Demon's Crest

The third (and ultimately final) spinoff in the Gargoyle's Quest sub-franchise of the greater Ghosts n' Goblins franchise, the game was a commercial failure for Capcom when it launched, even generating negative sales one week according to Nintendo Power.  But is Demon's Crest a hidden gem that was neglected in its time, or does it really deserve its rare and obscure status?

Capcom's Ghosts n' Goblins series was a hit in the '80s and '90s, with a few scattered games and spinoffs coming in later years, but also attained notoriety for its extreme difficulty.  Not only does it require precise movement and attacks with a rather sluggish character, but you must complete each game twice in order to win, with the second run often requiring you to use a specific weapon in order to complete it.

Gargoyle's Quest was a short-lived spinoff series comprised of three entries on the Game Boy, NES and SNES, starring Firebrand, one of the famously annoying Red Arremer type enemies that appear throughout the main series.  They were mostly side-scrolling action games with a few light elements of RPGs and Metroid style exploration, gradually upgrading your character as the game progressed.  Demon's Crest was its final entry and leaned the most heavily into this element, with numerous forms with differing abilities to swap between, spells to cast, potions to purchase and use, and stages laden with many secrets, necessitating later returns to find everything and overcome certain challenging bosses.  A bit like Capcom's own Mega Man X series on the SNES.

Case in point, Firebrand now has five forms to switch between, all themed after elements and all sporting different abilities.  His base form is fire-themed, can hover in the air indefinitely (but not gain altitude) and gets a variety of different projectiles that can do things like create temporary platforms, light torches or break bricks, as well as a headbutt move that can smash certain background objects.  Earth form launches projectiles that travel along the ground and can charge to smash (or move around) large obstacles.  Water form can travel beneath water without taking damage, Air can gain altitude while in the air, and Time is simply powerful and takes half damage from enemy attacks.   All come in handy at different points in the game and for defeating certain enemies; for example, the Buster power in Fire form can damage armored enemies, whereas other forms simply knock them back or do nothing at all.

Other things that aid the player are pickups that boost maximum health and  Talismans that bolster one of Firebrand's attributes when equipped, though only one can be in use at a time.  Enemies drop more health or money, or Firebrand can gain a higher rate of fire, damage or defense.  Urns can  be collected and used to store potions, purchased at shops in the game's town with money.  These have varying effects like letting Firebrand instantly exit a stage, reviving after a death or restoring some or all of his health; all quite useful to have, and when things start getting difficult late in the game you'll definitely want as many healing potions as you can carry.  Spells are another addition, requiring the player to find Vellums hidden in the stages and then purchase them at a shop; these are considerably less useful though, and do things like stun enemies, summon an imp to fight alongside him (though it requires payment), or do a powerful screen-clearing attack.

While the game does feature progress saving, one slight annoyance is that it's done via a 16-digit password system, which the game only dispenses after you die and choose to end your game.  However, you can then choose "continue" on the title screen and it will retain your password, so you don't have to punch it in each time as long as you don't power off the console.  If you're playing on an emulator or on the Switch Online service, this isn't a problem owing to the save-state features those possess.  There are also three endings in the game depending on how much completion you've achieved.  Facing the final boss before collecting all the crests results in the worst ending, collecting all the crests but not the other collectibles (Health boosters, Vellums, urns and talismans) gets a neutral ending, while getting full completion gets the best ending.  Perhaps as a nod to its parent series a secret fourth ending can be found by getting the best ending, punching in the password you get afterwards and facing down a secret superboss, which also gives you access to an otherwise-inaccessible ultimate form for Firebrand to meet the challenge.

Per franchise standards, Demon's Crest is an aesthetically appealing game, with a dark and foreboding, yet charming visual style, Capcom's usual gorgeous animation and equally moody music and sound effects.  Even small touches like the elaborate death animations for the enemies (and Firebrand) complement the mood perfectly.  While definitely challenging, Demon's Crest is not nearly as frustrating as its parent franchise and is a much more enjoyable experience overall; some areas and boss fights will definitely give you a challenge, but it never feels cheap or unfair, just requiring some practice, pattern memorization and using the right tools for the job (or going to find them if you don't have them yet).  Well, aside from a rather obnoxiously hard minigame that requires precisely timed headbutts and has an extremely short time limit to get one of the health powerups necessary for full completion.

So, all told, Demon's Crest is a well-made game in every respect.  A quality open-world 'vania style adventure with a good amount of length, enough depth and challenge to keep you engaged, and some delightfully dark atmosphere and gorgeous aesthetics.  It really is the shame it ended up being the last of this particular subseries, but at least it went out on a high note.  Definitely one of the Super Nintendo's more overlooked gems.

 

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1994
Platform: Super Nintendo (with rereleases on Wii Virtual Console, 3DS Virtual Console and Switch Online)
Recommended Version: N/A

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

The sequel to Tower of Doom, and as one might expect, it retains the core gameplay of the original while expanding on it in several ways.  For one, there are now six playable characters - a Thief and a Magic User join the fray, and each character also has two unique sets of sprites when multiple players select the same class, effectively expanding the roster to 12 playable characters.  The Thief is a comparatively weak but fast-moving character who can attack at range with an unlimited-use sling, steal items from enemies and open chests without requiring keys, while the Magic User gets a wider variety of offensive spells to use than any other character and is the only character who can wield the game's most powerful weapon (the Staff of Wizardry).  One can also find temporary rings, boots and helmets to bolster their abilities (though they break after sustaining several hits) and while the overall story remains the same, the player is given a choice of branching paths throughout, giving some more stages and replay value to the experience. It's also a deceptively deep game - the sheer amount of hidden moves, secret items and tactics in the game ensures that it has plenty of replay value for die-hard RPG fans as well as beat-em-up enthusiasts.  An overlooked classic if ever there was one.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1996, 1999, 2013
Platforms: Arcade, Sega Saturn (as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Collection), Playstation 3/Wii U/PC/XBox 360 (as part of the Chronicles of Mystara collection)

Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom

 If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of classic arcade games and beat-em-ups in particular; from the early ones like Double Dragon and Golden Axe to more complex examples like the Kunio games and Guardian Heroes, they're one genre I can reliably have a good time with no matter my mood.  Tower of Doom was the first of two Capcom-produced beat-em-ups based on the Dungeons & Dragons license, and it was a remarkably faithful adaptation, representing several of the game's character classes as one would expect - the Fighter has high health, range and attack power, the Elf casts several offensive spells, the Cleric can heal, stun enemies and cast Sticks to Snakes (always fun), and the Dwarf has short range but can combo relatively quickly.  In addition to that there are variety of spell scrolls and items to collect, purchase and use as the game progresses - throwing knives, arrows, healing potions, thrown hammers that stun enemies, bottles of flaming oil and so forth.  There are even some surprising nods to D&D rules worked in, like the troll boss not truly dying until you down it and then burn its body.  A good beat-em-up by one of the best names in that field, and for my money, a very fun and faithful D&D experience as well.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1994, 1999, 2013
Platforms: Arcade, Sega Saturn (as part of the Dungeons & Dragons Collection), Playstation 3/Wii U/PC/XBox 360 (as part of the Chronicles of Mystara collection)

