In the mid-’90s, the video game industry was in a great state of change. Arcades were giving way to the home consoles, in part because of new systems like Sony’s PlayStation and Sega’s Saturn, and the PC gaming was pushing technology to new levels that didn’t require a pocket full of quarters to enjoy.
In the last few years of the arcade heyday, developers released some pretty amazing four-player cabinets, designed to suck the quarters of up to four players, and using licensed properties like Aliens vs. Predator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, The Avengers and The X-Men. These games represented the best of the arcade experience.
One of the last titles to hit the arcades was Capcom’s Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and its sequel, Shadow Over Mystara. These games took the four-player beat-’em-up and gave it a truly RPG feel with character class selection, looting, and branching stories that offered divergent paths voted on by the players. In short, it was a veritable D&D adventure, being played a quarter at a time in a noisy arcade. And it was wonderful.
Now, Capcom has wrapped the two games up into one and released Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, MS Windows via Steam, and even the Nintendo eShop for Wii U. The result is an incredible throwback to a games — and genre — that pushed boundaries and paved the path for many great console games in the years following the fall of the arcade.
Chronicles of Mystara is a true adventure game. The player chooses one of six classes (fighter, dwarf, elf, cleric, thief, and magic user) each with multiple costume sets, and embarks on a mission (or series of missions) in grand D&D styling. After a certain point, the character can even be named and can even level up, which adds to the feel of a good RPG.
Mystara begins to resemble other beat-’em-ups when swarms of enemies fill the screen. Luckily, each character has an attack, a secondary attack (including powerful spells), and the item wheel that can be accessed on the fly for powerful artifacts and items — such as oil bombs — to eradicate all foes.
As the story progresses (and the story is very D&D with its tone and terminology), players choose which direction to go at branch points, like a classic “choose your own adventure” tale. Some paths offer an ease in the story with little reward, and other will punish you, but reward you plenty. To top it all off, there are multiple endings for each character class. This gives Chronicles of Mystara an incredible level of replayability.
The graphics are decidedly 1990s arcade, but that’s a good thing. The pixels and sprites pop off the screen as if they were being played on a cabinet in a dark, loud, and sometimes-smoky arcade. Some of the spells are intense and their destruction illuminates the screen in ways that those of us weaned on these types of brawlers crave.
Chronicles of Mystara integrates with whichever system you play it on, so it has ample Trophy and Achievement support, and online leaderboards. The game also keeps track of progress, like how many times you use your bow and arrow and offers rewards for achieving certain numbers. There are also possibilities for further additions with DLC and other online components. Unfortunately, the ability to play with others online is notably missing.
The one bad spot is that Chronicles of Mystara allows for unlimited continues. In the arcade, where death was rampant and each passing cost $0.25, unlimited continues was a blessing. Here, where the purchase price is the only upfront cost to play, the ability to constantly continue is good to unlock the story and the endings, but really cheapens the challenge. I have asked myself if I would say this same thing if Capcom had included a max limit of continues per game, and honestly, I can’t answer that. I just wish that maybe, the option to select which version to play would be included in the options. It’s something small, and those who don’t remember playing these types of games in the arcades may not be affected. Time will tell.
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is a perfect reproduction and throwback to a time when arcades ruled the video game world and consoles were pale comparisons. Capcom has painstakingly recreated a grand, epic adventure, and fans of D&D, brawlers, RPGs, and video games in general will find something incredible here. For a good time, grab three buddies and experience the adventure. You won’t be sorry.
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara was reviewed on Xbox 360 via a code provided by Capcom for this review. It was released on June 19, 2013.
