Play Dragon Wars (Japan) Online

Game Overview

Dragon Wars is one of those NES RPGs that starts with you getting thrown in jail for no good reason—classic. You and your crew bust out, only to find the whole kingdom’s gone nuts banning magic, and now dragons might get involved? Yeah, it escalates fast.

The combat’s turn-based but with this weird twist where positioning actually matters—your front row takes most hits, so you’ve gotta think about who stands where. And the magic system? Surprisingly deep for an 8-bit game. You collect these runes and mix them to cast spells, which means half the fun is just experimenting to see what weird combos actually work.

Fair warning: the translation’s a little rough in spots (it *is* a Japan-only release originally), but if you can handle some awkward dialogue, there’s a solid old-school adventure here. Just don’t expect the dragons to show up as much as the title suggests.