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne

A prequel to Mega Man Legends starring the series' breakout character, Tron Bonne.  While it does still utilize the same engine as the other two games, weird control scheme, stiff physics and all, the gameplay here is changed up quite a bit, broken up into a mission structure (with each mission having three sub-levels) rather than being an open-world game.  You play as Tron, of course, piloting a mecha called the Gustaff and commanding a small squad of Servbots via "beacon bombs" to carry out various tasks - looting buildings, attacking enemies or disabling hazards temporarily, and whatever else needs doing.   Some missions are pretty straightforward action segments, while others change things up quite a bit.  The closest it comes to MML's overall gameplay is a search through a labyrinthine pyramid in search of a legendary treasure, but others include a battle through a city to rob a bank, stealing livestock and carting them off in a truck, a puzzle game of sorts where you load cargo containers onto a ship in a set number of moves, a first-person dungeon crawl, and even a casino where you can play Bingo and High-or-Low.  The strangest thing, though, is that Misadventures has a slight X-COM vibe to its design - your Servbots' stats can be improved by going on missions and playing minigames, which not only give them new combat capabilities, but can unlock hidden potentials in them that allow for customization options and can even unlock upgrades to the Gustaff.  If you don't take them on missions for a good while they'll also fill up their "Sloth" meter and refuse to work, which can only be lowered by sending them to the torture room and playing another minigame to sort them out.  While Misadventures ultimately isn't particularly deep and retains the series' usual weird quirks with hit detection, awkward controls and stiff movement, it once again gets by on the merits of its sense of humor and by having a lot of charm, and the general 'variety show' feel of its design ensures it doesn't wear out its welcome.  It's also a very expensive game these days, going for well over $500 online, but thankfully Capcom saw fit to release it on the Playstation Network, so you can still play it without breaking the bank; it takes a bit of doing these days, but for only $6 it's hard to argue against at least trying it.

Developer: Capcom Production Studio 2
Publisher: Capcom, Eidos Interactive
Platform: Playstation, Playstation Network (PS3/Vita)
Released: 2000

Mega Man Legends 2

The second entry in the Mega Man Legends series followed the series' usual trends, keeping the core gameplay relatively intact but adding some improvements and general polish to try and make a more balanced game overall.  But does Mega Man Legends 2 succeed in being a more satisfying game experience, or does it spoil the broth?

Mega Man Legends wasn't a success for Capcom, being met with relatively average reviews and mediocre sales, but it still found a following among enthusiasts of Zelda-likes as well as long-time Mega Man fans.  This prompted Capcom to try their luck at a spinoff game starring the series' breakout antihero, Tron Bonne, and later a followup to the first game.  While both games met with more positive reviews, they still didn't do particularly well in terms of sales, which ended up pushing the franchise into a long dormancy that continues today.

Something you'll notice right away is that Mega Man Legends 2 carries on the polished presentation of the original, with quite a lot of voice-acted cutscenes, expressive characters and an intriguing storyline building up to a large mystery.  The anime-like aesthetic returns, though now with more polished models and far less jagged edges and ugly, stretched textures.  Several music tracks return from the original game in addition to numerous new ones (replacing the conspicuous absent noise in most of the original game's dungeons), and all of them sound quite good; I especially like how each major area in the game has a leitmotif that carries between all the songs you'll hear there.  Even most of the same voice cast from the original game returns here, with the baffling exception of Mega Man having a new actor; he's not a bad actor or anything, but it's a bit jarring if you're coming straight in from the first game.  Load times have also been tightened up considerably, resulting in transitions between areas and save screens being much smoother than the original game. 

The gameplay remains mostly the same, retaining the same awkward "tank control" movement and rotation even if you use the analog stick, but some improvements are made nonetheless.  Mega Man's movement is a bit sharper now, with less noticeable delay between pressing a direction and moving, and you can actually move while locked on to enemies now, making combat more fluid (and your sub-weapons considerably more useful), though it does have two irritating bugs - one is that there's seemingly no rhyme or reason to what enemy it will lock on to any time you press the button, which can be particularly annoying during the more chaotic battles, and the second is that if you take even the slightest of hits, you'll lose your lock-on and it will probably snap onto another random enemy; this can get extremely frustrating at times.  On the upside, the lock-on does introduce a useful bug, too - if you lock on to an enemy, hold down the fire button and tap Up on the D-pad, you'll reset your gun's cooldown and fire again immediately as soon as your stepping animation stops, effectively letting you fire as quickly as you can tap the Up button and rendering the Rapid and Energy stats mostly irrelevant.  They've also done away with the redundant 'shield' system from the first game; you no longer have to worry about it breaking mid-fight and taking more damage from subsequent attacks until you get it repaired.

Special weapons have seen some significant overhaul too.  While you can still only equip one at a time, enemies will occasionally drop powerups that refill their energy, so you don't have to get through an entire dungeon on one bar.  Or rather, two bars, as the game implements a mechanic where you can only use a weapon so much at a time, draining the green bar on the left half of the gauge; once you stop firing, it will draw from the larger blue bar to refill it.  As mentioned above, most weapons now also work in tandem with the lock-on, making you less likely to waste shots, although many of the stronger ones still plant you in place when you fire them.  Fitting the larger scale of the game, weapons generally cost much more to upgrade now, with some reaching well into the millions.  On the other hand, you have the opportunity to take timed trials to upgrade your Digger License, which makes the enemies in the game tougher but also causes them to drop more Zenny, in effect letting you adjust the game's difficulty and risk/reward ratio to your liking.  

As mentioned above, Mega Man Legends is a considerably bigger game than its predecessor, having you explore numerous islands across the world, discover their secrets and undertake a number of optional side-quests throughout.  Dungeons are considerably more varied and hazardous too, with plenty of traps, more aggressive enemies and a couple of irritating 'status effects' you can be inflicted with; fire is a particularly bad one as it will continuously drain your health for upwards of thirty seconds, and there doesn't seem to be any way to put it out early (not even the otherwise-useless fire extinguisher weapon used to clear the intro mission, or taking a cue from Ocarina of Time and letting you roll to put the flames out).  You can also be 'paralyzed' by electrified floors, greatly slowing your movement speed and jump height and making it very difficult to avoid enemy attacks until it wears off (which also takes an irritatingly long time), or "decayed", which prevents you from firing your buster, also for an irritatingly long time.  On the other hand, you do get a greater variety of armor pieces this time; some of which help with avoiding status effects like these (though in the case of fire, not until after you've gone through the game's first major dungeon and probably been ignited several times throughout).  Seemingly taking a cue from Zelda, you can access consoles in major ruins to fully reveal the area map and point out the location of treasures within it, which definitely helps keep you caught up on potential equipment upgrades; a good thing, as some fights are very difficult without the right special weapon at your disposal.  Also like Zelda, there are underwater segments now, and one of the game's most irritating dungeons is one where you have to fill and drain the water to progress, with movement while submerged being very slow without the use of special boots.

Seemingly acknowledging the repetitive nature of the first game's boss battles, Mega Man Legends 2's boss fights are considerably more involved.  Circle-strafing still works on occasion, though many bosses are now fought in trap-laden rooms, cramped quarters or on small platforms that make it implausible.  The first boss fight in particular is a good example - a frog-bot that hops between several elevated platforms above a floor with constantly-respawning grub robots, and there are also robotic flies in the room that it can eat to regain health - destroying those, staying out of reach of the grubs and avoiding the frog's attacks all have to be juggled to win.  Other missions have a bit more strategy, like having to defend an air-dock from attacking robots, with your own shots able to damage or destroy barriers that prevent them from getting in.  One fight is even a direct reference to The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, with Tron utilizing similar tactics to the ones the player uses in that game.

So, while Mega Man Legends 2 does have some irritations with its long-lasting status effects, unpolished mechanics and being more grindy than the original in some ways, it is a substantial improvement in most others.  It's bigger, longer, has more boss battles, addresses several prominent shortcomings of the original game's design, and like the original, ends up being an enjoyable action-adventure-RPG experience despite its flaws.  It's a shame it never got much of a chance to shine, being released over a month after the debut of the Playstation 2 and the followup to an already relatively unpopular game, but it has quite a lot to offer any discerning fan of Zelda-likes.  It's gotten pretty scarce and expensive in recent years, but if you happen across a copy or are looking for some good PS1 classics to download to your Playstation 3, PSP or Vita, it's well worth picking up.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Playstation 1, PC, PSP, PSN
Released: 2000, 2003, 2005, 2016
Recommended Version: I've only ever played the original PS1 version, both as a disc game and emulated on PSN, but from what I've read the PSP and PC ports are mostly identical (though the former was only released in Japan, and the latter only in Japan and Asia).

