Dragon's Crown

Dragon's Crown is a two-dimensional (2D) side-scrolling action role-playing game in which players take on the role of an adventurer exploring dungeons in the kingdom of Hydeland. The adventurer's base is a town at the kingdom's heart. There players interact with different establishments populated by friendly non-player characters (NPCs); the Adventurers' Guild where quests are accepted and the player can unlock new Skills; Morgan's Magic Shop where equipment can be repaired and upgraded; Canaan Temple, where players can pay to resurrect bone piles found in dungeons and receive boons for dungeon runs; and Lucain's Tower, which documents rune magic unlocked by the player.

Outside of town, players can explore nine dungeon environments in the surrounding lands; each dungeon has two paths, one unlocked after the first run, and hidden areas. Dungeons are reached either through a magical portal called the Gate, or after a certain point using the stables for a fee. Players are always accompanied in dungeons by two NPCs; the thief Rannie who unlocks treasure chests and doors, and the fairy Tiki who helps point out hidden treasure. While exploring dungeons, players move constantly from left to right, battling both standard enemies and boss monsters at the end of each stage.

The adventurer arrives in Hydeland and gets involved with fights against surging monster attacks from ancient sites across the land, and a political coup attempted by the Prime Minister against the next heirs, siblings Vivian and Dean, following the disappearance of the king. The king killed himself to thwart a ritual by the malevolent Morneon religion to summon a powerful ancient dragon, sealed in the Illusionary Lands by the world's goddesses. Key to their plot is the Dragon's Crown, an artifact that was imbued with the power to control dragons. Following his ascension to the throne, Dean is sacrificed by Morneon, though the adventurer has already destroyed the existing magic to reach the Illusionary Lands.

The adventurer finds nine talismans to enter the Illusionary Lands and slays the ancient dragon before it can break free. Vivian is made queen and inherits the now-powerless Dragon's Crown.

Dragon's Crown was originally designed by George Kamitani as a Dreamcast sequel to Princess Crown, a 1997 video game for the Sega Saturn which he directed. Due to its platform and publisher pressure, Dragon's Crown would have used 3D graphics. This earliest version was inspired by the Wizardry and Sorcerian series. Kamitani's aim was to recreate the gameplay experience of Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, which he worked on.

Due to the closure of the studio he was working at following the commercial failure of Princess Crown, the concept was scrapped. Kamitani later reused the female warrior concept art for his work on Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion. Over the next decade, he pitched to several different publishers but was always turned down.

Dragon's Crown received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. At the 2013 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers awards, Dragon's Crown won in the "Game, Original Role-Playing" category.

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave a positive review to both the PS3 and Vita versions, praising the gameplay and nostalgic style. Destructoid's Chris Carter was highly positive, praising the game for reviving the beat 'em up genre. Andrew Fitch, writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly, praised the game as "a love letter to the classic side-scrolling arcade brawler". Martin Robinson of Eurogamer was less positive than other reviewers, praising some elements but disliking the artstyle and finding it overly long and archaic. GameSpot's Peter Brown found many elements of the visuals either distracting or offensive, but praised the gameplay design and skill system.