Gunple: Gunman's Proof (1997) was an action adventure with light RPG elements by ASCII released for the Super Famicom in Japan. It is 1880 and alien fugitives invade the Wild West! Allowing yourself to be possessed by a good alien, you pursue the scoundrels! (a Good, the Bad, and the Alien thread)

PoPoLoCrois Monogatari (1996) | RPG | Sony PlayStation | G-artists and Sugar & Rockets Young Prince Pietro's life is about to become a lot more adventurous when a villain steals his father's crown. But with the help of friends that he meets along the way, his quest becomes the first of many!

"Seal the fate of your foes." heads this 2005 ad for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, an action RPG for the Nintendo DS It made use of the DS' touchscreen for its "magic seal" gimmick and opted for an anime aesthetic instead of Ayami Kojima's distinctive style in this sequel to 2003's Aria of Sorrow.

Phantasy Star II: Nei's Adventure (1990) was an adventure game by Sega in Japan originally debuting for the Sega Game Toshokan. As part of a series of text adventures based on PS II, this one covered Nei's story prior to the game's events as she lives life on the run. (a search for a home thread)

A big, two-page ad from 2000 for Crimson Skies, an arcade flight-sim for PC platforms by Zipper Interactive. It was based on the 1998 tabletop boardgame (with light RPG elements!) of the same name taking place in an alt 1930's where air power dominated the skies over a fragmented United States.

Whoa, these GTA leaks are not at all what I was expecting.

Foxhack / Dave Silva@foxhack.bsky.social · 3d ago

Woah, these GTA leaks are not at all what I was expecting.

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (2004) by EA Redwood Shores was an RPG on the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. As the Fellowship make their way across Middle Earth to destroy the One Ring, you follow in their wake gathering friends and allies to defy Sauron his prize! (a tide of orcs thread)

This two-page pre-order teaser from 2005 tempted readers to get their inner Mad Max ready for Auto Assault, an MMORPG by NetDevil for PCs This ambitious title featured three different factions and vehicular battles in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that lasted roughly over a year before it shut down.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006) was an action RPG for the Nintendo DS by Konami. It's 1944 and as WW2 rages, a new villain manages to summon Dracula's castle from beyond! Playing as both Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin, it's up to you to confront this new evil. (a double teamed thread)

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006) was an action RPG for the Nintendo DS by Konami. It's 1944 and as WW2 rages, a new villain manages to summon Dracula's castle from beyond! Playing as both Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin, it's up to you to confront this new evil. (a double teamed thread)

A 1990 ad for the North American release of Drakkhen, an RPG for PCs by Infogrames Wandering unprepared in "the first role playing game that combines FRP themes with the most advanced technical wizardry ever" can turn a party into shark food or crushed by a dragon among other fun distractions!

Happy Black Cat Appreciation Day

Destiny (1985) by Destiny Software was a PC adventure game with RPG elements for the C64 and Apple II. A mighty king sent out the call for a brave soul to inherit his kingdom by slaying a terrible dragon long ago, but died before that heir could be found. Now it is your turn! (a flesh wound thread)

A 2004 ad for Neverwinter Nights Mobile, an RPG by FloodGate Entertainment for your flip phone FloodGate's attempt to squish BioWare's D&D adventure had its own story, character creator, automated combat, and managed to make its top-down, 2D world bigger by streaming chunks of content when needed!

A two-page ad from Japan in 1987 for Metal Gear's release on December 22nd for the Nintendo Famicom from Konami. The "strategy RPG" had debuted a few months earlier on the MSX2 PC! Metal Gear would be the first entry in a legendary, and influential, series of stealth action titles by Hideo Kojima.

