a modern entry released for the DS and PSP around ten years ago, but they didn't leave the narrative based multiplayer components intact. They also weren't particularly good. Now that Hudson is defunct, I hope that Dungeon Explorer can find its way back into Atlus's hands for a quality modern update.