The Druaga Series Thread

[Arjak]

Thank you for reading. You zapped to...Arjak's personal neurosis.

I must be nuts telling you all this, but...I like Namco's Druaga games. I say this without any sarcasm or joking. I really mean it. I don't know if this means something is wrong with me, but I really do enjoy this series.

Now, just in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, the Druaga series, created by Masanobu Endo for Namco, is a series of games based loosely on Sumerian mythology that began in 1984 with the arcade game, Tower of Druaga. Tower of Druaga is one of the very first Action-RPGs, and is also infamous for its brutal difficulty. In Japan, it was a smash hit, while most Americans have never heard of it, and those few that do most likely regret it.

In Japan, several sequels were released, here is a timeline:

-Tower of Druaga (Arcade, 1984)*
-Return of Ishtar (Arcade, 1986)*
-Quest of Ki (NES, 1988)
-Tower of Druaga (Remake)(PC-Engine, 1992)**
-Blue Crystal Rod (SNES, 1994)
-Sugoroku Adventure: Tower of Druaga (Arcade, 2000)
-Seme COM Dungeon: Drururuaga (Game Boy Color, 2000)
-Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (PS2, 2004)*
-Druaga Online: Story of Aon (Arcade, 2006)
-Tower of Druaga: Recovery of Babylim (MMORPG, 2008)
-Labyrinth of Druaga (Mobile Phones, 2011)

* Released in the West
** Fan-Translated

Now, most of these games were never released outside of Japan, and only Nightmare of Druaga has made it to the West on its original platform. Some might say, "Good Riddance!" I, though, actually think that they are not all bad games; in fact, Nightmare of Druaga is a fairly respectable Dungeon Crawler RPG, and is actually quite fun. I've only played a few of the games myself, but I am eager to play more.

I am one of the few, the proud, the American Druaga fans.

What do you think?

[futureman2000]

I have Nightmare for PS2, it was awesome. That's the only one I've played, but I am aware of the series.

[Tatsujin]

there were also several appearances of tower of druaga on the namco museums (PS1, DS etc.).

[esteban]

I have some random CD (one of those 3" ones) with arcade or NES Tower of Druaga chiptunes on it. It was packaged with...CANDY? GUM? CRACKERS? I ordered from Japan many moons ago. There was a series...

I tried playing the PCE remake (Tower of Druaga), but I know that I did not get very far (I had a difficult time figuring out how to proceed at one point). Maybe the translation patch will help me stick with the game longer next time.

THAT IS ALL. Sorry.

[Arjak]

there were also several appearances of tower of druaga on the namco museums (PS1, DS etc.).

Yep, I just got a copy of Vol. 3 of the PS1 set. It contains probably the best release of the arcade version, due to the fact that not only is it arcade accurate, but it also contains two secret level sets, for experts and masochists. These bonus level sets were never re-released on future versions; they're only on the PS1 release.

Not that I'll ever need to PLAY those bonus level sets. The original game is hard enough for me! Although, I recently did the best I ever have at the game: Floor 13 with over 100,000 points!

[Digi.k]

wish they officially translated and released the pce version.  That one was kinda unique too

[Bardoly]

The PC Engine release looks interesting enough.  I'm planning on getting it and trying it out sometime this year.  I have no actual experience with any of the various releases in this series though.

[Arjak]

Click this link:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=14412.0

CLICK IT!

[BenG76]

I love playing Quest of Ki for the Famicom. I have not beat it yet. Its pretty challenging.