First Samurai

First Samurai is a fantasy action-platformer developed by Vivid Image, the team behind the Last Ninja series. When the Demon King attacks his master’s mountain, the young samurai is overpowered by dark magic and the master dies fighting. With his last breath he summons the Wizard Mage, who sends the Demon King fleeing into the future. Armed with a magical sword and bent on revenge, the samurai follows him. You start with only fists and kicks, but soon find the sword and throwing weapons such as knives and axes. Food and sake restore your strength, while fire and enemy contact drain it. The large scrolling levels mix combat, exploration and puzzle-solving across forests, villages, towns and dungeons.

DOS

Published by Ubi Soft in 1992 and distributed on floppy disks, this PC conversion uses VGA graphics, bringing the colorful landscapes, villages and demon-haunted dungeons to the screen. Designed for DOS-based PCs of the early 1990s, it requires a VGA-capable system. The game was designed around subtle sound effects rather than a full soundtrack, and in this version the music during gameplay was removed, so the atmosphere relies on effects alone. Gameplay is otherwise preserved, including the large multi-directional scrolling levels, with the full set of weapons, items and puzzles, and a long, demanding quest that rewards careful exploration and quick reflexes. Today it runs easily through DOSBox, making it a convenient way to revisit one of the era’s most ambitious platform adventures.