NEC were new to North American gaming, that was evidenced no better than in the story for Dungeon Explorer – a launch title. The title certainly gave gamers a good idea of what to expect. NEC really covered the bases with their launch titles. This pseudo role playing game  being one of the more interesting. It was also five player simultaneous. That is if you purchased the optional TurboTap and extra controllers.

Dungeon Explorer is not hectic

The gameplay of Dungeon Explorer is a little less frantic than that of Gauntlet. Towns, character stats and leveling up of your character help ease draw the game out. Sega had nothing even remotely similar to offer gamers but NEC didn’t have the advertising budget to exploit this advantage- instead they were too busy pushing China Warrior (another launch title). Chalk this up to NEC not understanding the North American market, at least I hope that is what it was.

Right time, right place, not the pack-in

Dungeon Explorer was one of those titles that was “just right” for North America at the time. These types of games were making a comeback of sorts and fans were ready for a better looking take on what they had been playing on the Nintendo Entertainment System. If you have a chance to grab this one, it may seem dated by today’s standards but give it a chance – you may become a fan, too bad you only have one other game in the series to enjoy if that happens.

Flew under most gamers’ noses

Dungeon Explorer was one of those “under the radar” releases that many gamers didn’t learn about right away. Word of mouth, in particular, helped sell this action RPG, not NEC’s marketing genius’s.

Dungeon Explorer II, a direct sequel, hit the Super CD-ROM attachment for the TurboGrafx-16. The original game is available on TurboChip (Amazon/eBay) and on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. Gamers in Japan got it on the PlayStation Network also.

Carl Williams

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