09/01/2013 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

An Arcade Game That Should've Stayed In History

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara are two games that were originally released in 1994 and 1996 as arcade games. Without much memory of these games, I can only imagine these were unique in the arcade as being one of the very few beat 'em ups with that took place in a fantasy setting, and were considered RPGs. These games were most likely tailored to a distinct niche of players and created a lot of nostalgia.

Presentation:
Chronicles of Mystara is a set of two old arcade games with updated HD graphics. The graphics are updated satisfactory for a beat 'em up game, but the screen size was not updated to HD widescreen, and fancy borders were added to jury-rig it to work on modern day TVs. More effort could have been made to make this game work better, especially for multi-playe...

Rating of
2/5 

07/28/2013 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

Bringing the Arcade Home isn’t Always a Good Idea

I’ve never been much of an arcade gamer. Back in the day, my parents convinced me that arcades were a complete waste of money. Why would I want to play a game machine that demanded money for each play instead of playing a game machine that made each game a one-time purchase for as much play time as I could stand? Despite their complete lack of technological understanding, this little nugget of wisdom managed to be spot on, and has stuck with me to this very day. Yet I still have a special place in my heart for the two old Capcom arcade games included in the “Chronicles of Mystara” bundle. While I never actually played “Tower of Doom” (due to it being a Japan-only game), “Shadow Over Mystara” was the first – and only – arcade game I played to completion, thanks in large p...

Rating of
3/5 

07/28/2013 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

Oldschool With a New Twist

This pair of games were long available only at the local arcade or for the die hard fans, the SEGA Saturn. The duo are a pair of side-scrolling beat 'em up games with some RPG elements thrown in as well as a number of items, spells and enemies that will be familiar to those who have dabbled in Dungeons & Dragons. The fact these games were even released proves that sometimes you can take something old and make it new again - and this could be a viable options going forward. While it suffers from some issues, the updated features make it a more than worthy experience.

Presentation: These games were originally released in 1994 and 1996 so there is only so much you can do to update the graphics. Yet the designers did manage to do their best and, when properly configured, it actually doesn'...

Rating of
3.5/5