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    Dragon Slayer

    Franchise »

    A pioneering series that popularized the action RPG in Japan and laid the foundation for many of Falcom's future franchises.

    Short summary describing this franchise.

    Dragon Slayer last edited by Bowl-of-Lentils on 10/30/21 10:51AM View full history

    Overview

    Dragon Slayer (ドラゴンスレイヤー) is a multi-genre series of video games created by Nihon Falcom and helmed by the company's famed programmer and designer Yoshio Kiya. The first Dragon Slayer title was an early action RPG released in 1984 for the NEC PC-88 that spawned many sequels that would eventually evolve into their own franchises that continued to grow outside of Dragon Slayer. The Dragon Slayer series is historically significant both for featuring some of the earliest Japanese developed RPGs and for popularizing and pioneering the modern action role-playing genre.

    Mainline Titles

    While the original Dragon Slayer was an action RPG, many of the sequels that followed were wildly different. The franchise is not connected in terms of narrative, setting or genre but the mainline series is considered to encompass the titles worked on by Yoshio Kiya [1]. The Legend of Xanadu II calls itself "The Last of Dragon Slayer" in the game's opening and is technically the end of the series, however, the title is usually not included as part of the mainline franchise since it was made after Kiya left Falcom in 1993 [1]. The mainline series also does not normally include sequels to specific games, such as The Legend of Heroes II. Keeping that in mind the mainline titles consist of:

    1. Dragon Slayer (1984)
    2. Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (1985)
    3. Dragon Slayer Jr: Romancia (1986)
    4. Legacy of the Wizard (1987)
    5. Sorcerian (1987)
    6. Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (1989)
    7. Lord Monarch (1991)
    8. The Legend of Xanadu (1994)

    Related Titles

    These are games that are spin-offs to the Dragon Slayer series, have Dragon Slayer in their title or are related to the main series in some way. Games like Xanadu Next contain the Dragon Slayer logo on their box art but are not considered to be a part of the franchise [1].

    Sub-Series

    There are several different franchises that spun off from the Dragon Slayer series, many of which far outlived Dragon Slayer and a few are still on-going to this day. These include:

    External Links

    1. Interview with Yoshio Kiya (4Gamer, 2007).
    2. Mini-Knowledge Collection (The Falcom Museum, 2008).
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