Willow

Willow is based on the 1988 fantasy film of the same name, which probably brings to mind a lot of other mediocre-to-terrible movie tie-ins.  However, Capcom always put their all into everything they did in the NES era, licensed games included, and several of theirs are still regarded as classics today (Ducktales in particular got both a rerelease on the Disney Afternoon Collection and a remake by WayForward in recent years).  Willow is certainly no exception to that rule, either, taking the format of Legend of Zelda and adapting the film's plot to it in pretty fine fashion.  It works in a bit of an experience system, as well as some slightly more sophisticated swordplay - if you press the attack button while moving you'll do a forward thrust, and pressing while stopped will do a slower sweeping slash that covers a wide area, potentially knocking away multiple enemies.  Throughout the game you'll also find new equipment and spells to bolster your abilities, and battle some surprisingly tricky bosses.  Per Capcom standards, the game also has wonderful animation, detailed graphics (I like how the wind blows the grass and trees while in combat) and some quite good, atmospheric music.  A less talked about Capcom NES game, but that doesn't mean it doesn't live up to their high quality standards.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: NES
Released: 1989

Mega Man: Battle Network

Collectible card games were all the rage in the early 2000s, and it seemed like every big Japanese company was trying to cash in (even Sega got in on it with Phantasy Star Online's third episode, CARD Revolution, which was... pretty strange).  Capcom took their own crack at it with the Battle Network franchise, and it proved to be quite a successful one, spawning six games, a number of spinoffs and even an offshoot series (Star Force) before being retired in 2009.  The core gameplay remains essentially the same, meshing real-time action with tactics.  Taking place on a 6x3 grid divided between your side and the enemy's, you get a random hand of five chips (serving as your weapons) and can pick ones that have a matching letter or type.  With them, you try to clear all enemies off the board as quickly as possible, earning more chips and/or money for doing so.  However, you also have to evade enemy attacks by moving around your grid, and use your chips well to ensure the enemies don't avoid your attacks and you waste your chips.  Some other things can crack panels (leaving a blank space on the field that can't be crossed over temporarily) or even turn panels from one color to the other, giving you or your foe more control over the field.  Pretty interesting stuff, but it ends up being a rather grindy experience; as per any collectible card game, you gradually refine and rework your deck throughout, working further toward a balance of chips that will serve you well in any scenario you face.  I can see why it became such a big series in the 2000s, but like the collectible card game fad of the time, its relevance is mostly gone these days.  However, its gameplay style was reworked to great effect in One Step From Eden, blending roguelike elements and numerous different characters, game modes and mods into the mix, so in an odd way, its legacy lives on.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom, Ubisoft
Released: 2001
Platforms: Game Boy Advance, Wii U (Virtual Console)

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons

 The Oracle Games were rather odd beasts, being developed by an outside studio and released on the Game Boy Color in the months leading up to the Game Boy Advance's release.  The concepts were relatively novel, too - Ages has you hopping between past and present similar to Ocarina of Time, while Seasons has you cycling between the four seasons to reach new areas and solve various puzzles.  That's all good, and they're built on the same engine as Link's Awakening DX, so fans of that game will be right at home here.  Unfortunately, a lot of the change-ups here aren't really for the better - many familiar items are recycled but used in strange new ways with little explanation (being able to pick up and throw enemies with the power bracelet, for example), which can lead to a lot of unclear puzzles and frustration.  Animal friends are used to reach new areas and clear paths, though their controls and collision detection are frequently awkward.  Bosses also don't feel well-designed a lot of the time, either having weird hit detection or requiring spot-on timing to overcome, and I generally just found them annoying to fight.  The ideas here are interesting and occasionally pretty clever, but the execution is lacking; I can't help but wonder if they just needed a bit more playtesting before their debut, but regardless, I don't rank them among the Zelda franchise's best.  Give them a look, but try before you buy.

Developer: Capcom/Flagship
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 2001
Platforms: Game Boy Color, Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console)

Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Capcom's second attempt at an original Zelda was Minish Cap, and it has a pretty creative concept - Link shrinks down to sneak into areas he couldn't before and encounters a miniature race called the Minish along his journey.   Like their first attempt, though, the execution leaves some things to be desired.  The game feels rather short and unsatisfying overall, with only six short dungeons and some rather tedious sidequests in the form of Kinstones and Figurines, both of which just feel like cheap filler rather than a well-implemented mechanic.  Most of the end-game bosses are annoying as well, requiring the player to strike numerous targets at the same time and punishing them with damage or prolonging the fight until they get it right.  Finally, Ezlo is easily the franchise's worst sidekick, constantly interrupting the game to blather unfunny dialog or explain extremely basic mechanics to you; if you thought Navi was annoying, you haven't seen anything yet.  I did ultimately finish the game, but I really have no desire to play it again.  If you want a good portable Zelda, stick to Link's Awakening.

Developer: Capcom/Flagship
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 2004
Platforms: Game Boy Advance, Wii U (Virtual Console)

Destiny of an Emperor

The Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history is one that's ripe for adaptations, and there have been tons of them in the realm of gaming (probably the best-known of which are Koei's Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms franchises).  Capcom took their own crack at it (and their first foray into RPGs) with an adaptation of the manga "Tenchi wo Kurau".  Not a turn-based strategy game as you'd expect, though - a traditional Japanese RPG with a few terms switched around.  Hit Points are your soldiers, Tactics are your spells, and there are 150 recruitable characters to serve as your generals in battle, act as a reserve force should one of your generals fall, or become your tactician and provide your whole team with various Tactics to utilize.  Unlike most RPGs your characters' Strength and Intelligence stats are fixed and never increase with levels; only a small handful of characters improve with experience (and even then, only to increase their max soldiers and learn new tactics).  In fact, grinding in general is discouraged owing to the Rations system - every step you take on the world map depletes one ration, and you start losing troops with every step until you purchase more. Battles tend to go on for quite a while, but fortunately there is a handy function in the "All-Out" command that causes both sides to continually attack one another and skip all prompts and dialog boxes until one side falls or you hit the B button to cancel it; handy for quickly mopping up weaker forces, but not so much when you're facing any considerable threat.  Destiny of an Emperor is not the most talked-about NES RPG, but it does have a dedicated following, with fans creating their own editing tools and scenarios to keep players coming back for more.  Worth a look!

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Released: 1990

Platforms: NES

Dragon's Dogma

An open world action-RPG by much of the team that worked on Capcom's popular Devil May Cry franchise, bringing a relatively fresh flourish to the dark fantasy genre.  But does Dragon's Dogma prove to be a worthy experience even against enormous competition from games like like Elder Scrolls, or does the wind not push this one?

