Jeremy Parish

NES Works Gaiden #038: The Tower of Druaga (Patreon)

Published:

2022-04-13 12:10:18

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

famicom namco nes works nes works gaiden tower of druaga

Content

Although I've been trying to pack three games into each episode of NES Works Gaiden in order to reach the end of 1985 (and therefore the end of the NES Works Gaiden focus on Famicom chronology leading up to the NES launch), some games ya just gotta hand it to with a standalone episode. Games such as The Tower of Druaga. Although I've touched on some of the information in this episode before, the NES Works Gaiden spirit remains true: This episode places it in a more cogent temporal context, which I hope helps to give a better sense of what an accomplishment it was for the time (and therefore better explain its popularity and influence). And if not, well, we'll be jumping back to regular NES Works very soon.

Files

The Tower of Druaga retrospective: Demon-itization | NES Works Gaiden #38

Although I've previously covered The Tower of Druaga on Game Boy Works, this version precedes the portable rendition by half a decade and stands as the more towering achievement of the two. So to speak. Another solid arcade-to-Famicom conversion by Namcot, Druaga's move to consoles felt like a figurative as well as literal homecoming: As an arcade game, Druaga feels frankly unfair thanks to its harsh one-hit-kill combat and mandatory secrets hidden behind abstruse and unintuitive rules. As a home game, however, Druaga offered a more expansive role-playing-style adventure than had ever been seen on consoles, and its design comes off as far less punishing when you don't have to drop 100 yen into the machine every time you run out of lives (which happens frequently). I don't know that I'd recommend Druaga today, as many games followed in its wake that built and improved on its design... but would those games have had a design to improve on without Druaga? I say they would not. Production notes: Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! SG-1000 footage captured from a combination of Sega SG-1000 II with (with Card Catcher) and @Analogue Mega Sg with card adapter module and DAC. Vintage hardware mods courtesy of @iFixRetro. NES/Famicom footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini Noir. Video upscaled to 720 with @Retro Tink 5X.