Today I would like to talk about one of my genre of video games the Top Down Action role-playing game also known as ARPG games. It is a subgenre of role-playing games RPG and the game play has focus on real-time combat. The player has control over the character as opposed to turn-based combat. The combat systems in ARPG games are similar to hack and slash or shooter games. The ARPG game Genre can also include Action-Adventure Games, this can include missions or RPG mechanics. Now let us look at some of earliest ARPG games that created the Action role-playing game genre.
The First ARPG games
Temple of Apshai (1979)
“The player in Temple of Apshai assumes the role of an adventurer who explores the mysterious ruins of the Temple of Apshai. This player character investigates room after room of this dungeon setting while seeking treasure and combatting monsters. Along the way, the player discovers powerful weapons and armor with which to overcome the Temple’s inhabitants. The game consists of four dungeons with over 200 rooms in total and features 30 monster types.” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Automated Simulations(Epyx)
Platform: TRS-80 and Commodore PET
Sold: 30,000 copies by 30 June 1982
Adventure (1980)
“In Adventure, the player’s goal is to recover the Enchanted Chalice that an evil magician has stolen and hidden in the kingdom and return it to the Golden Castle.” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Warren Robinett
Platform: Atari VCS & 2600
Sold: More than 1,000,000 copies
Bokosuka Wars (1983)
“It revolves around a leader who must lead an army in phalanx formation across a battlefield in real-time against overwhelming enemy forces while freeing and recruiting soldiers along the way, with each unit able to gain experience and level up through battle. The player must make sure that the leader stays alive, until the army reaches the enemy castle to defeat the leader of the opposing forces.” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Kōji Sumii & released by ASCII
Platform: Sharp X1 computer & other PC Ports
Sold: ?
Sword of Fargoal (1982)
“In the game, the player controls a warrior who explores numerous dungeon levels in search of the legendary “Sword of Fargoal” artifact. The levels become progressively harder to survive as the player descends deeper and deeper into the dungeon. When the Sword of Fargoal is successfully found, a clock countdown begins where the player must successfully escape the dungeon without it being stolen before the time expires, or the Sword is lost.” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Jeff McCord & published by Epyx
Platform: Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, iOS
Sold: ?
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain (1982)
The player must collect necessary items like a boat and keys to cross difficult terrain, to reach the resting place of a broken crown and restore the crown. During the game, the player will cross randomly generated rooms and corridors, and fend off monsters. The player’s main weapons are arrows, which are launched by pressing the number-pad keys on the Intellivision controller. WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Mattel Electronics
Platform: Intellivision
Sold: ?
The Tower of Druaga (1984)
“The player assumes the role of the hero Gilgamesh, whose goal is to rescue the maiden Ki (カイ Kai) from the demon Druaga. To do this, he must traverse through 60 floors of an immense tower. Gilgamesh comes equipped with a sword, which he can use to defeat monsters, and a shield, which can be used to block magical attacks. The monsters get progressively more difficult as the game progresses, beginning with simple slimes and culminating with Druaga himself.” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Namco. Designer Masanobu Endō, Programmer Satoshi Naito, Artist Yuichiro Shinozaki, & Composer Junko Ozawa
Platform: Arcade, Famicom, FM-7, Game Boy, MSX, PC Engine, X1, iOS
Sold: ?
Dragon Slayer (1984)
“Is a dungeon crawl role-playing game that was entirely real-time with action-oriented combat, combining arcade style action mechanics with traditional role-playing mechanics. It 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, and featured item-based puzzles” WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Developed by Nihon Falcom and Designed by Yoshio Kiya
Platform: FM-7, NEC PC-8801, MSX, X1, Super Cassette Vision, Game Boy, Sega Saturn
Sold: ?
Hydlide (1984)
In the kingdom of Fairyland, three magic jewels were enshrined in the palace to maintain peace in the kingdom. One day, an evil man broke into the palace and stole one of the three magic jewels. He then let loose a horde of monsters across the land and became the ruler of the kingdom. The young knight Jim stood up and took action to restore peace in the kingdom. He bravely made his way into the wilderness in full armor to fight the monsters. WIKIPEDIA
Made by: Designed by Tokihiro Naito, Programmed by Eiji Kato, & Developed + Published by T&E Soft
Platform: PC-6000 series, C-8800 series, Other PCs, & Famicom / NES
Sold: 2,000,000 copies in Japan
My ARPG Terminal Grid Watchtower
I have been working on my own ARPG game series called The Legend of Terminal Grid. The first ARPG game I have released (2019) is called Terminal Grid Watchtower.
Terminal Grid Watchtower is a 2D ARPG game (Action Role Playing Game) Top Down Indie Action-Adventure game. The games story is based on the song All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan (also covered by Jimi Hendrix)
The Legend of Terminal Grid
The Legend of Terminal Grid is the next ARPG game I am working on and it will be a mobile game. The story takes place in a digital world and a Hero program is waiting for you to play as him to retrieve the bits of the spirit from the 3 AIs of chaos to restore life to the Terminal Grid. If you are interested in following the development of Terminal Grid subscribe.
