Play First Samurai on Msdos Online

First Samurai came out in 1991, published by Image Works for MS-DOS. It was part of that wave of early 90s action platformers that tried to blend different genres, in this case mixing a side-scrolling hack and slash with some light exploration. You don't see many games from that era that jump so freely between a feudal Japanese setting and a sci-fi future.

You control a samurai whose magical sword has been stolen, sending him on a quest across time to get it back. The gameplay involves moving screen by screen through levels, using a short-range sword attack and a limited supply of arrows for your bow. You hunt for keys to unlock doors and collect power-ups that change your weapon or grant temporary invincibility. The pacing is deliberate, often requiring you to methodically clear enemies from an area before moving on, and the difficulty is significant, with precise jumps and quick enemy reactions. It feels like a challenging, sometimes clunky, but always earnest attempt to create a grand adventure on a home computer.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".