Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
Capcom's first D&D arcade beat 'em up, set in Mystara.
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Players choose from four characters—cleric, dwarf, elf, or fighter—and fight classic D&D monsters including a beholder and an archlich.[1] Released in 1994, this arcade title from Capcom supports one to four players and combines side-scrolling beat 'em up action with role-playing video game features.[2] Among the two Capcom arcade titles situated in the Mystara campaign setting and derived from the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop game, this was the initial one.[2]
Making and release
Capcom acquired the license to create D&D games at the beginning of the 1990s.[3] Most Capcom USA staff were unfamiliar with D&D rules, so assistant James Goddard turned to D&D enthusiast Alex Jimenez to create a concept.[4] A meeting between Capcom and TSR took place in January 1992 to determine the game's direction.[3] The approach chosen was to craft the narrative first, then develop the gameplay around that narrative.[4]
Jimenez created character concept art and assisted the Japanese team in understanding Dungeons & Dragons concepts.[3] Initially planned with just two arcade control buttons, the inventory system required adding two more.[3] Jimenez converted the preliminary design into a D&D adventure, then had his own gaming group play through it while he served as gamemaster.[4]
What the cited sources add
Rausch stated that combat was fun, had more depth than expected, and "came loaded with secrets to find and treasures to swipe"[5] Rausch noted that after beating the game's seven levels, players discover the ultimate bad guy was just a pawn for an even bigger villain.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tresca, "The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games", McFarland, 2010, p. 144 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom", The International Arcade Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Damien McFerran, "The Making of Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom & Shadow Over Mystara", Nintendo Life, 2013-03-25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Indill the Incredible, "One-on-one with D&D's Real Dungeon Master", IDG, May 1994, p. 122 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Rausch, "A History of D&D Video Games - Part III", Game Spy, 2004-08-17. facts only, no text reused. pc.gamespy.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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