Benkei Gaiden
NEC TurboGrafx-16 - Released - December 22, 1989
For many years, monsters have been terrorizing the peaceful lands, until finally, the Buddhist priests known as the Dharma Eyes found a safe heaven in a secluded temple, where they raised young martial artists who would eventually liberate the people from the monsters. One day, one of these disciples was kidnapped by monsters and taken into their tower. The current Dharma Eye instructs another disciple, named Oniwaka, to venture towards the tower to the south and find a way to rescue his friend... and perhaps finally put an end to the monster invasion.
Benkei Gaiden is a traditional Japanese-style RPG, set in an environment reminiscent of Japan of the feudal epoch, with supernatural elements such as monsters etc. The player navigates Oniwaka on the top-down map, visiting towns, buying equipment (weapons and armor), and fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat viewed from first-person perspective. Obviously, the game has been heavily influenced by the early Dragon Quest games; the interaction menu is nearly identical (the player has to bring up a menu and choose verb commands such as "Talk" or "Search", rather than perform different actions simply by pressing a button), and the general gameplay system does not deviate from the classic formula.