Dragon's Dogma was certainly an odd turn for both its development team and parent company.  At a time when Capcom was really going all-in with the multiplayer experience in their games - Monster Hunter, Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet, among others - Dragon's Dogma was announced as an an open-world RPG from the team that created Devil May Cry, a fan favorite series that had been dormant for a long while at that point (with Ninja Theory's remake of sorts, DmC, attracting widespread criticism well before it was even released).  That, plus the fact that Capcom (let alone the team) had never attempted anything of such scope before, definitely drew some eyes to Dragon's Dogma.  They certainly proved they were serious about it too; Capcom's in-house MT Framework game engine (built primarily for stage-based action games) was heavily modified to allow for a seamless open world, environmental audio design and even dynamic lighting, allowing for dark caves lit only by torches and lanterns and a day/night cycle that would determine which monsters and items the player would encounter.  It even had a custom-built physics engine to give combat against large-scale monsters that much extra punch - when you get flung to the ground by a cyclops or land a charging blow on an enemy, it looks and feels that much more painful.  They even broke tradition for the game's score, creating a heavily atmospheric and varied soundtrack that complements the action perfectly and, in a strange twist for a fantasy game, opens with an upbeat rock track by Japanese rock duo B'z.  Dark Arisen adds even more tracks too, totaling up to over four hours of music.

As one would expect from the team behind Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma's action is chaotic and intense, but never overwhelming - the smooth controls and intuitive design keep you firmly in control even as hordes of monsters bear down on you.  Controls are simple enough - your four face buttons attack, the left shoulder button blocks, and your left and right shoulder buttons activate skills when used in tandem with the face buttons, all of which run off a slowly-replenishing stamina bar (even spells); careful use is encouraged, though, as if you run out of stamina you'll be left open to attack for a good chunk of time.  There isn't a proper lock-on system in the game to focus your attacks on a single target, but the game is well designed enough that you don't really need it - your attacks will generally hit whatever is right in front of your character, and it even leads shots to a degree so you rarely waste items.  Pawns (your party members) will even point out enemy weaknesses for you and warn you of enemies that you're approaching so there's rarely unpleasant surprises.  A much touted design element also allows you to grapple enemies, either to pin them down for an ally's attack (which Pawns will also frequently do for you) or, for larger enemies, literally climb atop them to strike at their weak points or weigh down their limbs so they can't use their heavier attacks.  At times you're even allowed to improvise, picking up barrels or heavy objects in the area and tossing them at enemies for hefty damage, or leaping off ledges to ambush foes from above.  Pawn AI is pretty decent during battle, though they do have some difficulty doing things like targeting enemies that can only be harmed with a certain attack (phantoms with magic, etc) and they do get knocked down pretty easily in fights with tougher enemies, though you can easily walk up and revive them at the press of a button.

Dragon's Dogma strangely does not feature a proper co-op mode (not even local couch co-op), but instead opts for a party-based system with "Pawns" - AI controlled characters created by players.  Shortly after the game starts you're given one of your own whom you can freely customize and equip, and are able to pick two others - either pre-generated ones or ones created by other players, with data uploaded to a server online.  Pawns at your current level are free to use, though if you're struggling with a particular quest, you can also hire higher-leveled ones by spending "Rift Coins" - a currency earned by completing quests and via random enemy drops.  Pawns do prove surprisingly helpful in ways other than combat, too - they'll frequently gather up items you may not easily spot as you travel, and of course they make very handy pack mules for carrying around crafting items and extra gear you intend to use or sell later.

Though there are a fair number of skills to purchase and utilize, the class system (referred to here as "Vocations") in Dragon's Dogma is a relatively simple one.  As the game starts you get to pick one of three - Fighter, Strider or Mage - and as you fight enemies and complete quests, you will earn Discipline points to purchase new skills with; which you can purchase at any given time are determined by your Vocation Rank, which also goes up as you gain experience.  Fighters put focus on swords and shields, Striders wield bows and daggers, and Mages use spells both offensive and defensive in nature - healing allies or firing elemental attacks to damage foes, both of which take a fair bit of time to charge up.  Later on you gain the ability to become a more advanced version of these three classes (Warrior, Ranger or Sorcerer respectively), and later still you can become one of three Hybrid classes - Mystic Knight, Assassin or Magick Archer, all of which get their own sets of weapons and skills.  Unlocked skills do not transfer between vocations, unfortunately, though you can swap back to ones you've unlocked if your current class choice isn't cutting it.

One thing I liked about Dragon's Crown is that it's not nearly as hand-holdy as many of its contemporaries.  NPCs are still highlighted when they have quests to give or relevant information to one you're currently undertaking and their general location marked on the map, but for the most part, you're left to your own devices to hunt down items or enemies you're currently targeting - it doesn't just devolve into "follow arrow and push a button" gameplay at any point.  You do end up taking the same few paths quite a bit throughout the game, though, so a fast travel system (even just to towns) would have been nice.  The story is also pretty bare-bones overall, so if you're in it for a narrative or some strongly written characters, well, you're not going to find much of that here.

Dragon's Dogma is a game that came out of left field, especially since Capcom had never attempted anything of its like before, but it ended up being a pleasant surprise.  An open-world action RPG that retains the sense of exploration and discovery of games like Elder Scrolls, but also the fluid action and over-the-top fun of games like Devil May Cry without feeling out of place for its universe.  Being able to play it with friends (or even just swap between actively controlling your party members) would have been a fine cherry on top, but even without that, Dragon's Dogma is a fun monster-mash.

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Switch

Released: 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017

Recommended Version: Any of the modern platform ports; not only do they have more content than the original PS3/360 releases (including all of the DLC from the original releases), but they're also vastly improved technically, featuring much smoother framerates and controls.  The only downside is that the later versions don't retain the absolute banger of an opening theme that is "Into Free", but there is a mod for the PC version to restore it.

Mega Man Legends

The second spinoff of the ever-popular Mega Man franchise was a very different turn, going from a 2D linear action game to a 3D open-world story-driven experience set in a very different universe from the earlier games; seemingly an intended competitor to the highly successful Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64.  But does Mega Man Legends prove to be a worthy adventure, or do the PS1's limitations simply bog it down?

Mega Man began in the '80s and quickly became a fan favorite franchise, with five sequels on the NES alone and numerous spinoff series in subsequent years that took it in all sorts of different directions - from open-world action titles to choose-your-own-adventure games to card-collecting RPGs.  It's mostly fallen off in recent years save for the token compilation rereleases, but the dozens of games and spinoffs the franchise has spawned continue to have a strong fan following to this day for their formulaic, yet effective design and charming scenarios.

Mega Man Legends got attention for being the first series spinoff to debut on the Playstation, as well as the first Mega Man branded game to make the leap to 3D; not an easy thing for many fans to swallow after no less than seventeen previous games stuck to a 2D format.  It was another spinoff game too, seeming to take place in an entirely separate universe from Mega Man and Mega Man X, which led many to question why they didn't just make a new IP instead. 

Upon starting up the game, you quickly learn that it doesn't follow the Mega Man format very closely at all; there's no Robot Masters to fight, special weapons are assembled from parts and upgraded with money (dropped by defeating enemies) rather than through boss battles, and in true RPG fashion, MegaMan starts off with rather rudimentary equipment that you gradually upgrade over the course of the game; said upgrades are built from parts (including your helmet), purchased or found as the adventure goes on.  Even your basic mega Buster is pretty weak at first, gradually being upgraded with parts that improve its specs - Attack, Energy, Range and Rapid - which fit into two slots (later upgraded to three). 

Another thing you notice immediately is the very awkward control setup the game uses.  As it was built for the original Playstation before analog controls became standard, it uses a similar awkward "Tank Control" setup to the Resident Evil games - you turn left and right via the shoulder buttons, move forward and back with Up and Down on the D-Pad, and can sidestep via Left and Right.  Fortunately, this can be made slightly less awkward via the Options Menu, which allows you to sidestep via the shoulder buttons and rotate via the D-Pad, but it still feels a bit off, especially if (like me) you played Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 beforehand.  Aiming is similarly awkward; like OOT you can lock on to your enemies, but bafflingly you cannot move while locked on at all, which leaves you very vulnerable to attack.  Fortunately your shots will automatically hone in on enemies that are centered on the screen even as you side-strafe, so there is little reason to use the lock-on save to occasionally hit an enemy above or below you.  Because of the digital controls, jumping is awkward too - you basically jump straight up or forward a fixed distance with no in-between.  Thankfully there isn't a lot of precise platforming in the game, but it is annoying when that comes up.

