Some
1987 games:
The Magic of Scheherazade (NES, 1987) - JRPG (some TB battles, FP view)/Action Adventure (TD with some sidescrolling segments) Hybrid w/ jumping
-Solar eclipse mechanic (affects certain spells and items plus your chance at winning in casinos, happens fairly seldomly)
-Time travel theme with some effect on gameplay (can plant a Rupia Seed in a magic field during an Alalart eclipse in the past and have it grow into a Rupia Tree (rupia=money) in the future, different backgrounds and enemies in different times)
-Switch between 3 classes during the course of the game for a small price
-Basic dungeon maps (Zelda 1)
-Fast dialogue text
-Can map various actions to A or B yourself (similar to Link's Awakening but a bit less flexible)
-NPCs react when attacked and are then pissed until you leave and return to the current screen (can't be hurt though)
-Can loan money (at interest) in shops
-Can haggle in some shops (these shopkeepers get pissed and kick you out plus take 10 coins if you do it twice in a row though and many later ones get pissed if you even try)
-Can buy more than one of a consumable item at once (not all of them though)
-Various interesting spells (teleport back to visited towns and out of palace dungeons using flying carpets, corbock & shrink & caraba - makes enemies small and harmless and squashable, ramipas - fewer encounters (DQ?), monecom - max of each consumable when cast during a Alalart solar eclipse, raincom and spricom - causes grass to grow in deserts and spring to come during winter respectively (ends HP drain occuring when in deserts and winter areas and heals you in deserts) when cast during an eclipse, moscom - summons a mosque (class change for free), moniburn - encapsulate all enemies inside of a small rocket which blasts into the air and explodes in a shower of fireworks, silliet - reflect spells cast on the user (gun mecha party member only))
-"Attack all" weapons and spells
-Basic diplomacy in the JRPG fights (propose peace command - you'll generally have to pay for enemies to accept)
Formation/combo attack mechanic in turn-based battles (this pairs two specific party members and allows for special spells, some enemies can do it too)
-Some interactive tutorials (courses)
-Can hire mercenary troops to fight for you during turn-based battles
-Some party banter between areas
-Can escape from boss battles
-Some meaningful dialogue choices (convincing certain NPCs to help you via yes/no questions)
-Some decent puzzles (the future tree with a son - remember a password and what it said and didn't say, curing Rainy's fear, Coronya's real identity)
-The game automatically levels you up sufficiently after each boss battle
-Respawn on the screen you were on and then in the last town after game over - don't lose stats or skills
-Get tips from an anthropomorphic cat (Coronya) during the game - pretty obvious tips though
-You and your party auto-use restoratives when needed (can use a healing spell manually but it's not particularly efficient - you do get a better one but only near the end of the game)
-Mostly linear structure but some freedom in when to tackle what within each area
-You still get item drops which you have a full inventory of from enemies but if you do then new hp/mp restoratives that you pick up are used up right away
-A grim reaper can appear if you spend too long in an area (hard to kill and appears quickly on every screen; Bubble Bobble)
Metal Gear (MSX2/NES, 1987) - Stealth Action/Action Adventure, TD view
Version differences:
blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2009/08/metal-gear-msx-and-nes-comparison.html-Radio communication feature (can get tips from NPCs)
-Interesting gear (binoculars (view adjacent screens - respawns enemies on NES), enemy uniform, tracker item (can be placed on you by the enemy if you get captured), silencer, etc.)
-Boss introductions
-Find destructible walls by listening for differing sounds when hitting them
-Creates a sense of vulnerability at times (the dogs, losing your gear before the first boss)
-Checkpoints at the beginning of each area and when exiting or entering a building
-Some interesting level design (flying enemy triggering an electric floor trap, moving infrared beam alarm room, off screen tank fire in the desert)
-Basic level up/rank system (lets you carry more equipment and ammo but also sometimes determines if an NPC will answer you on the radio, 4 levels and increases with every 5th rescued prisoner, killing prisoners lowers rank)
-Escape sequence (Metroid)
Sid Meier's Pirates! (PCs, 1987/AIIGS, 1988/AMI, 1990/NES, 1991) - Pirating Sim, Action Adventure/Strategy Hybrid, TD view/SV/FP view (bars) hybrid
-Open ended structure
-Multiple endings
-Good variation (hybrid gameplay; sea battles and sailing mechanics, fencing duels)
-Can take over towns
-Can get married
-Aging and hunger
-Multiple ships and some ship customization
-Can change allegiances (spanish, french, english, dutch)
-Can switch difficulty level during the game
-Treasure map pieces puzzles (no in-game world map until the Gold version though the Amiga and NES versions came with a physical WM, instead you have to use a sun sight item to determine your coordinates)
-8 save slots on NES (save in town)
-Basic character building (can increase rank which affects which wife you can take and your final score+the ending)
Colony (C64 etc. 1987) - Action Adventure/Strategy/Farming Sim hybrid, Tilted view (see Double Dragon)
-Base defense gameplay (can use turrets to shoot enemies (or shoot them directly) and repair broken fences, have to distribute supplies to shops which are dropped at a landing bay if the base has power)
-Shops (harvest mushrooms and solar energy for money/power - also have to protect them from enemies)
-Can gain a CPU ally (have to buy and insert a battery)
-Basic mini-map
-Can buy and place traps
-Base upgrades
-Stamina/power mechanic for your droid avatar (can recharge it at a certain building)
-Too much power will blow up the base (there's a warning in the GUI)
Ys: Vanished Omen/Ancient Ys Vanished (FM-7/X1/MSX etc., 1987/SMS, 1988) - ARPG, Top down view
-Basic dialogue trees
-Can bargain with one of the clerks
-Teleport back to town (wing)
-Health regen outside dungeons if standing still (Hydlide)
-Save anywhere except during dialogue or boss battles on console
-Somewhat non-linear structure
Hydlide III/Super Hydlide (Multi, 1987/MD, 1990) - ARPG (char creation, 4 classes, spen exp to level up or learn spells in town), TD view
While having basic combat and balancing issues, as well as lacking maps it's also complex in various ways.
