This is Console History, a special sub-series of my more general History Lessons series, covering console role-playing games, action role-playing games, Metroidvanias, and action-adventure games in nominally chronological order starting in the late 1980s. The chronology is garbled in the beginning as the scope of the series expanded, but it gets more organized later on. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.
The Great Console History Reorganization continues, as I go back and fill in games I missed in my original haphazard timeline. Last time, I covered Yuushi no Monshou: Deep Dungeon, the second game in the Deep Dungeon series by HummingBirdSoft. If I’d had my timeline in order from the start, next would have been Glory of Heracles: The Labors of the Divine Hero, and now Dr. Chaos, released by Marionette for the Famicom Disk System on June 19, 1987, and later localized for the US market (on the NES) in November 1988 (this is the version I played). It’s an example of early Metroidvania (or perhaps we should all start saying Search Action?) design that I originally skipped because it’s highly derivative of The Goonies II, which I’ve already covered. But, upon reading more about Dr. Chaos, I decided it’s interesting enough to get its own post.