Where the game does shine, though, is in its presentation.  The game goes for an anime-esque presentation with colorful visuals, a striking style of design and characters that manage to be surprisingly distinct and expressive despite the low-poly aesthetic.  While there are no pre-rendered FMVs, there are quite a lot of cutscenes with full voiceover (which is surprisingly good for the time) and even some solid motion-captured animation for all the characters in them.  The Bonnes - recurring antagonists with an antihero bent - are easily the show-stealers, with some downright hilarious scenes and great acting every time they're onscreen - they even got their own spinoff game later with "The Misadventures of Tron Bonne", and Tron also appeared as a playable character in two of the Marvel VS Capcom games, so I'm definitely not the only one who thought so.  Even the music is quite nice - while nothing amazing, it's fitting, distinctive and catchy, though oddly most dungeons don't have it and simply utilize ambient noise instead. Basically, it feels like a good late '90s anime in video game form, so that keeps you playing through the gameplay frustrations.

There are quite a few of said frustrations throughout to be sure.  There are some pretty abrupt leaps in difficulty even early on - you go from a pretty easy starter dungeon straight into three consecutive missions topped off with boss battles, which is a pretty awkward way to start off any game, let alone one where you've had little chance to learn the mechanics and upgrade your character yet.  Normal enemies take similar leaps too - you go straight from weakling bots that die in only a few shots to gigantic monstrosities that take dozens of hits and will constantly knock you around, all requiring that you defeat them through long periods of circle-strafing or heavy subweapon fire.  Weapon upgrades can also be extremely expensive, requiring you to grind money for long periods of time to afford them.  There is also at least one instance where you can save in a place before another series of difficult boss battles, potentially making the game unwinnable if you don't have the parts on hand to defeat all three of them back-to-back.

Mega Man Legends is a relatively short game, clocking in at about eight to ten hours for a first playthrough - slightly more if you make a point of doing all the side content and minigames.  There is a fair amount of things to do not strictly related to the main quest - numerous characters will give out side missions and rewards once you complete them, and though there are not many dungeons in the game, each has quite a bit of hidden treasure to find, both in chests and hidden in various holes in the walls (which can be a bit hard to spot at first, as they don't look much different from the normal wall textures).  Minigames include a TV game show where you burst balloons, kick balls at targets or maneuver through obstacle courses with your rollerskates, and there are two difficulties to unlock after you finish the game; strangely, you're required to beat the game on Hard mode to unlock Easy mode.

All in all, Mega Man's leap to 3D isn't the smoothest, but far from the worst I've seen (and still leagues better than Mega Man X7 on the Playstation 2 - a game I've gone on record as saying is worse than the infamous DOS Mega Man games).  Its gameplay is rather awkward, clunky and weirdly balanced and the overall short length a bit offputting, but the strong presentation, captivating characters, interesting (and surprisingly detailed) setting and quite a lot of customizable weapons and pieces of gear make it a standout title regardless.  It's one I would love to see get a remake with some extra content and quality of life improvements, but as Capcom only seems to care about Monster Hunter, Street Fighter and Resident Evil these days, it seems increasingly unlikely to happen with each passing day.  Still, if you can find a copy, Mega Man Legends is worth a look as a flawed, but charming and quirky new spin for a fan-favorite franchise.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Playstation 1, Nintendo 64, PC, Playstation Portable
Released: 1998, 2001, 2005, 2015
Recommended Version: The Nintendo 64 port (released as "Mega Man 64" per the platform's naming trend) offers surprisingly little improvement over the original PS1 version; while it does look a bit sharper owing to having antialiasing and less polygon clipping, it suffers from a worse draw distance, choppier framerate and significantly lower audio quality, though it does surprisingly retain all of the voiceover from the PS1 release.  The analog stick isn't utilized well either; you still move and turn "tank control" style with it, which is pretty awkward.  There is also a PC version which runs a bit smoother and at a higher resolution, though it has some problems of its own - it's a straight port of the PS1 game, even retaining the same (redundant) messages about needing memory cards to save.  It also lacks many of the lighting effects of the original and the music doesn't loop properly (it's just stored as low-quality .wav files on the disc, which does at least make it upgradable or even replaceable).  Grab the PS1 version if you can; it's available both physically and as a digital download on the PS3/Vita store.  The PSP version is also worth a look (and bundled with 2 on the same UMD), though it's only available in Japanese.

Breath of Fire IV

The fourth Breath of Fire game and the second on the Playstation 1 was released at a time when the platform was being largely phased out in favor of its successor and thus it went largely ignored by critics and audiences.  But does Breath of Fire IV prove to be a worthy RPG despite its low-key release, or is this just a lackluster last hurrah for the series on the Playstation 1?

Breath of Fire III is probably the most successful and talked-about entry in Capcom's RPG franchise, but I personally didn't enjoy it all that much.  While it did have some great and interesting elements to it, the dragging story pace and arduous combat and minigames, paired with a general lack of balance in the gameplay, made it a game that felt more like a slog than a compelling RPG experience.  Because of that, it was a long time before I really gave Breath of Fire IV much of a chance, especially as it was said to borrow many of 3's design cues.

That much is true, at least; much of the design philosophy here is taken straight from 3, though thankfully given significantly more polish.  Learning skills from enemies returns here, though the luck element is drastically toned down and it doesn't require a separate command to "watch" them for a chance to learn it; using Defend gets the job done now.  The Master system returns too, letting the player shape characters' stats and learn new skills by apprenticing them to Masters throughout the world, but has also seen improvement - skills learned are no longer dependent on just levels, but have other conditions too, tying into mechanics like the combo system, having enough play time racked up on the clock, fighting enough battles or even having enough fishing points.  Basically, they reward you for playing the game, not just stopping everything to grind out more battles; that alone is a major improvement over 3.

The overall design of the game has been much refined too; evident right away in the presentation and cinematography.  Right from the word go, Breath of Fire IV opts for a more movie-like feel with dynamic camera angles and staging and a greater focus on characterization and worldbuilding while relying far less on corny humor.   The pacing is vastly improved, with dungeons feeling focused and loading being virtually unnoticeable, especially in combat.  Minigames are well-integrated into the narrative, and while still not amazing, are fun little diversions rather than irritating chores standing in your path.  Most mundane NPCs in the game have portraits in dialog, which is quite a nice touch, and the solid animation of 3 is even better here, with fluidly-animated sprites and a surprisingly good framerate in the thick of battle (though you can hit occasional slowdown while wandering towns and dungeons).  Even the movement is tighter now - you still move on a set graph and it uses the same isometric style, but I didn't find myself struggling to position myself in front of a switch or sign nearly as much.  Hell, you even have the option to offset D-pad presses to move in diagonal directions if you wish, which is very nice (though I didn't end up using this).  Even the fishing minigame has seen some upgrades, adding some free-roaming around the fishing spots to find the best places and even letting you reel fish in easier by timing button presses to the drums in the music.  Hell, if you happen to own a Playstation 1 fishing controller, it is fully supported by Breath of Fire IV, showing that they really did go the extra mile in every way they could.

Town and dungeon design is much tighter this time too, with small, focused maps instead of huge sprawling ones, and nearly all the dungeons being built around puzzles rather than static, empty corridors full of monsters.  They went slightly overboard with the "packed-in" feel, though, as the halls and corridors you traverse are very narrow and, paired with the isometric perspective, you'll have to frequently rotate the camera to see where you are and where you have to go.  They did attempt to offset this somewhat with Nina's action command, though - she floats up into the air and looks down on the area from above, which can help you get your bearings at times.

