Overview and Gameplay
Dragon Wars begins with an adventuring party imprisoned in Purgatory after the magician Namtar seizes control of Dilmun. The party must escape without equipment, rebuild its strength, explore towns, wilderness, prisons, mines, and temples, and eventually overthrow Namtar.
First-person movement advances one tile at a time, while an automatic map records visited areas. Character creation supports four starting members, with preset classes or manually assigned attributes and skills. Recruited allies and summoned creatures can expand the party to seven.
Controls And Mechanics
The directional pad moves, turns, and navigates menus. A confirms commands, B cancels or returns, Start switches between command and message displays, and Select opens the map outside battle.
Turn-based encounters track the distance between the party and enemy groups. Commands include normal attacks, stronger point attacks, spells, defense, item use, formation changes, approaching, and fleeing. Weapon range affects which targets can be reached, while level gains provide points for attributes, practical skills, weapon proficiency, and magic.
Hospitals restore injured characters, churches revive the dead, and shops trade equipment and supplies. Battery-backed saving records progress from the command menu.
Version Notes
This official English localization prototype was prepared from Kemco’s 1991 Japanese Famicom conversion. The North American edition was cancelled before retail release and preserves English menus, dialogue, names, and story text.
Release And Credits
- Developer: Kemco
- Original game developer: Interplay Productions
- Original platforms: Apple II and Commodore 64
