Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is surprisingly satisfying

 Wednesday, June 26, 2013,

There was a time, long long ago, when side-scrollers ruled the arcades. Back when arcades mattered of course, games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Streets of Rage and Final Fight were dominant. But near the end of that era in the 90s, a pair of Dungeons and Dragons titles, Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara, inched the genre forward. So perhaps it’s only natural that Capcom is releasing these two games again for home consoles, in the HD port Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara. For older gamers, it’s a chance to catch up with a pair of classics that have aged surprisingly well. And for newer gamers? Well, you’ll enjoy a few hours of fun, too.

I classify as a new gamer on this one. Thanks to a serious quarters budget in those late 90s and an unhealthy addiction to Final Fight, I missed out on both these games the first time around, so I had few expectations when I started playing.

But both Tower of Doom and Shadow over Mystara proved to be pleasant surprises. Perhaps because these games came near the end of their era, they are far more polished. This is especially true when it comes to combat, where the refined mechanics force you – and your enemies – to make more accurate contact on attacks. Most HD remakes disappoint in this area, but Chronicles if Mystara is surprisingly satisfying.

Add in Capcom’s usual helping of game-specific achievements, and you have satisfying beat-em-up depth.

Not that Chronicles of Mystara needed these extra achievements. Unlike most beat-em-ups, there’s RPG-like depth, with between-levels purchases, level progression, and equipment pickups for your guys. You’ll input your name at the start of the game, not at the end as a means of proving a mere high score.

And while other titles, such as Final Fight, featured minute differences between characters, the games in Chronicles of Mystara showcase more drastic changes. The fighter, elf, cleric and dwarf classes (as well as the thief and magic-user classes in Shadow over Mystara) move at different paces, and they attack in different ways, placing actual meaning on your character choices. Just as importantly, there are actual combos and special attacks to learn, rewarding those who do more than mash buttons.

Combat stays lively because of the variety, although you can simply mash buttons to win if you choose to, simply because you have unlimited continues. This, of course, is the price paid in our new, home-console, quarter-free era, but it hurts a game like Chronicles of Mystara, where health is supposed to be precious. Instead, it’s far too easy to hit attack buttons against bosses until you die, then simply come back and pick up right where you left off.

Then again, you can’t hold that against a game this old. This is more a walk down a forgotten part of Memory Lane than a stiff challenge.

But it’s a nice, dragon-filled walk.