Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara Longplay (Arcade) [QHD]

Developed and published by Capcom in 1996, Shadows Over Mystara is a surprisingly in-depth fusion of side‑scrolling beat ’em up and action RPG set within the D&D universe. Players must choose a character class and fight their way through legions of monsters on an epic journey across the land. In this play‑through I opted to go with the Dwarf, who has great melee skills, one of the highest HP pools of all the heroes, and a vertical attack that is extremely effective against dragons, though he lacks magic ability. As expected from Capcom and its CPS2 hardware, the presentation, visuals and animation are all stunning, making it a beautiful game to look at and a highly recommended beat ’em up experience. I encountered a cursed sword in the lair of the red dragon that can be converted into a powerful weapon, but at the expense of the warrior’s life; there are ways to prevent the life‑drain, but it proved too time‑consuming to do so, so I decided to give up in the end.