Dragon Buster box art
Playing Played Wish List Backlog
Add to Shelf Add to List

See more on IGDB

Dragon Buster (1985)

Namco

Arcade · Family Computer · MSX · Sharp X68000 · Wii · Wii U

2.30 from 10 ratings

40 members have it in their collection · 1 playing now · 16 backlogged · 10 wish listed

A 1984 arcade platformer with action RPG elements, Dragon Buster is notable as the first game to feature a double jump. It was also one of the first games to include a life meter (along with Flash Boy and Punch-Out), known as vitality in this game. The game featured side-scrolling platform gameplay and a hub "world view" map similar to … Read more
A 1984 arcade platformer with action RPG elements, Dragon Buster is notable as the first game to feature a double jump. It was also one of the first games to include a life meter (along with Flash Boy and Punch-Out), known as vitality in this game. The game featured side-scrolling platform gameplay and a hub "world view" map similar to the later Super Mario Bros. series. It also featured hack & slash combat, like the later Tritorn and Legend of Zelda series. Dragon Buster was developed and published by Namco. The game is a side-scrolling dungeon crawler, where the goal of the game is for the hero, Clovis, to rescue Princess Celia. Dragon Buster was later ported to a variety of home consoles, notably the Nintendo Entertainment System and the MSX. It runs on Namco Pac-Land hardware, modified to support vertical scrolling Read less
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Details

Developers
Namco
Publishers
Bandai Namco Entertainment, Bandai Namco Games, Namco, Namco Bandai Games
Genres
Platform, Role-playing (RPG)
Themes
Action
Series
Dragon Buster

Release dates

  • 1985 (Full Release) (Japan) Arcade
  • Jan 07, 1987 (Full Release) (Japan) Family Computer
  • Dec 10, 1987 (Full Release) (Japan) Sharp X68000
  • Dec 19, 1987 (Full Release) (Japan) MSX
  • Nov 18, 2008 (Full Release) (Japan) Wii
  • Jan 21, 2015 (Full Release) (Japan) Wii U

Also available on

Related

Bundled in

+4 more
Show less
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Rating distribution

5 stars
0
4 stars
0
3 stars
5
2 stars
3
1 star
2
Remove Ads with Grouvee Gold

Community All Reviews Statuses

scoopings

Status scoopings Mar 1, 2023

Holy crap, only partway through the first dungeon and the Zelda connections are uncanny! Collecting what looks like Rupees/Crystals, having to time my sword slashes based on the enemies' patterns--... those damned flying bats. And omg even the Zelda 2-type point-sword-down-during-jump attack!

Only on Round 3, though, I already tired with some of the clunky mechanics/bouncing around during battles and …

Read more

Holy crap, only partway through the first dungeon and the Zelda connections are uncanny! Collecting what looks like Rupees/Crystals, having to time my sword slashes based on the enemies' patterns--... those damned flying bats. And omg even the Zelda 2-type point-sword-down-during-jump attack!

Only on Round 3, though, I already tired with some of the clunky mechanics/bouncing around during battles and mediocre collision masks. Still, very impressive concept and execution for its time, truly a predecessor to the upcoming Zelda era. Surely worth a playtest, but I couldn't commit to all 12 unique Rounds.

Read less
2 Comment Permalink
Reset_Tears

Status Reset_Tears May 21, 2022

This is a game that I get the impression was pretty influential for its time (particularly in Japan), going hand in hand with Namco's other early action/arcade RPG-ish sort of D&D thing Tower of Druaga. Unfortunately I found Dragon Buster completely unplayable, a quarter-muncher that's a pain to control and hurts to look at. All I can ever really manage …

Read more

This is a game that I get the impression was pretty influential for its time (particularly in Japan), going hand in hand with Namco's other early action/arcade RPG-ish sort of D&D thing Tower of Druaga. Unfortunately I found Dragon Buster completely unplayable, a quarter-muncher that's a pain to control and hurts to look at. All I can ever really manage to do is die in this one.

Read less
0 Comment Permalink