
	Platform Genesis Genre RPG Publisher Sega Developer Sega ETA 1991
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Fatal Labyrinth

Role playing games with randomly generated dungeons can be a lot of fun. There’s a lot of emphasis on exploration, and plenty of replay value since every time you enter one, the experience is a little bit different. One early example of this on consoles was Fatal Labyrinth for the Genesis. It’s certainly not the first game of its type, but it was the first to expose me to the sub-genre.

Essentially, Fatal Labyrinth is a spruced up roguelike in the spirit of games like Nethack. Players venture into a 30 level, randomly generated dungeon, fighting monsters with the eventual goal of defeating a big, bad dragon, and returning the Holy Goblet to the village situated just outside of the dungeon. As one wanders the dungeon, they will find the usual assortment of weapons and armor. Weapons are both melee and ranged in nature, each putting out different amounts of damage depending on what you have equipped at the time. With every step you take in the dungeon, monsters on that floor will take a corresponding step. As such, there is a bit of strategy involved with moving around when one doesn’t want to engage these enemies in battle.

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Compared to other console RPGs of its time, Fatal Labyrinth wasn’t the most forgiving of games. Players could accidentally stumble upon cursed items, fall through trap doors and be forced to replay entire levels, or even eat too much and get sick (and possibly die). As an additional kick to the shins, the game’s

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only purpose for including gold is so that your character can afford a better funeral when he inevitably dies in the dungeon. Moreover, you can forget about saving your game here. If you want to finish it, you've got to traverse the dungeon's 30 levels in one shot. The only help you'll get is that every fifth floor acts as a save point. So if you die, you don't have to start again from the very beginning.

Fatal Labyrinth came out at a time when publishers began thinking about not bringing as many RPGs to the Western market, as there didn’t seem to be much interest in them at the time. It was a bit of a tease, as we were treated to the likes of Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and Phantasy Star up to this point (as well as a number of other lesser-known titles), then suddenly things just started drying up. Getting this game was my way of addressing my RPG fix. My family’s computer was nowhere near good enough to play all of the great RPGs coming out on there like Ultima, and Might and Magic, so the Sega Genesis, and SNES were my main outlet for gaming at the time.

Looking at those responsible for the game's production, we have an interesting pairing with Hirokazu Yasuhara, and Naoto Ohshima. Both would eventually go on to become part of Sonic Team alongside Yuji Naka, where one of the most popular platformer series of all time would be created. A dungeon hack from two people that would make a platformer is interesting enough, but these two also make for an interesting contrast. Yasuhara's development history is firmly placed in the world of platformers. Fatal Labyrinth is the only RPG he has ever made, with his other work focused primarily on the Sonic series, and later Jak over at Naughty Dog. Meanwhile, Ohshima's background is heavily slanted toward the world of RPGs, having been involved with the Phantasy Star series, Wizardry, and Blue Dragon, as well as dipping his finger into the likes of Silent Hill, and an assortment of other genres. Looking at the two's development history, it looks like a bit of an odd couple pairing for people to head up the development of a roguelike, but the end result was quite coherent.

At the time, I had mixed feelings about Fatal Labyrinth. It was no Final Fantasy, but the fact that the dungeons were randomly generated added a lot of replay value to the game, keeping me busy for hours on end. I never got around to finishing the game, but felt compelled to keep on going, and try to do a little better every time I entered the dungeon. It wasn’t until almost a decade later that I started looking back and playing games like Nethack, or more contemporary roguelikes such as Azure Dreams, but Fatal Labyrinth still made enough of a lasting impression that I remain curious when a new game in the sub-genre comes along.

Mr. Nash
Febraury 23, 2009