38 years since “Wizardry #I” debuted in Japan! That thrill of wandering a dungeon and hoping for rare items, whether you’re asleep or awake – Watch the Game

“Wizardry #I PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD” (hereinafter referred to as Wizardry #I), a traditional RPG that has captivated many players since its arrival in Japan, will debut in Japan on November 15, 2023. It is its eighth anniversary And thirty since then.

“Wizardry #I” is an RPG where you explore a dungeon spanning 10 underground floors, and your goal is to return to the surface by stealing the amulet from Wardna, the wizard lurking on the 10th floor. However, the big appeal was that each player could have a free-form play style, such as searching for valuable unobtained items or endlessly striving to level up, rather than an ultimate goal, and one of the factors that made this style successful. Say that. Many RPGs came before this work, but it can be said that none of them managed to capture the hearts of as many players as “Wizardry #I”.

Let’s take a look back at the story of porting the same action, and the unique appeal of the PC version. The images posted this time are from a video captured with HDMI of the PC-8801 version played on an actual PC-8801FE2.

The reason for moving “Wizardry #I” was “I wanted to see the source code”

The original version of “Wizardry #I”, the world’s first RPG to introduce a party system, was born in September 1981. This work, which was released for the Apple II at the time, gained popularity and was followed by a series of numbered titles.

Incidentally, the PCs released in Japan in 1981 were Hitachi’s Basic Master Level 3, Sharp’s MZ-80B, Fujitsu’s FM-8, and NEC’s PC-6001 and PC-8801. The main game types played on personal computers during this time were action, shooting, and simulation. Although the adventure game genre emerged the following year, it was some time before RPGs became mainstream in Japan.

Later, in Japan, at the end of 1983, BPS released the classic RPG “THE BLACK ONYX”, in which players explore 3D dungeons while fighting enemies and searching for needed items. At the end of the following year in 1984, T&E SOFT also released the fantastic active RPG “Hydride”, which required no command input and used action elements such as body ramming.

Against this background, the Japanese version of Wizardry #I was finally released on November 15, 1985 for domestically produced PCs. The publisher was ASCII at the time, and the developer was Four Tune. The person who performed the transplant was Shijia Suzuki, the then president of Four Tone, a 22-year-old student.

Mr. Suzuki had business to go to the United States in December 1984, and at the time he was staying at the home of someone who worked in the software field. This person turned out to be Robert Woodhead, the original author of “Magic.” ”Since he had contacts with him, he decided to go to him immediately. After meeting and talking with them, it was decided that they would also present the idea to Japanese software companies, and the idea of ​​releasing a Japanese version was on the right track.

As for his motivations for porting the game in the first place, he said in a magazine interview at the time: “Because of my job, I was looking forward to seeing the source code, and I thought a lot of people would be interested.” Once he is released.

The domestic version was released on November 15, 1985, but apparently only the PC-9801 version appeared that day, and versions of the other models were released slightly later in December.

Prior to the release, an advertisement using package illustrations created a sense of anticipation, and just prior to the release, a release listing the release date was used to promote the product.In addition to the models mentioned in this advertisement, domestically produced computers include the MSX2 version and the MZ-2500 version.

This is the package and contents of the PC-8801 version. It included a 10-page map sheet and a piece of paper with the phrase “Don’t Cheat!” written on it. As for the cheat sheet, it appears to have been a response to the fact that at the time the Apple II version was released, there was a cheat program called “Wiz Plus” that allowed you to change Personal parameters and equipment freely.

In the “Wizardry #I” guide, there is an item called “Quest” instead of Story.

“There is a story published in magazines at the time, ‘Our Warda stole a magic amulet from Trevor and hid with a large number of monsters and traps in a cave outside the castle. Adventure. Will people be able to defeat Warda and do you want to return the amulet?'” The content was somewhat different. The thing about the story.

Trebor, the Mad Overlord, is undoubtedly mad, but he is far from stupid. He needs two things to carry out his master plan to take over the world. The first is the best elite bodyguard in each category. The second is a magic amulet stolen by the evil wizard Wirdna. Wardana is so evil that she only lets the old woman go halfway. Then he steals her wallet. It is known that Wardna lives somewhere in the Labyrinth and keeps an amulet on her person.

Trebor uses the maze as a testing ground. He sees the Labyrinth as the perfect place to train the elite group of adventurers he needs to reach level 13 or higher, and somehow recover the amulet at the same time. Needless to say, any adventurer who recovered the amulet would immediately be recruited into his elite bodyguard. If necessary, use force…

These are the situations that your character is forced into. With their little luck, they plot mazes, defeat demons, escape with prey, find amulets, and perhaps get killed several times while doing so.

But it has to be done. Because that is fate..

In other words, player-created characters in the Labyrinth train to reach level 13 or higher under the command of the mad lord Trevor, and once the Amulet of Wardna is captured, they will be used as pawns for Trevor to conquer the world. A back story has been published.

However, speaking of in-game events, go around the first and second basements to get the Gold Key, and use it to get the Blue Ribbon in the fourth basement. All you have to do is defeat Wardna on the tenth basement. However, it is this simplicity that allows the game to be played in many different ways, and has given rise to many derivative works.

The guide includes illustrations of the city in which the game takes place. This land will be walked through later in “Wizardry #IV”