Popular games for platform MSX2

Shanghai is a computerized version of mahjong solitaire. After winning a game, the tiles reveal the three-dimensional blinking eye of a dragon behind the game screen. The Macintosh and Sega Master System version shows an animated dragon spitting fire.

Vampire Killer is a side-view flick-screen game where you are a Vampire hunter who has been tasked to remove Dracula from the 12th floor of a block of flats by a client on the floor below. The problem is, as well as facing and killing a vampire, the job has to be completed before midnight which is only eight minutes away. In your rush to get to the building you have forgotten your equipment like garlic and stakes, which is needed to face Dracula. You have to get to the 12th floor using elevators (which have minds of their own and can take you down as well as up), and you must look behind the doors of each flat for equipment to help you. Some flats are also empty as well as flats that have scares inside you and when scared, you lose part of a shock meter and when it reaches zero then it is game over. Bats and spiders live on various floors with some blocking your route so bullets can be found in the flats to clear the way. Some doors to the flats actually are lift shafts which send you back down to the 1st floor. Before you play the game you can select your skill level from easy, medium and hard.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is an action-adventure stealth video game created and published by Konami for the MSX2 computer platform. Acting as a direct continuation of the MSX2 version of the original Metal Gear, it was written and designed by the series' creator, Hideo Kojima. Kojima's inspiration for this game arose as a response to the development of Snake's Revenge, a separate sequel being produced simultaneously for the NES, intended primarily for the North American and European markets.

The hero of Ys is an adventurous young swordsman named Adol Christin. As the story begins, he has just arrived at the Town of Minea, in the land of Esteria. He is called upon by Sara, a fortuneteller, who tells him of a great evil that is sweeping the land. Adol is informed that he must seek out the six Books of Ys. These books contain the history of the ancient land of Ys, and will give him the knowledge he needs to defeat the evil forces. Sara gives Adol a crystal for identification and instructs him to find her aunt in Zepik Village, who holds the key to retrieving one of the Books. With that, his quest begins.

Adol Christin's long-time friend, Dogi, wishes to return to his home town of Redmont after hearing about strange disturbances that are happening there. Always looking for an adventure, Adol joins him and soon finds out the cause of this new evil. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys breaks away from the "bumping into enemies" battle system of the first two games, allowing Adol to control his sword in a variety of directions. Beside changing the battle system, the game's perspective switches to a side-scrolling view, as opposed to the top-down one of the previous games. Adol also has the ability to jump now. New to the series is the use of magical rings, which give Adol different powering-up abilities such as healing and shielding. The game also uses various key items found along the way to solve minor puzzles and progress the story.

Though not the first role-playing game developed by a Japanese company, Dragon Warrior is considered one of the progenitors of the Japanese RPG genre, and the first to appear on a home console. The player navigates a lone pre-made protagonist on a top-down overworld, accessing locations represented by icons, similarly to early Ultima games. As opposed to most other RPGs of the time, dungeons are viewed from an overhead perspective as well. In cities and palaces it is possible to talk to people, rest in inns and buy weapons, armor and items in shops. When wandering around in the wilderness or through dungeons, the player character encounters randomly appearing enemies. Combat is turn-based, with the player selecting menu options while fighting. It is possible to attack with the equipped weapon, cast one of the few available spells (using up some of the magic energy), use an item, or try to run. All the battles in the game are exclusively one-on-one. Killing monsters yields experience, and the player character's attributes improve automatically when he levels up. With the exception of the final location, the entire game world is theoretically open for exploration from the beginning. However, the enemies become increasingly tough as the player character attempts to move away from the starting town, effectively limiting him to confined areas determined by his level. The hero has limited hit points, loses them when attacked by enemies, and dies when he runs out of them, at which point he is automatically restored in a nearby town. It is possible to save the game only by talking to the king in the initial castle.

After falling into a dark, deep sleep, little Giana finds herself in a mysterious dreamworld where everything is strange and different. Many fascinating creatures lurk in this place full of traps and complicated mazes. But Giana must possess the magical diamond before she can return! Two players can enjoy this fun-filled game with over 30 completely different levels. The five-voiced musical sounds and the ever-changing graphics will make you want to play THE GREAT GIANA SISTERS over and over again.