Of course, they do add some new twists onto the game too.  Combat has been overhauled substantially - not just in pacing, but mechanically too.  You get a party of six with a maximum of three active in combat at a time, but all of them are with you at a time - no exiting to the map to swap characters when the plot dictates.  One can even switch characters in and out of the active party mid-fight, with those on the sidelines slowly regenerating AP each turn, and while they're sitting out they're also burning turns of status effect duration; quite handy as you can imagine.  Switching characters to deal with particular foes is important too, as each character now has an elemental affinity - they're usually given spells of that element to cast, take less damage from it and more from an opposing element.  Characters don't ever really become obsolete, either; unlike 3, attack magic isn't rendered useless by poor scaling, and particularly powerful skills (like Ryu's dragon morphs) are toned down considerably here.

Another major factor in combat is the new combo system.  Essentially, what this does is let the player chain together skills and spells to not just deal more damage (growing higher as the combo count rises), but to create entirely new attacks.  Elemental spells, cast in proper order (Fire -> Wind -> Water -> Earth -> Fire) will create bigger and more powerful attacks, and some other, less conventional options exist, like combining a healing spell with a fire-element attack to create one heavily damaging to undead enemies.  Even status-inflicting abilities play into this; useless in most RPGs, here they score two hits - one dealing light damage and the other having a chance to inflict the effect.  The latter hit can also combo with other attacks, giving them another chance to inflict that status on top of their normal effect.  There are a ton of possibilities with this new element, which makes combat more engaging than in any prior BoF game - every time you get a new skill you'll find yourself experimenting with it, seeing what you can combo it together with and trying to work towards the damage and combo chain goals that some Masters require.  A big achilles heel of older RPGs is the stale, repetitious combat, but Breath of Fire finally crawled out of that hole with IV and made battles something I looked forward to rather than started to groan at.

Breath of Fire IV doesn't break a lot of new ground; in fact, in terms of overall design it's remarkably similar to 3.  However, it also stands as proof that polish can make all the difference between an arduous RPG experience and a solid game.  The cinematography, dungeon designs, pacing and writing are all a massive improvement on 3's, creating a compelling and epic adventure that plays great to boot.  The game looks gorgeous, with visuals that manage to hold their own against even the almighty Square even with the much smaller budget; beautifully realized and expressive character designs, smooth combat animations, and creative, sharply rendered environments and visual effects. The music, as in any good RPG, carries the mood perfectly, creating an experience that's often grim and depressing, but also very compelling.  Breath of Fire IV is easily the most impressive BoF on a technical level and in terms of storytelling, and is certainly worth a look for any serious fan of RPGs.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Playstation 1, PlayStation Network, PC
Released: 2001
Recommended Version:  The PSN version is a direct port of the PS1.  There is also a native PC port, but as far as I can tell it was never released in North America; only Europe, Australia and Japan.  As of 2025 you can also download it off GOG.

Breath of Fire III

After two low-key cult classics on the SNES, Breath of Fire, like many other Capcom franchises, made the jump to the Playstation platform in 1998.  But does it provide enough of the series' unique charm to help it stand out in a sea of other huge RPG names, or does it just get pushed into the background and forgotten once again?

Breath of Fire as a series has always had a dedicated following for its traditional yet imaginative design, but unfortunately that never really translated into raw sales.  Developers for the series have even gone on record as saying that while they enjoyed making the games and they've almost always gotten a positive reception, they've also never really been profitable for Capcom; hence why the franchise has been virtually unheard of since the turn of the millennium.  Probably the closest it ever came to mainstream success was in the Playstation era, where it was among many RPGs to ride the genre's newfound wave of popularity kickstarted by Final Fantasy VII.

Sure enough, Breath of Fire III's first outing on the system really strove to set itself apart from its 16-bit counterparts in a number of ways.  While still set in the same world as the first two games and retaining many of its key themes, the game saw a definite visual upgrade, utilizing an isometric perspective with 2D sprites on 3D-rendered backgrounds, and quite a lot of animations for each of its characters - Ryu in particular has a nice touch in that he gradually grows more confident over the course of the adventure, starting with a weak failing sword swing and gradually moving his way up to becoming a real swordsman after some story beats.   Surprisingly, it also did not utilize a separate "combat screen", instead having the map screen shift slightly with all of the players' characters and enemies becoming visible on the map itself, making the game feel a bit more realistic and immersive.  It did of course play a bit more slowly than the first two games, with noticeable loading times for many special moves and transitions to and from combat, as well as a frequent encounter rate in general; not the worst example of such in this era of gaming, but it definitely feels slower than many other RPGs on the platform.

Breath of Fire always sold itself on having a distinct and memorable cast of characters and abilities thereof, and 3 certainly is no different there.  Each character has their own ability that are used in various puzzles and opening hidden paths.  Rei can pick open locks, for example, while Garr, being by far the largest character, can push heavy objects the others cannot.  Each also plays very differently in combat, getting a variety of spells and vastly different stats; for example, Momo has a powerful bazooka weapon, but it tends to miss a lot, so equipping her with items to boost her accuracy is generally a good idea.  Rei is speedy but not particularly strong, while Ryu is a well-balanced character physically but has relatively low MP.  Throughout the game, one can offset many of these weaknesses (or accent a character's strengths) by training under a Master.  Masters are found throughout the game and will influence your characters' stats as they level up, and can even grant some extra abilities they wouldn't learn normally; using them wisely throughout your journey is key to success, especially early on.

Another interesting addition are "Skills".  Essentially, these work like blue magic or Enemy Skills in the Final Fantasy series, allowing you to learn moves when you're hit by them while using the Defend command.  Also like blue magic, many of these skills are built on specific stipulations like dealing more damage to specific enemy types or having extra effects based on the user's stats (such as having damage based on the Agility stat, rather than Strength).  A lot of these end up being surprisingly useful, so it's worth it to feel out what new enemy types can do (and take the occasional turn to defend so that you can attempt to learn their skills for yourself) rather than mindlessly blasting through everything in your path.

Another iconic element of the series - Ryu's dragon morphs - returns as well, and like many other things in the game, it has seen a substantial overhaul and puts emphasis on player customization (perhaps an apology for the very watered-down version from Breath of Fire 2).  Throughout the game, one will find a plethora of "Dragon Genes".   Up to three of these can be mixed and matched when the Morph command is used, and the result will be a dragon with the properties of all three.  Some affect stats, generally raising some while lowering others, while some change the dragon's elemental property to one of the five elements in the game (Fire, Ice, Electricity, Shadow, Light).  Certain combinations will also unlock larger and more powerful forms that get big-time stat multipliers, so it's well worth it to experiment with combinations of genes throughout the game.  Interestingly, one gene in particular (the Fusion gene) even retains some elements of the Fusion mechanic from the first Breath of Fire, allowing Ryu to combine with one or more party members to create a powerful new hybrid form.  This definitely ends up being one of the game's most interesting mechanics due to the sheer number of forms you can create, and as mentioned, it's a massive improvement over the first game and especially the second's dragon mechanics.

Of course, Breath of Fire III also doesn't skimp on side-content.  A small management sim exists in the game in the form the Faerie Village, where the player can assign tasks to faeries in order to influence the growth of their town, unlocking benefits like shops that stock rare items, minigames and a sound test.  Fishing returns as well, letting the player catch fish that have a number of different effects, as well as tracking the largest of any given type they've caught.  Saving outside of towns is now possible too via the "Camp" option, which opens up a screen allowing the player to interact with party members and rest at their leisure.

