#16: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Nintendo, NES, 1987/1988)

Zelda II is unique amongst the series in that defeating enemies rewards you with experience points that can be used to level up your attack power, your health or your magic power. The possibility exists that these ideas were developed independently, but one suspects that Zelda II’s programming team were somewhat inspired by the success of the game Dragon Quest, which had been a hit in Japan just a few weeks after the original Zelda. But while Japan and, to a lesser extent, the US may have been as inundated with RPGs hoping to ride the coattails of Draqon Quest’s success as they were with platformers looking for a slice of the Mario pie, things were not the same in Europe.

Dragon Quest was not a big hit in Europe, being rather hindered by a distinct lack of release in the region. And for a long time, the story was the same for any major Japanese RPG you could think of.