Wraith (1990) was a turn-based RPG by John Carmack for Apple II PCs. It was designed to be much bigger than Shadowforge featuring a larger land mass, multiple cities, more dungeons, all adding up to a longer quest in battling a demonic Wraith that has threatened the land! (a Doors of Doom thread)

This late 2004 ad shows off some of the beauty from Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, an RPG for the Nintendo GameCube by Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo Gameplay revolved around magic cards and cast the player as a "Guardian Spirit" bonded with the main character looming on the page!

The Citadel of Chaos (1984) | CRPG | PC platforms | Puffin Books The Fighting Fantasy gamebook series let readers play as heroic characters in an RPG-like adventure. Puffin Books adapted this one from the book of the same name by Steve Jackson, pitting players against a wicked sorcerer!

Finally got around to trying the cozy Steam demo for Forge of the Fae, a turn-based RPG by Datadyne with a 16-bit look and a backdrop inspired by "Celtic folklore" blending steampunk and magic in a land inspired by "1800s Ireland". Enjoyed it! Looking forward to seeing it cross the finish line.

MAG (1985) by Michael J. Teixeira was a roguelike CRPG first developed for UNIX and later ported over to DOS PCs in 1988. Crawl through a dungeon 20+ levels deep filled with treasure, monsters, and death to take the Sudbury Sapphire from the clutches of the Imperial Dragons! (a smiley face thread)

A 1997 ad from Japan for Farland Story: Yottsu no Fuuin, a turn-based tactical RPG for the Sony PlayStation by TGL The first game (which debuted in 1993 on the PC-98) and its sequel are brought to new audiences with a remake featuring animation and a cast of voice actors including Junichi Kanemaru!

Kalin no Tsurugi (The Sword of Kalin) (1987) is an action RPG by XTALSOFT released only for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. The land of Alitania is beseiged by monsters! The king sends you, his bravest knight, to find Gladrif whose magic may yet restore peace. (a bump battler thread)

The Titans have escaped their prison, devastating the ancient world! This multi-page ad teases Titan Quest's release in June '06 tempting readers to become legends in Iron Lore Entertainment's Diablo-like action RPG as they battle beasties inspired, in part, by Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion magic.

A 1993 ad from Japan for 46 Okunen Monogatari: Harukanaru Eden, an RPG by Almanic for the Super Famicom. Another RPG, Dungeon Land by Random House, is at the bottom. Harukanaru Eden would get the localization treatment becoming E.V.O.: The Search for Eden when it came over to North America!

A 1986 ad for Wizard's Crown and Rings of Zilfin, two RPGs for the Apple II and C-64 by SSI Wizard's Crown took an eight-member party on a quest to recover a magic crown in turn-based or automated combat while in Rings of Zilfin, solo adventurers battled foes in real-time to recover a magic ring!

Out Live (1989) was an RPG by Sunsoft for the PC Engine. In this sci-fi, turn-based RPG, you pilot a "Fighting Walker", a big mech, investigating the disappearance of an Imperial scout and the emergence of a dangerous group that calls itself Mars. (a tunnels are everywhere thread)

Voyager 1 (1981) | adventure | Apple II and Atari 8-bit PCs | William Volk Described by the manual as a "real time, role playing game", it had a number of neat features such as a stamina-as-health system that slowly replenished while standing still (watch out for robots!) and randomized levels.

From its roots as a text-based MUD called Realm in 1984, a graphical facelift remade it into the Kingdom of Drakkar in 1989 becoming the flagship RPG for a little-known dial-up, MPG-NET. A few years later, this 1998 ad would invite brave adventurers to explore its "massively multiplayer" sequel!

The Japanese ads for certain titles coming in from other countries could go pretty hard like this one from 1991 for the PC Engine version of Bullfrog's god-game, Populous The ad introduces the hit that "swept through Europe and America" allowing players to role-play as divine, landscaping gods.

Golvellius (1987) was an action adventure with RPG elements by Compile first released in Japan for the MSX. As our green-haired hero, explore a valley infested with monsters to find a missing princess and confront the wicked Golvellius! A password system saved your progress. (a triple view thread)