The Tower of Druaga is considered one of the ancestors of action JRPGs. The game was released for arcade in 1984, but was not released outside of Japan at the time, so little was known about how it was received. Actually, it caused a frenzy in Japanese arcades. I experienced this frenzy of Druaga firsthand in Japan, so I'd like to share what I saw. Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a long post.
The objective of The Tower of Druaga is to rescue the kidnapped shrine maiden Kai from the top floor (60th floor) of the tower. To rescue Kai, Gilgamesh, the protagonist of this game, needs many items from treasure chest. Each floor contains a hidden treasure chest that can be found in a specific way. There were absolutely no hints as to how to find the treasure chest.
Gamers formed small groups at arcade and worked hard to figure out how to find the treasure chest. On each floor, we went through a lot of trial and error, over and over again. So, the correct information on how to get the treasure chest was really valuable. The handwritten notes explaining how to find the treasure chest out were treasures in themselves. There was also a time when I couldn't figure out how to find a treasure chest on a certain floor, so I timidly asked a slightly scary senior student at school who I don't usually talk to how to get to the treasure chest (and he told me!).
There were also cases where small groups were at odds with each other. In those cases, they would engage in information warfare, sometimes passing on false information. Sometimes, when a member of a rival group appeared in the arcade, their comrades would surround the cabinet and hide the screen.
There was also a regional gap in information. In cities with many arcades, information was transmitted more frequently, so progress was faster, while in the countryside, there were fewer arcades and gamers, so progress was slower.
The hardest part was the 31st floor. Our group was completely stuck. We later learned from another group that the correct answer was "Press the start button." There's no way that could be figured out! From what I heard, the first group to figure this out just couldn't figure it out, so they got so annoyed that they started slapping the cabinet all over. Then a treasure chest appeared by chance, and that's when they figured it out.
Another important thing of arcades at the time was the "communication notebook." This was like a contact book where visitors to the arcade could write down all sorts of things, and was available in every arcade at the time. It was a very chaotic notebook, with illustrations, game hints, rumors, and even badmouthing other gamers lol. We often used this notebook to exchange information about treasure chests. Sometimes there were fake information, but without it, we wouldn't have been able to progress in the game Druaga. The culture of communication notebooks in Japanese arcades is very unique, and even now, in the age of the internet, some arcades still carry these notebooks.
A month later we were still on our way, but we received information that a group in Tokyo had finally reached the 60th floor and finished the game (although it turns out they actually completed it in about two weeks). It was incredibly fast. We felt like we'd lost the battle, but we also felt happy. I felt like all the gamers who worked on this game joined forces to defeat the evil Druaga.
Our battle was over. A few months later, a magazine published instructions on how to find the treasure chests on all floors, and I was able to use them to finally beat Druaga. I managed to complete it with the help of information from a magazine, but I was still very happy. After a few more months, Druaga was ported to the Famicom, sparking a craze in the console world. Strategy guides explaining how to get the treasure chests sold like hotcakes. This completely established the Druaga brand, and it remains popular in Japan to this day.
That's all for this post. Sorry this is very long. Thanks for reading.
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