Play The First Samurai Online

I first played The First Samurai back in the early 90s, when it came out on MS-DOS. It was published by Ubi Soft, and it fit right in with the kind of action platformers that were popular at the time, like Prince of Persia or Another World, but with its own distinct flavor. The game drops you into a mythical version of Japan, and you take on the role of a lone warrior on a quest to rescue his kidnapped master.

You control the samurai through side scrolling levels, moving screen by screen, fighting off enemies with your sword and a bow. You also collect power ups that let you use special abilities, like calling down lightning or creating a protective shield. The pacing is deliberate, and the difficulty can be punishing; you have to learn enemy patterns and time your jumps carefully. It feels tense and rewarding when you finally clear a tricky section after multiple attempts.

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