Dungeon Explorer II

Dungeon Explorer II[lower-alpha 1] is an action role-playing video game developed and originally published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-CD in Japan on March 26, 1993 and later in North America by Turbo Technologies on October of the same year.[1][2] A sequel to 1989's Dungeon Explorer, it is the second installment in the eponymous franchise.[3]

Dungeon Explorer II
Cover art by Takuhito Kusanagi
Developer(s)Hudson Soft
Publisher(s)
  • JP: Hudson Soft
  • NA: Turbo Technologies Inc.
Producer(s)Yuji Kudo
Designer(s)Kazutoshi Ueda
Unsei Matsuzawa
Programmer(s)Mamoru Shiratani
Norio Suzuki
Takuya Kojima
Artist(s)Keiko Satō
Miyuki Honma
Shinobu Jinno
Writer(s)Fumitomo Nomura
Composer(s)Yoshio Tsuru (Uncredited)
SeriesDungeon Explorer
Platform(s)TurboGrafx-CD
Release
  • JP: 26 March 1993
  • NA: October 1993
Genre(s)Action role-playing game, dungeon crawl, hack and slash
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer (up to five players via TurboTap)

Set a century after the fall of alien king Natas in the original Dungeon Explorer, players assume the role of one of the eight main characters tasked with recovering the Ora stone from the evil magician Fades, who stole it from king Earl II to resurrect Natas in order to save the land of Oddesia from destruction while also rescuing princess Miriam of Solis, who was taken as hostage by a monster. Though it was initially launched for the TurboGrafx-CD, Dungeon Explorer II was later re-released through download services for various consoles.

Dungeon Explorer II was met with mostly positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its initial release on the TurboGrafx-CD, with praise directed towards the graphics, audio, gameplay and multiplayer.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot.
See also: Dungeon Explorer (1989 video game) § Gameplay

Dungeon Explorer II is an action role-playing game with dungeon crawl and hack and slash elements that is played in a top-down perspective like its predecessor, where players assume the role of one of the eight main characters tasked with recovering the Ora stone from Fades, an evil magician who stole it from king Earl II to resurrect the deceased alien king Natas in order to save the land of Oddesia from destruction while also rescuing princess Miriam of Solis, who was taken as hostage by a monster as the main objectives.[3][4][5][6] Like its predecessor, each character belongs to a specific class and their abilities vary primarily in their black and white magic as well as statistics, however each character can be upgraded into new classes.[3][4][5][6] Lives are shared between players and once all lives are lost, the game is over, though more can be obtained by playing a gamble minigame against the Grim Reaper.[5][6] Like the first entry, the game supports five players simultaneously.[4][5] A password system is also used.

Synopsis

Plot

Dungeon Explorer II takes place a century after the events occurred in the original Dungeon Explorer.[3][4][5][6] After the death of alien king Natas, the Ora stone was in the hands of people from Oddesia once again, restoring peace across the land and preventing evil from entering the for many years until Fades, a faithful follower of Natas who resurrected him after killing king Earl II and stole the Ora stone from him, leading Oddesia into the path of destruction as a result. Around the same time, princess Miriam of Solis was captured and taken as hostage by a monster known as Mynos the Man-Bull while visiting Ardeen. A group of eight characters are tasked with retrieving the Ora stone to save the land of Oddesia, while rescuing Miriam from her captivity.

Characters

Dungeon Explorer II initially features eight playable characters at the start, while more playable characters can be unlocked by performing certain tasks during gameplay:[3][4][5][6]

Development and release

Dungeon Explorer II was first previewed through video game magazines in 1992,[4][7] while its release date was postponed several times before release.[8][9][10][11] The soundtrack was composed by Yoshio Tsuru of Compozilla, although he is not named as such in the credits of the game.[12][13] American publisher Working Designs were responsible for the English localization.[14]

Dungeon Explorer II was first published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-CD in Japan on March 26, 1993 and later in North America by Turbo Technologies on October of the same year.[1][2] On May 21, 1993, albums containing music tracks from the game were published exclusively in Japan by Hudson Soft.[12][13] Due to its late release towards the end of the add-on's lifecycle, the North American release has since become one of the more expensive titles on the platform, with copies of fetching over US$200 on the secondary video game collecting market.[15] The title has received multiple re-releases in recent years on various digital distribution platforms such as the Virtual Console, PlayStation Network and Nintendo eShop.[16][17]

Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer

A heavily modified version of Dungeon Explorer II titled Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorer was developed for the Super Famicom and was released in Japan on October 27, 1995.[18]

Reception

Dungeon Explorer II was met with mostly positive reception from critics and reviewers alike since its initial release on the TurboGrafx-CD.

