Dragon Slayer retrospective: A seminal PC classic, a forgettable portable mess | Game Boy Works #079

Well, well, well, what have we here? It's a game by legendary developer Nihon Falcom! Don't get excited, though — this is a port of the very first game by Nihon Falcom, Dragon Slayer, which was six years old by this point but felt far more ancient than that. The action RPG had come a long way since Falcom staked their claim on the genre in 1984, and considering you could play the likes of its own successors Legacy of the Wizard and Ys on NES and Famicom by this point, this clunky and dated game is a hard sell. It has a certain appeal, but since it consists of a lengthy quest and lacks any option to save progress, it makes for a pretty awful Game Boy release. Oh well!