What is the 'founder of Action RPG' that game otaku could not find on the net?



Samuel Messner, a game-loving engineer who visited

BEEP Akihabara, which sells and sells arcade boards, housings, retro PCs, various game goods, etc., knows the existence of a game that can be said to be the ``founder of action RPG'' The details are published on Medium , an electronic publishing platform.

The Secret Origin of the Action RPG | by Samuel Messner | Medium
https://medium.com/@obskyr/the-secret-origin-of-the-action-rpg-254a180079dd

'Very old-fashioned action RPGs, such as Ys, the Legend of the Holy Swords, and the Legend of Zelda, are intimately intertwined with the history of video games, but they are also the 'true founders' of popular action RPGs.' I didn't expect to find out about the existence of Akihabara underground in Tokyo,' says Messner.



The reason why Messner visited BEEP Akihabara was that he had reached the limit of what English sources could tell about Japanese games that were unknown in the West due to language barriers. When I asked the clerk if he had a book about the history of PC games, the clerk said, 'I'm not familiar, but I ask him because the '

PC-8800 series pro' will come back from the break in about 30 minutes. I want you to do it'. Messner waited for a while until the salesclerk Terry, who was a 'PC-8800 series professional', returned, as the salesclerk advised.

'When Terry returned, I found out that he was a walking encyclopedia, not just a professional, and a very knowledgeable person. I told Terry, 'Tell me some recommended books. He kindly enthusiastically discussed the genealogy and evolution of Japanese PC games. I learned a lot about the history of video games,' recalls Messner.

In the history of games that Terry talked about, Messner was most interested in the beginning of the action RPG in Japan with the PC-8801'Dragon Slayer ' of Falcom Japan and T & E SOFT's `` Hydride ''. It was a story that couldn't be talked about without the three Cosmos Computer's ' Kaleijiasperseus '.



Also, according to Terry, although there is no published source, 'Dragon Slayer' is greatly influenced by the arcade game '

Pengo ' that appeared in 1982. In addition, Mr. Terry said, 'Dragon Slayer is based on the Apple II game 'The Caverns of Freitag',' he said. You can understand what kind of game Dragon Slayer is by watching the following video.

[PC-88] Dragon Slayer (1984) (Nihon Falcom)-YouTube


'Terry just started googled on his cellphone to show me a video of The Caverns of Freitag. While he was investigating, I too, both Dragon Slayer and The Caverns, in both Japanese and English. I tried to find out if there was any information showing the relationship with Freitag, but I was surprised to find no information that connects the two games. My heart was throbbing. The relationship between the two games was It wasn't written in any article on the English internet, and barely mentioned in Japanese, it was part of a history that was really unknown to people,' Messner was very excited about. pattern.

Messner, who has high expectations, has given Terry some solid information to show that The Caverns of Freitag has influenced Dragon Slayer. One proof was that what Mr. Yoshio Kiya, who was the creator of ' Xanadu, ' ' Sorcerian, ' and 'The Legend of Heroes,' said on Twitter.



The Caverns of Freitag is a title developed for the Apple II in the United States in 1982 by David Shapiro who is the center of the Ultima series development, defeating monsters in a grid-based maze, collecting items, It is a game that also has experience points and elements for leveling up.



The Caverns of Freitag is not well known in Europe and America, and Messner did not know until he was introduced to Terry. Mr. Terry showed Messner the following video, and Messner who saw the video said that the impression was ``A video that is clear like a refreshing spring morning and looks and technology reminiscent of Dragon Slayer. I doubted my eyes.'

Caverns of Freitag for the Apple II-YouTube


'Dragon Slayer laid the foundation of Action RPG, but the name of an unknown title that had been almost forgotten in Europe and America had its roots... but I was not convinced. There was still the question, “Why did such an unknown work come to Japan?” I don't think such a minor game would cross the sea, let alone an English game,” says Messner on Twitter. I asked a question directly to Mr. Kiya.



Mr. Kiya responded as follows. The fact that Japan Falcom was doing business as an Apple authorized agency in the 1980s seemed to have triggered the encounter between Mr. Kiya and The Caverns of Freitag.



'Japan Falcom was one of the most influential companies in game development in the 1980s and was in a position to get the most inspiration from Western technology,' Messner said. 'The Japanese action RPG was based on Kiya's work and created a game that continues to this day while incorporating new culture and sensations,' Messner said. Also, Apple II games have a lot of influence on other Japanese games as well as Dragon Slayer. Dragon Quest, for example, was created with inspiration from Apple II's Ultima and ' Wizardii .'

After all, Mr. Messner bought some books at BEEP Akihabara and went home. However, Messner, who said he had earned more than a book, said, 'I learned that I could only learn in the old-fashioned way, that is, through word-of-mouth, and went home. A stranger made a secret deal with me. We are very grateful for what they have done, and we hope that the Caverns of Freitag, which had been overlooked in the history of the game, will be credited with this achievement.'

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