Dungeons and Dragons Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara (Arcade)

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Zack Burner
Posts: 1209
Joined: May 3rd, 2019, 6:01 pm

Dungeons and Dragons Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara (Arcade)

Postby Zack Burner » January 19th, 2020, 8:50 am

*inserts coin*
"Welcome to the D&D world!"

That's right, it's back to the arcades with a review of not one but two games simultaenously! Based on the famous Dungeons and Dragons board game series, in these two you and up to 4 people cooperatively play to combat the forces of evil. Both hold up well, but only one can stand tall. I'll start with the 1st.

Tower of Doom, released in 1993 gives you the option of playing the following characters:
Fighter - all arounder
Elf - weak defense, but fast and uses magic
Cleric - High defense, but poor offense, uses healing magic, can't use sharp weapons
Dwarf - powerful and resilient, but slow moving

The gameplay is standard beat em up fare with attack and jump but also a special button for items, and spells and another to cycle through all that based on what you obtain. You'll have to pick up some gold and other items for experience and buy items at shops. On some occasions you can pick up magic rings that have spells and even better is you don't have to be one of the spell casters to use it. Every time you play you have the option to pick a route of your choice which has different results, but won't affect the ending. You'll face different enemies of all different kinds from minor foes such as kobolds, owlbears, ghouls, hellhounds, troglodytes, krolls, and more. The bosses range from ogres, trolls, manticores, displacer beasts, and a few dragons (one is mandatory the other is optional, not recommended for inexperienced players). The graphics are good and well animated and the music is well orchestrated. The voice acting is bad, but that is to be expected.

Now for the 2nd game, plays just like the first, expect you now have two new characters:
Spellcaster - bad on offense, but casts a very wide range of spells
Thief - fast, but weak, though can detect traps

Adding on the this one is the ability to upgrade weapons including obtaining items to help upgrade. In order to get the best results you'd have to battle the dragon Flamewing (not recommended for inexperienced players) and he'll drop a dragon horn which will enable you to build up an anti-dragon sword for the final boss Synn who also appears as a dragon in battle. there are more enemies as well in addition to the alternate routes. Both of these games are well worth your time.

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