Play Wanderers from Ys Online

You swing your sword in side-scrolling dungeons now instead of bumping into enemies, missing jumps until you get the timing just right. Adol and Dogi uncover dark secrets in his hometown with that classic Ys soundtrack driving the adventure.

Developer: Nihon Falcom

Genre: Action Role-Playing

Released: 1991

File size: 1 KB

Game Overview

Wanderers from Ys (or Ys III, if you're old-school) shakes things up from the first two games—gone’s the weird bump combat, and now you actually swing your sword in a side-scrolling world. Feels more like a proper action RPG now, though the jump mechanic takes some getting used to (you’ll miss a few platforms at first, trust me).

Adol tags along with Dogi to investigate some creepy stuff happening in his hometown, and of course, it spirals into ancient evils and magic rings that do cool stuff like heal you or block attacks. There are keys to find, minor puzzles to solve, and the usual Ys-style "oh no, the villagers are hiding something" drama. The music’s still killer, too.

It’s not as polished as later Ys games, but there’s a scrappy charm to it—especially if you grew up with the SNES.