Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom

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Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
File:Tower of Doom sales flyer.png
European arcade flyer
Developer(s) Capcom
Publisher(s) Capcom
Designer(s) Tomoshi Sadamoto
Magigi Fukunishi
George Kamitani
Alex Jimenez
Artist(s) Kinu Nishimura
Composer(s) Isao Abe
Takayuki Iwai
Hideki Okugawa
Platforms Arcade
Release date(s) Arcade
      Genre(s) Beat 'em up/role-playing video game
      Mode(s) Up to 4 players, cooperative
      Cabinet Standard
      Arcade system CPS-2

      Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (ダンジョンズ&ドラゴンズ タワーオブドゥーム), published in 1993, is the first of two arcade games created by Capcom based on the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game and set in the Mystara campaign setting.[1] It is a side scrolling beat 'em up with some role-playing video game elements mixed in. The game was also released on the Sega Saturn, packaged with its sequel, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, under the title Dungeons & Dragons Collection, although the Saturn version limited the gameplay to only two players.

      Gameplay

      Tower of Doom is a side-scrolling arcade game featuring four different characters (cleric, dwarf, elf, fighter) fighting iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters.[2] Bosses include a troll that regenerates unless burned, a large black dragon, the dreaded Shadow Elf (Mystara's equivalent of the drow), a beholder, the optional superboss Flamewing (a great wyrm red dragon) and the final boss Deimos (an archlich).

      At points in the game the players are presented with a choice of paths to take to continue progress. Each path goes to a different area, and it is impossible to visit every area in a single play.[3]

      The gameplay is more technical than the average on beat'em up games. In addition to the usual basic attacks and jumping it includes blocking, strong attacks, turning attacks, dashing attacks, crouching and evading. It also requires the use of careful tactics, as most enemies have the same abilities as the heroes and can out-range them, too.

      Daggers, hammers, arrows and burning oils can be used as throwing weapons, and many enemies have similar weapons. Spells can be used by means of magical rings or by the two playable spellcasters (a cleric and an elf).

      Characters

      • The Fighter is the balanced fighter of the game. He has great range and power, and has the highest amount of health.
      • The Elf has a short range with her sword and packs noticeably less power than the fighter, but has seven arcane spells at her disposal: Magic Missile, Invisibility, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Polymorph Others, Ice Storm, and Cloudkill.
      • The Cleric has fighting skills comparable to those of the elf. He can turn undead and use five divine spells: Hold Person, Striking, Continual Light, Sticks to Snakes, and Cure Serious Wounds. He is the most adept at using a shield, being able to block many vertical attacks that the other characters cannot.
      • The Dwarf has short horizontal range (but the best vertical reach), and he is the most powerful character in close combat thanks to his quick combo speed.

      Plot

      The Republic of Darokin is under a terrible siege as the number of monsters and their attacks rise. A group of four adventurers step forth to rescue various areas, then are sent by the Corwyn Linton to investigate the attacks, revealed to be masterminded by the Archlich Deimos. Eventually the adventurers make their way to the Deimos' Tower of Doom and ultimately destroy him.

      Development

      Capcom and license-holder TSR met in January 1992 to discuss how the game should be approached. They decided to write the game's story first, and build the game around the story.[4]

      Once the initial game design was complete, Alex Jimenez of Capcom USA translated it into an actual Dungeons & Dragons scenario and had his gamers group in San Jose play it, with Jimenez as gamemaster. Capcom of Japan then revised the scenario design based on the players' reactions.[4]

      Home releases

      Dungeons & Dragons Collection

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      Main article: Dungeons & Dragons Collection

      In 1999, Capcom released both D&D video games as a two-disc compilation on the Sega Saturn titled Dungeons & Dragons Collection in Japan. Dungeons & Dragons Collection was never released in the United States and Europe due to the Saturn's poor financial performance in both regions. The ports had minor differences in gameplay, and also due to the limitations of the Saturn there is a maximum of two players instead of the original four.

      Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

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      Main article: Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

      Capcom announced at PAX East 2013 that they will release Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara as part of the Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara Collection for the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Microsoft Windows in the summer of 2013.[5]

      Reception

      The game received a rave review from GamePro, who commented "The action is not as fast as it could be, but it's furious, smoothly controlled, and intuitive." They also praised the game's length, complexity, and non-linear nature, and its faithful recreation of Dungeons & Dragons elements.[6]

      According to GameSpy's Allen Rausch, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom was "Equally good, though not as well remembered" as other "Final Fight-style beat-'em-ups at the arcade" like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons. Rausch felt that combat was "fun, had more depth than you might expect from such a simple game, and came loaded with secrets to find and treasures to swipe" and that after the players beat the game's seven levels, they "found out that the game's ultimate bad guy was actually just the pawn of an even bigger bad guy who, naturally, would have to wait for the sequel to show up."[7]

      Sequel

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      Main article: Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

      See also

      References

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      External links

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