Metal Gear is considered to be the progenitor of the stealth game genre, it was also the first video game designed by Hideo Kojima, who also directed many of the later Metal Gear sequels. The game revolves around a special forces operative codenamed Solid Snake who goes into a solo infiltration mission into the fortified state of Outer Heaven to destroy Metal Gear, a bipedal walking tank capable of launching nuclear missiles from anywhere in the world. The player must navigate the main character, a military operative codenamed Solid Snake, through various locations, while avoiding visual contact and direct confrontation with patrolling guards. If the player is seen, the game enters the "Alert Mode." In this situation, Snake must escape from enemy's sight in order to resume infiltration. The method of escaping varies depending on the circumstances behind discovery: If Snake is seen and only a single exclamation mark appears over an enemy's head, only the enemies in the player's present screen will attack and Snake can escape by simply moving to an adjacent screen. However, if two exclamation marks appear over the enemy (or the player triggers an alarm by being spotted by a camera, infrared sensor or by using an unsuppressed weapon), reinforcements from off-screen will appear as well. Snake can only escape by eliminating all incoming enemies, going outdoors, or by entering an elevator. The player starts the game unarmed, but eventually acquires firearms such as a Beretta 92F and an M79 grenade launcher, as well as explosives such as remote control missiles and landmines. Ammo and supplies for weapons are limited, but are replenished by picking up ammunition caches or additional supplies. Weapons can not only be used to kill enemies, but also to clear obstacles such as hollow walls and electrified floors. Snake can also use his fists to punch and defeat patrolling enemies. Occasionally, if the player defeats a guard with punches without alerting anyone, the defeated guard will yield a single unit of rations or an ammo box that can be picked up. In addition to enemy guards, the player will also be confronted by mercenaries who will challenge the player to combat, serving as the boss characters. The enemy base consists of three different buildings, with multiple floors (including basement levels) within them. The player uses key cards and other items to unlock doors and explore new areas. Each door will only open to its corresponding key cards. Information can be obtained by rescuing hostages being held within the buildings. After rescuing five hostages, the player's rank will increase by one star (with the maximum rank being four stars), allowing for increased carrying capacity and maximum health. However, if a hostage is killed, the player is demoted to the previous rank. A transceiver is available for the player to communicate with their commanding officer, Big Boss, or one of the resistance members operating covertly near Outer Heaven (Schneider, Diane, and Jennifer). Each of Snake's allies specializes in a specific subject. The player must keep track of their allies' frequency numbers in order to contact them. All of the radio messages are dependent on the rooms where the player is located.

Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa is the sequel to Fantasy Zone, in which you control Opa-Opa, a pretty colored ship with wings on its side. You must destroy the large creatures in each world before moving on to the next. Your task becomes difficult by other small creatures that happen to pass by. If you destroy a large creature, they will drop a dollar bill, which you can pick up and use at the shop to buy items and powerful weapons such as laser beams, x-way shots, and big wings. Another way to get money is to shoot certain kinds of enemies all in a row. More often than not, some large creatures will reveal a warp gate rather than a dollar bill. You can go through the warp gate to get to another part of the land, and destroy more large creatures. Only one of them will have a warp gate in the form of a 'stop' sign - that is your ticket to the round boss, but you must defeat all large creatures in order to pass through it. Also like in the original can you walk on the ground to avoid approaching enemies, and spend money in the shop to get new weapons (but they only last for a limited time).

Play as five members of a family that set out to kill a dragon hidden within a giant maze.

Dragon Warrior II is an early top-down RPG that expands and improves on its predecessor. Unlike the first game, Dragon Warrior II allows the player to join forces with two other characters, a magic-using princess and a wizard-warrior prince. Also including expanded monster battles involving up to 6 creatures and a much larger world, Dragon Warrior II is an important step in the evolution of the Dragon Warrior series.

Ultima (later titled, Ultima: The First Age of Darkness) is the first game in the Ultima series of role-playing video games created by Richard Garriott. The game was one of the first definitive commercial computer RPGs, and is considered an important and influential turning point for the development of the genre throughout years to come.

