Dragon Slayer, designed by Yoshio Kiya for Nihon Falcom, is considered the first heavyweight Japanese action RPG: real-time combat inside dungeons, an inventory limited to a single item, and puzzles based on using the right item in the right place, ideas that would later feed both Ys and, much later, Zelda itself. The MSX version, published in 1985, was one of the first works by a company called Square that didn't yet dream of Final Fantasy. It's, above all, a foundational piece: alongside its contemporary Hydlide, it laid the groundwork for a genre — the Japanese action RPG — that would define much of the country's role-playing output throughout the entire 8- and 16-bit era.
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