Console roguelike

A console roguelike is a roguelike game that can be played on a video game console without installing a Linux distribution such as Xbox Linux or PS2 Linux on the device. Nearly all such games are commercial in nature, although the recent surge in homebrew software consoles has led to creations such as the Wii ports of Powder and Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Since the majority of consoles do not feature support for a mouse or keyboard, the complexity of the games is usually considerably reduced compared to those developed for computer systems. Game design aspects often held to be conventional among computer roguelikes, such as character creation, are often streamlined or eliminated entirely.

The overwhelming majority of console roguelikes are created by Japanese developers, with Chunsoft being easily the most notable and influential creator of them.

A note on obtaining these games: You may be able to find them on Ebay. If you cannot find the games right away, try using Ebay's e-mail alerts feature so that you are notified as soon as your game of choice is put up for sale on Ebay. Before buying a Japanese game, ask around to make sure it will work with your game system and local television standard.

List of console roguelikes by platform in what appears to be an inexplicable chronological order

Sega Master System

• Dragon Crystal - Released in 199x, later ported to the Game Gear in 199x. Developed internally by Sega. Anything else the internet tells you won't stick if you throw it at the wall.

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive

• Fatal Labyrinth - Developed internally by Sega, and in many ways a direct follow-up to the Dragon Crystal.

SNES / Super Famicom

• Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon - Released in 1993. First game in Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon series. A spin-off of Enix's Dragon Quest series, which employees who later formed Chunsoft worked on. A translation patch exists which will make the game fully playable in English, though some minor formatting errors exist.
• Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Fuurai no Shiren - Released in 1995, and Chunsoft's first entry in what would be their most famous original property. A translation patch exists which makes the game fully playable in English. Later ported with improvements to the Nintendo DS. A modified version of the game broken up into serial form was later broadcast via the Satellaview peripheral.
• Milandra - Released in 1997 and developed by ASCII and some other guys I'll look up later. Somewhat similar in form to Mystery Dungeon games, but with an emphasis on party members and eating strange mushrooms.
• Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals contained a roguelike minigame called the Ancient Cave. So technically it's not actually a roguelike but it's just past midnight and I don't feel like fixing this.

PlayStation

• The main dungeon of Azure Dreams was a graphical roguelike.
• Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (called "Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2" in Japan) was a roguelike.

Playstation 2

• The Nightmare of Druaga combines the characters and mythology behind Namco's Arcade Game "The Tower of Druaga" with roguelike features in the tradition of the Mysterious Dungeon series.
• Disgaea and its sequel, Disgaea 2 are part of a series of Tactical RPGs that feature an area known as "The Item World" wherein every item in the game can be accessed as a randomized, somewhat-roguelike 100-level dungeon complete with enemies, Treasures and other surprises.

See also

• the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance sections on the List of handheld roguelikes. It should be possible to play those games on a GameCube using the Game Boy Player accessory made by Nintendo.

External links

• GameSpite list of console and handheld console roguelikes

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