Dungeon Explorer (1989 video game)

Dungeon Explorer is an action role-playing game from Atlus, originally released for the TurboGrafx-16. Hudson Soft first published it in Japan on March 4, 1989, with NEC bringing it to North America later that year on November 15. This title kicked off the Dungeon Explorer series. The story takes place in the land of Oddesia, which has been taken over by aliens. Players pick one of eight main characters and must retrieve the Ora stone to defeat the alien king, Natas. Kazutoshi Ueda and Yōsuke Niino co-directed the game, and much of the same development team later worked on projects like the Megami Tensei series. Though it started on the TurboGrafx-16, it later came to other consoles through download services.

Critics praised Dungeon Explorer when it first came out, and it is seen as a trailblazer in the action role-playing genre because it allowed up to five players to play together cooperatively. However, more recent reviews have been mixed. The game had four sequels: Dungeon Explorer II (1993), a Sega CD version and Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer (both 1995), and Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts (2007).

**Gameplay**

Dungeon Explorer is an action role-playing game with dungeon crawling and hack-and-slash elements, shown from a top-down view similar to Gauntlet. Players choose one of eight main characters, each belonging to a class: fighter, thief, warlock, witch, bishop, elf, bard, or gnome. Their abilities differ mainly in black and white magic and stats. For instance, the bishop’s white potion heals nearby allies, while the bard’s black potion can change the music. Special classes like the princess and hermit can be unlocked with passwords as the game goes on.

Players explore towns or fields to find dungeons, each with a boss that must be beaten to move forward. After defeat, each boss leaves a crystal that cycles through four colors, matching the character’s stats: attack, strength, agility, and intelligence. Players can also raise their stats by defeating enemies or finding accessories on the map. The game supports up to five players at once, but they share a pool of lives; the game ends when all lives are gone. A password system saves each player’s progress.

**Synopsis**

The game follows several heroes on a quest to find the Ora stone for the king of Oddesia.