The game does have some glaring weaknesses, though.  The soundtrack is one; it's not painful to listen to by any means, but it feels bizarrely out of place - less like something you'd hear in an epic world-spanning fantasy RPG and more like something out of a Windows 95 desktop game.  The whole time I played my mind went racing back to various casino/card games I played on my PC in the '90s, and a few tracks in particular sound like they'd be more at home in a casual "software toy" game like Simcity or SimAnt.  A definite contrast to the first two, especially the hard-rock sound that Breath of Fire II brought to the table.  Still, it doesn't ever ruin the mood, so I can't say it's a serious flaw - just a very bizarre choice.

More serious problems fall on the game's overall pacing and generally asinine design elements.  The game feels oddly restrictive at times, roping you from one locale to the next with no real opportunity to break away and explore freely - not really a good thing with the aforementioned Master system and you wanting to maximize your characters' abilities.  Dungeons get very tedious before long owing to the frequent encounter rate and significant loading associated with attack animations.  You're also presented with a lot of instances of just having to stop and talk to everyone and search everything before you're allowed to progress, and even then, if you don't have the right character in your party you may not be able to - you'll have to exit town, swap them in, then come back to advance.  Minigames - none particularly fun other than fishing - also pervade the experience and are often necessary to progress, with two in particular being especially annoying - having to time a button press to the exact moment a meter peaks (slightly off and you waste an item; run out and you have to go back to town to buy more) and a particularly irritating rope-pulling minigame where you have to mash a button when prompted and stop exactly when told; one mistake on your part (or your computer controlled partner's part) and you get to restart the whole thing.  They clearly wanted to take a page from Final Fantasy VII here, and while FF7's minigames generally weren't amazing, they at least weren't aggravating to endure like these.

Breath of Fire III was the game that put the series on the map for most fans, and I can certainly see why.  It brought the franchise into a new console generation in style, keeping its interesting mechanics, characters and overall setting intact while taking advantage of the extra CD space to provide a good-looking game with some innovative elements.  Being able to customize one's party via Masters, Skill learning and a huge pool of Dragon morphs are pretty cool innovations, while its story and a plethora of hidden secrets and optional content keep die-hard players coming back for more.  It was one of many RPG franchises playing second fiddle to the juggernaut that was Square, but that didn't stop Breath of Fire III from doing its best to stand out.  Or being the only game in the series to get a port to the PSP platform years later.  It's got some uneven difficulty and pacing problems and its overall slower, more methodical design makes it feel a bit more dated than most prominent PS1 RPGs, but an interesting piece of history nonetheless; worth a look if you can track it down.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom, Infogrames
Platform: Playstation 1, Playstation Portable, PSN
Released: 1998, 2006, 2016
Recommended Version: Both the PS1 and PSP versions seem to be more or less the same, though the latter is presented in a wider aspect ratio and has slightly tuned up visuals to match the more powerful hardware of the platform, though the tradeoff is slightly longer load times.  The PSP version also seems to have slightly higher odds for luck-based elements (stealing, learning skills, etc), but this may just be luck on my part.  The PSN version is a port of the PSP version.

Sweet Home

Based on a Japanese horror movie, Sweet Home was a unique RPG that also served to establish many key elements of survival horror (and, many years later, would serve as a primary inspiration for Capcom's Resident Evil franchise).  But does Sweet Home still prove to be an enjoyable experience today, or is this just another forgettable take on the horror genre in gaming?

Capcom as a company needs no introduction; if you've played video games at all from the mid-80s to anywhere in the modern day, you've probably played or at least heard of one of their games.  Nowadays they're probably best known for Resident Evil, the series which coined the term "survival horror" and challenges the player to manage limited resources, avoid enemies when possible and make their escape from a dangerous, monster-infested environment full of traps and puzzles.

Years before the franchise debuted on the Playstation, though, Capcom had another prominent cult classic on their hands in Sweet Home, based on a horror film of the same name.  (In fact, Resident Evil actually began its development as a remake of Sweet Home, but as Capcom couldn't secure the licensing rights to the film, they opted to make an original game instead.)  Both games shared many similarities, but while Resident Evil was more action-based, Sweet Home was an RPG with turn-based combat and a team of five characters to control, each of whom had slightly different abilities and a unique item to use in both combat and solving puzzles.

Sweet Home operates somewhat unusually for an RPG in that the party doesn't necessarily have to stay together; in fact, the maximum party size when not in a battle is three, requiring the player to split into at least two groups whilst exploring.  However, one can temporarily have four or all five characters join in on a particular enemy encounter if they are in close proximity when the battle begins (or the other team moves closer to the team currently in combat), which proves to be necessary to defeat some stronger foes.  A bit strange, but it does help to cover ground more quickly, and the fact that one gains levels relatively fast ensures that having a party of only two (or even one) won't put them at too severe a disadvantage.

Many prominent elements of survival horror had their beginnings with Sweet Home; most prominently the emphasis on puzzle solving and the limited supply of healing items available.  Frequently throughout, one will have to utilize each character's particular skill to clear obstacles, or simply find equipment along the way in the form of stronger weapons or objects that can be used to traverse hazards (such as wooden planks used to cross gaps in the floor, which can lead to a fatal drop if one steps over them unaided).  Much of the plot is told through frescoes, hidden notes, journals and the like rather than simply unfolding through in-game dialog, letting the player feel as though they're slowly piecing together a mystery rather than walking through a linear JRPG plot.  Similarly, there is only one type of healing item in the game (Tonic) and relatively few can be found, though it is worth noting that they will fully restore the entire party's HP when used, so one can easily maximize their mileage with them by grouping the entire party together before using one.  Inventory space is very limited, with characters only able to carry their unique item, two extra items and one weapon, so careful management of resources is key.

Sweet Home has some other unusual features, too.  Unlike many RPGs of the time, there is no returning from death - once a character is dead, they're gone for good, which can put the player at a severe disadvantage for the rest of the game.  This isn't as unforgiving as it sounds, though, as the player can save their game at any time and reload if things get too out of hand, which it probably will a few times before the player is familiar with the mansion's layout and the placement of key items.  Also worth noting is the fact that Sweet Home has five different endings, with the one the player gets depending upon how many characters survived; similar to Resident Evil or Silent Hill, this does add a bit of replay value to the game.

Your five characters also contribute much to the proceedings with their unique abilities and items.  Kazuo comes equipped with a lighter (a prominent item in Resident Evil as well) that can be used to burn ropes, light candles to traverse dark rooms, or simply damage enemies.  Akiko comes equipped with a health kit that cures status effects (but does not restore HP), Ryo has a camera that can snap pictures of the various frescoes in the mansion to uncover clues or damage certain enemies.  Asuka the maid comes equipped with a vacuum cleaner, which can vacuum up broken glass or clean dust from frescoes so that Ryo can photograph them (though sadly you never use it to capture ghosts, Luigi's Mansion style), and finally, Emi has a key that can unlock many locked doors, making her extremely useful for acquiring extra items.

As many familiar with the NES era  of gaming knew, Nintendo was notoriously stingy about maintaining their family-friendly image, with a lot of darker and more violent elements of games either being censored or removed outright.  Nintendo of Japan was much more lax in this regard, though, and Sweet Home is a perfect example.  Not only is the game genuinely creepy, with a claustrophobic environment, eerie backing music throughout and very disturbing implications as one uncovers the plot, but it doesn't skimp on the gruesome sights either.  Torture chambers, bloody skeletons, zombies missing half their faces, hallways full of carnivorous worms, and even some shockingly gory death scenes for the main characters are all prominent sights in Sweet Home, adding to the horror of the scenario in surprisingly effective fashion despite the limitations of the platform.

