

Legend of Makai is an action/adventure platformer based in a fantasy setting. The player controls a young warrior whose quest is to rescue a princess from an evil wizard. The warrior starts off with only a sword, but can purchase other weapons and magical items from shops. The gameplay consists finding one's way through non-linear levels, using keys to open doors and killing or avoiding various enemies. The player has a fixed amount of time to complete each level.

Platform / Puzzle / Role-playing (RPG) / Action / Fantasy
Sorcerian is a side-scrolling action-RPG. The player can create up to ten characters, from whom up to four members can be present in a party at the same time. Each character is highly customizable, with four different classes/races (fighter, wizard, elf, and dwarf) and over 60 possible jobs/occupations (ranging from clown to exorcist) available for them to perform; each has its own strengths and weaknesses, affecting the seven primary attributes (strength, intelligence, protection, magic resistance, vitality, dexterity, and karma) in different ways, as well as different equipment limitations. The player can choose from fifteen different scenarios, or quests, to play through in the order of their choice. The party must battle enemies and perform tasks within the given levels to clear each scenario, before moving onto another scenario of their choice. The player controls the entire party at the same time, with all four members running in a line, jumping in sequence, and attacking in unison. The party members follow behind in a manner similar to the Options in the arcade shooter Gradius (1985). Sorcerian also employs class-based puzzles, such as using a high-strength character to force open doors. All the characters have a default starting age of 16. Each time a player begins a new scenario, a year passes by, while additional time passes by in towns as a character goes through training or enchants items. The characters age at different rates depending on their race, with humans reaching old age at 60, dwarves at 100, and elves at 200. Upon reaching old age, for every year that passes, a character can die permanently at a random time. There is also an “Advance Time” to speed up the flow of time. Another new feature of Sorcerian was its episodic format that extended across various expansion packs. Besides the default fifteen scenarios that come with the game, there were a number of additional scenario packs released. The aging system was created with the additional scenario packs in mind.

Platform / Puzzle / Role-playing (RPG) / Action / Fantasy
In Legend of Xanadu, the player controls a young adventurer named Areios. Monsters attack his homeland, and he is forced to flee. After traveling by ship and arriving at the town Bolda, Areios finds out that strange things have been happening in the North Cave near the town. His first mission will be to venture to the North Cave and investigate the matter. Of course, soon Areios finds himself involved in a battle against sinister forces, and commences the longest and most dangerous adventure of his life! The game is an action RPG set in the Dragon Slayer universe, with a gameplay style similar to Falcom's other popular series, Ys. Controlling Areios, the player explores the top-down world, visiting towns and fighting monsters in vast outdoor areas and dungeons. Like in Ys series, it is sufficient to "bump" into a monster in order to inflict damage. Areios gains hit points and becomes stronger by sustaining damage from enemies and resting. His weapons and armor can gain experience and level up. In many areas, companions will join Areios and help him in combat, controlled by the computer AI. The game is divided into chapters; the final stage of each chapter is a side-scrolling/platform level, which Areios has to navigate in order to reach the boss enemy, defeat him, and end the chapter. In such stages, the combat turns into a more familiar action-oriented style, with the player being required to press buttons in time in order to execute attacks and jump. There is a day/night cycle in the game, manifested not only in graphical changes, but also in the schedules of townspeople: when it's dark, people will return to their homes and go to sleep, etc.

Platform / Role-playing (RPG) / Hack and slash/Beat 'em up / Action / Fantasy
An open-world action-adventure game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that features a barbarian warrior with a distinctive "diskarmor" weapon. It is distinct from the original 1986 Arcade game Rygar, which saw numerous home console ports.

Platform / Arcade / Action / Fantasy
Arabian is a rarity for Atari's arcade efforts -- a climber/platform game -- in which players lead a wanna-be Arabian Knight through various locales kicking monsters and birds out of the way before they touch him and cost the player a life. The action begins aboard a ship at sea, and later to an island and then a castle. Urns with letters on them are peppered around the screen and must be touched in the correct order to spell "ARABIAN" for bonus points -- but beware of a huge genie that occasionally pops out of an urn to grab any adventurers within his grasp. The player's man can scale ladders and ropes, hang overhead from horizontal ropes, and hop from flying carpet to flying carpet (similar to Frogger's river logs) to navigate each level.

Platform / Adventure / Arcade / Action / Science fiction
Exile is a single-player action-adventure video game originally published for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro in 1988 by Superior Software and later ported to the Commodore 64, Amiga, CD32 and Atari ST, all published by Audiogenic. Exile's game physics engine qualifies it to be the first game to have a complete Newtonian motion model. At the time of its release it was considered to push the boundaries of what was possible on home computers, particularly on the 8-bit platforms. It remains probably the most complex game available for the BBC Micro. The game was designed and programmed by Peter Irvin (author of Starship Command, a space shoot-em-up with an innovative control system) and Jeremy Smith (author of Thrust, a game based on cave exploration with a simpler physics model).

Platform / Indie / Arcade / Action / Fantasy
Enter the Demon Fortress. Built to torture pesky adventurers, this place is home to great treasure and ghastly creatures alike. But don't worry, you can count on allies like Fairies and Magical Seagulls to come to your help! Micro Mages is an homage to NES-era platformers. Being a homebrew NES game itself, it was made completely from scratch. We carefully distilled the spirit of the best games in the system's library, all the while drawing inspiration from the modern and putting our own spin on things, creating an experience like no other on the NES.