 The Super Nintendo might best be known for role-playing games, but the very first RPG to appear on the system in North America was a game called Drakken, and let's just say when one thinks of all the great SNES role-playing games, they're not going to think of Drakken. It's a confusing, unintuitive mess that's about as player unfriendly as it gets, and if you were to sum up the game in one word, it would be clusterfuck. Fast forward several years later, and developer Kemko kinda sorta not really released the sequel called Dragonview. I say kinda sorta not really because it's only directly referenced as a sequel in Japan where it's called Super Drakken, and there's basically no ties between the two games otherwise outside of the same developer Kemko, and the same way you're able to traverse the world map with this Mode 7 3D environment here. Dragonview is definitely something different for both the 16-bit era and for gaming in general. One example you see right away is the dialogue. Yeah, the story is your typical boilerplate save the princess, become the chosen one, and defeat the evil guy type stuff. But the way it's told is a little different because the dialogue reads from a narrator's perspective, describing NPC's actions and expressions. It's kinda cheesy, but I actually kinda like it. It helps keep it from blending in from the rest of the generic fantasy fare of the time. So yeah, you start in a town, your girlfriend or whoever is kidnapped by the evil What's His Name, so of course you have to track him down, and you do that by wandering around this 3D Mode 7 landscape to get from town to town, and from dungeon to dungeon. There are random battles here that show up in the form of a cloud of smoke or mist. The game shifts into a side-scrolling beat-em-up mode, kinda like Zelda 2 in a weird way. And hey, if you're not fond of random battles, they're easily avoidable in Dragonview. The combat here though is what makes the game fun, and unlike any other RPG on the Super Nintendo. The random battles in the dungeons so to speak all borrow from a traditional beat-em-up format, but all the typical role-playing game stuff is also here, like the different weapons you can use, items, magic, and a leveling system for both your character and for your armor and weapons. It's really like they combine something from the E-Series with Capcom's Knights of the Round. I know beat-em-up combat can get tedious and repetitive for some people, but it's handled really well here, with the different weapons to keep things interesting, elemental magic you can learn, and the leveling system to reward your progress. However, I do think you're probably better off sticking with the sword most of the time, since it has such a great range and is very versatile. You can up-thrust at enemies above you or down-thrust at enemies on the ground, you can pretty much thrust in any general direction. In fact, the working title for this game was Dragon Thrust. Okay, I totally just made that up. Anyway, despite the 3D map structure, Dragon View is pretty linear, point A to point B to progress the story and all that, but there are at least a few hidden shops and treasures you can find, so that's a nice touch. Each dungeon you have to complete has a distinct look and feel to it, whether it be the caves, jumping and dodging rockfalls on a mountain side, or utilizing your magic to solve puzzles to unlock new areas. It's not that this game is that puzzle heavy, but they mixed in a bit of that here and there, and it's well done. If there's any flaws with Dragon View, of course there's the Blander Than Bland story I mentioned earlier. It would have been nice to take advantage of the storytelling style with something actually interesting, but the small viewing area here is kind of frustrating. The game looks really good, and the sprite work is excellent. It'd just be nice to see more of it, but the big stat screen on the bottom is locked in at the bottom there, so that sucks. But anyway, yeah, Dragon View is a really interesting combination of styles, featuring beat-em-up mechanics, exploration, and some typical role-playing game characteristics. It's not the deepest or longest game out there, and the soundtrack is average at best, but I'd much rather play this than stuff like Brandish, or Lagoon, or Brainlord, or Arcana, or Paladin's Quest, and I'd definitely rather play it over Drakken. Dragon View is well worth checking out any which way you can.