Sweet Home accomplishes what it sets out to do, providing a horror-based movie game experience that not only proves to be surprisingly tense with its limited resources, but genuinely creepy too.  The fragmented plot, emphasis on character teamwork to survive the numerous traps and enemies, and a consistently off-putting atmosphere make the game into an enthralling and memorable experience.  Fans of survival horror should give it a look as a historical curiosity, while fans of RPGs owe it to themselves to check it out as one of the best examples of the genre on the system.  As the latter, it's hard for me to play it and not feel just a little robbed; even if RPGs were a popular genre in the west at the time of the game's release, Nintendo probably wouldn't have let it fly outside of Japan anyway owing to its violent content.

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Famicom
Released: 1989
Recommended version: N/A

Mega Man X: Command Mission

The Mega Man franchise, while primarily an action-based one, took forays into several other genres, from racing games to Zelda-styled adventures to CCG-RPG hybrids to even a kart racer.  Mega Man X Command Mission marks the X series' first foray into the realm of traditional Japanese RPGs; but does this title prove to be a worthy entry to the genre, or is this one spinoff title that should have never been conceived?

The Mega Man series, and the X series in particular, had fallen on pretty hard times in the early 2000s.  Wanting to take the series in a new direction, Keiji Inafune had intended to end the story of X with X5 and pick it up with Mega Man Zero instead.  But Capcom, never one to let a popular franchise fade, simply continued the franchise with no input from him, resulting in two games that deviated from franchise norms in numerous ways.  More importantly, though, they also saw a significant downturn in quality; X6 and X7 are widely regarded as the worst of the series by fans for their deeply flawed gameplay and overall uninspired design.  X8 was much better-received, but the damage was already done by then, resulting in the game getting only a limited release and capping off the X series for good.

In between all of that, however, there was also another X game that isn't as widely talked about.  While not the first Mega Man RPG (that going to the Battle Network spinoff series), Command Mission was the first to utilize a more traditional JRPG style format, rather than trying to work in strategy and collectible card game elements.  To that end, the game features the familiar cast of the X series, as well as four new characters, on a turn-based adventure that works in numerous puzzles, a turn-based combat system and even some mid-combat minigames reminiscent of the Final Fantasy series.

In spite of this, though, the game still retains a Mega Man X flavor relatively well throughout.  Rather than traditional healing items, the player gets a supply of sub-tanks that can be depleted to restore characters' health at any time, and which get small amounts of capacity restored after each battle, resting at an inn, or by hitting certain item crystals on the field.  Each character's Action Trigger ("Limit Break", more or less) is reminiscent of their action game counterparts; X's allows him to do a charged shot that hits all enemies for moderate damage, Zero can string together long combinations of melee attacks for heavy damage similar to Zell's limit break from Final Fantasy 8.  One notable missing feature, though, is that X does not get new weapons each time he defeats a boss; the closest you get to emulating that is with Axl, whose Action Trigger allows him to morph into defeated bosses for a single attack, allowing him to exploit elemental weaknesses more easily than most characters.  Though I do find it amusing that, in the game's final stages, one finds a series of teleporter hatches that lead to rematches with most of the old bosses again, just like most of the mainline games in the series.

In addition to the three protagonists of the main X series, four new protagonists round out Command Mission's cast.  Massimo is the archetypal tank character, having a lot of HP and able to absorb damage, but having only average attack power and a weakness to elemental attacks.  Marino more or less serves as the "thief" character with a high speed rating and the ability to steal items via her Action Trigger.  Spider is a gambler archetype who attacks with cards and utilizes a Poker minigame as his Action Trigger, and Cinnamon is a healer with relatively minimal attacking capabilities, but a powerful Action Trigger that lets her restore a large amount of HP to all allies without having to spend Sub Tanks.  Overall, they do their job well, rounding out a cast that shows a lot of the traditional JRPG archetypes, but without feeling out of place in the Mega Man X universe.

The overall gameplay of the game, however, is very similar to Final Fantasy X, released only a couple years prior.  Combat in  the game utilizes a turn-based system, with the player afforded opportunities to delay their later turns in order to unleash a powerful attack, or inflict certain attacks that can delay an enemy's turn until later in the fight.  Rather than traditional "magic", however, each character makes heavy use of their Action Triggers, governed by an action bar that fills 25% each turn; once it reaches 50% or more, they can then empty it to use their special move, with greater effects being earned the more full the bar is before activation; for example, X's charged shot will do more damage at higher percentages, with a guaranteed critical hit at 100%.  One can also spend a percentage of the action bar to activate "sub weapons", allowing them to do a bit of extra damage alongside their normal attack or activate some extra effects like gaining extra experience or lowering enemy stats temporarily.  These also serve as most characters' primary way to inflict elemental damage on enemies, letting them exploit weaknesses and deal extra damage.  Essentially, much of the combat comes down to managing each character's action bar, with knowing when to use sub-weapons as much a part of the game's strategy as knowing when to utilize one's Action Triggers.

Each character also has a special ability called a "Hyper Mode", which grants them a significant boost in power for a limited number of turns.  For X and Zero, these take the form of the series' traditional Armors and change up their attacks, with X's Action Trigger becoming a much stronger attack that hits only a single target, whilst Zero's is a straight power upgrade.  Others have some more nontraditional effects, with Spider and Axl becoming invisible (and completely invulnerable) for a short period whilst Marino gets a huge speed boost - often enough to take several turns in quick succession.  Two even more powerful forms are available for X and Zero, though as per RPG tradition, these require the player to defeat exceptionally difficult optional bosses to be unlocked.

Mega Man X Command Mission is an overall competent game, though its balance leaves some things to be desired.  For example, I almost never used Massimo; being able to tank damage helps at times, but his relatively low damage output, paired with a weakness to all outputs, severely limits his usefulness.  By contrast, Cinnamon becomes extremely overpowered in the late stages of the game; being able to fully heal the party every three turns or so makes most battles into a joke, as does Zero as a whole - his normal attack, paired with a midgame weapon that hits three times a turn and a sub-weapon he stats the game with, had me doing an absurd amount of damage by the end to the point where I didn't even need his Action Trigger anymore.  Basically, like many of the Final Fantasy games of the era, Command Mission becomes ridiculously unbalanced in its later stages, with a few members of the cast dominating while the rest gradually see less and less use.

A nice facet of Command Mission is that, unlike the two games that preceded it, this one does not skimp on the presentation.  The game is presented in full 3D as X7 was, with nicely detailed environments and bright, cel-shaded character models that actually look quite good on-screen and in animation.  But more importantly, the game features well-done voiceover by a professional cast - a nice change for a series that quickly became infamous for its awful VO (as many Mega Man 8 and X4 meme videos can attest).  Even the music is surprisingly good, keeping the energetic feel of the X series while not going overboard and becoming grating owing to the slower pace of the RPG format.

At the end of the day, Mega Man X Command Mission is an early 2000's RPG, hitting many of the design tropes of games like Final Fantasy X while working in a Mega Man X flavor to the whole thing.  It's by no means an outstanding example of the genre, but it is an overall competent RPG and a surprisingly decent Mega Man X game, particularly for the time in which it came out.  While there are many other games I'd recommend checking out first, this one is still worth a look for X series fans or just those with an interest in lesser-known JRPGs.

Developer: Capcom Production Studio 3
Publisher: Capcom
Platform: Playstation 2, Gamecube
Released: 2004
Recommended Version: Both versions are very similar, though I personally prefer the button layout of the Gamecube version.  Each version does have some exclusive content, however - the Gamecube version utilizes the Game Boy Advance Link Cable as part of a radar function to find hidden items (depicted onscreen in the PS2 port) while the Playstation 2 version has an unlockable demo of Mega Man X8 instead.  Experience penalties for taking too many turns to win a boss battle also seem to occur much more quickly on the Gamecube port for some reason.