Xak: The Art of Visual Stage1989

Having been awoken from his eternal slumber by the reappearance of Castlevania, Alucard must once again face the evil minions of darkness. Use your vampiric powers, along with weapons, potions, and other magical relics to change the tide of battle. A mixture of platform and role-playing action with many hidden areas and secrets. Can you discover them all?

Magic of Scheherazade is a mixture of action- and turn-based combat RPG styles. Wandering through Arabia, you'll encounter enemies whom you'll fight in real time, using various weapons. You'll also be attacked by enemies with whom you'll engage in strategic, party-vs.-party combat. You can choose from three character classes: Fighter, Saint, and Magician. Each class has its own special abilities that you'll use in battles as well as during your exploration of the game world.

Ratok, a descendant of the Duel bloodline, receives a distress message from Farland Castle... For the longest time, the world has been split into three, fairy, demon, and human, mainly for the purposes of having the demons sealed off... Yet somehow, the demons have found a way to enter the human world to launch an invasion. One by one, the human world's kingdoms fall to an unforgiving reign of terror. Ratok is informed of the situation by a dying man's last breath after Farland Kingdom fell, its king slaughtered mercilessly. Thus begins Ratok's journey to prevent the demons from realizing their dreams of conquest... Journey with Ratok, as he quests with his legendary Xak Sword to repel the demon invasion, make plenty of interesting and humorous allies/friends along the way, and discover his true identity as well as that of his father's (whose gone missing for quite some time)...

An early first-person role-playing shooter released by Arysis Software for the PC-88 and PC-98 in 1988, and later ported to the Sharp X68000 and Mega Drive/Genesis. Ahead of its time, it had 3D polygon graphics, FPS gameplay, strafing controls, open-world space exploration, and an epic sci-fi space opera plot.

Diablo is an isometric strategy RPG and one of the most well-known examples of the action-RPG subgenre. Although some of the game mechanics resemble a typical RPG, all actions are done in real-time just like in an action game. The player have to kill hordes of monsters through randomized dungeon levels in order to gain experience points, gold and a variety of equipment to bolster the hero's monster-killing potency.

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.

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.

The year is 2035 and Soma Cruz is about to witness the first solar eclipse of the 21st century when he suddenly blacks out -- only to awaken inside a mysterious castle. As Soma, you must navigate the castle's labyrinths while confronting perilous monsters at every turn. But beware, you must escape before the evil consumes you!