-Basic morality system
-Fatigue and resting mechanics, Hunger mechanic, Weight mechanic
-Day/night cycle, Time skip spell
-Move spell lets you teleport to any visited town that you've slept in
-New gear shows on your avatar (also in Faxanadu)
-Banks w/ interest mechanic
Driller/Space Station Oblivion (Spectrum/C64/CPC, 1987/AMI/ST/PC, 1988) - 3D FPS/Maze Shooter (Vehicle-based, no jumping but can raise and lower the vehicle's body as well as look up/down), FP view w/ P&C aiming
-Polygonal with a decent framerate on ST
-Hover vehicle lets you fly over pits
-Basic switch and code puzzles (can also empty a pool of water at one point)
-Compass and named areas but no maps (you're supposed to use the hover vehicle for recon)
-Four teleporters
Dungeon Master (PCs, 1987) - First Person Dungeon Crawler RPG, P&C controls (grid-based movement, click and drag objects from the world into your inventory)
Set the standard for FP (A)RPGs which didn't change that much besides positional attacks (?) until 1992.
-One of the first RPGs with activity/use-based progression (character building/leveling; Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II)
-Strafing
-Plot twist ending and alternate bad ending
-Enemies tend to flee when their HP is low
-Can manually wake up at will from resting
-Unique spell system? (string together glyphs/runes representing one syllable each)
-Hunger
Habitat (PC/C64, 1986 (Beta, full game in 1987)/FMT, 1990?) - First graphical MMORPG/Post-MUD game
-Full graphics
-Some music
-GUI (P&C controls, text parser, chat feature)
-Big sprites and decent animation
-Can rob and kill other players
Knightmare II: Maze of Galious (MSX, 1987) - Platform Adventure/ARPG/Action Adventure, Side View
-Switch between two different characters on the fly
-Some good enemy AI (blue knights, shooting ghosts, yellow enemies in world 8)
-Good enemy variation
-Large world (9 sub areas+1 hub area)
-Pretty large arsenal of sub weapons and various tools/items
-Large consumables inventory (keys and arrows)
-Various interesting items/tools (mines, rolling fire (fireball moving around a platform similar to in SMB2), oar - walk on water, magnifying glass - examine gravestones, vase - boosts exp gain, carpet - turns the lava in world 8 to stone and removes fireballs, halo - lets you teleport from any world/sub area back to the beginning/hub area (last password room - F1 then Enter), feather - teleports you to an opened world portal/door (press the corresponding number key), bell - rings when nearing a world/sub area (Penguin Adventure & Dragon Quest?))
-Fairy rooms (Zelda)
-Speed upgrade item (boots - Monster World/WBiML or Golvellius?)
-Sub area maps (need to find them)
-Can revive the other character at death's shrine (room L11, fairly expensive, reload to be able to do it again)
-Pretty large bosses
-Optional handicap items that help with the boss fight in each world
-Consumables (key, coins, arrows) respawn when loading a password save
Legacy of the Wizard/Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family (NES/MSX, 1987) - Sidescrolling Platform Adventure/ARPG-ish Hybrid (no leveling system)
-Five different playable characters with unique abilities including a monster
-Stash/vault at your house and at inns
-Large world for the time and aguably the next gen for this genre
-Warps (can use the paintings to teleport after getting crowns from bosses; Starquake, Brain Breaker)
-Use certain enemies as platforms
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (FDS/NES) - ARPG
-Manual stat allocation on level up and you can also save the exp points for later - different attributes (HP, Attack Power, MP) have different costs to level them up
-High and low melee blocking and attacks (similar to Trojan)
-JRPG-style overworld with "semi-avoidable" enemy encounters (can avoid them in open areas) - Also done in Esper Dream
-Temporary flight via a transformation spell
-Partially non-linear w/ some sequence breaking opportunities (dungeon order, skip candle, early hammer, skip keys w/ fairy by flying through keyholes in locked doors, more?; Metroid)
-Multiple towns (no shops)
- Ys
-Some good enemy AI
King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu (MSX, 1986 or 1987) - Zelda-ish ARPG (leveling), Top Down View
-Three different endings (use less continues and spend less time for a better one)
-The game shows enemies' stats as you face them (up to two kinds per screen)
-Mini-bosses
-Spin attack (via the whirl spell, very strong)
-Water sandals (walk on water; Zelda II and Golvellius)
-Can walk away from any dialogue (down)
-Can use some objects as weapons (big boulder - very situational though as it only damages one enemy type in the first area)
-Partially non-linear
Zillion (SMS, 1987) - Early Platform Adventure/Metroidvania
-Computer hacking/interaction (map display (layout, explored rooms, position and final room), disable traps, teleport (to surface elevator or nearest elevator), suicide!, base explosion and cancel explosion, hidden messages (mentioned in the manual); Impossible Mission but more advanced here)
-Three playable characters that you can switch between on the fly (need to rescue two of them, same abilities but differing starting stats)
-Basic stealth (alarm traps triggered by infrared rays; Metal Gear?)
-Escape sequence (Xain'd Sleena, Metroid)
-Crawling
Fantasy Zone II (SMS, 1987) - Visually nearly on par with Super FZ with more variation within levels, and some other early 16-bit games. Also features an upgradeable lifebar and hidden items and shops.