After obtaining aid from the lords of the realm in Ultima I, your character travels back in time, locates the mad wizard Mondain, slays him, and ends his reign of terror. In Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress, Mondain's protégé, Minax, who studied the mad wizard's teachings and writings, returns to wreak vengeance on the person who slew her teacher and lover -- you. And, instead of waiting for you to return to her native land of Sosaria, she wreaks havoc on your own Earth. Throughout Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress, your quest is quite different in scope from its predecessor. Earth is turned into a half-modern, half-fantasy world by the forces of magic and, as a result, things are much stranger than one might expect. As explained in the introduction, your tasks in the game are to "Battle strange creatures across the face of the Earth, search for clues in careless words spoken at the local pub, traverse deep, dark, deadly dungeons and tall, terrifying towers...and conquer Time itself to battle Minax the Enchantress."

Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a 1986 graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by Activision. Based on the fantasy film Labyrinth, it tasks the player with navigating a maze while solving puzzles and evading dangers. The player's goal is to find and defeat the main antagonist, Jareth, within 13 real-time hours. Unlike other adventure games of the period, Labyrinth does not feature a command-line interface. Instead, the player uses two scrolling "word wheel" menus on the screen to construct basic sentences.

You awaken to cries of agony all around you. As your vision recovers, you find yourself in a place only true evil could call home. Fire lashes out of the floor. Spikes dripping with the blood of countless victims line the walls. Bones litter the floor, and tiny beasts you've never seen pick at the remaining flesh. You hear the clanging of armor, the grinding of bones, and the maniacal screams of death approaching. As you pull yourself to your feet, you notice that you're standing next to a dismembered corpse. His organs are spewed all over the surrounding area. You don't know where you are, or how you got here, but you do know two things: You're getting out, and you aren't going to end up like him. Destroy the demons, vanquish the undead, and escape the inferno... or become another bloodstain on the wall. Inferno is an exciting arcade/adventure that will test your reflexes, your mind and your courage. Both the enemies and the levels themselves will become part of your worst nightmares. The game uses the ASCII 8 mapper.

Higemaru Makaijima (魔界島 七つの島大冒険 Makaijima Nanatsu no Shima Daibōken?, lit. Hell Island: Great Adventure of 7 Islands) is an action-adventure game developed for the Famicom and MSX home computer, and released by Capcom in 1987. It is a sequel to a 1984 arcade game developed by Capcom known as Pirate Ship Higemaru. Neither the arcade game, nor this adventure adaptation were released outside Japan, although a prototype exists for a canceled North American NES release, where it was to be renamed "Makai Island". In Higemaru Makaijima, the hero from Pirate Ship Higemaru named Momotaru must now pilot his own sailing vessel around the ocean surrounding seven islands. His goal is to find the greatest treasure. To do this, he must collect the keys which open the dock gates to each of the islands by invading several pirate ships and defeating the captain on board in combat. The gameplay on these pirate ships are taken directly from the arcade predecessor, with some small modifications. Once Momotaru has collected a key from a pirate ship, he must then sail around the islands in search of the correct dock gate which the key corresponds to. Once there, the player embarks on an exploration of the island to find items, defeat a boss, and collect treasures before heading off in search of another island key. The island exploration sections are extremely reminiscent of dungeon exploration aspects of The Legend of Zelda, to which the game is often compared to.

You are Nanako Hongou, a new transfer student to the all-girls school, St. Belloncho Academy. Hearing rumors of a sketchy body inspection taking place at the school infirmary, you decide to take it upon yourself to unearth the culprit, and expose the secrets of St. Belloncho Academy. Fight an eclectic cast of delinquents while going about your school life and solving mysteries.

A cancelled MSX2 game based on the Fan-made series Pony Metal.

Brunilda is a text adventure game.

Sequel to "Hole in One", and "Hole in One Professional". This one is for the MSX2 and makes good use of its graphics capabilities.

A game released exclusively inside the Disk NG 1 bundle.

The game is divided into 5 levels. The protagonist will have to climb the 5 highest mountains in Italy for a bet. But his fierce opponent will make sure that he doesn't win by throwing him anything and everything. Moreover, he has installed sharp obstacles and just touching them is certain death. Fatigue will be felt, and to recover the lost energy, during the journey there will be water bottles that will restore it (only one notch at a time).

Menu-driven adventure game. First released on the MSX2, it was later ported to the PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16). It was later ported to PC-98, but that version is rated R-18.