A good obscure RPG

[Satoshi_Matrix]

If you want an obscure NES RPG, you can't get much more obscure than the Legend of the Ghost Lion.

Game was an Dragon Quest-ish RPG made Kemco, a developer not known to make RPGs at all, starred a little girl as the main character, and was released for the NES in 1992 and had no sequels and was basically never heard from again.

As you can imagine, it didn't sell very well in North America. I don't think there's another NES RPG that even comes close to being that obscure.

[kupomogli]

I wouldn't consider Crystalis or Zelda RPGs, but some people do. Since everyone has listed every other obscure good NES RPG, I guess I'll just throw Willow out there. Very good game.

[Wraith Storm]

If you want an obscure NES RPG, you can't get much more obscure than the Legend of the Ghost Lion.

Legend of the Ghost Lion is the only obscure NES RPG I can think of as well. Its also a pretty good game too. It has great music, good graphics and a cool battle system.

It's a bit on the simple side, but fun and what other NES game has Daryl Hannah gracing its cover?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

oh wow, is that who is on the cover? That does it. Legend of the Ghost Lion is now a game that I'm going to review myself. Look forward to it in about a week.

[Ninjamohawk]

Yeah, go with this game. I bought the repro of it, Tower of Radia. I'm pretty sure it's the same game as the Chronicle of Radia War.

Beat me to it Speaking of, where did you get the repro from? I haven't seen it around.

[Wraith Storm]

oh wow, is that who is on the cover?

Sorry, it was late and I had been up for quite a while... Its supposed to be Farrah Fawcett, not Daryl Hannah.

I had come across a page some time ago that was covering videogame box art. It showed the inspiration for countless box art covers. There was some NES game that they used a famous pose from Van Damme on the cover, they talked about Kyle Reese from the Teminator used for the Metal Gear cover, and some Farrah Fawcett film inspired the Ghost Lion cover.

Just googling her shows quite a resemblance. I just wish I could find the page that I had read that pointed this out. It might have even been an old thread on DP, but i'm too lazy to search right now.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

if you find it, please let me know. That's perfect for the history section of my written review structure.

[j1e]

Beat me to it Speaking of, where did you get the repro from? I haven't seen it around.

thenesdump.com

Dude there does awesome work. You get your game in quick, too.

[Rolf&Nei]

Arkista's Ring is an action rpg; just don't expect Zelda.
Venus Wars is a mech tactical.
Bandit Kings of Ancient China: traditional.
Uncharted Waters: probably well known enough, but I didn't see it mentioned. Think it may've been available at once on Genesis. An exploring game based in reality.
Tombs & Treasures; Times of Lore; Swords and Serpents: all, to my recollection, pov D&D surrogates--of which there were too many to begin with on so early a system.
Destiny of an Emperor 2. May be a hack; anyhow I had some trouble with the rom, but perhaps didn't choose the best of the bundle (from theoldcomputer.com).
These games are more obscure than great. For perspective, my favourite pure NES rpg is Dragon Warrior, my favourite action rpg Zelda, while I hate Crystalis, Star Tropics, and Zelda 2.