Notes
  1. Japanese: ダンジョン エクスプローラー II Hepburn: Danjon Ekusupurōrā II

References
  1. "ダンジョンエクスプローラーII (PCエンジン) - ファミ通.com". Famitsu (in Japanese). Kadokawa Game Linkage. 2020. Archived from the original on 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  2. Lagan, Jack (September–October 1993). "Reviews (Duo/TG-16) - Dungeon Explorer II". DuoWorld. No. 2. L.F.P., Inc. pp. 14–15.
  3. Kalata, Kurt (December 17, 2008). "Dungeon Explorer II". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  4. "TurboPreviews - Duo Data: Dungeon Explorer II". TurboForce. No. 4. Sendai Publishing. April 1993. p. 17.
  5. Dungeon Explorer II manual (TurboGrafx-CD, US)
  6. Hurler, Cloud (2020). "Dungeon Explorer II - RPGFan Reviews". RPGFan. RPGFan Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  7. "Coming Soon Information - Coming Soon!". TurboForce. No. 1. Sendai Publishing. June 1992. p. 24.
  8. Bieniek, Chris (June–July 1992). "Coming Soon..." TurboPlay. No. 13. L.F.P., Inc. p. 28.
  9. Bieniek, Chris (August–September 1992). "Coming Soon..." TurboPlay. No. 14. L.F.P., Inc. p. 30.
  10. "Coming Attractions - A Little Bit Of 1993!". TurboForce. No. 2. Sendai Publishing. September 1992. p. 28.
  11. "TurboPreview: Dungeon Explorer II". TurboForce. No. 3. Sendai Publishing. January 1993. p. 10.
  12. "HCD-2010T | Hudson's CD Game Music Collection '93". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 2016-12-06. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  13. "HCD-2041 | 1993 Hudson CD•ROM² Complete Music Works". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 2019-05-12. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  14. Bieniek, Chris (July–August 1993). "Coming Soon to a Duo near you! - Dungeon Explorer II". DuoWorld. No. 2. L.F.P., Inc. p. 28.
  15. Reichert, Nick (July 24, 2018). "The Rarest & Most Valuable PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 Games". Racketboy. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  16. "Wii Soft > 2008 (Virtual Console - バーチャルコンソール)" (in Japanese). GAME Data Room. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  17. "DUNGEON EXPLORER II on PS3". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. October 14, 2010. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  18. Kalata, Kurt (December 17, 2008). "Crystal Beans From Dungeon Explorer". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  19. Knight, Kyle (1998). "Dungeon Explorer 2 [Japanese] (TurboDuo) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  20. Halverson, Dave; Sgt. Gamer; Stratton, Tom; Cockburn, Andrew (May 1993). "Viewpoint (Turbo) - Dungeon Explorer 2". GameFan. Vol. 1 no. 6. DieHard Gamers Club. p. 21.
  21. of Arcadia, Lawrence (November 1993). "Role-Player's Realm: Dungeon Explorer II (Duo)". GamePro. No. 52. IDG. p. 253.
  22. "Top / Flop - Dungeon Explorer (Hudson Soft - PCE CD- ROM)". Consoles + (in French). No. 27. M.E.R.7. December 1993. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2020-01-19. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  23. "ダンジョン エクスプローラーII". Gekkan PC Engine (in Japanese). Shogakukan.
  24. Hellot, Grégoire; Morisse, Jean-François (June 1993). "Super CD Rom 2: Ou Est-Elle La Princesse?!? – Dungeon Explorer II". Joypad (in French). No. 21. Yellow Media. pp. 132–133.
  25. Hellert, Stefan; Weidner, Martin (July 1993). "Test Turbo Duo: Dungeon Explorer II - Endlich ist die lang erwartete Fortsetzung zu Dungeon Explorer von Hudson Soft erschienen". Mega Fun (in German). No. 33. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 96.
  26. "PC Engine All Catalog '93 10月号特別付録 - ダンジョンエクスプローラーII". PC Engine Fan (in Japanese). Vol. 6 no. 10. Tokuma Shoten. October 1, 1993. p. 43.
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