So I've been getting into roguelikes lately. They can be evil punishing things but the randomised nature of the gameplay never knowing what you'll get or which way leads to safety or a room full of horrific monstrosities ready to gang bash you add longevity to what would otherwise be a short gaming experience. Indeed I have sunk more hours into roguelikes of late because that evil nature of theirs angers me in just the right way that it fuels my need to defeat the smug little shits sitting there mocking me from my desktop.. pardon me went off topic.
Recently I was perusing the 3ds's online store checking out the old school section when I saw a game from my youth one of the first handheld games I ever owned so naturally I bought and downloaded it immediately, 5 minutes into the gameplay I realised "this is a roguelike" (before you mock my ignorance please allow for the fact that at the time I used to own this game I was 10 years old without an internet connection and had never heard of rogue much less roguelikes before)
The revelation that I had been playing roguelikes years before I even knew what they were got me wondering what other peoples first discovery of this genre had been.
To get the ball rolling babies first rogue-like for me was "dragon crystal"on the sega game gear. This was a horrible game to put on a device that consumed batteries like the game gear did 6 double a's would only get you a few hours gameplay. This game hated you with the exception of basic weapons and armor everything else was randomly colour coded so even playing the game for the twelfth time you never knew whether the potion you were about to consume would heal your condition or reduce your attack to zero..PERMANENTLY... One wrong item would effectively kill you in a game with absolutely no kind of save system. The game was 50 levels with some of the enemies getting really irritating later on. Enemies operated on the old system of move one for every move of yours.
Its new DS version has 1 function that didn't exist within the game gear one and that is the introduction of a save system. this one small change takes away half the difficulty as you can just save before every random drink. an easy return to form is not to use this function although constant abuse can sap the will of even the most hardcore gamer.
All in all a simple game that will lethally punish you purely on the whims of fate. Dated but still awesome
Recently I was perusing the 3ds's online store checking out the old school section when I saw a game from my youth one of the first handheld games I ever owned so naturally I bought and downloaded it immediately, 5 minutes into the gameplay I realised "this is a roguelike" (before you mock my ignorance please allow for the fact that at the time I used to own this game I was 10 years old without an internet connection and had never heard of rogue much less roguelikes before)
The revelation that I had been playing roguelikes years before I even knew what they were got me wondering what other peoples first discovery of this genre had been.
To get the ball rolling babies first rogue-like for me was "dragon crystal"on the sega game gear. This was a horrible game to put on a device that consumed batteries like the game gear did 6 double a's would only get you a few hours gameplay. This game hated you with the exception of basic weapons and armor everything else was randomly colour coded so even playing the game for the twelfth time you never knew whether the potion you were about to consume would heal your condition or reduce your attack to zero..PERMANENTLY... One wrong item would effectively kill you in a game with absolutely no kind of save system. The game was 50 levels with some of the enemies getting really irritating later on. Enemies operated on the old system of move one for every move of yours.
Its new DS version has 1 function that didn't exist within the game gear one and that is the introduction of a save system. this one small change takes away half the difficulty as you can just save before every random drink. an easy return to form is not to use this function although constant abuse can sap the will of even the most hardcore gamer.
All in all a simple game that will lethally punish you purely on the whims of fate. Dated but still awesome